182032346Large-Scale Artworkshttps://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/203/objects/xmlAlthough Ellsworth Kelly's "Austin" has become the Blanton's most iconic large-scale work, several other important artworks that are either immersive or monumental are also much loved by our visitors. Opened in the spring of 2023, our new grounds feature four large-scale art commissions. Visitors will be welcomed to the museum by Kay Rosen’s vibrant and playful "HI" mural, which imagines the possibilities that can exist in common speech. "RPM (Rotations per Minute)," 2018, a work by internationally recognized contemporary artist Jennie C. Jones, transforms the Butler Sound Gallery–outdoors, north of the Michener Gallery Building and adjacent to Austin–into an enveloping soundscape of sustained tones that subtly shift and repeat. The stunning large-scale mural "Verde, que te quiero verde [Green, How I Want You Green]," created by Cuban American artist Carmen Herrera, enhances the west-facing wall under the Blanton’s arcaded Loggia. Finally, Gabriel Dawe’s “Plexus No. 44” stretches across the reimagined Smith Building lobby in a spectrum of brilliantly colored threads.https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/24259/full2132634Ancient Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern Art 800 BCE – 300 CEhttps://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/213/objects/xmlThe Blanton’s collection includes approximately 40 objects from the ancient Near East and Mediterranean regions. Several bronze objects, including a belt from ancient Urartu (modern-day Armenia) and small Roman sculptures, testify to the sophisticated metalworking skills of ancient artisans. Greek terracotta vases and drinking vessels form the majority of the collection. These depict a range of subjects, such as myths, athletics, and sea creatures and could serve functional purposes in daily life, as well as ritual ones in a funerary context. A small number of Roman marble sculptures include portraits and mythological subjects. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/classifications%3AAntiquities" rel="nofollow">See all Ancient Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern Art 800 BCE – 300 CE.</a> https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/18675/full2062383European Art: 1400–1899https://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/206/objects/xmlThe Blanton’s collection of over 330 European paintings ranges from late 14th-century Italian panels with gold backgrounds to 19th-century landscapes by artists of various nationalities. Particular strengths include Italian 16th- and 17th-century works, as well as French paintings from the 17th-century. The collection also includes paintings by Austrian, Dutch, Flemish, German, and English artists, as well as a small group of sculptures. The European collection’s subjects range from religious, mythological, and historical themes to portraits, still lifes, and landscapes. Although most of the paintings are on canvas or wood panel, 17 are on copper. The majority of the works come from the Suida-Manning Collection, assembled by two generations of art historians and acquired by the Blanton in 1998. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/classifications%3AEuropean%20Painting%20and%20Sculpture" rel="nofollow">See all European Art: 1400–1899</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/42413/full2082388Prints and Drawings: 1480–1899https://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/208/objects/xmlThe Prints and Drawings collection includes nearly 18,000 works on paper, more than a third of which date from before 1900. A core group of the drawings come from the Suida-Manning Collection, assembled by two generations of art historians who focused on Italian and French artists. The acquisition of the Leo Steinberg Collection in 2002 greatly augmented the Blanton’s holdings of European prints. The Blanton’s collection includes works by pioneering printmakers as well as examples from all the major printmaking centers in Europe and from North America. These works showcase a broad range of printmaking techniques, including woodcut, engraving, etching, mezzotint, aquatint, lithography, and color printing. Because works on paper are sensitive to light, selections from the collection are displayed in the galleries on a rotating basis. Prints, drawings, and photographs not on view are available by appointment in the H-E-B Study Room. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/beginDate%3A1480%3Bclassifications%3APrints%20and%20Drawings%3BendDate%3A1899" rel="nofollow">See all Prints and Drawings: 1480–1899</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/25100/full2092389Prints and Drawings: 1900–presenthttps://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/209/objects/xmlThe Prints and Drawings collection includes nearly 18,000 works on paper, the majority of which date from after 1900. Artists from over 40 nationalities are represented in the collection, with particularly strong numbers of Latin American and Latinx artists. Prints from this collection represent major art historical movements of the 20th century in Europe, America, and Latin America, with a growing emphasis on artists of color and woman artists. Because works on paper are sensitive to light, selections from the collection are displayed in the galleries on a rotating basis. Prints, drawings, and photographs not on view are available by appointment in the H-E-B Study Room. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/beginDate%3A1900%3Bclassifications%3APrints%20and%20Drawings" rel="nofollow">See all Prints and Drawings: 1900–present</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/23929/full2102390Art of the Spanish Americas: Painting and Sculpturehttps://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/210/objects/xmlThis section of the art of the Spanish Americas collection includes approximately 80 paintings (on canvas, glass, and copper) and 11 sculptures (mostly on polychromed wood, but also on Huamanga stone). They were produced in Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela between 1650 and 1850, when those countries were under Spanish rule. Most of these objects depict Catholic imagery, but there are few significant civil portraits. The collection also includes 13 sculptures created in Brazil in the 18th century. These pieces came to the Blanton thanks to a generous donation from the Fundación Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in 2016, and the purchase of the Roberta and Richard Huber Collection in 2018. