During your visit to this Omaha art museum, explore an eclectic collection of works beginning with Greek pottery and moving through Europe and into American Western art and finishing in the 20th century. Outside you can enjoy the art museum’s sculpture gardens. The Joslyn Art Museum also houses Café Durham and Hitchcock Museum Shop.
Joslyn Art Museum Permanent Collection
Ancient Art Collection
The Joslyn Art Museum’s collection of antiquities includes objects from Egypt, Greece and Rome. See a portrait bust of the Egyptian princess Amenirdas I and a Roman bust of Augustus re-carved from an earlier portrait of Nero. Highlighted in the Ancient Art Collection are pieces of Greek pottery including an Attic Black-Figure Amphora attributed to The Omaha Painter and an Italo-Corinthian Olpe credited to The Joslyn Painter.
The European Collection
Paintings within the art museum’s European Collection include works by Titian, Veronese, El Greco, and Claude Lorrain as well works by noted Spanish and Dutch artists. Of particular importance are 19th century Academic paintings by William Adolphe Bouguereau, Jean-Léon Gérôme and Ernest Meissonier as well as Impressionist masterworks by Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir, and Claude Monet. Additionally, the European Collection includes one of two plaster versions of Edgar Degas’ renowned sculpture, Little Dancer, Fourteen Years Old.
The American Collection
Included in the American Collection are Colonial-era portraits by James Peale and Mather Brown; Hudson River School landscapes by Thomas Cole and Homer Dodge Martin; and post-Civil War paintings by Eastman Johnson, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, William Merritt Chase, Mary Cassatt and Childe Hassam. Also included in the collection are examples of early American furniture, sculpture and decorative arts from the 18th through 20th centuries.
American Indian Collection
Discover historic and contemporary paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints and objects by the native peoples of North America in the museum’s American Indian Collection. Highlights include ledger books by Howling Wolf and White Horse and a beaded jacket belonging to Logan Fontenelle, grandson of Omaha chief Big Elk. Also on view are contemporary American Indian works by Fritz Scholder, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Arthur Amiotte, Allan Houser, Bob Haozous, Zig Jackson and Victor Masayesva, Jr.
The Art of the American West Collection
Highlighted in the Joslyn’s Art of the American West Collection are works by Swiss artists Karl Bodmer, whose watercolors and prints document his journey through the Missouri River frontier between 1832 and 1834. Other significant holdings in the Art of the American West Collection include a group of watercolors and paintings by Alfred Jacob Miller, based on his travels in the Rocky Mountains with Sir William Drummond Steward in 1837. Additionally the collection includes paintings and sculptures by George Catlin, George Caleb Bingham, Seth Eastman, Carl Wimar, Charles M. Russell, Thomas Moran, Frederic Remington and William Robinson Leigh.
Latin American Collection
The Latin American Collection reflects the influence of Spanish missionaries on indigenous artists in the 16th to 19th centuries with emphasis on Mexico and Bolivia. Notable works within the collection include an Our Lady of Guadalupe retablo and a travelling scroll by José María Hernández.
Modern Contemporary Collection
The centerpeice of the Joslyn Art Museum’s Modern Contemporary Collection is Jackson Pollock’s 1947 canvas Galaxy. Complementing the piece are paintings and sculpture by artists such as Hans Hoffman, Kenneth Noland, Al Held, Helen Frankenthaler, Tom Wesselmann, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, Sol Le Witt and Petah Coyne.
Asian Collection
Joslyn Art Museum’s Asian Collection chronicles over 4,000 years of Asian civilization from a Neolithic Chinese storage jar, to a contemporary Japanese Kutani vase. Of particular importance is the collection’s 18th century (Kang-xi) eight-panel, carved red lacquer screen.
Sculpture Gardens
Peter Kiewit Foundation Sculpture Garden
Nestled between the Joslyn Art Museum and Central High School on the east side, the Peter Kiewit Foundation Sculpture Garden is 1.2 acres divided into distinct garden galleries and named in honor of renowned Omaha builder, Peter Kiewit and the private philanthropic trust he created, the Peter Kiewit Foundation. Stroll through the sculpture garden to see the Sydney Cate Family Wall in memory of Betty G. Cate, the Robert B. Daugherty Entry Plaza featuring a statue of a Sioux warrior on a rearing horse by Serbian-born sculptor John David Brcin. Running east west through the sculpture garden you will find The Omaha Riverscape, an installation by American granite sculptor Jesús Moroles. Additionally, the Peter Kiewit Foundation Sculpture Garden features the Charles and Mary Reflecting Pool, at 118 feet long, 25 feet wide and with three fountains each made with a different type of granite: Mountain Red, Carnelian and Dakota Mahogany.
Discovery Garden
At the northwest corner of Joslyn Art Museum campus you will find Discovery Garden, an innovative, interactive outdoor space. Delight in fun and fanciful sculptures by nationally and internationally recognized artists.
Other Outdoor Sculpture
Additional sculptures dot the art museum’s campus. Sidney Buchanan’s Pawn and an untitled red aluminum piece by John Henry can be found in the Parking Garden on the north side of the campus. In the Evelyn A. Veach Atrium Garden at the west end of the ConAgra Foods Atrium you will find Generations by Zimbabwean sculptor Josiah Manzi. At the museum’s 24th Street Entrance Drive Able Charlie by Kenneth Snelson will greet you.
Dining at Café Durham
Start or end your time at the Joslyn Art Museum at Café Durham. Located in the museum’s atrium, Café Durham’s menu features soups, salads, sandwiches and wraps, daily hot entrée specials and deserts.
Shopping in Hitchcock Museum Shop
Stop by Joslyn’s Museum Shop. Gifts and mementos unique to the Joslyn Art Museum are available to purchase. Be sure to ask about the Museum Shop’s complimentary gift wrapping service.
- In addition to its permanent collection and sculpture gardens, the Joslyn Art Museum regularly features special exhibitions.
- Non-flash photography is permitted in the art galleries that house the museum’s permanent collection and in the sculpture gardens. Taking photographs of the museum’s special exhibitions is prohibited.