About the Museum: A Brief History

A cold gray evening in the early winter of 1912 saw the gathering of a small group of diverse Delaware residents. Some were artists, others were entrepreneurs and business men and women of Wilmington; all were good friends of Howard Pyle.

This small gathering of saddened friends decided that winter night that something must be done to honor the memory of the artist and teacher who had touched them all so deeply. This group of Pyle’s students and Delaware personalities formed the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts with the goal of preserving and exhibiting the works of Howard Pyle. Donations from generous local patrons enabled the Society to purchase nearly 100 of Howard Pyle’s works of art—these paintings, drawings, and prints formed the foundation of a collection that would soon include paintings from some of the most talented illustrators in America.

When the charter of the society was drawn in 1912, it boasted the signatures of such Delaware luminaries as Louisa du Pont Copeland, Stanley M. Arthurs, and Frank E. Schoonover. More importantly it stated a broad vision for the future: “to promote the knowledge and enjoyment of and cultivation in the fine arts in the State of Delaware.”

At the turn of the 19th century, Samuel Bancroft Jr. (1840–1915) was a hard-working and successful Wilmington textile manufacturer, however, Bancroft’s burning passion lay far from his mills on the Brandywine River. He was enthralled with the art of the British Pre-Raphaelites, and in particular, the artist and poet, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His fascination with the art and lives of these Victorian artists inspired him to assemble the largest and most important collection of British Pre-Raphaelite art and manuscript materials in the United States.

In 1935, the family of Samuel Bancroft Jr. donated his art and manuscript collection to the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts. In addition, the Bancroft family donated 11 acres of gently rolling countryside near Kentmere Parkway with the provision that a museum be built on the site to house the Pre-Raphaelite collection. As a testament to both the dedication and generosity of the officers and members of the Society as well as the residents of Wilmington and Delaware, $350,000 was raised during the heart of the Depression for the museum construction and its endowment.

In June of 1938 the newly named Delaware Art Center opened to the public with galleries devoted to the British Pre-Raphaelites, Howard Pyle and his students, and a growing collection of American art beyond illustration. The Wilmington Academy of Art joined with the Delaware Art Center in 1943 to establish the Center’s first educational programs and by 1954 nearly 500 students a year from across Delaware were taking part in a wide variety of studio art courses.

The overwhelming success of the educational programs triggered the generosity of H. Fletcher Brown, who in his will, provided for the construction of new studios and classrooms. The H. Fletcher Brown Education wing opened to the public with great fanfare in the fall of 1956.

Steadily, the art collection grew along with the changing shape of the museum building. Important works of art were added to the Pre-Raphaelite and Illustration Collections, and a renewed emphasis on 19th and 20th century American artists began to take shape. Major works by Frederic Edwin Church, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth, and Paul Cadmus were all added to the collection in a relatively short period of time in the 1950s and ‘60s.

Helen Farr Sloan, the widow of American artist John Sloan (1871–1951), visited Wilmington for the first time in 1960 to help organize the exhibition, “The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Exhibition of Independent Artists in 1910.” The original exhibition had been organized by Sloan and included several of his paintings and drawings. Impressed with the collection, the staff, and the museum’s dedication to collecting and exhibiting American art, Mrs. Sloan began to take a keen interest in the Delaware Art Center.

The year 1961 was the beginning of a wonderful relationship between Helen Farr Sloan and the Delaware Art Center. In that year, Mrs. Sloan generously donated over 3,000 paintings, prints, and drawings as well as countless manuscript materials that made the Center a national base for the study of John Sloan and his art. Till her death in December of 2005, Mrs. Sloan, a scholar, artist, and patron of the arts, remained a dedicated friend and ceaseless supporter of the Museum.

Accreditation from the American Association of Museums in 1972 prompted the Art Center’s formal name change to the Delaware Art Museum. Along with this name change came the recognition that the Museum and its art works had evolved into a collection of national and international importance.

With the approach of the 21st century came a renewed commitment to enhance the strengths of the Museum—British Pre-Raphaelite art, American illustration, John Sloan, and 19th and early 20th century American art all saw major additions in the 1980s and ‘90s. In addition, contemporary American artists began to share the spotlight in the increasingly inclusive Museum collection. Works by contemporary masters such as Robert Motherwell, George Segal, and Jim Dine were all added to the growing collection near the turn of the century.

The Museum has undergone many alterations in its physical appearance; the original structure in 1938, an education wing in 1956, and expanded gallery space and an auditorium in 1987. In 2003 the Museum again undertook a construction project that would greatly transform its visitors’ experiences.

Although the outward shell of the Delaware Art Museum has changed and shifted with the fortunes of the times, the heart of the Museum has remained constant. Museums are places of beauty and ideas, places to contemplate and learn. They are places to gather, but also to retreat from the pressures of the everyday. Museums mean different things to different people, but the very heart of a museum is its collection.

As the Delaware Art Museum has expanded and grown physically it is important to acknowledge its great fortune in having a collection of art that is both beautiful and thought provoking. It is also important to recognize that the Museum has evolved over the decades due to the hard work and generosity of countless dedicated individuals beginning with that small circle of friends on a cold winter night in 1912.