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/classifications%3AArt%20of%20the%20Spanish%20Americas%3Btype%3ASculpture%2CPainting" rel="nofollow">See all Art of the Spanish Americas: Painting and Scultpure</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/22855/full2112391Art of the Spanish Americas: Silver and Furniturehttps://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/211/objects/xmlThe art of the Spanish Americas is a curatorial area created at the Blanton in 2016. This selection of works comprises 67 pieces of furniture, some of which were produced in the former viceroyalties of Nueva Granada and Peru between 1650 and 1830 with local materials like the mopa mopa lacquer (barniz de pasto), turtle shell or bone. Other pieces were elaborated in Venezuela using Mahagony or Gateado wood, by travelling cabinet makers like Canarian Domingo Gutiérrez and United States-born Joseph P. Whiting. Although many of these objects are based on European models, others innovate in decoration and design, like the butacas, the prototypical Venezuelan chair. The 41 silver objects in the collection were made either for secular use or for religious spaces in colonial Argentina, Bolivia, Goa, Mexico, Peru, and Spain. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/classifications%3AArt%20of%20the%20Spanish%20Americas%3Btype%3AFurnishings%20and%20equipment%2CFurniture" rel="nofollow">See all Art of the Spanish Americas: Silver and Furniture</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/22869/full2002098Latin American Art: 1900–1949https://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/200/objects/xmlThe Blanton’s collection of Latin American art includes over 4,500 works, reflecting the enormous diversity of artistic traditions in the region, and representing more than 600 artists from Mexico, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. During the first half of the 20th century, artists from Latin America embraced the tenets of modern art but adapted them to local and regional concerns, resulting in highly innovative works of art. Although their artworks could range from abstract modes to realistic or surreal figuration, they often anchored their avant-garde practices in social and political issues. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/beginDate%3A1900%3Bclassifications%3ALatin%20American%20Art%3BendDate%3A1949" rel="nofollow">See all Latin American Art: 1900–1949</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/6143/full2012099Latin American Art: 1950–1969https://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/201/objects/xmlThe Blanton began collecting Latin American art in the 1960s, constituting one of the oldest, largest and most comprehensive collections of Latin American in the country. During the second half of the 20th century, when modern art became consolidated and institutionalized in Latin America, artists became progressively involved in international artistic circles. Many chose to explore abstract art through a diversity of approaches, including Concrete Art, Constructivism, Kinetic Art, Op art, and Informalism. Others favored figuration, ranging from Surrealism, expressionistic Neofiguration, and Pop Art. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/beginDate%3A1950%3Bclassifications%3ALatin%20American%20Art%3BendDate%3A1969" rel="nofollow">See all Latin American Art: 1950–1969</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/14589/full1992097Latin American Art: 1970–presenthttps://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/199/objects/xmlThe period covered in this selection is characterized by the development of experimental artistic practices often tied to social movements and contested political contexts. Part of this production which relied on recycling texts, objects, and images fell under the umbrella term of Conceptualism. Artists’ keen interest in experimenting developed an expansive diversity of forms to make their voices heard in innovative ways, including Mail Art, Installation Art, Performance, Video Art and New Media. At the same time, the graphic arts, utilizing an array of new techniques, became a favored means of disseminating bold socio-political messages in countries like Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Colombia. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/beginDate%3A1970%3Bclassifications%3ALatin%20American%20Art" rel="nofollow">See all Latin American Art: 1970–present</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/29771/full2142638Art of the United States: pre-1900https://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/214/objects/xmlThe Blanton's holdings of 19th-century American art are especially strong in landscape imagery, specifically paintings depicting the American West. Many of these works were donated by University of Texas alumnus C.R. Smith, who favored this subject and collected it in depth. Several of the artists, such as Thomas Moran, Albert Bierstadt, and Worthington Whitridge, are broadly associated with the Hudson River School, a group of artists inspired by nature and who often painted a romanticized, idealized version of it. The C.R. Smith Collection is especially strong in works by Henry F. Farny, a painter and illustrator who became well-known for his depictions of Native Americans. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/classifications%3AArt%20of%20the%20United%20States%3BendDate%3A1899" rel="nofollow">See all Art of the United States: pre-1900</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/1772/full2042381Art of the United States: 1900–1944https://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/204/objects/xmlThe Blanton’s collection demonstrates the plurality of styles in the art of the United States from the 1900s to 1940s. The gift of the collection of novelist James A. Michener and his wife Mari Sabusawa Michener forms the core of the Blanton’s holdings in this area. Figurative paintings by artists, including Thomas Hart Benton, Philip Evergood, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Reginald Marsh, and Fletcher Martin, picture—and often comment on—the realities of everyday life. The impact of transatlantic exchange and rapid social and technological change inflects the new vocabularies of artists such as Stuart Davis, Arthur Garfield Dove, Arshile Gorky, and Max Weber, whose work represents the emergence of modernism in the U.S. The Blanton’s collection also includes nearly 100 paintings, sculpture, and works on paper depicting the American West, donated by University of Texas alumnus C.R. Smith. