News Archives

Annual Valentine's Day Event

Spend Valentine's evening at the Museum of Art and Archaeology surrounded by romance and the joy of a timeless love story!

Champagne Reception
6:00 p.m., Cast Gallery

Screening of the 1957 film An Affair to Remember
6:45 p.m., Room 106

Roses for the ladies!

$10 person (MA members $9 person)
$18 couple (MA members $16 couple)

Call 882-6724 by February 11, 2008, to make your reservation.

Sponsored by Museum Associates

postcard (pdf)

Meet Associate Curator Mary L. Pixley

The Museum of Art and Archaeology is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Mary L. Pixley as its new curator of European and American Art.

Dr. Pixley comes to the Museum from Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, Md., where she oversaw the collection of Old Master paintings and sculpture as the Samuel H. Kress Curatorial Fellow. Before that, she worked at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania, and has conducted extensive archival and art historical research in Italy.

She has extensive knowledge of the European and Islamic decorative arts including ceramics, metalwork, glass and rock crystal, carpets and textiles, furnishings, and bookbindings, about which she has taught at the university level. Some of the results of her research on cross-cultural influences between the west and east were published in "Islamic Artifacts and Cultural Currents in the Art of Carpaccio," Apollo, November 2003; she has co-authored an article on John Singer Sargent and his study of the art of Velázquez. Her current research focuses on the patronage and reuse of a Renaissance tapestry fragment.

"As a curator, researcher and professor, I have always sought to make art come alive. In so doing, I believe we increase the appreciation of art and bring new depth to our knowledge base. The Museum of Art and Archaeology's university setting is ideal for this mission," says Dr. Pixley.

Art in Bloom - March 16 - 17, 2007

The Museum of Art and Archaeology will showcase a variety of fresh-cut floral arrangements by various mid-Missouri florists and garden clubs. Each has chosen artwork from the Museum’s collections that inspires their creative designs. Come and experience this special annual weekend that combines the beauty of fine art and artifacts with the majestic art of nature in bloom. See March (opens new window) for details of this exceptional weekend.

Art in Bloom 2007 poster (pdf - large file: 16 MB)

See Art in Bloom 2007, Art in Bloom 2006 and Art in Bloom 2005.

Lecture series in conjunction with Exploration, Interpretation and the Works of George Caleb Bingham

Lectures will be held at 6pm, 106 Pickard Hall
Reception to follow in the Cast Gallery
All lectures are free and open to the public

Lecture series postcard (pdf)

Museum Associates Board of Directors formally announces the date for the Paintbrush Ball on April 21, 2007

• Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Museum of Art and Archaeology
• Enjoy the sounds of “Kapital Kicks” seventeen-piece big band
• Wine and appetizers in the Cast Gallery, Pickard Hall
• Silent auction and raffle in the Great Room, Reynolds Alumni Center
• Dinner and dancing in the Ballroom, Reynolds Alumni Center

Reserve the date NOW and watch for your invitation this spring!

Sponsored by

postcard (pdf)
invitation (pdf - file size: 10MB)

MAA Film Series

The Museum of Art and Archaeology is pleased to announce its new Film Series beginning in February 2007. The Museum will show a film each month on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. that is inspired by one of the special exhibitions on view in the Museum. Prior to the showing, there will be a brief review by the Museum Educator of the film's significance and its application to a specific exhibition. Following the film, patrons may browse the galleries and experience an exhibition in light of the film they have just experienced. See Film Series for full listing.

T/F @ Mizzou

The Museum of Art and Archaeology and the True/False Film Festival Present Kurt Cobain: About a Son

The True/False Film Festival is having a special opening night JUST FOR MIZZOU STUDENTS. Come for a FREE viewing of the documentary Kurt Cobain: About a Son directed by MU Grad AJ Schnack.

Mizzou students will have a chance to win a video iPod and other cool things! And True/False will be selling $20 discount passes to the True/False Film Festival (March 1-4).

Don't forget to head upstairs and check out Final Farewell, the Museum's newest exhibit on death and the afterlife!

Wednesday, February 28, 2007
7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Museum of Art and Archaeology
(Pickard Hall)

phone: 573-882-3591
email: TrueFalseFilmFestival@gmail.com

PLEASE RSVP!!!

Haunted Museum - October 28, 2006

The Museum of Art and Archaeology held its annual Haunted Museum Tour -oooooh!
more >>

Barton Gift Supports Museum Activities

Robert M. Barton, BA ’42 physical sciences, BS ’43 civil engineering, maintained a lifelong passion for art and engineering that began when he was a student at Mizzou.

As an adult, Barton’s profession as a civil engineer kept him on the road for 57 years and took him around the world five times. Inspired in part by his global travel, he became a serious collector of art.

Before Barton died in November 2005, he planned a gift for MU’s Museum of Art and Archaeology, which he considered an important asset to the Mizzou campus. That $124,000 estate gift, received in summer 2006, supports museum activities and adds to Barton’s history of philanthropy. His wife, Maria, survives.

A previous gift from the couple established the Robert and Maria Barton Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art and allowed the museum to expand its extensive holdings. Barton also donated to the museum some of his own acquired treasures – two lithographs by Thomas Hart Benton, a noted American Regionalist painter.

In addition to his museum philanthropy, Barton left a $248,000 estate gift to the College of Engineering.

An obituary published in the San Francisco Chronicle notes that Barton was drafted into the Navy and worked as a stress analyst at Douglas Aircraft during the last two years of World War II. After discharge, he spent 10 years in Sacramento’s bridge department of the California Division of Highways before joining the transportation engineering firm of DeLeuw, Cather and Co.

Barton worked on irrigation infrastructure in Bangladesh and transportation projects in such places as Tanzania and Thailand. His focus centered on highways, bridges, railroad and commuter rail design.

For more information about how to give to the Museum, please see Advance A&S or contact Bruce Cox (email Bruce Cox).

Thomas Hart Benton
American (1889–1975)
Slow Train through Arkansas
1941
Lithograph on paper
(98.46)
Gift of Robert M. Barton

Thomas Hart Benton
American (1889–1975)
Morning Train
1941
Lithograph on paper
(98.45)
Gift of Robert M. Barton

New Director to Lead the Museum of Art and Archaeology

The Museum of Art and Archaeology is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Alex Barker as its new director. He takes over from interim director Jane Biers on April 15, 2006.

Dr. Barker comes to the Museum from the Milwaukee Public Museum where he was Vice-president for Collections and Research and Chair of the Anthropology Section. Before that, he worked at the Dallas Museum of Natural History as Director of Science Programs and also for one year as interim Executive Director of that institution. He holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and has conducted excavations in the United States and abroad, most recently as co-project director of the excavation of a major Bronze Age tell settlement in Romania.

He has published many articles on his work, and is editor of two books. He is currently working on a book titled Chiefdoms and the Economics of Perversity.

He has wide professional experience, serving on the Ethics Committee of the American Anthropological Association; as a panelist for the Institute for Museum and Library Services; and as chair of the Society for American Archaeology’s Committee on Ethics, to list just three of his recent professional commitments. He is a 2004 graduate of the Getty's Museum Leadership Institute.

Art in Bloom 2006 Designs and Winners

The Museum of Art and Archaeology showcased a variety of fresh-cut floral arrangements by mid-Missouri florists who have chosen artwork from the Museum’s collections that inspired their creative designs. Experience this special weekend event that combines the beauty of fine art and artifacts with the majestic art of nature in bloom. more >>

MU Gallery Crawl, October 7, 2005

 Art in Bloom 2005