Tyler Museum of Art

Specialties

The Tyler Museum of Art exists as an educational and cultural center to enrich the lives of East Texas citizens and visitors through the collection, preservation, study, exhibition, interpretation, and celebration of the visual arts.

Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Museum is housed today in an award-​winning structure nestled on a tree-​shaded site, adjacent to the campus of Tyler Junior College. The building contains two major exhibition galleries on the ground floor, the North Gallery and the Bell Gallery. There is also a library, classroom, café, and gift shop.

The Tyler Museum of Art’s growing permanent collection features over 1200 works including paintings, prints, photographs, and sculpture by artists such as James Surls, Vernon Fisher, Alexander Calder, Terry Allen, and Charles Umlauf.

History

Established in 1971.

In April 1952, the Tyler Service League formed the first Community Arts Committee. Because there was not an art museum within one hundred miles of Tyler, they knew there were many children who had no opportunity to see and experience works of art. «Picture Ladies» from the Tyler Service League took prints to 5^th and 6^th grade classrooms, rotating the prints once each week. This program continued and in 1960 they purchased the property known as the Jamie T. Smith home and established an art center there. They remodeled the house, designating space for traveling exhibitions and a children’s arts and crafts program. In 1965, the League sold this property and set aside funds with the goal of establishing an art museum for Tyler.

The Tyler Service League became the Junior League of Tyler, and through its efforts the Tyler Museum of Art was opened in 1971. It is a non-​profit organization governed by a Board of Trustees.