The Wolfsonian–FIU celebrates 15 years of milestones


For 15 years, The Wolfsonian–FIU has developed an extensive array of academic and public programs, reaching an audience as broad and varied as its collection.

The museum has produced exhibitions and activities to give the public opportunities to identify and consider the historical significance of collection themes and their relevance to the world today. Ongoing public programming is vast, including school activities, community events, lectures, films, symposia and collaborative performing arts events.

Check out some of the museum’s historic achievements since it opened in 1995:

Inaugural Exhibition

On November 11, 1995, The Wolfsonian’s full-scale public dimension was officially inaugurated with the opening of the major touring exhibition The Arts of Reform and Persuasion, 1885-1945, which demonstrated, for the first time the depth and breadth of The Wolfsonian collection and its concomitant themes. Presenting 256 objects from the permanent collection, this exhibition traveled to leading art museums in Los Angeles, Seattle, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis. Its catalog garnered international recognition and won awards for its excellence.

Joining FIU

In 1997, The Wolfsonian became a department of FIU, following Mitchell Wolfson, Jr.’s landmark donation of his collection, and its historic building, to the state. Given this fiscal and administrative stability, and vital support from local, state and national resources, programming continues to gain momentum for residents and visitors to South Florida. The Wolfsonian has become one of the world’s preeminent exhibitors of material culture, offering educational and research opportunities for a diverse community of cultural seekers and academics.

International Fellowship Program

The Wolfsonian has worked to make its outstanding collection accessible to researchers from around the world. At the core of The Wolfsonian’s commitment to research is its fellowship program, which has hosted more than 70 scholars and museum professionals, representing a range of disciplines, including art history, architecture, history, cultural studies, and literature. These fellows have conducted research on a great variety of topics concerning the aesthetics, production, use, and cultural significance of the decorative arts, design, and architecture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The program has yielded significant benefits to The Wolfsonian. The museum’s collection has become a key resource for the research of leading scholars in a number of fields, and the publications and exhibitions they have produced have brought broader public attention.

The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts

Since 1986, the Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts has been dedicated to fostering new scholarship for the period 1875 to 1945 and parallels themes contained in the collection of The Wolfsonian. The twenty-sixth issue of the Journal opens up new perspectives on twentieth-century Mexican art and visual culture. It brings together research on understudied developments in architecture, painting, decorative arts, propaganda, and other media, and reveals that Mexican modernism was more multifaceted than is typically proposed. The essays, all generously illustrated, make material available for the first time to a broad audience of scholars, students, and aficionados of Mexican culture.

Online Public Catalog

In 2002, The Wolfsonian launched its online public access catalog, providing a first glimpse into the museum’s extensive holdings and resources. The initial launch of 14,000 bibliographic records and 7,000 linked electronic images from The Wolfsonian library has since expanded to include nearly 40,000 records and links to another associated 35,000 images.

School-based Programs

The Wolfsonian has continuously demonstrated its unwavering commitment to K-12 students and teachers through interdisciplinary educational offerings. The museum has also been an active partner with the Museum Education Program of Miami-Dade County Public Schools and has created an array of unique programs.

Among them are Page at a Time, an ongoing program which enables fifth-graders to learn about visual art, social studies and language arts through a series of museum visits, culminating in class art projects that are exhibited each spring in the museum’s lobby.

Artful Truth—Healthy Propaganda Arts Project was a multi-year initiative to teach fourth- through six-grade students throughout the state of Florida how to recognize and interpret the persuasive messages conveyed by marketing materials, primarily those of the tobacco industry. The complete curriculum is now accessible on the Internet.

Major Grants

The Wolfsonian has been awarded a number of key grants and received significant foundation gifts to help further the museum’s mission. The museum has received generous support from distinguished foundations, including the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Arts, the Cowles Charitable Trust, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation, the Kirk Foundation, and the Funding Arts Network.

A prestigious, competitive challenge grant award of $500,000 from The John S. & James L. Knight Foundation will enable the museum to create a public, digital exhibition space, and a three-year $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation strengthens academic ties with FIU. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded the museum a $500,000 grant in 2008 to plan and implement two WebWise Conferences.

For its continued efforts of documenting and preserving the collection, The Wolfsonian has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), The Getty Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The City of Miami Beach Department of Cultural Affairs and Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs help to support ongoing artistic programming, including the implementation of “Digital Wolf,” a new hands-on design lab for youth. In 2004, Miami-Dade County voters approved a Building Better Communities Bond Program, in which The Wolfsonian will be the recipient of $10 million to increase public access to our collections and buildings.

Awards

The museum has received numerous awards for its publications, collateral materials and exhibitions from top associations, including the American Association of Museums Design Awards; the prestigious George Wittenborn Memorial Award by the Art Libraries Association of North America; AIGA, the professional association for design; and the Mary Ellen LoPresti Award for excellence in art publishing from the Southeast Chapter of the Art Libraries Society of North America.

Growth of the Collection

Since The Wolfsonian’s opening 15 years ago, hundreds of objects have been acquired through donation or purchase that add further dimension to the collection’s strong foundation of art and design.

Some of the objects that have been added to the collection include: Gustav Stickley’s Eastwood model 2638 armchair, a rare example of his early work;  More than 300 vibrant Cuban graphics from the 1920s to 1950s, including ornate cigar-box labels, glamorous jazz age magazine covers by C. W. Massaguer, and elegant 1950s nightclub menus and cocktail accessories; and Scottish designer George Walton’s copper clock, ornamented with blue enamel, integrates the modern notion of marking time within a handcrafted, arts and crafts form.

Traveling Exhibitions and Loans

Many of the museum’s exhibitions and collection objects have traveled to institutions throughout the world including the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture in New York; The Canadian War Museum, Ottawa; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Massachusetts College of Art, Boston; New York School of Interior Design; Rhode Island School of Design in Providence; Seattle Art Museum; and The David and Alfred Smart Gallery of Art at the University of Chicago.

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