The Speed Art Museum Announces Largest Ever Donation of Kentucky Art

Written by Benjamin Kyle Wednesday, 24 August 2011 22:39

Louisville, KY.- The Speed Art Museum is pleased to announce one of the most important gifts in the history of the Museum and the largest donation of Kentucky art ever received by the Speed.  Given by Robert and Norma Noe, this extensive collection includes 119 examples of early Kentucky furniture, paintings, silhouettes, textiles, ceramics, and silver. Artworks from the Noe Collection are currently on view in the exhibition Kentucky Antique the Commonwealth. Dr. Charles L. Venable, Speed Director and CEO remarks, “The gift of the Noe Collection more than doubles the Museum’s holdings of Kentucky-made decorative arts and paintings from the nineteenth century, giving the Speed the best collection of this kind anywhere.  We now will be able to provide visitors with an unparalleled opportunity to experience and enjoy the state’s artistic heritage as never before.  We are extremely grateful to the Noes for both their generosity and vision.”

"Kentucky Antiques from the Noe Collection: A Gift to the Commonwealth" will remain on view through February 5, 2012. Organized geographically, this exhibition illustrates the breadth and depth of the Noe collection, highlighting artists and artisans that influenced the lives of Kentuckians from 1800 to 1900. Paintings and works on paper depict many individuals who shaped the state’s history, such as Daniel Boone and Henry Clay. Pieces from the Noes’ collection of early Kentucky furniture range from richly inlaid sugar chests, corner cupboards, and bureaus to simple Windsor chairs. Stoneware, silver, and samplers—from Maysville to Louisville—round out the exhibition. Kentucky Antiques from the Noe Collection also features a portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Matthew Harris Jouett (1788-1827). The painting is a copy after one created by Gilbert Stuart. Jouett studied with Stuart in Boston for several months between the summer and early fall of 1816. When Jouett returned to Kentucky, he not only produced portraits of Kentuckians, but made additional copies of Jefferson’s likeness.

The Speed Art Museum, originally known as the J. B. Speed Memorial Museum, is Kentucky’s oldest and largest art museum. It was founded in 1925 by Hattie Bishop Speed as a memorial to her husband, James Breckinridge Speed, a prominent Louisville businessman and philanthropist. Designed by Louisville architect Arthur Loomis, the museum opened its doors on January 15, 1927, with an exhibition sponsored by the Louisville Art Association. Over a hundred American and European painters were represented and nearly two thousand visitors attended the opening. In 1934, the museum received its first major donation, a valuable collection of North American Indian artifacts given by Dr. Frederick Weygold. In 1941, Dr. Preston Pope Satterwhite made a significant gift to the museum - his collection of 15th century and 16th century French and Italian Decorative Arts including tapestries and furniture. In 1944, he donated the English Renaissance room, which was moved in its entirety from Devonshire, England. Dr. Satterwhite’s gift necessitated an enlargement of the museum and in his will he provided for the addition that bears his name. Completed in 1954, it was the first of three additions to the original building. After another major addition to the building in 1973, the Speed celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1977 with the acquisition of Rembrandt's magnificent Portrait of a Woman. Mr. Page and the Board of Governors led the campaign to raise the $1.5 million necessary to purchase the work, one of the museum’s most significant acquisitions. In 1983, the Speed’s most recent wing, designed by Robert Geddes of Princeton, New Jersey, opened. While the museum was closed for a dramatic renovation project in 1996, the museum received a life-changing gift, a bequest of more than $50 million from Alice Speed Stoll, granddaughter of James Breckinridge Speed. The bequest marks one of the largest given to any art museum and significantly increased the Speed's endowment, ranking it among the top 25 in the United States. Mrs. Stoll’s bequest secured the museum’s future and has allowed for several significant acquisitions including Jacob van Ruisdael’s 'Landscape with a Half Timbered House and a Blasted Tree', (1653), and Paul Cezanne’s Post-Impressionist masterpiece, 'Two Apples on a Table' (about 1895-1900). Since reopening in November 1997, the Speed has dazzled the region with exciting traveling exhibitions, new acquisitions to the permanent collection, and a new parking garage. It has also benefited greatly by a bequest from the estate of long-time Board of Governors member General Dillman A. Rash who left the museum works by Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Maurice Utrillo. The focus of the collection is Western art, from antiquity to the present day. Holdings of paintings from the Netherlands, French and Italian works, and contemporary art are particularly strong, with sculpture prominent throughout. Representative artists include Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens, Giovanni Tiepolo, Henry Moore, Thomas Gainsborough, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and contemporary artists Frank Stella, Helen Frankenthaler, Alice Neel, Petah Coyne, Yinka Shonibare, Vito Acconci, and Juan Munoz. Today, The Speed Art Museum has come a long way since Mrs. Speed first opened the doors to the original museum over 80 years ago. Its magnificent building and impressive collection serve more than 180,000 visitors each year, making it a nationally recognized institution. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.speedmuseum.org

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