Art Properties

Art Properties oversees the art collection owned by Columbia University. The collection comprises more than 13,000 works of art in all media, reflects nearly all cultures and time periods, and has been built up over two centuries primarily through gifts and bequests. The mission of the University art collection is to support educational programs, curricular integration, and research and study. Students, faculty, and outside scholars may make appointments to view and study most works from the collection with advance notice. Art work is displayed in selective locations on each campus and held in storage. Art Properties has a robust exhibition program, lending art both domestically and internationally, and photographic reproductions of art from the collection may be available for publication.

Overview | Collection Resources | Collection Highlights & Exhibitions | Documentation | Consulting the Collection

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Cornelius Johnson (1593-1661), Portrait of Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665), 1626, oil on panel, Gift of the Estate of Dr. Jerome Webster (Professor Emeritus of Clinical Surgery) to the College of Physicians and Surgeons (C00.1308), Photo: Juan Trujillo

Maker unknown, Inupiat people of Northwest Alaska, Wolf Dance: The Transformation of the Eagles into Wolves, 1890s, pencil, brown and red ink, and wash on paper, The Bush Collection of Religion and Culture (C00.1483.302)

Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973), Cranes Rising, 1934, bronze, Gift of the artist (C00.0837), Photo: Mark Ostrader

Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922), The Enchanted Mesa, 1913, oil on canvas, Transferred from the Women's Faculty Club (C00.1371)

Maker unknown, China, Altarpiece with Pensive Figure of a Bodhisattva, 556, Northern Qi dynasty (550-577), marble with traces of limestone, Arthur M. Sackler Collections (S3814)

Martin M. Lawrence (1808-1859), Portrait of James Watson Webb (1802-1884), 1850-51, mammoth-plate daguerreotype, Chandler Chemical Museum Collection (C00.1580.92)

Florine Stettheimer (1871-1944), Self-Portrait with Paradise Birds (Self-Portrait in Front of Chinese Screen), no date (ca. 1905), oil on canvas, Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer (1967.23.013)

Image Credits:

All works in Art Properties, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University in the City of New York

Overview

Highlights from the collection include:

public outdoor sculpture with works by Auguste Rodin, Daniel Chester French, Henry Moore, Clement Meadmore, and others;
over 2,500 oil paintings, including hundreds of portraits of Columbia administrators and faculty since the eighteenth century, and the largest repository of art work by Florine Stettheimer (1871-1944);
about 2,000 works of fine art photography from daguerreotypes to digital prints, including significant holdings of nineteenth-century American photography, and works by photographers such as Mike Disfarmer, Donna Ferrato, Larry Fink, Ralph Gibson, Leon Levinstein, Helen Levitt, Aubrey Mayer, Arthur Rothstein, Andy Warhol, and Garry Winogrand;
thousands of works on paper (drawings, watercolors, prints);
nearly 500 works of art and cultural heritage objects made by American Indian and Native Alaskan tribal communities;
archaeological collections from ancient Rome, Etruria, and the Aegean, excavated and brought to the University by alumni-professors George N. Olcott (1869-1912) and Clarence H. Young (1866-1957);
the Arthur M. Sackler Collection donated between the years 1964 and 1972 of over 2,500 ancient Near Eastern and East Asian art works and cultural heritage objects, including Buddhist sculpture in stone, bronze, and polychrome wood, and decorative arts and archaeological artifacts from India, China, Japan, and Korea; and
hundreds of sculptures and decorative arts (ceramics, tapestries, furniture) from around the globe.

Works from the art collections are available for research and study, curricular use, and educational programs, and also may be requested as external loans for special exhibitions. A small selection of works from the collection are available for on-campus installation in selected Columbia University department and staff offices.

To learn more about Art Properties and aspects of the University art collection, please see these articles and blog posts:

Collection Resources

COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS & EXHIBITIONS

Documentation

Consulting the Collection

Art Properties is committed to consultations with American Indian and Native Alaskan tribal nations as part of its mission to maintain professional standards of ethical stewardship for the University collections. This includes proactively fulfilling the requirements of the federal government’s Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). For more information, consult our Native American Art & Cultural Heritage Objects webpage.

For all inquiries and communications regarding Art Properties collections, see our contact information below.

Location
Avery Library

Hours
Monday – Friday, 1:00 - 4:00 PM for research appointments

Contact
212-854-2877
artproperties@library.columbia.edu

Staff
Roberto C. Ferrari, Curator
Lillian Vargas, Administrative Assistant
Eric Reisenger, Art Handler