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/beginDate%3A1900%3Bclassifications%3AArt%20of%20the%20United%20States%3BendDate%3A1944" rel="nofollow">See all Art of the United States: 1900–1944</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/9230/full2052382Art of the United States: 1945–1969https://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/205/objects/xmlThe Blanton’s holdings are particularly strong in postwar art from the United States, thanks to the gift of the collection of novelist James A. Michener and his wife Mari Sabusawa Michener. Michener wrote that, as a writer and collector, he “felt that he [Michener] ought to know what artists living in America during his lifetime were doing. Specifically, he wanted to see how they handled the kinds of artistic problems he faced.” Michener collected with the intention to donate to a teaching museum and thus cast a wide net and sought new talent. The resulting collection is notable for its strength in abstract painting, including gestural works by Helen Frankenthaler, Philip Guston, Adolph Gottlieb, and Joan Mitchell, as well as hard-edge abstraction by Ellsworth Kelly and Al Held, and Minimalist and proto-Pop paintings by Jo Baer, Lee Lozano, Mary Corse, Robert Indiana, and Yayoi Kusama. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/beginDate%3A1945%3Bclassifications%3AArt%20of%20the%20United%20States%3BendDate%3A1969" rel="nofollow">See all Art of the United States: 1945–1969</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/71222/full2072384Art of the United States: 1970–presenthttps://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/207/objects/xmlThe Blanton’s collection of art of the United States since 1970 includes work by emerging and established artists representing a diverse range of media and perspectives. The collection includes paintings, sculpture, photography, textiles, and time-based media, as well as works made using new or unexpected materials, such as Sonya Clark’s "Madam C. J. Walker." The Blanton also has a history and mission of supporting significant Texas-born or -based artists such as Luis Jiménez and Dario Robleto. The museum is committed to building a collection and program that reflect our community and foster important conversations about social justice issues as a step toward a more equitable and inclusive society. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/beginDate%3A1970%3Bclassifications%3AArt%20of%20the%20United%20States" rel="nofollow">See all Art of the United States: 1970–present</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/6753/full2162662Latino Arthttps://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/216/objects/xmlThe term “Latino art” (also called "Latinx art") applies to the work produced by artists of Latin American descent who were born or reside in the United States. Thus, as an art historical field, it straddles both American and Latin American art. Latino art is grounded in a historical context that reaches back to the Indigenous cultures and Spanish colonies of the Americas, as well as the more recent history of the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Central America. As an expression of modern and contemporary art, it includes the work of Mexican American, Chicano, Tejano, Hispanic, Nuyorican, and Cuban American artists, among other groups with a significant demographic presence in the United States. In a broader sense, the term can also apply to South American artists who made this country their home. The Blanton’s growing collection of Latino art holds over 1,500 works, a selection of which is included below. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/classifications%3ALatino%20Art" rel="nofollow">See all Latino Art</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/7157/full2152650International Contemporary Art: 1980–presenthttps://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/215/objects/xmlThe Blanton’s growing collection of international contemporary art seeks to reflect the production of artists working around the world as they respond to issues of both local and global concern. The selection below highlights work since 1980 from artists in the United States, Latin America, Africa, and beyond. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/beginDate%3A1980%3Bclassifications%3AModern%20and%20Contemporary%20Art" rel="nofollow">See all International Contemporary Art: 1980–present</a>https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/19021/full2122604Plaster Casts of Ancient Greek and Roman Sculpturehttps://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/212/objects/xmlBetween 1894 and 1923, William J. Battle, professor of classical languages at The University of Texas at Austin, purchased approximately 100 plaster casts of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures for display in his classrooms and in the university’s main building. His goal was to enhance students’ understanding of classical civilization by offering visual examples of the art that embodied the history, literature, philosophy, and mythology of the period. UT’s casts were also used in studio art classes to teach technical and anatomical drawing. When casts became unfashionable in the 1950s, owing in part to the rise of modernism in art, many museums and universities disposed of their collections. Fortunately, most of UT’s collection was deposited in storage instead. The casts were restored in the 1970s and selections from the William J. Battle Collection are now on display in a study space adjacent to the Julia Matthews Wilkinson Center for Prints and Drawings. <a href="https://blanton.emuseum.com/advancedsearch/Objects/classifications%3AWilliam%20J.%20Battle%20Collection%20of%20Plaster%20Casts" rel="nofollow">See all Plaster Casts of Ancient Greek and Roman Sculpture</a> <a href="https://battlecasts.la.utexas.edu/index.html" rel="nofollow">For more information explore this digital resource from the Department of Classics of the University of Texas at Austin.</a> https://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/14422/full2022345Recent Acquisitionshttps://blanton.emuseum.com/collections/202/objects/xmlRecent acquisitions, 2024–presenthttps://blanton.emuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/12529/full