On the Road
Sharing the CMA's Samuel H. Kress Collection
European Splendors: Old Master Paintings from the Kress Collection
European Splendors offers a chance to experience old master paintings in full living color. Notable artists include Pieter Claesz, François Boucher, and Tintoretto.
Having built his fortune through the chain of popular S. H. Kress & Co. five-and-dime department stores, Samuel H. Kress (1863—1955) wanted to bring the riches of European old master paintings to everyday Americans in the midst of the Great Depression. The Samuel H. Kress Foundation later built on this idea by donating artworks to more than 40 museums nationwide.
In 1954 and 1962 the Columbia Museum of Art received two large gifts of Renaissance, Baroque, and 18th-century art from the Kress Foundation of New York. Thirty of these paintings, representing the 13th to the 18th centuries, are now on an extraordinarily rare tour, making these art-historical treasures accessible to new audiences.
Exhibition locations include
Albany Museum of Art, Albany, Georgia
August 28, 2021 – December 26, 2021
Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Provo, Utah
February 18 – July 31, 2022
Columbia Museum of Art
September 23, 2022 – January 1, 2023
Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Little Rock, Arkansas
February 1, 2023 – May 14, 2023
Organized by the Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina
With support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York