Researching Objects in the Spencer Museum of Art  Tags: art museum ethnography images  

1. Examine the work; DO NOT rely on photographs or reproductions when writing about art. Reproductions serve as useful tools but obviously black and white illustrations of a painting or even those in color can be very misleading.

2.  Read the label carefully; some labels may simply identify the artist, title, date, media, donor, and accession number; didactic labels may provide provenance information, a condition report, and discuss the work in relationship to other works.

3.  Analyse what you know about the work: the artist’s name, the date, the medium, the stylistic period, the nationality, the subject matter.

4.  Begin your research with that you know; if you know the artist’s name, look for biographical and oeuvre information; if you know the subject or period, look for comparable work.

5.  Examine publications from the Spencer Museum of Art, such as collection catalogs, journals, and exhibition catalogs, which may contain information on the specific work.   

Spencer Museum of Art A collection numbering nearly 36,000 artworks and artifacts in all media spanning the history of European and American art from ancient to contemporary, and includes broad and significant holdings of  East Asian art. Areas of special strength include medieval art; European and American paintings, sculpture and prints; photography; Japanese Edo-period painting and prints; 20th-century Chinese painting; and KU's ethnographic collection, which includes about 10,000 Native American, African, Latin American and Australian works.

Printroom, Spencer Museum of Art Includes nearly ten thousand works of art on paper (prints, drawings, photographs, and artists' books).

Spencer Art Minute, an ongoing series of 90-second programs produced by the Spencer Museum of Art and Kansas Public Radio that provides listeners with quick peeks into the Spencer Museum of Art's permanent collection.

An Ear for Art, the Spencer’s cell phone guide. You can access information about selected works of art from your cell phone by dialing 785.338.9467.

Vogel 50x50, Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, New Yorkers of modest means, decided to begin collecting the work of emerging artists shortly after their marriage in 1962. Through their patronage, the Vogels encouraged and supported 177 promising artists. Under the auspices of the National Gallery of Art, over 2500 objects from their collection are being given to American museums. The project is called Fifty Works for Fifty States. One museum in each of the fifty states was selected and the Spencer Museum of Art is the Kansas recipient. This website documents the objects given to the Spencer.

University of Kansas. Museum of Art. Handbook. Located in the Art & Architecture Library - Reference, Call Number: N 582.L25A52.