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| Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, undated; Black and white gelatin silver print.
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Recent examples of exhibitions which have featured groups of work from the Collection are:
Sheron Rupp: Dialogue with A Collection 2008
The Unexpected Encounters of Looking Again: Selections from the Permanent Collection, 2007/08 Curated by Rebecca Karp, M.A. Candidate, Art History '08
Carolyn Webb: Dialogue with A Collection, 2007
What Is Love: Selections from the Permanent Collection, 2007 Curated by Julie Thomson, M.A. candidate, Art History '07
Word and Image: Selections from the Permanent Collection, 2006 Curated by Lisa Amato, M.A. Candidate, Art History '06
Catalogues pubished which feature selections from the Permanent Collection:
7 Objects 69/90
The Lois Beurman Torf Collection for the University of Massachusetts |
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NEW! Make an appointment to
view works in the collection
In 1962 the University began to assemble a collection of art works to be used for teaching purposes and for presentation to the community. When the Fine Arts Center was completed in 1975 the Collection was placed under the care and management of the University Gallery.
The Collection focuses on works on paper - drawings, prints, and photographs - primarily from the second half of the 20th century and comprises approximately 2,600 objects. The University Gallery is currently involved in a Five College Museums/Historic Deerfield computerization project which will integrate the collections of the area's museums making their respective holdings accessible for purposes of study and research. To access the Collection, click here. All images of the University Gallery Collection are identified with UM affixed to their accession number.
Realizing the significance of the Collection but not having a space permanently designated for its exhibition, the Gallery makes certain that portions of the Collection are presented on a frequent basis.
After 35 years of collecting, the University Gallery will open its permanent collection to the public, by appointment.
The collection, which was started by professor emeritus Walter Kamys as a teaching collection for art students, has grown to over 2500 works on paper. It is the most expansive compilation of contemporary photographs, drawings, and prints to be housed in a Massachusetts public institution outside of Boston. By opening a collection study-storage room, we will renew our commitment to serve UMass students and faculty, the Five College community, and the public at large.
Loretta Yarlow, director of the University Gallery is pleased to have brought the collection to this stage of development. “It took several years,” she said recently, “of organizing, cataloging, and digitizing the collection. We needed appropriate storage and viewing space to enable research and study of individual art works. Without the generous help of our donors, the project would not have been possible.” The UMass collection database (with digital images, provenance, artists’ bios, etc.) is linked to the Five College Museums/Historic Deerfield Collections Database.
As we move forward to this new level of public involvement, the University Gallery will increasingly engage students by teaching visual literacy and imparting tools they can use to not only look at, but really see and understand the artwork before them. This is a vital skill for students living in a media- saturated world, and it is our goal that all UMass students, by the time they graduate, will be able to skillfully navigate the visual, as well as the textual world.
We will arrange for requested artworks to be available at a particular time for a class of up to 10 students, or individual faculty or student visits. The collection study room will be open to the public by appointment. To view artworks online search here.
For more essential database tips, please see the in-depth manual created by our colleagues at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College.
Make an appointment
ANDY WARHOL
The University Gallery has received an extraordinary gift from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts of 154 photographs by Andy Warhol, taken during different stages of his career. The gift was part of an unprecedented donation of Warhol art to 183 college and university art museums across the country, made through the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program in honor of the Foundation's 20th anniversary, and consisting of over 28,000 original Warhol photographs. According to Joel Wachs, Foundation president, "Our aim is to provide greater access to Warhol's artwork and process, and to enable a wide range of people from communities across the country to view and study this important yet relatively unknown body of Warhol's work."
The photographs – gelatin silver black and white prints and Polaroid color photos – provide a wealth of information about the artist's process and interaction with his subjects. Included are portraits of such luminaries as author Truman Capote, Senator Ted Kennedy, fashion designer Carolina Herrera, singer Carly Simon, hockey star Wayne Gretzky, artist Duane Hanson, among many others. Also included is his less well-known documentary street photography, rendered through his use of snapshot photography as a more spontaneous medium.
TOM FRIEDMAN
Renowned artist Tom Friedman was Artist-in-Residence at UMass last year, producing a remarkable limited edition print as a collaborative project between the University Gallery and the Art Department's Digital Print Center. Six graduate students in the MFA Studio Art program (Lyndsey Baldwin, Kimberly Hennessy, Deborah Karpman, Justin Kemp, Geof Miller, and Megan Randlett) apprenticed with the artist. We are grateful to Tom Friedman for his generous donation of a print from this edition to the permanent collection.
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Tom Friedman, Mandala, 2008; Pigment print on Museo Portfolio by Crane. Bleed image, 42 x 52 inches
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