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The Joslyn Art Museum is the principal fine arts museum in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Opened in 1931 at the initiative of Sarah H. Joslyn in memory of her husband, businessman George A. Joslyn. In his honor, the building was named the Joslyn Memorial. It is the only museum in the state with a comprehensive permanent collection. Some of the prominent works in the museum are part are of the nineteenth and twentieth century collections of American and European artists. Key topics that are relevant to the Joslyn Art Musuem are, the history of George and Sarah Joslyn, the building history, museum admissions, and the collections of the museum.

Mission Statement: "Joslyn Art Musuem collects, preserves, and interprets the visual arts of the highest quality, fostering appreciation and enjoyment of art for the benefit of a diverse audience."

George and Sarah Joslyn

Originally from Vermont, George and Sarah Joslyn made their move to Des Moines, IA in 1879 for George's new printing job at the Iowa Printing Company which involved manual labor.Shortly after in 1880 George was to move to Omaha to manage his own printing branch of the company.George then founded his own company called the Western Newspaper Union, which soon became the largest supplier of "ready print" newspapers and provided news for 12,000 people within the United States, this is when he would gain most of his wealth. George was considered to be philanthropic with his wealth, but he was also considered a hard man of business in the Omaha community.

As a couple, George and Sarah Joslyn were known to be great lovers of the arts, especially music.So, when George past in 1916 (now the richest man in Nebraska), Sarah decided she wanted a memorial building dedicated to his life and accomplishments, and to be a reflection of their love for the arts. The Memorial was also a gift to the people of Omaha and a way for the Joslyn's to give back to the city that had given them so much. Sarah Joslyn founded and funded the nonprofit Society of Liberal Arts to find a permanent home for art collections in Omaha. When the Society of Liberal Arts was created her intended purpose for it was to create and operate the Joslyn Memorial building that would later become the Joslyn Art Museum.

In 1940 Sarah Joslyn passed away and gave control of the Society of Liberal Arts to the trustees. The endowment she left to help maintain the museum was then also used to purchase new art acquisitions to expand the museum's collection. The Memorial was later officially renamed as the Joslyn Art Musuem in 1987.

Building History

In 1928, Kiewit started construction on the Joslyn Memorial building, but plans for the building started to come together much earlier in 1920. Since the Joslyn's were particularly fond of music the building was initially designed as a concert hall, but due to the persuasion of various art groups throughout Omaha art galleries were added. The Memorial occupies a large and impressive art deco building designed by John and Alan McDonald. John McDonald was a close friend to the Joslyn's, and before designing the memorial he designed their Scottish castle-like home, commonly known as the Joslyn Castle, along with several other public and residential buildings throughout Omaha. Not only did the exterior of the building give an impressive art deco feel it also drew inspiration from Egyptian temples, art moderne motifs, and the Nebraska capitol building in Lincoln. The Memorial building is constructed of Georgia pink marble, with 38 different marbles from all over the world and stone from across Europe and Africa in the interior.

The decorative panels on the exterior were designed by sculptor John David Brcin, they refer to the peoples of the plains - the original Native American inhabitants and the later European explorers and settlers. There are eight decorative panels in total around the outside of the building: Dissemination of Intelligence (front right), The Pioneer Press (front left), The Homesteaders (north), Civic Builders (south), Indian Signal Fire (north), Indian Prayer for Life (south), Indian Picture Writing (back north), and Indian Sign Language (back south). Inscriptions carved on the building were written by Hartley Burr Alexander. In order for the Memorial building to be built Sarah gave $2.6 million for construction and an endowment for the continued maintenance of the building. The Joslyn Memorial building opened in 1931 and consisted of various art galleries, a concert hall, lecture hall, art library, classrooms, and a beautiful atrium with a fountain. In 1938 the Memorial was listed in the top one hundred finest buildings in the United States. With the building provided by Sarah, all the people of Omaha had to do now was fill it with art.

Several decades after the Memorial building had opened to the public it was running out of space for staff and the growing collection. Euguene Kingman the director of the Joslyn during the 1960s wanted the Joslyn to be the "Smithsonian of Omaha", a place where science and the arts could come together. With this idea he wanted to expand the Memorial and construct additional buildings, which would include a science museum and a planetarium. This idea was abandoned due to lack of funds for the project and Kingman's departure in 1969. However, due to Kingman's vision for the Memorial he saved quite a bit of historical material which was later donated to historical museums around Omaha. Also, after his departure the Joslyn Memorial moved back to a strong focus on the arts.

Even though there was still no expansion of the memorial building, in 1987 the Joslyn Memorial participated in a land exchange with Omaha Central High School. Through this exchange the Joslyn acquired land to the east of the memorial building to add a sculpture garden and expand parking, the high school gained land to the northeast where a new football stadium was constructed.

