Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum

The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota opened on November 21, 1993. Named for the museum's major benefactor, businessman and noted art collector Frederick R. Weisman, and designed by Frank O. Gehry Associates, the mission of the Weisman Museum is to "educate students about art and to make the visual arts an important part of their everyday experience." The museum holds a significant collection of American art from the first half of the 20th century in addition to Asian, European and Native American art collections.

The museum is heralded for its contemporary design, constructed of jagged gray stainless steel and orange-terra-cotta colored brick; it sits high on the bluffs above the Mississippi River. Five galleries with four skylights provide illumination of the exhibits on the main level of the museum with large picture windows allowing pedestrian traffic clear views into the galleries.

Before the opening of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, the art museum at the University, known as the Little Gallery and later as University Gallery, was located in Northrop Auditorium. University president Lotus Coffman, who felt art was necessary to instill value and enlighten the mind, established the gallery in 1934. Hudson Walker was its first director, followed by Ruth Lawrence in 1935.

Frederick R. Weisman, the son of Mary and William Weisman, was born in Minneapolis in 1912. At the age of six, he moved with his mother to Los Angeles. Weisman returned to Minnesota to attend the University of Minnesota, before transferring to UCLA. After college, he began working in several small businesses, and landed a job with a small canning company, Val-Vita, which merged with Hunt Brothers Packing Company to become Hunt Foods. Weisman became the company president by the age of 31.

In the late 1950s, Weisman left Hunt Foods to pursue other business ventures, including mining and banking. In 1970, he established Mid-Atlantic Toyota Distributors, Inc., the principle component of the Frederick Weisman Company, which marketed Toyota vehicles in the Central Atlantic coast states. In 1990, he separated himself from his distributorship to focus on other business ventures and his philanthropic efforts. Weisman was one of America’s foremost collectors of contemporary art and his philanthropic company, the Frederick R. Weisman Philanthropic Program, supported the arts and artists, as well as social services and health care. Frederick R. Weisman died on September 11, 1994.

From the guide to the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum records, 1938-1993, (University of Minnesota Libraries. University of Minnesota Archives [uarc])