I imagine the minds behind the Denver Art Museum had some choices to make — choices that must be reexamined and redefined regularly.
As the most prominent art museum on what would historically be the American West and one of the largest exhibit spaces between Chicago and Los Angeles or San Francisco, the Denver Art Museum could focus exclusively on frontier pieces or Native American art. However, to remain avant-garde and nationally prominent, its galleries need to remain aggressively focused on modern art and its recent history.
On a recent art-themed trip through Denver, a visit to the city’s museum district and Golden Triangle brought me to the jewel in the area’s crown. Denver’s Art Museum occupies an expansive, multi-complex space near the hotel Art and the Clifford Still Museum.
The facility not only holds Colorado’s preeminent standing art collection, but also serves as an exhibit space for major touring exhibitions, an art educational resource for the city’s youth and a downtown event venue.
Also: Exhibit | Exploring the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver
The museum wastes no time honoring its host city’s history with an extensive collection of Western American Art, American Indian Art and the current look at the pioneering work of Walter Ufer and E. Martin Hennings.
However, the space’s curators made sure to open up the walls to the world with standing exhibits exploring Asian Art, African Art, Spanish Colonial Art, Pre-Columbian Art and historic European and American Art.
The western collection avoids falling into the trap of featuring period or nostalgic art by featuring modern takes on frontier themes. In other words, there aren’t galleries devoted exclusively to paintings of cowboys by Frederic Remington or feminine desert landscapes by Georgia O’Keeffe. From mixed media to sculpture, the collection takes a long look at today’s western artists and themes.
The Modern and Contemporary Art collection might be the highlight of the Denver Art Museum as it leaves regional themes behind and opens up the scope of its exhibits.
In a brilliant and experimental way to involve visitors interactively, some of the contemporary pieces feature glass collectors where art lovers can show their reactions to a work by dropping a colored bead into the collector. The bead colors indicate Empathetic, Optimistic, Empowered, Hopeless, Angry and Confused. By examining the majority color, onlookers can discover how an artwork touches the majority of visitors.
The Denver Art Museum offers a comprehensive experience for any visitor while honoring the spirit that built its city. A traveler passing through can only hope the locals appreciate what they have.