In 1994 the first addition was finally added to the Joslyn Art Musuem, it was designed by Lord Norman Foster and would include the Scott Pavillion. HDR Inc. and the Kiewit construction company would work together to build this addition. The exterior of the 1994 addition used pink Georgian marble from the same quarry as the original Memorial building, so that the addition looked to be a part of the original. This addition had been long awaited and due to a development campaign for the Joslyn Museum and the Western Heritage Museum (Durham Museum), there was plenty of money to construct a new space. $15.95 million was used to construct the 1994 addition, it includes modern art, visiting show galleries, cafe, kitchen, offices, storage space, security control center, classroom space, and a beautiful glass atrium that connects the new addition to the Memorial building. Aside from the 1994 addition, sections of the memorial building were updated, such as the restrooms, concert hall, and lecture hall.

In 2008, construction began on the Joslyn Museum Sculpture Gardens, that would better utilize the space received in the 1987 land exchange. The gardens opened in the summer of 2009 featuring work from local and national artists as well as a reflecting pool and waterfall. Shortly after its opening, the garden hosted the 24th annual Jazz on the Green festival which it hosted until 2010 when Omaha Performing Arts began producing the event and moved it to the Midtown Crossing at Turner Park, which could better accommodate the growing event.

Announced in 2018, the newest addition to the Joslyn Art Musuem will be the Rhonda and Howard Hawks Pavillion, named after the Hawks Foundation philanthropists. The museum closed for construction of the new addition in spring of 2022 and plans to reopen in 2024. This new space will create an extra forty-two thousand square feet for the museum, which will include gallery spaces, classrooms, a new gift shop, and multi-purpose community spaces. The architecture firm Snohetta, and local architecture company Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture, worked together to design the new addition. As with the original Memorial building and 1994 addition, Kiewit Building Group will serve as the contractor for the project. Along with the new building space, the gardens and outdoor spaces surrounding the museum will be revamped, and old offices in the original building will be restored. The exterior of the Rhonda and Howard Hawks Pavillion resembles that of a cloud, which sticks to the theme of the great plains. To tie the addition in with the rest of the museum exterior there will be small flecks of pink, noticeable from the outside of the pavilion. The addition will also create a new entrance to the museum, and visitors can access the rest of the museum through the pavilion.

Admissions

At its opening in 1931 the Memorial was to be an admission free facility. Free admission continued until 1965, when admission started to be charged starting at twenty-five cents per person. As time went on the price of admission continued to rise, in 1987 it was two dollars for adults, children and seniors were one dollar. Then in 2010 admission was up to eight dollars per adult, thankfully in 2013 this changed, the museum moved back to their original vision of free admission for visitors. This was made possible for the museum through a three-year grant from the Sherwood Foundation Grant. After the grant was concluded the Sherwood Foundation believed that the Joslyn would be able to make up the funds from admissions in other ways. Before declaring free admission, the fees that came from admission only ended up being 2-4% of the museum's overall revenue. As of today the museum is still making sure admission is free for all to increase the accessibility of art to the public.

Collections

When the Joslyn Memorial first opened, there was a need for art to fill the galleries. The Art Institute of Omaha and the Friends of Art donated various paintings, Charles Nelson Dietz donated a personal collection in 1934, and The Jessie Barton Christianity Bequest donated works from the collection of Guy Barton. These were some of the first groups and people to donate collections to the Joslyn, later after Sarah's death, Paul Grummann, the director from 1931-1947, and Harold Parsons purchased European art for the Memorial. When Eugene Kingman took over as director in 1947, he expanded the Greek vase collection as well as art and artifacts from indigenous cultures. In 1986 the Karl Bodmer collection, initially on loan to the museum, was donated and became part of the permanent collection of the Joslyn. Over the more recent years the Joslyn continues to expand their collections, particularly the contemporary and modern, with the acquisition of Phillip G. Schrager collection, which will be housed in the new Rhonda and Howard Hawks Pavillion.

Permanent collections at the Joslyn Art Museum:

• Ancient: A collection of Greek pottery and various statues, that have Greek, Roman and Egyptian origins.
• European: 16th- and 17th-century works include paintings by Veronese, Titian, Claude Lorrain, Rembrandt and El Greco. 19th century includes romantic works by Delacroix and Gustave Doré, realist works by Corot and Gustave Courbet, and impressionist works by Degas, Monet, Pissarro, and Renoir
• American: Early American portraiture by James Peale and Mather Brown; works by painters of the Hudson River School, realist works by Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins, and works by the American impressionists Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase
• Native American: Both traditional works and art done under the influence of, or in reaction against, European conventions and training.
• Art of the American West: Collections of work by the Swiss artist Karl Bodmer, based on his 1832-34 journey to the Missouri River frontier, and by Alfred Jacob Miller, illustrating the West in the 1830s.
• Latin American: Prominent works in the collection include paintings of saint figures and pottery from Felix Ortiz.
• Post War and Contemporary (20th-Century): A wide range of paintings and sculpture is represented, including paintings by Henri Matisse, Stuart Davis, Theodore Roszak, John Sloan and Robert Henri. Sculpture by Deborah Butterfield, Robert Haozous, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt and Martin Puryear. The collection stresses significant American artistic movements, including regionalism (with paintings by Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton) and Abstract Expressionism (with work by Jackson Pollock, Hans Hofmann, and Helen Frankenthaler) and Pop Art (with work by George Segal and Tom Wesselmann).
• Asian: Consists mainly of ancient Asian sculpture from the 2nd and 3rd century, through works from the 19th century.

