When the Housatonic Museum of Art Museum first opened in 1967, Burt Chernow, professor of art and art history and founding director, envisioned creating a college art collection of modern and contemporary art that would be accessible to all students, all the time, displayed throughout the campus. In his first year, he collected ninety-seven works by Allan D’Arcangelo, Alex Katz, Henry Pearson, Sylvia Stone, Larry Zox, and Elaine De Kooning, among others. Chernow also began to acquire work from Connecticut artists associated with the Silvermine Guild and the Westport Art Center where he and his wife, Ann Chernow, were both active members.
Today, Housatonic Museum of Art’s permanent collection continues to grow through gifts and donations and now includes the arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas as well as renowned contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Jenny Holzer and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, to name a few.
