Curatorial Holdings

Throughout its history under different trustees and directors, the Philadelphia Museum of Art has had various collecting focuses and curatorial alignments. Beginning in 1893 under Director Dalton Dorr, the first three curatorial departments were established: American Pottery; Numismatics; and Textiles, Lace and Embroidery. As the collections continued to grow in the late 19th and early 20th century, new departments were added and modified under the guidance of appointed Honorary Curators.

The arrival of Director Fiske Kimball in 1925 marked an organizational change that established staffed departments within two divisions of European and American Art, and Eastern Art. This structure remained until Director Evan Turner discarded the divisions and established independent departments in the 1960s.

Some departments that once existed no longer function due to changed collecting priorities or economic necessity, while other designations that once existed under a larger curatorial umbrella now operate as separate offices.

 

American Art Three centuries of portraits, landscapes, furniture, sculpture, silver, glass, crafts, architecture, and decorative arts with a special emphasis on Philadelphia’s rich traditions...		Arms & Armor Plate and mail armor, polearms, swords, daggers, firearms, shields, crossbows, and equestrian equipment that was used in war, various forms of tournament, and processions...
Asian Art Sculpture, furniture, scrolls, porcelain, crystal, tiles, carpets, paintings, and architecture from all parts of Asia, spanning from 2500 B.C. to the present day...		Costume & Textiles Woven and printed textiles, embroidery, lace, quilts, coverlets, and samplers, as well as fine historic fashions and accessories...
Dutch Ceramics Colorful tiles, porcelain, and Delft earthenware ranging from the sixteenth to the twentieth century...		European Art 1100–1500 Panel paintings, stained glass, reliquaries, illuminated manuscripts, metal and woodwork, tapestries, sculpture, and architectural elements illustrating the development of Medieval and early Renaissance art...
European Art 1500–1850 Paintings, sculpture, furniture, ceramics, and tapestries from the High Renaissance, Mannerist, Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassical periods...		European Art 1850–1900 Major paintings, furniture, sculpture, block-printed wallpapers, and ceramics representing Impressionism, International Realism, Post-Impressionism, and Art Nouveau...
Modern & Contemporary Art Paintings, sculpture, collages, video, decorative arts, and design from the dawn of the twentieth century to the present day...		Prints, Drawings & Photographs Etchings, woodcuts, watercolors, collages, gouaches, posters, photographs, and photogravures dating from the fifteenth century to the present...