Smith Art Museum

The GWV Smith is a special place that receives fewer guests than it deserves. It is in part an acquired taste, but still a unique time-capsule allowing visitors not only to enjoy the wonderful collection of "treasures" it contains, but also to contemplate the collecting tastes of a Victorian couple and their take on both U.S. and Asian art and cultures. The building itself is an architectural gem, inside and out, featuring an arched Florentine portico in brick on the front façade and late nineteenth century woodwork and extensive leaded glass within. The distinct collections include rooms with Japanese armor and metalwork (downstairs), Japanese ceramics and netsuke (upstairs), Chinese decorative arts, Islamic carpets and other decorative arts, and a salon hang of paintings mostly by U.S. artists that the Smiths collected, including one showing the couple inspecting some of their own holdings. The downstairs also has a large hall full of plaster casts of classic European sculptures, a rare surviving assemblage of what was once a common educational tool for teaching drawing. To be sure, it helps to appreciate these diverse holdings if you have some background in art history. It also helps if you are with a friend or family with whom you can engage in conversation about the meaning of these items from diverse cultures being bought and installed as they were, particularly in this time of discussion of (de)colonization. The exhibitions have largely remained the same for years, even decades, and sadly some items are noticeably deteriorating (particularly in their wonderful collection of "Turkish" carpets several of which are decaying and need to be dismounted, conserved, and reinstalled--although it is one of the few parts of their holdings for which a proper catalogue was issued years ago), so get their while you can! One admission covers both the Smith and the Fine Art Museum across the quadrangle; parking is free.