Art Museum - U of M - Missoula, MT - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

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Art Museum - U of M - Missoula, MT

in American Guide Series

Posted by:  T0SHEA

12T E 272347 N 5193839

There were five buildings built on the U of M campus in the years 1935 to 1939. Two of the five were built in the Art Deco Style while the other two followed the Renaissance Revival style already extant. This is one of the two art deco buildings.

The low, square ART MUSEUM (open 1-5 weekdays except during meetings in auditorium), S. of Oval on Maurice Ave., was dedicated in 1937. It is the first art museum in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, or the Dakotas an area once described by a magazine as "from the standpoint of art a cultural air pocket . . . with a nostalgia for national prominence in the arts. ..." Handicapped by lack of funds, the museum was obliged to begin its art collection with a group of 47 collotype facsimiles stressing artistic quality rather than "price tag aesthetics." The facsimiles, carefully chosen for their faithfulness to the originals, included copies of works by such masters as Monet, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Degas, Gauguin, Kent, Cezanne, and others. A set of lantern slides is used chiefly by study groups to illustrate architecture, painting, and sculpture.
Montana: A State Guide Book, 1939

This smaller than the norm building is noticeable if only for its simplistic Art Deco Design. Originally the Women's Club, it has also become an arts display building, a Continuing Education Center and a centre for International Programs. In 1939 it housed the art museum, one of its original purposes, the other being a clubhouse for the Women's Club which had, in partnership with the PWA, financed the building. It is directly southwest of The Oval, tucked in behind the Native American Center.

A contributing building to the University of Montana Historic District, more information on the building can be found on Page 11, Section 7 of the U of M Continuation Sheet.