The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) is pleased to announce that the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago has been awarded the first Samuel H. Kress Foundation Provenance Research Fellowship (Kress Fellowship). This newly established initiative provides essential funding for a researcher to investigate a permanent collection, or part of a collection, of an AAMD Museum. It is a year-long program and includes a residency at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. The new fellowship reflects AAMD’s commitment to fostering on-going professional development in the art museum field and dedication to best practices in provenance research.

The Smart Museum has historic collection strengths in European modern art made between 1890 and 1945, and continues to acquire actively in this area. These holdings will be the focus of several important upcoming research and exhibition projects, including the fall 2015 exhibition “Expressionist Impulses: German and Central European Art, 1890–1990.”

“The Kress Fellowship provides an exceptional opportunity for the museum to delve into the full provenance, ownership, and exhibition histories of key works from this area of our collection,” said Anthony Hirschel, Dana Feitler Director of the Smart Museum.

 

About the Samuel H. Kress Foundation

The mission of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation (est. 1929) is to sustain and carry out the original vision of founder, Samuel H. Kress (1863-1955). The Samuel H. Kress Foundation supports the work of individuals and institutions engaged with appreciation, interpretation, preservation, study and teaching of the history of European art and architecture from antiquity to the dawn of the modern era.

 

Image:

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Dodo in the Studio
1910
Pastel on paper
Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago
Gift of Paul and Susan Freehling in memory of Mrs. Edna Freehling
2002.70