In 1988, with the support of many dedicated citizens, the James A. Michener Art Museum opened as an independent, non-profit cultural institution dedicated to preserving, interpreting and exhibiting the art and cultural heritage of the Bucks County region. The Museum is named for Doylestown's most famous son, the Pulitzer-Prize winning writer and supporter of the arts who had first dreamed of a regional art museum in the early 1960's.
In November of 1999, the James A. Michener Art Museum publicly announced the largest single gift in the institution's history. Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest gave the Museum an extensive collection of fifty-nine paintings by important regional artists of the Pennsylvania Impressionist School. The museum is now home to a world class collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings.
Ensconced in the Museum's walled, lush "back yard" is an outdoor gallery, the Patricia D. Pfundt Sculpture Garden. Sculptures are on view in a natural setting that pays homage to the Bucks County landscape which has inspired countless artists. The Museum hosts nationally touringspecial exhibitions and also showcases important regional artists.
The Arts in Bucks County
Artists want to live and work in areas that inspire them, and in Bucks County the main source of inspiration has always been the region's picturesque pastures, streams, quarries, farmhouses, and colonial villages. But there were other reasons why visual artists came here. Many appreciated the convenient location, close to New York City and Philadelphia. Some followed in the footsteps of respected teachers and friends. Others were drawn to the atmosphere of tolerance that is rooted in the county's Quaker tradition.
While Bucks County was home to a number of important artists early in the 19th century, the real story began in 1898 when two nationally-known landscape painters arrived here: Edward W. Redfield and William L. Lathrop. Their presence started to attract other artists, and within a few years an art colony began to form along the banks of the Delaware River, centered in New Hope. Like Redfield and Lathrop, many of these artists had prominent careers and they came to be known for a style of landscape painting called Pennsylvania Impressionism.
Visual artists paved the way and the writers followed. Celebrities of their day, Pearl S. Buck, Dorothy Parker, George S. Kaufman, Moss Hart, Oscar Hammerstein and S. J. Perelman, among others, all bought homes in Bucks County and brought glamour and notoriety with them. Two theaters opened along the Delaware River and soon the best-known names of Broadway could be found here rehearsing for previews of shows that would later open in New York City.
This "golden age" of the arts has left a mark on the Bucks County region that remains, even today, a magnet for creative people of all professions and for those who want to be inspired by the rich cultural heritage of this beautiful place.
History of the Museum Site
The massive stone walls and warden's house that make up the core of the Michener Art Museum today began as the Bucks County prison in 1884. After a century of use, the abandoned and antiquated buildings were being torn down when the County Commissioners agreed to preserve the historic landmark and lease the land and buildings to house the new Museum. After extensive renovation, the Museum opened to the public in September, 1988. Since then, there have been two separate expansions, in 1993 and 1996, which added modern gallery space and state-of-the-art storage facilities, plus an outdoor sculpture garden completed in 2000. Today, the old Bucks County jail, once a place of fear and despair, has been transformed into a welcoming center of culture and beauty... guarding the artistic soul of Bucks County.
