The Samek Art Museum has been collecting works since its inception. Past collecting practices created the encyclopedic holdings the Museum offers today. This includes, but is not limited to, the 1942 donation of Asian objects by Andrew J. Sordoni, the Leiser Collection donated in 1957, the Samuel H. Kress collection donated in 1961, and the transfer of objects from the Special Collections/University Archives from the Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library.
The Collection is currently used in a variety of ways, including: exhibitions and traveling exhibitions, educational programs, mobile art programs, loans, independent research and research conducted in the Collections Study Room, intellectual and physical access, publications, and teaching through Bucknell University’s curriculum. These activities support the mission of the Samek Art Museum and Bucknell University by creating a space and conversation about the fine arts.
The Museum’s strengths include modern and contemporary works on paper, the Samuel H. Kress Collection of Baroque and Renaissance art, twentieth century photographs, Japanese decorative art, and historic prints.
The Museum is interested in collecting works that build upon the strengths already in the Samek’s collection, global contemporary fine art, works from under represented peoples/cultures, and new media art.
If you’re interested in donating a work of art please contact our Director, Richard Rinehart, at r.rinehart@bucknell.edu
To see more of our collection please visit our page with selected works.
