During your visit to this Laramie, Wyoming attraction, explore the Museum’s exhibitions featuring art objects from the Museum’s permanent collections. Hosting around 16 exhibitions each year, the University of Wyoming Art Museum offers something for everyone. Be sure to stop by the Museum Store to shop for items related to the University of Wyoming Art Museum.
University of Wyoming Art Museum Collection
Over 8,000 objects are included in the Art Museum’s permanent collections of European Art, American Art, Photography, Contemporary Art, Ethnographic Art and Special Collections. From 15th century old master prints to French Rococo, German Expressionism, Fauvism, Modernism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Contemporary art, the Museum’s collections link to the development of American art, historically and in all forms.
American Art
The core of the American art collection is comprised of artwork from the 19th and 20th centuries with works by George Inness, Albert Bierstadt, “The Ten,” including Childe Hassam and John Henry Twachtman, and artists associated with the progression of American Modernism of the Stieglitz Circle. Holdings in American Regionalism and Social Realism are also significant and include works by Edward Hopper, Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and Reginald Marsh. Large collections of prints represent renowned illustrators such as Winslow Homer, John Audubon, and Thomas Moran.
European Art
The Museum’s European art collection spans from the 15th century to the present. Among the collection’s earliest works are the Old Masters with examples by German artists Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach, as well Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Flemish genre prints of the 16th and 17th century, works by Baroque artists Robert Nanteuil and Jacques Callot and prints by Francisco Goya complete the Museum’s collection of early European art. 19th and 20th century European art is represented by French artists Paul Gauguin, Paul Signac and Marc Chagall. Modern artists in the European collection include Auguste Rodin, Aristide Maillol, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso as well as realists Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí.
Photography
The Art Museum’s photography collection spans from photogravures of Edward S. Curtis to the recent works of Richard Misrach, Mark Klett, and Richard Barnes. The works of Photo-Secession artist Alvin Langdon Coburn, and other 20th century photographers including Berenice Abbott, Laura Gilpin and Harold Edgerton, are also included in the collection. Additional holdings include 150 Polaroid and gelatin silver prints taken by Andy Warhol.
Contemporary Art
The Museum’s contemporary art collection is comprised of works by Jun Kaneko, Chuck Forsman and Wanxin Zhang. The collection spans across a spectrum of media and provides original resource material for students and scholars at the University of Wyoming.
Ethnographic Art
The Art Museum’s growing collections of ethnographic art include the James R. Nolan Collection of 234 Native American works of art including kachinas, baskets and pottery. Textile arts, primarily Navajo and Southwestern rugs in a variety of sizes, complement the Nolan Collection. Additional ethnographic holdings include objects from Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Papua New Guinea, and West Africa.
Special Collections
Special collections within the Art Museum’s permanent collection include: the Huey G. and Phyllis T. Shelton Collection, comprised of the works of Ichiro the largest single-artist netsuke collection in the U.S, the ukiyo-e-collection of 75 Japanese wood block prints representing all major artists of the genre, and paintings by 20th century Haitian artists like Edouard Duval-Carrie and Alexandre Gregoire.
- The University of Wyoming Art Museum is ADA compliant.
- The art museum features 15 to 17 exhibitions annually that bring the world of art to Wyoming. Exhibitions are curated from the permanent collection or present contemporary art by regional, national and international artists and art from the American West.