National Museum of Wildlife Art

National Museum of Wildlife Art
Name	National Museum of Wildlife Art
Established	1987
Location	Jackson Hole, Wyoming, United States
Type	Art museum

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National Museum of Wildlife Art The National Museum of Wildlife Art is an American museum located near Jackson Hole, Wyoming that houses an encyclopedic collection of artworks depicting wildlife and natural landscapes. Founded in 1987 with contributions from private collectors and civic leaders, the museum serves as a cultural landmark for Teton County, Wyoming, attracting visitors from Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and the broader Rocky Mountain region. Its programs and exhibitions connect historical and contemporary art linked to subjects represented by artists associated with institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

History

The museum emerged from the efforts of local patrons, ranchers, and collectors including ties to organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wyoming Arts Council, and private foundations. Early benefactors included names associated with the Rockefeller family, the Guggenheim Foundation, and collectors who had lent works to exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Denver Art Museum. Its founding years intersected with the conservation legacy of figures linked to John Muir, the Sierra Club, and the Audubon Society. Over time the institution staged collaborations with galleries and museums like the Royal Academy of Arts, the National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom), and the Cleveland Museum of Art to mount traveling exhibitions and scholarly loans.

The museum's holdings encompass historic and contemporary painting, sculpture, illustration, photography, and folk art by artists connected to traditions represented in collections at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, and the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale. Works include bronzes and marble by sculptors of the caliber of those displayed at the Rodin Museum, watercolors and oils comparable to examples in the Tate Britain, and wildlife photography akin to pieces in the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography. The collection comprises historic illustration plates related to publishers such as Harper & Brothers, scientific sketches linked to specimens once held by the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, and contemporary installations echoing artists associated with the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Notable thematic holdings connect to subjects portrayed by artists whose works have appeared in the Royal Ontario Museum, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Art Gallery of Ontario, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The museum building, sited on a bluff overlooking the National Elk Refuge and the Snake River, was designed to respond to the regional landscape in dialogue with architectural precedents such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Frank Lloyd Wright estate designs, and Western vernacular exemplified at the Ned Draper House and ranch structures showcased in the Historic American Buildings Survey. The exterior treatment and interior galleries echo materials and forms found in projects by architects affiliated with the American Institute of Architects and commissions similar to those at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation properties. Landscape features on the grounds reference regional ecology highlighted in exhibits at the National Audubon Society and restoration practices practiced in parks managed by the National Park Service.

Temporary and traveling exhibitions have been organized in partnership with institutions such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the National Museum of the American Indian, and international organizations including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Musée d'Orsay. Curatorial programming often juxtaposes historical masters whose work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts and contemporary practitioners who have shown at the Tate Modern, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Centre Pompidou. The museum produces catalogs and monographs that have been distributed alongside publications associated with the University of California Press, the Princeton University Press, and the Yale University Press.

Educational initiatives target audiences ranging from schoolchildren enrolled in districts such as Teton County School District to university students and researchers affiliated with the University of Wyoming, the University of Colorado Boulder, and the Idaho Museum of Natural History. Programs include artist residencies, workshops, and lectures that draw on networks tied to the Wildlife Conservation Society, the World Wildlife Fund, and scholars from institutions like the Field Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. Family programming and teacher resources align with standards promoted by organizations such as the National Art Education Association and professional development partnerships with the Smithsonian Institution.

Governance is overseen by a board of trustees composed of community leaders, philanthropists, and professionals with affiliations to entities like the Wyoming Community Foundation, regional branches of the Rotary International, and trustees who have served on boards of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and major museums including the Denver Art Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Funding sources combine private donations, endowments, grants from institutions such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, membership programs, and revenue-generating activities common to cultural nonprofits operating in proximity to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.

Category:Museums in Wyoming Category:Art museums and galleries in the United States