Collections: Art Collection
Staten Island Museum has been devoted to the study and collection of art since 1908.
Today, the Art Collection has a strong regional perspective including 19th and 20th century portraits of prominent Staten Islanders as well as landscapes by Staten Islanders. European and American artworks provide an historical framework for the Art Collection, including a portion of the Kress Collection of the Italian Renaissance. In addition to our larger American and European fine art aggregations, our collection includes African, Asian, and Native American Art from antiquity to the present day. The Works on Paper Collection is the largest in the art department, and contains works from such noted local artists as Frederic Cozzens, Cecil C. Bell and John Sloan. We also have works on paper by internationally celebrated artists such as John J. Audubon, Robert Indiana, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Marc Chagall and Andy Warhol.
The types of collections that can be found in the Art Collection are paintings, works on paper, clothing and textiles, sculpture, photography, antiquities, and decorative arts. Feel free to search our online collections databases. Please note that these databases do not represent the entire collection. Please contact our Curator of Art, by email or phone at 718.727.1135, if you have any questions or if you would like to research the collections.
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Paintings
The Staten Island Museum has approximately 400 paintings in its collection. Italian Medieval and Renaissance works from the 14th to 16th centuries, largely from the Kress Donation are the earliest works.
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Works on Paper
Works on paper include drawings, watercolors, and limited edition prints. This is the largest collection of fine art at the Museum, including 1,400 pieces representing the late 15th century through contemporary artists of regional, national and international acclaim.
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Clothing and Textiles
This area includes over 500 pieces representing men’s and women’s social and ceremonial attire and accessories from the 16th to 20th century.
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Photography
The museum’s photography collection represents all the phases and processes of this relatively recent (first patented in 1839) art form: From daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes to sepia prints and digital color photography.
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Sculpture
The museum’s sculpture collection spans over 1500 years, including works from Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific and ancient American cultures.
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Antiquities
The museum possesses some 620 antiquities, which embraces the arts of ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece, and Rome.
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Decorative Arts
“Decorative arts” is a broad category which includes household items, such as cutlery and porcelains, silverware, glassware, as well as jewelry, and other personal adornments and keepsakes.
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