Museum of American Art, also, The Painter and the Park Maker. Where Art Meets Life /. Museum of American Art , Acknowledged as the first museum in the U.S. to concentrate exclusively on American art, the New Britain Museum of American Art traces its beginnings to 1903, when Jon Butler Talcott established an endowment to buy an art collection for the enjoyment and education of the public. In 1935, Grace Judd Landers bequeathed her turn-of-the-century stone mansion located on the edge of the beautiful Frederick Law Olmsted-designed Walnut Hill Park, as a permanent home for the art collection, then only numbering 26 works. The Art Museum of the New Britain Institute (as it was then called), newly renovated, opened its doors to the public on July 1, 1937. Numerous wings were added over the years, but the Museum truly blossomed with the opening of the Chase Family Building in 2006 to critical and public acclaim. , The Museum is renowned for its preeminent collection that as of May 2014 numbered more than 11,500 works, with its masterpieces in demand worldwide and NBMAA-originating exhibitions traveling across the U.S. and abroad each year. Visitors can walk through the three-decade [sic] history of the nation's artistic output, enjoying engaging special exhibitions and unique installations such as the celebrated Thomas Hart Benton Mural series, the Arts of Life in America, the monumental 9/11 memorial by Graydon Parrish, and over three dozen artist-designed benches (“art you can sit on”) – educational, awe-inspiring, and fun. , Programming for all ages, interests and abilities include docent-led school and adult tours, teacher services, studio classes, gallery talks, lectures, symposia, concerts, and film. , The Museum's slogan, “Where Art Meets Life”, comes to life through creative community-building special events, held monthly, quarterly and annually. Toe-tapping jazz evenings, Museum After Dark parties, and a variety of community celebrations make the NBMAA a rich performance venue combining music, performance, and the visual arts. , [Captions (top to bottom)] , . A portion of Thomas Hart Benton's Arts of the City, 1932, tempera with oil glaze. (New Britain Museum of American Art) , . Albert Bierstadt, Seal Rock, 1872-87, oil on canvas, 50 x 44 1/4 in. (New Britain Museum of American Art) , . Norman Rockwell, Weighing In, 1958, oil on canvas. (New Britain Museum of American Art) , The Painter and the Park Maker , The careers of Walnut Hill Park designer, Frederick Law Olmsted, and founder of the Hudson River School of painters, Frederic Church, were closely intertwined. Both grew up in Hartford, influenced each other's work, and were devoted to the same goals, albeit in different mediums. , The Hudson River School was a popular group of American landscape painter who worked from 1825 to about 1870. Their paintings first depicted the beauty and majesty of the landscapes of the Hudson River Valley and surrounding areas, but many carried the style into some of the most famous images of the American West. Rather than a harsh wilderness, most promoted a tranquil pastoral American landscape where people, nature, and animals coexisted peacefully. , Olmsted was inspired to create his landscapes in part by the work of Church and fellow Hudson River School painters, Thomas Cole, George Inness, Albert Bierstadt, and Asher B. Durand. As the painters created landscapes on paper, Olmsted created three-dimensional landscapes that echo the ordered natural aesthetic of the Hudson River Valley School of painters. He sought to create organized landscapes of idealized nature where the laborer, factory worker and wealthy merchant would all come together to enjoy the majestic views, fresh air, and joys of nature. , Frederic Church and Frederick Law Olmsted undoubtedly knew each other, as they had many professional and personal connections. Both were born in Hartford and Church served as a Parks Commissioner in New York City during the contraction of Central Park, which Olmsted designed. The men also worked together to build support for the preservation of Niagara Falls. As Church had influenced Olmsted, Olmsted in turn influenced Church as designed and created the landscape of his estate, Olana, in the Hudson River Valley. , Significant examples of Church's work and that of other Hudson River School painters hang in the nearby galleries of the New Britain Museum of American Art. Olmsted's work is before you. , Today the work of Frederic Church and Frederick Law Olmsted coexist in harmony. The Chase Family Building addition to the New Britain Museum of American Art was designed intentionally by Ann Beha Architects in 2000 to make it appear an extension of the park, providing visitors with sweeping vistas of the landscape at every opportunity. , [Captions (top to bottom)] , . John Singer Sargent, Frederick Law Olmsted, 1895, oil on canvas, 91 1/8 x 60 3/4 in. (Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina) , . Frederic Edwin Church, West Rock, New Haven, 1849, oil on canvas, 27 1/8 x 40 1/8 in. (New Britain Museum of American Art) , . Asher Brown Durand, Sunday Morning, 1860, oil on canvas, 28 1/8 x 42 1/8 in. (New Britain Museum of American Art)