Lowe Art Museum

The Lowe Art Museum is the art museum of the University of Miami, located on the university's campus in Coral Gables, Florida. Founded in 1950, it was the first art museum in South Florida and remains one of the most important cultural institutions in the region. The museum holds more than 19,250 objects spanning over 5,000 years of human creativity from every inhabited continent. Its collections are organized across 14 thematic rooms, supplemented by the Palley Pavilion for glass and an outdoor sculpture garden. The museum is accessible via Miami Metrorail at University Station.

The Lowe Art Museum opened on February 22, 1950, established through a gift from philanthropists Joe and Emily Lowe. In 1951, the Lowes underwrote construction of a stand-alone facility to accommodate growing collections; the new Lowe Art Gallery was dedicated on February 4, 1952. A 1,300 square-foot addition followed in 1956 to house Alfred I. Barton's donation of Native American art. In 1961, the museum was selected as a repository for 43 works from the Samuel H. Kress Collection of European Renaissance and Baroque art, prompting construction of a dedicated wing. The institution was renamed Lowe Art Museum in 1968 and became the first museum in Miami-Dade County accredited by the American Alliance of Museums in 1972. In 1985, it became the first museum in the county recognized by the State of Florida as a major cultural institution. A major expansion designed by Miami architect Charles Harrison Pawley was completed in 1991, adding 13,000 square feet of gallery space and bringing the total footprint to over 36,000 square feet. The Myrna and Sheldon Palley Pavilion for Contemporary Glass and Studio Arts opened in 2008, adding 4,500 square feet. Other significant donations include 531 pieces of ancient American art from Robert M. Bischoff in 1984, Asian art assembled with the support of Stephen Junkunc III over more than twenty years, and South American devotional images from Joseph and Janet Shein first exhibited in 2012. Since 1988, the museum has held an extended loan of Spanish paintings from the Cintas Foundation.

The Lowe Art Museum's collection encompasses classical archaeology, Greco-Roman antiquities, Renaissance and Baroque art, 17th- through 19th-century European art, 19th-century American art, modern and contemporary art, and works from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Native America, Ancient Americas, and the Pacific Islands. The collection is presented in 14 thematic rooms, each dedicated to a specific artistic tradition or current. The museum maintains particular strength in Renaissance and Baroque painting through its Kress Collection holdings. Its glass collection, housed in the Palley Pavilion, features works by Robert Arneson, Jun Kaneko, Christine Federighi, Pablo Picasso, William Morris, Emily Brock, Harvey Littleton, Erwin Eisch, and Ginny Ruffner. The museum reported 41,000 visitors in 2011, including 6,500 students.

The permanent collection includes works by Lippo Vanni, Sano di Pietro, Lorenzo di Bicci, Lorenzo di Credi, Vincenzo Cat Conditioning Catena, Francesco Bacchiacca, Bernardino Fungai, Adrian Isenbrandt, Jacob Jordaens, Jusepe de Ribera, El Greco, Francisco Goya, Thomas Gainsborough, Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Frank Stella, Knox Martin, and Duane Hanson. Modern and contemporary holdings include works by Roy Lichtenstein, Sandy Skoglund, Purvis Young, Louise Nevelson, Julian Stanczak, and Enrique Montenegro. The Sylvia and Ray Marchman, Jr. Gallery presents Greek and Roman pottery, sculpture, metalwork, and glass from the first millennium BCE through the 4th century CE, complemented by Washington Allston's neoclassical painting Jason Returning to Demand His Father's Kingdom (1807-1808). The Samuel H. Kress, Palley Gallery and Sheila Natasha Simrod Friedman Gallery display Western European Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque paintings and decorative arts. The Potamkin Family Gallery presents African arts with emphasis on Sub-Saharan works from ca. 500 BCE to the present. The Sol and Sheila Taplin Gallery holds Asian ceramics, metalwork, sculpture, costumes, textiles, and architectural elements from the Neolithic period to the present. The Alfred I. Barton Wing, kept dimly lit for preservation, contains Native North, Central, and South American works from 2500 BCE to contemporary pieces by living artists. The Ben Tobin Galleries are dedicated to contemporary art.

The Lowe Art Museum is located on the campus of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, and is accessible by Miami Metrorail at University Station. It is owned and operated by the University of Miami. The museum maintains an active exhibition calendar with traveling and periodic exhibitions. Its facilities include 14 thematic galleries, the Palley Pavilion for glass, and an outdoor sculpture garden.