About
The Nasher Museum opened in 2005 as a major center for the arts on Duke University’s campus and in the surrounding Research Triangle area. The museum organizes and presents leading-edge exhibitions that travel to institutions worldwide, most recently Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey (2013), The Vorticists: Rebel Artists in London and New York, 1914-1918 (2010) and Barkley L. Hendricks: Birth of the Cool (2008). The traveling exhibition El Greco to Velázquez: Art during the Reign of Philip III was named one of Time magazine’s top 10 shows of 2008. The strengths of the museum’s permanent collection are Medieval art, art of the Americas (largely pre-Columbian), Classical Antiquities and modern and contemporary art.
The museum’s contemporary collection features a growing list of artists, including Barkley L. Hendricks, Christian Marclay, Wangechi Mutu, Ai Weiwei, Fred Wilson and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. More than 100,000 people visit the museum each year.
Building
The 65,000-square-foot Nasher Museum was designed by architect Rafael Viñoly. The centerpiece of Viñoly’s modernist design is a dramatic 13,000-square-foot glass-and-steel roof rising to a height of 45 feet above the great hall. Five concrete pavilions fan out from a central courtyard to house three large gallery spaces, auditorium, two classrooms, shop and café. The museum presents a dynamic schedule of programs, including free Family Days, performing arts events, lectures, film series and social gatherings.
Collection
The Nasher Museum’s growing permanent collection includes some of today’s best contemporary art, with a rare focus on work by artists of African descent. Other major strengths in the collection include European medieval art, European and American paintings, Outsider art, classical antiquities, African art and ancient American (Pre-Columbian) art.
History
Formerly the Duke University Museum of Art, the museum was founded in 1969 with the acquisition of 200 medieval works from the Ernest Brummer Collection. The museum was housed in a former science building on the East Campus until the new building opened on Duke’s central campus in 2005. The museum was renamed the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, in honor of the late Raymond D. Nasher, Duke alumnus, collector and benefactor.
Mission Statement
The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University promotes engagement with the visual arts among a broad community including Duke students, faculty, and staff, the greater Durham community, the Triangle region, and the national and international art community. The museum is dedicated to an innovative approach, and presents collections, exhibitions, publications, and programs that attain the highest level of artistic excellence, stimulate intellectual discourse, enrich individual lives, and generate new knowledge in the service of society. Drawing on the resources of a leading research university, the museum serves as a laboratory for interdisciplinary approaches to embracing and understanding the visual arts.
Annual Report
Download the Nasher 2012 Annual Report (54 pages, PDF format – 2.7M)
COVER: Visitors take in Alexander Calder’s Chat-Mobile (Cat Mobile) . Photo by J Caldwell. Alexander Calder, Chat-Mobile (Cat Mobile) (detail), 1966. Painted sheet metal and steel wire, 20 x 26 x 26 inches. Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The Leonard and Ruth Horwich Family Loan (EL1995.10) © 2012 Calder Foundation, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS).
Archives:
Download the Nasher Museum’s 2011 Annual Report
(29 pages, PDF format – 3.9M)
Download the Nasher Museum’s 2010 Annual Report
(44 pages, PDF format – 3.8M)
Home page video credits, randomly dellivers details of the following works of art:
Mickalene Thomas, Lovely Six Foota (detail), 2007. C-print, 56 5/16 x 67 3/8 inches (143 x 171.1 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Gift of Christen and Derek Wilson, T’ 86, B’90, P’15; 2010.12.1. © Mickalene Thomas.
Barkley L. Hendricks, Bahsir (Robert Gowens) (detail), 1975. Oil on canvas, 83.5 x 66 inches. Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Museum purchase with additional funds provided by Jack Neely. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, NY.
Hank Willis Thomas and Kambui Olujimi, Winter in America (clip from video), 2005. DVD, single-channel video projection, 4:05 minute loop, with book, color photograph on paper, edition of 6 of 6 (+ 2AP). Museum purchase with additional funds provided by William and Ruth True, 2009.2.1.
