The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
established in 1875, chartered in 1876. When the city of Philadelphia planned to erect a building to house the Centennial Exposition of 1876, provision was made to keep the building permanently occupied; the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art was privately established for that purpose. Its name was changed in 1929 to the Pennsylvania Museum of Art, and the present name was adopted in 1938. Its present building, modeled after a Greek temple, was opened in 1928. It is owned by the city. The museum complex also includes the Museum College of Art; the Perelman Building; the Rodin Museum; and three colonial houses.
The museum has many fine collections, the outstanding one being the John G. Johnson Collection of European old masters. The other major bequests of European art in the museum are the Wilstach, Elkins, and McFadden collections. The Gallatin, Arensberg, and Stieglitz collections of modern art, and the Crozier Collection of Persian and Chinese art are outstanding. The museum houses more than 60 paintings by Thomas Eakins. The museum owns representative selections of Pennsylvania Dutch folk art; many period rooms, including a French Romanesque cloister and a Gothic chapel; a collection of textiles and costumes; and a fine collection of Marcel Duchamp’s works, including Nude Descending a Staircase.
