The Collection Galleries
About the Pavilion
The Collection Galleries feature rotating installations of the Nasher Museum’s extensive holdings of historical art. Eight galleries, as well as the entrance to Wilson Pavilion, are dedicated to the museum’s strengths, which represent a brief history of human creativity from different times and parts of the world. Just beyond the entrance, visitors will find the Incubator, a flexible space for rotating student- and faculty-curated exhibitions. Visitors are invited to return again and again to The Collection Galleries, where Nasher curators continue to refresh the galleries with gems from the collection. The museum’s contemporary collection is showcased through rotating exhibitions within a separate pavilion. Works from the contemporary collection create new conversations and connections among historical works in The Collection Galleries. A breakthrough work by New York artist Fred Wilson from 1990, Colonial Collection, anchors the Arts of Africa Gallery. A painting by Kehinde Wiley is on view in the European Art Gallery.
Gallery
Modern & Contemporary
Artwork featured in gallery: Jean Charlot, The Petate, 1933. Lithograph on paper, 6 x 8 1/4 inches (15.2 x 21 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Mr. Jack Lord, 1973.4.13. © The Jean Charlot Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York..
Artwork featured in gallery: Veracruz (Mexico), Seated nude man, 600–900 CE. Ceramic, 14 5/8 x 7 3/16 x 11 inches (37.2 x 18.3 x 28 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. William Stein, 1979.21.1. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion..
Artwork featured in gallery: Jean Charlot, Malinche, 1933. Lithograph on paper, 6 3/16 x 8 inches (15.7 x 20.3 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Mr. Jack Lord, 1973.4.15. © The Jean Charlot Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York..
Gallery
Incubator
Artwork featured in gallery: Helen Frankenthaler, Untitled, 1967. Screenprint on paper, edition 92/100, 25 3/4 × 18 inches (65.41 × 45.72 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.1. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc..
Artwork featured in gallery: Helen Frankenthaler, Bay Area Wednesday I, 1982. Monotype on paper, 25 × 30 1/2 inches (63.5 × 77.47 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.5. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc..
Artwork featured in gallery: Helen Frankenthaler, A Little Zen, 1970. Pochoir and screenprint on paper, trial proof H/C 3/6, 22 1/8 × 30 7/8 inches (56.2 × 78.42 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2019.27.2. © Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc..
Gallery
Art of the United States
Gallery
Art of Peru
This gallery features ceramics, textiles, metalwork and carvings produced by ancient cultures across what is known as present-day Peru.
View Gallery
Gallery
Ancient World
Artwork featured in gallery: Polygnotos, attributed, Greek (Athenian), Red-figure calyx krater (detail), 460-450 BCE. Ceramic, 18 1⁄8 x 18 5⁄16 x 18 5⁄16 inches (46 x 46.5 x 46.5 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum, the Duke Classical Collection, gift of Dr. and Mrs. James H. Semans; the Thomas and Virginia B. Semans Teaching Collection..
Artwork featured in gallery: Cypriot, Beardless male votary (detail), 6th – 5th century BCE. Limestone, 47 3⁄4 × 20 × 8 inches (121.3 × 50.8 × 20.3 cm). Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription..
Artwork featured in gallery: Roman (Palestinian), Double unguentarium (detail), 3rd - 4th century CE. Glass, 4 1⁄8 x 2 3⁄16 x 1 1⁄8 inches (10.5 x 5.6 x 2.8 cm)..
This gallery features works from ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures.
View Gallery
Gallery
Arts of Africa
Artwork featured in gallery: This image shows a carved wood very stylized African female figure seated with a large head..
Artwork featured in gallery: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua..
Artwork featured in gallery: 1920's carving of African figures carved in a wood door. Figures are performing various tasks in horizontal rows. Every other row is a patterned row that separates the rows of figures. One main figure is riding a bicycle and smoking, other figures seem to be feeding animals and getting ready for a battle..
This gallery presents many of the Nasher museum’s best masks, figural sculpture and beadwork from Liberia, Nigeria and other parts of the African continent, including works from the renowned George Harley collection.
View Gallery
Gallery
Medieval European Art
Artwork featured in gallery: A stained glass image of two figures embracing. They have their faces facing the viewer and very close together. Their arms are wrapped around each other..
Artwork featured in gallery: Austrian, Top of lancet window with architectural canopy, 1400-1430, Stained glass and lead. 29 1/2 x 19 1/8 in. (74.9 x 48.6 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum. Gift of Mrs. Ella Brummer in memory of her husband, Ernest Brummer. 1978.20.7..
This gallery displays important architectural sculpture, devotional objects and stained glass from the Romanesque and Gothic periods.
View Gallery
Gallery
European Art
The European Art Gallery (c. 1400–1900) illustrates Western cultural and aesthetic changes from the Renaissance to the dawn of the modern period through a variety of objects, paintings and sculptures.
View Gallery