Wangechi Mutu, A Little Thought for All Ya’ll Who’re Thinking of Beating Around the Bush, 2004. Ink, acrylic, sequins, faux bois contact paper and printed paper collage on Mylar. Collection of Isabella Del Frate Rayburn, New York. © Wangechi Mutu. Photo by J Caldwell.
BOARD OF ADVISORS 2012-2013
The national Board of Advisors advises on policy and major fundraising initiatives, and helps to guide the museum’s acquisitions for the permanent collection.
Nancy A. Nasher, L’79, Chair of the Board
Marilyn Arthur, WC ’56, P’79, P’88
Christopher Bass, T’97
Norman Braman, GP’10
Irma Braman, GP’10
Cynthia Brodhead
E. Blake Byrne, T’57, Chair Emeritus
Trent Carmichael, T’88, P’17
Paula Cooper
Paula Hannaway Crown, T’80
James Cuno
David J. Haemisegger
Brenda La Grange Johnson, WC’61, P’96
David Lamond, T’97, L’06
Gerrit Livingston Lansing, Jr., T’95
Michael J. Levine, T’84, P’16
Michael Marsicano, T’78, G’78, G’82, P’13
Patricia Roderick Morton, T’77, P’06
Jack H. Neely, T’80, P’06
Katharine Lee Reid
Arthur Rogers
Andrew C. Rothschild
Jason Lewis Rubell, T’91
William L. True, T’77
Derek M. Wilson, T’86, B’90, P’15
Ex Officio members include Ann Craver, Nasher Museum of Art Friends Board President; Peter Lange, Provost; Scott Lindroth, Vice Provost for the Arts; Sarah Schroth, Interim Director and Nancy Hanks Senior Curator; Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Bassett Professor of American, Afro-American and African Art, Art, Art History & Visual Studies; Professor Hans Van Miegroet, Chairman, Art, Art History & Visual Studies.
Collections Committee members include the Nasher Board of Advisors; Frank Konhaus T’80; Kristine Stiles, France Family Professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies
FRIENDS BOARD 2013-2014
The Nasher Museum Friends Board focuses on reaching out to new audiences, increasing the museum’s membership and providing ongoing annual support.
Arthur Rogers, President
Henry Sappenfield, Vice President and President-Elect
Stefanie Kahn, Secretary
Michelle Beischer
Gail Belvett
Brad Brinegar
Jennings Brody
Ruth Caccavale
Deborah DeMott
Kathi Eason
Pierce Freelon
Christopher Gergen
Michael Goodmon
Bryan Huffman
Virginia (Ginger) Jernigan
David Lindquist
Mac McCaughan
Lori O’Keefe
Pilar Rocha-Goldberg
Kim Saunders
Angela Terry
Kelly Braddy Van Winkle
Carl Webb
John White
Full Bios on Friends Board members
FACULTY ADVISORY COMMITTEE 2012-2013
The Faculty Advisory Committee provides a connection to new trends in research and teaching throughout the university and advises on program planning.
Kristine Stiles, Chair, France Family Professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Srinivas Aravamudan, Dean of Humanities
Ian Baucom, Professor of English and Director, Franklin Humanities Institute
Peter Burian, Professor, Department of Classical Studies
Cathy Davidson, Ruth F. Devarney, Professor of English Director, HASTAC, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute
Sheila Dillon, Associate Professor, Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Scott Lindroth, Vice Provost for the Arts
Mark Anthony Neal, Professor, African & African American Studies
William Noland, Associate Professor of the Practice, Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Richard Powell, John Spencer Bassett Professor of American, Afro-American and African Art, Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Sumathi Ramaswamy, Professor, Department of History
Victoria Szabo, Assistant Research Professor, Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Ex Officio members include Sarah Schroth, Interim Director and Nancy Hanks Senior Curator, Nasher Museum of Art; Trevor Schoonmaker, Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curator of Contemporary Art, Nasher Museum of Art; Marianne Wardle, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programs, Nasher Museum of Art; Juline Chevalier, Curator of Education, Nasher Museum of Art; Katie Adkins, Assistant Curator of Exhibitions, Nasher Museum of Art; Molly Boarati, Academic Program Coordinator, Nasher Museum of Art.
