Picker Art Gallery

Winter Landscape with Ice-Skaters (after 1616)

Pieter Brueghel the Younger (Flemish, 1564/65-1637/38)

Seaside, Maine (ca. 1911)

Maurice Prendergast (American, 1858-1924)

Portrait of Marianna Mattiocco della Torre (Mrs. Russell) (1888)

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917)

The Picker Art Gallery's collection of more than 11,000 fine art objects is a valuable resource that supports interdisciplinary teaching and learning across the university.

Gallery News

Jill Shaw, Senior Curator of Collections

The Picker Art Gallery welcomes Dr. Jill Shaw as senior curator of collections. Jill is a specialist in nineteenth- and twentieth-century European art. She was a research associate at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Medieval to Modern European Painting and Sculpture before coming to the Picker Art Gallery. While at the Art Institute, she worked extensively on numerous projects and exhibitions (including Fashion, Impressionism, and Modernity (2012–13: Musée d’Orsay; Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Art Institute of Chicago), and participated in the reinstallation of the modern painting and sculpture collection. Most recently, she played an integral role in the Art Institute’s Online Scholarly Catalogue Initiative (OSCI).

Jill graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in art history and anthropology and received her M.A. and Ph.D. (2013) in art history from the University of Chicago. Her dissertation focused on the work of French artist Jean Dubuffet in the 1940s.

Aaron Jakos, Preparator

Aaron Jakos joins the Picker Art Gallery as preparator, bringing a wealth of museum exhibition and fine art technician experience with him. He has worked on a broad range of exhibitions ranging from Pablo Picasso to James Turrell.

Aaron received his B.A. in Visual Art from the University of Colorado in 2005. Prior to coming to the Picker, he was the exhibition preparator at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (2007-2013).

On Loan
Two paintings from the Picker Art Gallery’s permanent collection by American Impressionist Maurice Prendergast will be on view at Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Portland, Maine from June 29 to October 13. Maurice Prendergast: By the Sea is the first exhibition ever dedicated to the artist’s seaside work. READ MORE

$Maurice Prendergast, American, 1858-1924. Seaside, Maine, ca. 1911. Oil on panel, 10 ¼” x 13 ¾”. Gift of Mrs. Charles Prendergast.$

Adjaye Associates share plans for Center for Art and Culture
One year ago, Adjaye Associates was hired to develop preliminary architectural plans for the proposed Colgate Center for Art and Culture. On Thursday, June 27, at the Colgate Inn, the firm’s principal, David Adjaye, was back in Hamilton to share the firm’s designs. READ MORE

Adjaye Associates model for the Colgate Center for Art and Culture.

Colgate University, Curtin University expand collaboration with Colgate’s gift from gallery collection
In an important example of international, cultural, and educational collaboration, Colgate University will give 119 indigenous artworks from the Picker's collection to Curtin University in Western Australia. The works were by Noongar children who were part of Australia’s “Stolen Generations.” READ MORE

$Parnell Dempster, Noongar (West Australia), 1936-2000. Down to Drink, ca. 1949. Pastel on brown paper, 22 ¼” x 32 3&frasl;8. Gift of Herbert Mayer, Class of 1929.$

Chakaia Booker, American, born 1953.<br /> <em>Quality Time</em>, 2004. Vulcanized synthetic rubber relief, overall: 26” x 20”. Gift of Exit Art.

New Acquisition
The Picker recently received a generous gift of eight portfolios featuring prints by more than 50 contemporary artists—many new to the gallery’s collection— from the alternative arts space Exit Art. Founded in 1982 in New York City by Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo, Exit Art brought attention to the work of under-recognized and emerging artists through innovative exhibitions, films, and performances until it closed last year. The wide range of materials and techniques offers a veritable history of recent developments in printmaking. For example, in the 2004 portfolio Six by Four, the prints range from an inkjet print with hand perforation to a 4’ x 18’ schematic rendering of a shipping container.

Click here for more on Quality Time.

Digital Exhibition

Selected Old Masters from the Picker Art Gallery: With the generous gift from Donald Schaefer ’46 of several Old Master paintings from the seventeenth-century Low Countries, the gallery’s collection was dramatically enriched. To celebrate, Professor Judith Oliver has developed an online digital exhibition focusing on a selection the Picker’s holdings of European art. This is the first of what will become a series of curated digital exhibitions that showcase the permanent collection. SEE MORE

$Pieter Brueghel the Younger (Flemish, 1564/65-1637/38) Winter Landscape with Ice-Skaters (after 1616) Oil on panel, 22 ¾” x 17” Gift of Max Oberlander$

History of the Gallery

Colgate University's fine arts museum is named in honor of Evelyn Picker, mother of the late Harvey Picker '36, honorary doctor of science, and trustee emeritus. The Picker Art Gallery opened in the Dana Arts Center in 1969.

Programming Suspended
The exhibition and educational programs of the Picker Art Gallery are currently suspended to enable completion of a permanent collection inventory and assessment project. All galleries are closed to the public. We regret this inconvenience to our public but look forward to an exciting re-opening.