Smith College Museum of Art

Ever gone to a museum to check out the toilets?

Probably not - at least, not until you visit the Smith College Museum of Art for the first time. That’s right: even the bathrooms of this museum are art! With one designed by Smith alumna Sandy Skoglund (Smith College class of 1963), and the other by Ellen Driscoll, the bathrooms are worthy of a visit of their own.

Besides taking a radical perspective on what it means to surround oneself with art to *really* feel it, SCMA has other claims to fame, too. Though it is not the oldest college art museum in the USA (Yale snagged that title by a mere 40 years), art collecting has always been in the school’s mission. Smith began collecting art in 1879 - just 4 years after the college opened. By 1920 the museum had a director and a formal collection plan - something which has been revised over the last 100 years to reflect the diversity and progressiveness of Smith itself. What do I mean by this? Smith is, for those who don’t know, a women’s college - one of the original Seven Sisters schools (and yes, it is as witchy as it sounds).

Today the college contains more than 27,000 artworks spanning 4500 years. For reference, that’s the same size as the collection at the Whitney (actually, SCMA’s is a little bigger - not that size matters…). Between the range and depth of the collection, the emphasis on student engagement (yours truly was a staff member throughout my time as a Smith student), and plethora of community events, the museum is often regarded as one of the top college art museums in the US.

In 2003, the museum underwent a $35 million redesign. Another modification was made between 2013 and 2016 (creating another Whitney parallel, as that was also the time of their new building). Over the century of its existence, projects such as this, as well as the constant expansion of the collection, can be credited to generous alumnae gifts. In addition to being a great campus resource, the museum has gained acclaim across the field. In 2020 it will host art from the collection of the Studio Museum, while that building is under renovation.

All of that is to say, while you may go for the toilets, I recommend that you stay for the art - it’s worth your time.

Here is what Wikipedia says about Smith College Museum of Art

The Smith College Museum of Art, abbreviated SCMA, is the art museum of Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts. First established in 1870, the museum is part of the American Alliance of Museums, Five College Consortium, and Museums10 consortiums.

Throughout the years, the museum collection has expanded to include nearly 25,000 works of art, including a diverse collection of non-Western art. The institution is widely known for its collection of American and European art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including works by Albert Bierstadt, Paul Cézanne, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent, Georges Seurat, and representation of many other notable artists.