STUDENT ADVISORY BOARD 2013-2014
The Nasher Student Advisory board plans student events, hosts “Art for All” evenings and works to bring every Duke student to visit the museum at least once during their time at Duke.
Lauren Acampora T’14, Co-Chair 2013-2014
Christina Cansoneri T’14
Emily Eichenberger M’14
Max Feidelson T’16
Megan Friedman T’15
Annalise Johnson T’16
Sujata V Mahtaney T’15
Addison Malone T’15
Marissa Medine T’14
Holly Nichols M’14, T’09
Burcu Ozlar T’15
Kelsey Richards T’15, Co-Chair 2013-2014
Justin Sandulli T’16
Zsofia Solta T’14
Sarah Soltis T’14
Taylor Zakarin T’14
Juline Chevalier, Curator of Education, staff liaison
Director Search
Art History Professor Richard Powell chairs an 11-person committee seeking an internationally known scholar with a bold, energetic vision to be the next director of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
Powell, Duke’s John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies and member of the Board of Advisors and Faculty Advisory Committee of the Nasher Museum, is leading the effort to replace Kim Rorschach, departed the museum in November to become director of the Seattle Art Museum.
“Sarah Schroth, long-time curator at the museum, has been named interim director of the museum until a new director can come aboard,” said Duke Provost Peter Lange.
President Richard Brodhead and Lange charged the search committee to conduct an international search that is open to both internal and external candidates. The new director is expected to provide dynamic leadership for the Nasher Museum and help the museum support the university’s strategic priority of promoting the arts and its commitments to interdisciplinary study, internationalization and putting its knowledge at the service of society.
Sarah Schroth
Sarah Schroth is Interim Director and Nancy Hanks Senior Curator at the Nasher Museum. She is also Coordinating Curator of Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters.
Schroth received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University in 1990. A specialist in Spanish art of the 17th century, in 2008, she co-organized with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the award-winning international loan exhibition, El Greco to Velázquez: Art during the Reign of Philip III. As a result of this exhibition and its programs, she was named knight-commander in the Order of Isabel la Católica by the King Juan Carlos I of Spain. Schroth has been at the Nasher since 1995, before that Schroth was curator at the Ackland Art Museum, UNC-CH, and received the first two-year curatorial internship awarded at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. Among the recent shows she has curated at the Nasher are: Beyond Beauty: Photographs from the Duke University Special Collections Library (2008), Color Balance: Paintings of Felrath Hines and Alma Thomas (2010). She is the coordinating curator for Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy (2012) and curator of Light Sensitive: Photographic Works from North Carolina Collections, (2012). Her teaching interests are patronage studies in the field of Spanish art, and Museum Studies with an emphasis on exhibition planning, connoisseurship, and conservation.
Trevor Schoonmaker
Trevor Schoonmaker, Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curator of Contemporary Art at the Nasher Museum, recently joined the board of directors for the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., in New York.
Juline Chevalier
Juline Chevalier, curator of education at the Nasher Museum, was chosen as the North Carolina Art Education Association’s Museum Educator of the Year. She was recognized at the annual Professional Development State Conference in New Bern, NC, in October, 2010.
Kathleen Wright
Kathleen Wright, special events coordinator at the Nasher Museum, was awarded the lifetime achievement award by the Triangle Chapter of the National Association for Catering and Events for her “exceptional skill, dedication and professionalism” to the industry. Kathy has been a member of NACE since 1997, and has served as Triangle Chapter president, chair of the Chapter Presidents’ Council and on the national board of directors as a Regional Vice President.
