Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts — Attraction in Springfield

The Springfield (Mass.) Museum of Fine Arts is a treasure well worth a special trip for lovers of European and American painting. Although renamed for the D'Amours, a local business couple who recently gave a significant amount of money to support the institution, it was actually originally funded by the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. James Philip Gray, and an examination of the labels on many of the world-class pieces in the collection reveals their bequest as the source of acquisition funds, even long after their passing. The building opened in the 1930s, and its exterior styling reflects a subtle art moderne aesthetic. With a completeness surprising for a city of Springfield's relatively small size, the Museum offers a comprehensive overview of painting including works by name artists from 15th century gilded Italian panels into the middle ages, the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and academic schools installed in a highly educational circuit. It also includes a room featuring oils by many of the big names of French Impressionism. The American collection is similarly comprehensive, from early portraits of supposed (white) worthies with a few pieces of decorative arts mixed in, through to the contemporary period, which the Museum continues to collect, although sadly on a recent visit the first half of the twentieth century was entirely off-view, as the room containing it was inexplicable closed. The Museum also has a significant program of changing exhibitions, utilizing sets of upstairs and downstairs galleries. Another special feature of the Museum is its holdings of works by Erastus Salisbury Field (1805-1900), a local western Massachusetts painter whose portraits might be little remembered if he had not also left us with the Historical Monument of the American Republic, an enormous architectural fantasy for which he provided detailed explanation. Surrounded by more familiar and approachable Hudson River School landscapes in the Museum's striking central great room it is a monumental work which justifies more time than most of us give to it, do look around for a copy of the printed explanation. The Museum has also in recent decades been the fortunate recipient of noteworthy gifts, including an extensive set of lithographs by famed American printmakers Currier & Ives (although selections are not always on display) and in a very different style important French and Italian Baroque paintings and sculpture collected by the late Channing Blake (scion of a family that founded a local creamery), the significance of which is suggested by some of them having been on long-term loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) prior to coming to Springfield. The Museum has published printed brochures on these two bequests, and a catalogue on Field's works. One admission covers both the Fine Art Museum and the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum (reviewed separately) across the quadrangle;...

My girlfriends and I are treating ourselves to a museum weekend here in Springfield MA. While this museum was beautiful, I was very disappointed that there we no O'Keefe paintings as stated on the outside menu. However there were some pretty exhibits and the entire quad of museums can be done in a day. These are two of my favorite pieces. The window is a Tiffany stained glass using a ripple glass technique which gives the image a three dimensional appearance. The roses were just beautiful in...

I visited this museum with my class and the visit was too short because I didn't see everything but from what I saw, it was interesting. Would I bring my students back there? Probably if I had older children. The docent that we had was a little boring for 5th grade children. So if we were to go back I would take them to the Dr. Seuss museum and the inventions museum for more of a hands-on experience. Otherwise we had an okay trip and look forward to a better experience...