The permanent collections of the Hood Museum of Art are rich, diverse, and available for the use of both the college and the broader community. Access to works of art is provided through permanent collection displays, the online collections database, special exhibitions, scholarly publications, and programs and activities.
Numbering more than 65,000 objects, the Hood's collections present art from ancient cultures, America, Europe, Africa, Papua New Guinea, and many other regions of the world. Highlights include the magnificent ninth-century B.C.E. reliefs from the Assyrian palace of Ashurnasirpal II.
African art at the Hood, particularly strong in West African masks and wooden figural sculptures, has been strengthened recently by the addition of important contemporary works. The Hood's Melanesian art collection is among the most important in this country. In addition, the Hood has a strong collection of North American art, including a wide selection of arctic and plains objects.
The collections are especially strong in American art, with excellent portraits and landscapes by noted American artists including William Merritt Chase, Frederic Remington, and John Sloan, sculpture by Harriet Hosmer, and paintings by Willard Metcalf, Eastman Johnson, Abbott Thayer, Lilly Martin Spencer, and Maria Oakey Dewing.
European art includes works by Perugino and Workshop, Albert Bouts, Carle Vanloo, Pompeo Batoni, and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. The collections also contains more than three thousand Old Master and nineteenth-century European prints, including some of the finest impressions of prints by Rembrandt.
Modern and contemporary works of art include the work of such recognized artists as Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jean Dubuffet, Yves Klein, Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Edward Ruscha, Sol LeWitt, and Juan Mu–oz.
Brian Kennedy began his position as director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College on July 1, 2005. Since his appointment, Kennedy has been active in moving the museum forward through the development of a new strategic planning process. He has overseen the development of the Hood's new brochure and redesign of the website, developed new partnerships with various departments on campus and with national and international institutions and collectors to bring acclaimed art to the museum as well as advancing knowledge about and the appreciation of art in general and the Hood's collections in particular beyond the walls of the museum.
Brian Kennedy's expertise is in Irish art, European Old Masters (especially Dutch painting), and contemporary Australian Indigenous art. A native of Dublin, Kennedy has extensive international experience in the museum world, having spent eight years as the Assistant Director at the National Gallery of Ireland before moving to Canberra in 1997, where he served as Director of the National Gallery of Australia for seven years. He received his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from University College, Dublin, where he studied both art history and history. In addition to his wide experience as a lecturer and public speaker at conferences and seminars, he has an extensive list of publications.
Kennedy said, "I am honored and delighted to have been invited to lead the Hood Museum into its third decade. It is a remarkable institution which has had an outstanding record of ambitious efforts to realize its mandate as a great teaching museum. I have been most impressed by the professionalism of the Hood staff, the breadth and quality of its collections, the elegance of its building, and the support that the museum receives from Dartmouth students, faculty, staff and alumni. I look forward to helping to build on past achievements and to promoting the importance of the visual arts in the daily lives of everyone on the Dartmouth campus and throughout the surrounding region."
To request an image from the permanent collection or a special exhibition, please contact the Public Relations Coordinator with the image name, artist, and specifications required. We can provide digital images, 35 mm slides, or 4 x 6 transparencies. Please allow at least two weeks for transparency requests.
For non-media related photo needs, please click here. [link to Photo information in Collections section]
Recent News (includes press releases, image and links to checklists, artist bios, wall labels, catalogue information for current month)
