Nasher Museum of Art

The Nasher Museum of Art is the art museum of Duke University, located on the university's campus in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Opened in 2005, the museum serves as a major cultural institution in the American South, dedicated to presenting contemporary art from around the world with particular attention to historically underrepresented artists. Named for philanthropist Raymond Nasher, the museum attracts approximately 100,000 visitors annually and holds a collection of more than 13,000 works spanning ancient to contemporary art.

The university's engagement with art collecting began indirectly in 1936, when art collector William Hayes Ackland wrote to three universities, including Duke, seeking a home for his collection. Duke President William Preston Few was initially receptive, but after both men died, Duke refused the bequest for undisclosed reasons, leading Ackland's estate to establish the Ackland Art Museum elsewhere. The Duke University Museum of Art was formally established in 1969 on Duke's East Campus, built around medieval art from the Ernest Brummer Collection. In the later twentieth century, a push to relocate the museum to a more central campus location met resistance from botany professors concerned about disturbing a botanical study area. The turning point came in the early twenty-first century with a major gift from alumnus Raymond Nasher, enabling the construction of a new $24 million facility. Michael Mezzatesta directed the museum from 1987 to 2003 and oversaw the construction of the new site. The museum opened as the Nasher Museum of Art on October 2, 2005. Mary D.B.T., great-granddaughter of Benjamin Newton Duke, and James H. Semans were major contributors to the university art museum. Kim Rorschach served as founding director until departing for the Seattle Art Museum in November 2012. Sarah Schroth, former Nancy Hanks Senior Curator, directed the museum from 2013 to 2020.

The Nasher Museum's collection encompasses more than 13,000 works of art with particular strengths in three areas: contemporary art, Pre-Columbian art, and historical European art. The contemporary collection is especially notable for its focus on artists who have been historically underrepresented in museum contexts. This includes significant holdings by African American artists such as Barkley L. Hendricks, Kerry James Marshall, Kara Walker, Amy Sherald, Kehinde Wiley, and Hank Willis Thomas; as well as works by international contemporary figures including Ai Weiwei, Marlene Dumas, Christian Marclay, Wangechi Mutu, and Lynette Yiadom Boakye. The Pre-Columbian collection numbers approximately 3,300 objects, with particularly significant holdings of Mayan ceramics and Peruvian textiles. The museum's programming and acquisitions reflect a deliberate commitment to global perspectives and diverse voices in contemporary art.

Among the museum's signature works are pieces by many of the contemporary artists in its collection. The museum holds work by Nina Chanel Abney, John Akomfrah, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Emma Amos, Firelei Báez, Radcliffe Bailey, Maria Berrio, Sanford Biggers, Christian Boltanski, Mel Chin, William Cordova, Genevieve Gaignard, Jeffrey Gibson, Rashid Johnson, Taiyo Kimura, Zanele Muholi, Odili Donald Odita, Maia Cruz Palileo, Ebony G. Patterson, Dan Perjovschi, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Robin Rhode, Dario Robleto, Xaviera Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Eve Sussman, Henry Taylor, Alma Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, Bob Thompson, Nari Ward, Carrie Mae Weems, and Fred Wilson. The Pre-Columbian holdings provide scholarly depth in Mesoamerican and Andean material culture. The museum has also organized significant temporary exhibitions that have shaped its reputation, including The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl (2010-2011), the first museum exhibition to explore vinyl records within contemporary art history, curated by Trevor Schoonmaker; Barkley L. Hendricks: Birth of the Cool (2008), the first career painting retrospective of the American artist, which traveled to multiple venues including the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston; and El Greco to Velazquez: Art during the Reign of Philip III (2008), a collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, that brought together approximately 120 works from institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museo del Prado, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

The current Nasher Museum of Art building was designed by architect Rafael Viñoly and opened on October 2, 2005. The $24 million facility represented a major expansion and relocation from the museum's original East Campus site, moving to a more central location on Duke's campus despite earlier opposition from botany faculty concerned about a botanical study area. The Viñoly-designed building provides a contemporary architectural setting for the museum's collections and exhibition program.

The Nasher Museum of Art is located on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, United States. It is owned and operated by Duke University. The museum is accessible via its website at http://nasher.duke.edu/. Since its reopening in the new building, annual attendance has averaged approximately 100,000 visitors. The museum's central campus location serves both the university community and the broader public, functioning as a teaching museum and cultural destination in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina.