Munson Williams and Proctor Museum - Utica, NY

The front entrance to the Museum

Inside the Museum; there are galleries around the outside. This open area is unique, but it seems like a lot of wasted space!

One of the galleries; this one happens to show two of the Voyage of Life paintings by Thomas Cole

Jenny standing in front of Number 2, 1949 by Jackson Pollack.

This is Fountain Elms, the home of the families the Museum is named and also contained the decorative collection of the Museum

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On August 18th after we left the Arkell Museum in Canajoharie, we went to Utica, about a half hour west, to the Munson, Williams & Proctor Museum (MWP), which is much larger than the Arkell Museum with about 25,000 art works. MWP also has an art school, performing arts and Pratt/MWP art school, which by its name has an association with the famous Pratt Art Institute Brooklyn Campus.

The highlight of this museum is its many works by the Hudson River Art School, which I am a very big fan. The the four paintings entitled, Voyage of Life, by Thomas Cole was the most interesting to me. I’m not going into the history of this famous work, but suffice it to say that their are two sets of, Voyage of Life; the original just happens to be in MWP, while the copy is in the National Galley of Arts, Washington, DC. If you want to know the amazing history of this painting (set of four), go to Voyage of Life Chronology written by Dr. Paul D. Schweizer, Chief Curator of the MWP Museum.

So if you like American artists: Thomas Cole, William M. Chase, Frederic E. Church, William Harnett, Winslow Homer and many others do plan to make a trip to MWP.