The Kresge Art Museum, founded in 1959, houses Michigan State University's collection of over 7,000 works of art. Portions of the collection are on continuous display, offering a rich diversity of style, technique and media. Objects on view span 5,000 years of human history and include representative examples of works of art from ancient Cycladic figures to contemporary mixed media installations.
Greek, Roman and Egyptian artifacts; medieval and Renaissance illuminations; and European and American paintings, prints and sculptures document the intellectual and artistic development of Western civilization.
The Kresge Art Museum logo is based on the decorative pattern of an elevator enclosure grill in the museum's collection. This grill, designed by Louis Sullivan circa 1893, was in the Chicago Stock Exchange building and was donated to the museum when that building was destroyed.
Art and artifacts from African, Asian, and Islamic cultures offer insight into non-Western history, beliefs and artistic traditions.
Traveling exhibitions and temporary shows curated by museum staff explore many art historical, cultural and contemporary themes.
In keeping with Michigan State University's land grant philosophy, the museum has a public as well as an institutional mission to serve students, faculty and the community through opportunities to experience the fine arts.
Thanks to the generosity of alumnus Eli Broad and his wife Edythe, who made the largest cash gift from an individual in MSU's history, the new Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, which will focus on modern and contemporary art, is scheduled to open in 2010.
