Collections

As a teaching museum, the Kruizenga Art Museum focuses on building a collection of works of art that offer potential for instruction and learning in a variety of academic disciplines. Many of the artworks in the museum collection reflect diverse ways of thinking about and living in the world. Some works in the collection are by well-known artists, but the collection is not, nor is it intended to be, a collection of art historical masterpieces.

The KAM’s founding collection included approximately 1,000 works of art that were donated to, or purchased by, Hope College between 1965 and 2015. Thanks to the generosity of our patrons, the collection continues to grow and today includes over 8,000 works of art. The collection spans a broad geographical range from North America and Europe to Asia and Africa. Most of the artworks date from 1600 to the present and include examples of many different genres, media, subjects and styles.  To learn more about the museum’s major collecting areas, see the table below.

Africa

The KAM’s African collection ranges from traditional craft and ceremonial objects to contemporary artworks by internationally recognized artists such as Lamidi Fakeye, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ablade Glover, Marcia Kure, Zerihun Yetmgeta, Qes Adamu Tesfaw and William Kentridge. The African collection is especially strong in 20th- and 21st-century artworks from Ethiopia and Nigeria, and is currently building its holdings of South African art as well.

Asia

More than one third of the KAM’s collection is comprised of art from Asia. The museum’s Asian holdings are particularly strong in Japanese art and Mongolian Buddhist art from the 19th and 20th centuries. The Asian collection also includes significant collections of textiles from Baluchistan, Mithila folk paintings from India and contemporary Chinese art.

Europe

The KAM’s European art holdings are anchored by a print collection that includes a broad range of works from Old Masters like Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt van Rijn to modern artists like Kathe Kollwitz and Francoise Gilot. Within the European print collection there is an important sub-collection of mezzotints representing a wide range of artists, dates and subjects. Apart from prints, the museum’s European collection also includes paintings, sculptures, decorative arts and religious objects from a variety of countries and historical periods.

North America

The KAM’s North American collection consists primarily of 20th and 21st-century artworks from the United States, Mexico and Canada. The U.S. collection includes artworks representing a wide range of genres and art historical movements. In recent years, the museum has focused especially on collecting works by female and non-white artists. The core of the museum’s Mexican collection features paintings, prints and sculptures created between the 1960s and 1980s by artists of the so-called “Rupture Generation.” The museum’s Canadian holdings consist mainly of prints dating from the 1980s and 90s by more than a dozen different artists.