UCLA Fowler Museum
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| UCLA Fowler Museum | |
|---|---|
| Name | Fowler Museum at UCLA |
| Established | 1963 |
| Location | Los Angeles, California |
| Type | Art museum, Ethnographic museum, World cultures |
| Director | Laura Anderson |
UCLA Fowler Museum is a university museum at the University of California, Los Angeles dedicated to the arts and material cultures of Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas. The museum presents scholarly research, curatorial exhibitions, and public programs that connect museum collections with global artistic traditions and community practices. It collaborates with museums, universities, cultural institutions, and indigenous organizations worldwide.
History
The museum traces origins to the 1960s with support from philanthropists such as Donald Cohn and patrons connected to the University of California regents, reflecting ties to UCLA, the Getty Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. Early curatorial leadership engaged scholars associated with institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Major exhibitions and catalogues drew on fieldwork by anthropologists from Harvard University, Columbia University, the University of Chicago, Oxford University, Cambridge University, and the School of Oriental and African Studies. The museum’s development intersected with international partnerships with UNESCO, the World Bank cultural initiatives, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Research Institute, and the California Arts Council. Over decades, directors and curators collaborated with scholars from Yale University, Princeton University, Stanford University, Brown University, and UC Berkeley to expand collections and outreach.
Collections
The museum holds ethnographic and artistic holdings sourced from regions represented by scholars of African studies, Latin American studies, Asian studies, Pacific studies, and Native American studies. Collections include ceramics, textiles, masks, ritual objects, metalwork, beadwork, and contemporary art by artists associated with institutions such as the National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico), the National Museum of Kenya, the Musée du quai Branly, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Australian Museum, and the National Museum of Ethnology (Leiden). Notable categories reflect research frameworks developed with curators from the Royal Ontario Museum, the Peabody Museum, the Field Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Musée de l'Homme. Provenance research and conservation efforts involved specialists from the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property. The collections support collaborations with community partners including the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation, the Maori Council, the Kikuyu Council, the Yoruba Council, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the Haida Nation, and the Mapuche organizations.
Exhibitions and Programs
Temporary and traveling exhibitions have been organized in collaboration with museums and cultural centers including the Walker Art Center, the Hammer Museum, the Getty Center, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art, the Royal Academy of Arts, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Programs feature curators and artists who have worked with institutions such as the Smithsonian Folkways, the Japan Foundation, the Korea Arts Management Service, the China Cultural Centre, the Goethe-Institut, the Alliance Française, and the British Council. Past exhibitions highlighted works connected to names and events like the Zulu Kingdom, Benin Empire, Timbuktu manuscripts, Easter Island moai projects, the Benin Bronzes dialogues, and repatriation studies referencing cases examined by the International Court of Justice and the CITES Secretariat. Public programming partners include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, the Colburn School, the Los Angeles Public Library, the Getty Villa education staff, and the California African American Museum.
Education and Community Engagement
Educational initiatives coordinate with UCLA departments such as the Department of Anthropology, the Department of Art History, the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, the Department of Ethnomusicology, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, and the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. The museum’s internship and fellowship programs have engaged graduate students from the Institute of Fine Arts, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia University, and the Royal College of Art. Community engagement includes partnerships with Los Angeles Unified School District, the Pasadena Unified School District, local tribal schools, the Skirball Cultural Center, El Pueblo de Los Ángeles, the Mexican Consulate, the Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles, and the Japanese American National Museum. Collaborative research projects involve funding and advisory input from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Humanities, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Architecture and Facilities
The museum occupies gallery, conservation, storage, and study spaces designed to museum standards used by institutions such as the American Alliance of Museums and the International Council of Museums. Building upgrades and conservation labs have been informed by partnerships with the Getty Conservation Institute, the UCLA Institute of Environmental Design, and engineering firms that have worked on projects for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Hammer Museum, and the Broad Foundation. Exhibition fabrication and design collaborations brought experience from firms that have served the Smithsonian Institution, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The museum’s facilities support digitization initiatives linked to the Digital Public Library of America, the Europeana project, the Getty Research Portal, and the Online Archive of California.
Governance and Funding
Governance is overseen by the University of California Board of Regents frameworks and UCLA administrative structures, with advisory councils and trustees including members associated with philanthropic organizations such as the Getty Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Getty Trust, the Annenberg Foundation, and the Packard Foundation. Funding streams include grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, private donations, corporate sponsors, and partnerships with cultural agencies such as UNESCO and local arts commissions. The museum engages in provenance research, repatriation consultations, and legal frameworks involving treaties and agreements examined with counsel experienced in cultural property law and international museum practice.