Sheldon Museum of Art

The Sheldon Museum of Art is an art museum on the campus of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska. Established in 1963 as the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, it holds a comprehensive collection of more than 12,000 works of American art spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The museum occupies a building designed by architect Philip Johnson, constructed of Italian travertine and distinguished by its grand hall and central staircase. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. The institution serves as a major center for the study and exhibition of American art, conducting approximately twenty exhibitions annually with educational programming that includes lectures, children's workshops, and tours.

The museum's origins trace to 1888, when the Sheldon Art Association was founded as the Haydon Art Club in honor of British painter Benjamin Robert Haydon. The club held annual art exhibits and supplied art education to the university, and was later incorporated as the Nebraska Art Association in the early 1900s. For decades, the association exhibited its collection in various university buildings, notably Morrill Hall. The dedicated museum building was completed in 1963 at the junction of 12th and R Streets on the southwest edge of the University of Nebraska's City Campus. It was funded by siblings Mary Frances and Adams Bromley Sheldon, who together gave over $1.5 million; both died during construction, and the museum was named in their honor. Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi was invited to create a work for the grand hall, titled "Song of the Bird," as part of the opening ceremonies. The institution became the Sheldon Museum of Art in 2008, the same year its supporting organization was renamed the Sheldon Art Association. Norman Geske became the first director in 1956, credited with establishing the modern art collection and founding several cultural programs including the Interstate 80 Bicentennial Sculpture Project, the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, and the Sheldon Film Theater (now the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center). Subsequent directors have been George Neubert (1983-1999), Janice Driesbach (2001-2008), Jorge Daniel Veneciano (2008-2014), Wally Mason (2014-2023), and Susan Longhenry (2023, present).

The Sheldon houses the combined collections of the Sheldon Art Association and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, the latter founded in 1929 as the University of Nebraska Art Galleries. The collection totals over 12,000 works in all media and constitutes a comprehensive survey of American art. Holdings are particularly strong in nineteenth-century landscape and still life, American Impressionism, early modernism, geometric abstraction, abstract expressionism, pop art, lyrical abstraction, color field painting, minimalism, and contemporary art. The museum's exhibition program focuses on American art in all media, with curatorial staff organizing shows drawn from the permanent collection that frequently circulate nationally. The program also includes exhibitions organized by peer institutions throughout the United States.

The museum's outdoor sculpture garden, opened in 1970, contains more than thirty monumental sculptures displayed year-round. Works in the garden include pieces by Gaston Lachaise, Jacques Lipchitz, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, David Smith, Lyman Kipp, William G. Tucker, Bryan Hunt, Mark di Suvero, Michael Heizer, and Richard Serra. The garden's first installations proved controversial, with one caller complaining about the "junk" introduced into the sunken garden south of the gallery. The collection has also experienced notable thefts. In April 1965, Benjamin West's painting "Golden Age" was stolen by a university student and later recovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1998, "Man in the Open Air," a 1915 bronze sculpture by Elie Nadelman, was stolen from the sculpture garden, possibly during postgame revelry following Nebraska's victory in the 1998 Orange Bowl. It was recovered about a week later on the university's East Campus; gallery director George Neubert hypothesized the thief was unaware of the work's estimated $500,000 valuation. Following $15,000 in restoration and repair, the sculpture was returned to display inside the building.

The museum building at 451 North 12th Street was designed by architect Philip Johnson and constructed of Italian travertine. Its design features a grand hall and a distinctive suspended central staircase. Johnson proclaimed the Sheldon the best building he ever designed, stating that "the symbolic function of the Sheldon Gallery is fulfilled, I feel, not only [by] the 'classical' exterior of travertine but mainly by the great hall which orients the visitor, as well as elevating his spirits." He designed the building specifically to avoid what he termed "museum fatigue," a state of physical or mental exhaustion common among museum patrons. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in September 2013.

The Sheldon Museum of Art is located on the campus of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska, at 451 North 12th Street, at the junction of 12th and R Streets on the southwest edge of the university's City Campus. The museum is owned by and operates under the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Visitors can access the permanent collection, rotating exhibitions, and the outdoor sculpture garden with its more than thirty large-scale works. The museum maintains an active public program with approximately twenty exhibitions per year, accompanied by educational offerings such as lectures, children's workshops, and tours. Additional information is available through the museum's official website at sheldonartmuseum.org.