Company Profile
Figge Art Museum
Company Overview
The Figge Art Museum is the premier art exhibition and education facility between Chicago and Des Moines, and the only Art Museum on the Mississippi River from source to mouth. With soaring glass walls reflecting the constantly changing sky, the museum’s expansive galleries and intimate rooms are home to some of the Midwest’s finest art collections. Studio-style classrooms allow young and old to participate in the creative process. In 2010, the Figge achieved reaccreditation with the American Association of Museums. Other notable association memberships include Association of Midwest Museums (AMM), Iowa Museum Association (IMA), Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), and College Arts Association (CAA).
The Figge Art Museum’s permanent holdings include many nationally and internationally known objects and bear witness to more than seven decades of philanthropy and civic pride. The collections, organized in seven areas, offer a distinctive look at regional, national and international art. Today, the collections include more than 3,500 paintings, sculptures and works on paper from the 16th century to the present, including a collection of works by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Company History
The museum opened as the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery in 1925 with a gift of 350 European and Mexican Colonial paintings, creating the first municipal art gallery in the state of Iowa. In 1987, the museum changed its name to the Davenport Museum of Art. Then in 2003, the museum relocated to the heart of downtown Davenport, following a major capital campaign. In recognition of the $13.25 million lead gift to the new building project from the V. O. and Elizabeth Kahl Figge Foundation, the museum was renamed the Figge Art Museum. The Figge family, a local banking family of Swiss origin, has a long tradition of philanthropy and cultural enrichment in the community.
The Figge Art Museum opened at its new home on the banks of the Mississippi River in August 2005. The 114,000 square-foot facility was designed by RIBA Stirling award winner, British architect, David Chipperfield. The combination of reflective, transparent and opaque surfaces continuously transforms the appearance of the facade in relation to the sun and changing cloud patterns. The building is a civic landmark in downtown Davenport, and enables the museum to further its mission as a regional exhibition space and a community-oriented education center.
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
The Figge Art Museum is a valuable community resource that connects local colleges, universities, and corporations. The main focus of this partnership initiative is the Midwest Arts Education Center, launched in 2008, through which the museum provides studio space, classes, lectures and workshops for local colleges and universities, allowing them to expand their humanities and arts education programs. The Masters Degree in Museum Studies is a unique program administered through the College of Fine Arts and Communication at Western Illinois University. It offers course work through the departments of Art, and Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration working in conjunction with museum professionals at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa.
These partnerships also provide housing and exhibition space for collected works from other institutions, including 12,000 works from the University of Iowa’s Museum of Art collection, with paintings by Picasso and Pollack. Other participating educational institutions in Iowa include Eastern Iowa Community College and St. Ambrose University and in Illinois Augustana College, Knox College, and Black Hawk Community College.
Recently, Deere & Company reached out to the Figge to display their permanent art collection, which previously was housed in the company’s corporate headquarters in Moline, IL. The early success and demand for these partnership programs has generated greater activity in and around the museum, and drawn an influx of young, educated and enthusiastic students into the Quad-Cities area, and has generated greater interest in the arts throughout the community. Also, the Figge Art Museum proactively reaches out to local community school districts reaching nearly 16,000 students every year. Additionally the Figge provides tours of their facilities for over 4,000 students each year.
Benefits
Life Insurance AD&D
1X Annual Salary
Paid By Figge
Paid Time Off 3 weeks’ vacation plus 11 Holidays