Sculpture Gardens

Peter Kiewit Foundation Sculpture Garden:

• Oedipus at Colonnus (1968) by Leonard Baskin
• Untitled (2005) by Jun Kaneko
• Bronze Bench #5 (2005) by Betty Woodman
• Dineh (1981) by Allen Houser
• Spirit of the Dance (1932) by William Zorach
• Large Covered Wagon (2004) by Tom Otterness
• One of the Burghers of Calais (1987) by Auguste Rodin
• Double-Sided Settee (A Trio) (1983) by Scott Burton
• Addih-Hiddisch, Hidatsa Chief (2008) by John Coleman
• Sioux Warrior (2008) by John David Brcin
• The Omaha Riverscape (2008-2009) by Jesús Moroles

Discover Garden:

• Noodles & Doodles by Smith Bourne and Associates Inc.
• Folded Square Alphabet O (1987) by Fletcher Benton
• Metamorphosis by Benard Matemera
• Yellow Ascending (1977) by George Sugarman
• Pencil Bench (2009) by Ron Parks
• 22 1/2 Degrees with Crayon Tips (2009) by Ron Parks
• Cubular (2009) by Peter McClenon Carter

Other Outdoor Sculpture:

• Able Charlie (1983) by Kenneth Snelson
• Untitled (1981) by John Henry
• Pawn (1980) by Sidney Buchanan
• Generations (2007) by Josiah Manzi

Temporary Exhibitions at the Joslyn Art Museum (most recent):

• Allison Janae Hamilton: Recent Works 02/05/2022-05/01/2022
• Soñadora: Yuyi Morales 01/15/2022-04/17/2022
• Ninety Years of Joslyn Art Museum 10/27/2021-05/01/2022
• Faces from the Interior: The North American Portraits of Karl Bodmer 10/02/2021-05/01/2022
• Guy Goldstein 10/02/2021-01/02/2022
• American Art Deco: Designing for the People. 1918-1939 06/05/2021-09/05/2021
• Diedrick Brackens 06/05/2021-09/05/2021
• Wendy Red Star 01/30/2021-04/25/2021
• Revisiting America: The Prints of Currier & Ives 11/21/2020-04/11/2021
• Tuan Andrew Nguyen 09/19/2020-01/03/2021

These are just a few of the most recent temporary exhibitions that were displayed at the Josyln Art Museum after it was safe to reopen due to the COVID-19 pandemic and before construction started on the Rhonda and Howard Hawks Pavillion.

Bibliography

• Gaster, Patricia C. (2022). "George A. Joslyn of Omaha". History Nebraska.
• Freeman, Betsie (2021). "Joslyn Art Museum breaks ground on $100 million addition". Omaha World-Herald.
• Le Beau, Bryan F. (2021). "Arts News: Joslyn Art Museum Announces Plans for a Redesign and New Addition". KC Studio.
• Klein, Becky (2016). "Admission Fees as Barrier to Entry: Joslyn Art Museum".
• Joslyn Art Museum. 1994. Fifty Favorites from Joslyn Art Museum.
• Day, Holiday T. & Sturges, Hollister. 1987. Joslyn Art Museum: Paintings & Sculptures from the European & American Collections.
• Joslyn Art Musuem (2023). "Joslyn Art Museum Expansion and Renovation: Preparing for an Artful New Era." Joslyn Art Museum.
• Nebraska Architecture (2023). "Joslyn Memorial Musuem". Nebraska Architecture.
• Hemphill, Bailey (2013). "Sarah Joslyn". Omaha Magazine.
• Cruse, Kiley (2021). "Historic Omaha architecture: 5 masterpieces of the 1920s". Omaha World-Herald.
• Joslyn Castle and Gardens (2023). "Omaha's first millionairess & philanthropists".
• Snohetta (2023). "Joslyn Art Musuem expansion: A redesign for Omaha's premier cultural hub for the visual arts".

Sources Already Referenced in the Article:

• The Early Years - Kiewit.com (archive.org)
• Join KETV For Jazz On The Green - Entertainment News Story - KETV Omaha (archive.org)
• Pitcher, John (2010). "Turner's green to host jazz". Omaha World-Herald.
• New cost to visit Omaha's Joslyn Art Museum: free
• Artist Wendy Red Star resuscitates the Indian Congress of 1898 - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)