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Photograph of a gallery installation with blue and grey-green walls and light brown wood floors. There are various artworks hanging on all the walls, and a floor case with clear top is holding three sculpture works.

Permanent Collection

The Permanent Collection at the Danforth Art Museum consists of more than 3,500 objects in all media. Since it was established in 1975, the Museum’s collecting patterns and strategies have shifted to focus on American art from the early 19th century to the present day.

Today, the Museum’s Collection offers a snapshot of the history of art in New England and beyond. Works on view in this gallery reference Early American painting, the turn-of-the-twentieth century Boston School, mid-century figurative expressionism, and an active contemporary community. The Permanent Collection continues to remain organic, growing and changing to reflect the role of the Museum as a part of a University and in art historical scholarship.

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Painting of a woman in a very wide, ornate gold frame. The woman is standing in front of a red and gold background. She has pale skin, hair piled up on her head, and is wearing a glittering black dress with a transparent gold shawl around her shoulders.
Phillip Leslie Hale, Glitter , c. 1908 , Oil on canvas
Painting of a man from the knees up, wearing a blue collard shirt and a black leather apron and gloves. He is light skinned, blue eyed, and short brown hair, looking diagonally to the left. Behind him are various steel working objects and a large crane moving metal objects in a hazy environment.
Garrit A. Beneker, Man at Steelworks , c. 1920, Oil on canvas
Painting of a mass of blue and red fishes devouring each other in the ocean.
Hyman Bloom, Seascape II , 1974, Oil on canvas
Painting of an attic space with an angled wood beam ceiling. The room is a deep tan, and there is a woman, seated facing right, looking at a small mirror. She is wearing a yellow dress and behind her on the opposite wall are dresses and a hat hanging around a rectangular mirror propped up on a table.
Marion L. Pooke, The One Night Stand , c. 1915 , Oil on canvas
Portrait painting of a woman in 19th century clothing, with a white ruffled neck and lacy bonnet with blue ribbons. Her black hair is pinned up in curls and she has a wide gold belt buckle at her waist and a red shawl around one arm.
Albert Gallatin Hoit, Mrs. Hannah Parsons Keegan , c, 1840, Oil on canvas
Expressionist drawing of a woman from behind with her arms upstretched and clasped behind her head.
Richard Freeman, Hank’s Bird (Homage to Henry Moore & Irina Radetsky) , c. 1980, Ink wash and ink pen on paper
Print with a green background and cityscape beneath a rocky path in the foreground. Standing on this path is an abstract figure, a woman with dark skin, holding the bundle of a baby, with her head tilted town and resting on the baby's head.
Jack Bilander, Mother and Child , 1958, Lithograph on paper
Photograph of an old glass negative in a leather and felt case. The photograph is of an older man in a 19th century suit with a young girl by his side in a dress with ringlet hair.
Unknown, Photograph of Father and Child , 19th Century, Daguerreotype
Painting on a light tan birch panel of a woman in a strapless dress or towel and hair in a bun laying on her stomach with her head looking down into a hole. The whole and some details of the figure utilize the tree rings seen in the panel.
Jenny Carpenter, Rabbit Hole , 2019, Oil and graphite on birch panel
Late 19th century photograph of a tour group in Egypt with the pyramids and sphynx in the background. The group is mostly women, with two men and one child, all on camels. Tour guides in white robes are standing in front of the group.
Unknown, Untitled (Egyptian Tour) , Late 19th to early 20th Century, Albumen photograph
Abstract drawing of a group of dark rounded objects with lines coming out from the bottom, resembling radishes with roots coming down.
Cynthia Maurice, Untitled , 2009, Charcoal on paper
Painting of a woman in a very wide, ornate gold frame. The woman is standing in front of a red and gold background. She has pale skin, hair piled up on her head, and is wearing a glittering black dress with a transparent gold shawl around her shoulders.
Phillip Leslie Hale
Glitter , c. 1908 , Oil on canvas

Gift of William and Evelyn Wolfson, 1976.38

Painting of a man from the knees up, wearing a blue collard shirt and a black leather apron and gloves. He is light skinned, blue eyed, and short brown hair, looking diagonally to the left. Behind him are various steel working objects and a large crane moving metal objects in a hazy environment.
Garrit A. Beneker
Man at Steelworks , c. 1920, Oil on canvas

Gift of Edward L. Shein, 1981.19

Painting of a mass of blue and red fishes devouring each other in the ocean.
Hyman Bloom
Seascape II , 1974, Oil on canvas

Gift of Dr. Ephraim and Mrs. Dagmar Friedman, 2011.12

 

Painting of an attic space with an angled wood beam ceiling. The room is a deep tan, and there is a woman, seated facing right, looking at a small mirror. She is wearing a yellow dress and behind her on the opposite wall are dresses and a hat hanging around a rectangular mirror propped up on a table.
Marion L. Pooke
The One Night Stand , c. 1915 , Oil on canvas

Gift of David and Myrna Leven, 1989.5

Portrait painting of a woman in 19th century clothing, with a white ruffled neck and lacy bonnet with blue ribbons. Her black hair is pinned up in curls and she has a wide gold belt buckle at her waist and a red shawl around one arm.
Albert Gallatin Hoit
Mrs. Hannah Parsons Keegan , c, 1840, Oil on canvas

Gift of Jonathan Stein, 2003.40

Expressionist drawing of a woman from behind with her arms upstretched and clasped behind her head.
Richard Freeman
Hank’s Bird (Homage to Henry Moore & Irina Radetsky) , c. 1980, Ink wash and ink pen on paper

Gift of the Artist, 2022.2

Print with a green background and cityscape beneath a rocky path in the foreground. Standing on this path is an abstract figure, a woman with dark skin, holding the bundle of a baby, with her head tilted town and resting on the baby's head.
Jack Bilander
Mother and Child , 1958, Lithograph on paper

Gift of Carol and Mitchell Kur, 2022.8

Photograph of an old glass negative in a leather and felt case. The photograph is of an older man in a 19th century suit with a young girl by his side in a dress with ringlet hair.
Unknown
Photograph of Father and Child , 19th Century, Daguerreotype

Gift of Robert Alter, 2021.32

Painting on a light tan birch panel of a woman in a strapless dress or towel and hair in a bun laying on her stomach with her head looking down into a hole. The whole and some details of the figure utilize the tree rings seen in the panel.
Jenny Carpenter
Rabbit Hole , 2019, Oil and graphite on birch panel

Museum Purchase, 2020.56

Late 19th century photograph of a tour group in Egypt with the pyramids and sphynx in the background. The group is mostly women, with two men and one child, all on camels. Tour guides in white robes are standing in front of the group.
Unknown
Untitled (Egyptian Tour) , Late 19th to early 20th Century, Albumen photograph

Gift of Robert Alter, 2021.33

Abstract drawing of a group of dark rounded objects with lines coming out from the bottom, resembling radishes with roots coming down.
Cynthia Maurice
Untitled , 2009, Charcoal on paper

Gift of Catherine Hillery, 2021.43

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