But Wait! MORE 75 Fun Facts about Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute

Posted by Mary Murray on April 26th 2011 | 0 Comments

Tags: Institute

75 Fun Facts, Installment 5

Thomas Cole, Voyage of Life, Childhood, 1839-40

From this curator’s perspective 1955-56 was an excellent year for Museum of Art acquisitions: purchases included Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life quartet, as well as paintings by Kandinsky, Franz Kline and Arthur Dove, and sculptures by Ernst Barlach and Rodin.

Ernst Barlach, Meeting Again, 1926

Also in the mid-1950s:

The Institute had a Sunday afternoon radio program, broadcast on WIBX, which included recorded music from the MWPAI library and announcements from the weekly calendar.

From October 6-27, 1957, the Institute hosted the exhibition Contemporary American Glass, circulated by the Smithsonian Institution.

Pianist Van Cliburn in 1958

The Great Artists Series, conducted by Roland E. Chesley for more than 25 years, became an official program of the Institute in August 1958 and presented pianist Van Cliburn, October 25, 1961.