INCREASING OUR ACCESSIBILITY
The Greatest Gift:
Tap into 60 Years of the Kress Art Collection
Samuel Henry Kress (1863-1955) and the
Samuel H. Kress Foundation, established
in 1929, amassed one of the most
celebrated collections of European Old
Master paintings, sculpture, and decorative
arts ever assembled through the efforts of
an individual.
The manner in which the Kress Collection
was shared with the American people was
equally remarkable. In the 1930s, 1,800
works of art were donated by Kress to the
National Gallery of Art in Washington,
D.C., to help form the first art museum
for the nation. The rest—another 1,300
pieces—were distributed to 18 cities across
the United States where S. H. Kress and
Co. “five and dime” stores were located.
These Kress regional collections brought
the first Italian paintings and sculptures to
communities where Kress stores served the
public.
In 1954 and 1962, the Columbia
Museum of Art received two large gifts of
Renaissance, Baroque, and 18th-century
art from the Kress Foundation, forming
the nucleus of our important European
collection. The Museum’s renowned Kress
Collection includes 77 Renaissance and
Baroque paintings and works of decorative
art. Of particular note: a rare nativity fresco
by Sandro Botticelli, Venetian scenes by
Giovanni Antonio Canaletto, Francesco
Guardi, and Bernardo Bellotto, and works
by Ribera, Bernardo Strozzi, Boucher, and
Tintoretto.
The Museum is celebrating the 60th
anniversary of the first Kress gift
to the Museum, one of the largest
Kress collections in the country. A
generous $67,000 grant from the Kress
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columbiamuseum.org
Foundation—the largest Kress grant in
CMA history—will be used to fund three
main projects to make the collection more
accessible to our own visitors and residents,
as well as the global art community.
We are creating a public lecture series,
a self-guided multi-media tour of the
Collection, and an enhanced CMA website
to highlight our Kress holdings to generate
widespread awareness of the Kress gift and
the CMA.
of San Francisco, will give a presentation
on Friday, June 20, at noon. Clifford
previously did conservation work on the
CMA’s Canaletto painting and is featured
in the Kress catalogue on conservation.
“Beginning with my work as a volunteer
20 years ago, I have seen how much
visitors are truly impressed by and love
this collection,” says CMA Deputy
Director Joelle Ryan-Cook. “Year after
year, thousands of people are moved by its
beauty and significance. We are so excited
to provide our visitors and global ]YY[