allen memorial art museum

This art gallery on the Oberlin campus is a lovely spot to visit. The building itself is beautiful..you cannot miss it as you approach downtown. The museum is small but not tiny and it features pieces representing an array of different regions and ages. The best part of all is that is free. We parked directly out front on a Saturday mid-morning and nearly had the place to ourselves. You have ample time to examine the pieces and we felt like we were in a private gallery. The size of the rooms and amount of work makes for a very intimate experience compared to the major art galleries found in cities. Worth a visit if you are in the area.

This is a great museum with a very helpful staff. It is currently being renovated but still has several galleries open for viewing. There is a wide variety of Art on exhibit and the staff is available to answer any questions. It is also free! A must stop place if you are in Oberlin.

The Allen is a true gem among museums, with a collection from the entire world touching on all significant areas and eras of art. In particular, their Japanese woodblock print collection is outstanding The museum itself is an architectural jewel, both inside and out. The recently cleaned and restored painted ceiling has made the interior courtyard even more stunning. There are also several lectures given throughout the year that are open to the public. And it's free to all!

The Allen Museum has a surprisingly extensive and impressive collection of masterpieces (paintings, prints, pottery, sculpture) and yet can comfortably be viewed in 2-3 hours. The quality of the collection is stunning, especially for a college museum. It is more impressive than many big city museums, an amazing jewel in the heart of Oberlin. The museum collection also includes a Frank Lloyd Wright house on the edge of town, which involves another hour to take in.

It's difficult to rate something like the Allen Memorial Art Museum because it is truly excellent for what it is - a smaller art museum - but it is still that, a smaller art museum. You shouldn't hesitate to come here if you are in Oberlin and it's well worth the 45-minute or so drive from Cleveland. I would recommend combining it with something else and making a day of it. The rating above reflects the fact that this is an easy "5" as a smaller art museum, but probably something you can see in less than two hours.The Allen Memorial Art Museum is at the edge of the Oberlin College Campus, about two easy miles from the freeway. The museum itself has about a dozen galleries on two floors. I had no trouble at all finding free parking out front. Admission is free!One other review on this website describes the museum as a sampler, and that's pretty apt. It isn't large enough to be a comprehensive museum, but what it has is outstanding.I started in the Italian Renaissance gallery, which has several exquisite works well displayed. It is next to a gallery on art centered on roughly the 16th Century that includes several pieces that would be at home in the greatest museums in the world. This includes some amazing Dutch masters and works by Steen and Rubens. A third gallery has a surprisingly good array of 20th century art, including pieces by Picasso (several, in fact), Monet, Pissarro, Calder (admittedly a small one), Cezanne, Chagall, Modigliani, Matisse, and others. Some of these are not major pieces by the artists, but in that respect they had their own charm - they are great, but not paintings or sculpture you see every day.There is a Kirchner work post-WWI that is astounding and horrifying - the Nazis labelled it degenerate art and it is a masterpiece.There are also collections of Asian and South American art. The center courtyard is under renovation, but as of November 25 you can still see the magnificent ceiling.The second floor is really a series of long galleries. At present, they display photographs from the Jazz era, an exhibit on photos of classic Mexican architecture, and French woodcuts from World War I. I thought the last - kind of artistic propaganda - was the most engaging. There is stairway access to the second floor, but I did not see an elevator and if access is an issue for you it might be something you will want to check ahead of time.I was really happy to have visited this delightful little museum.

This free museum on the campus of Oberlin College has some excellent collections and is in a beautiful building. The Renaissance art is noteworthy and I really enjoyed the Latin America exhibit in the large annex. There are ongoing renovations but they don't interfere with the art work. This is a wonderful little gem of a museum and in times when museums are becoming very pricey to visit, the free admission is greatly appreciated. Definitely worth a visit--worth multiple visits to see special exhibits.

The museum is not that large, but it has an incredible collection. Great place to spend a few hours and get out of the cold.

I came to Oberlin for an afternoon and worried that I wouldn't have time to do what I wanted. While I could have spent more time looking at the art here, it was not overwhelming and felt like just the right amount of fun for the time we had. This is a lot of fun for no money. I was impressed by the quality of the work that was presented. I also had time for the Weltzheimer/Johnson House, which was another very interesting place to visit, and is maintained by the museum.

Before visiting I'd been told that the museum is on par with some of the great college/university art museums---most notably, the Yale University Art Gallery, which I happened to visit earlier this year. That museum has 5+ floors of artwork spanning millennia. This one is...pretty cool too, I guess.It's two stories with several galleries dedicated to ancient artifacts, Renaissance-era paintings and sculptures; the sorts of things you'd expect. When we were visiting, they also had an exhibition on original Disney animation cells, which was cool---although it was also just, like, this weird tiny, sort of dingy hallway. Upstairs, most of the second floor was dedicated to photography of jazz musicians. The upshot is that the stuff they do have on display is great, of course; they're drawing from a huge archive, much bigger than the space they have for displaying it. And, you won't have to spend your whole day visiting it, unlike the Yale museum; you might not even need more than an hour. And, it's free! But I couldn't help but feel let down after reading an article of "The 20 Best College Art Museums," and seeing this right at the top. It's definitely not the BEST, but it's worth seeing.Pro-tip: If you're an Oberlin student, look into their Art Rental Program, which allows you to borrow actual, original masterpieces from the museum's collection, and decorate your dorms with them. I'm totally serious---look it up!

What's not to like? It's free, it's fabulously interesting, and it's not too big. You could spend hours studying or less than hour just admiring the beautiful, well curated, and in some ways broad collection. Great place for family or serious art enthusiasts.

I've been here several times over the years and am never disappointed. The architecture is inviting and the exhibits are well-displayed. I like that there are activities geared for children and adults.

A fascinating collection, with a strong upstairs gallery of prints and photos. The building itself is a star.

We toured this amazing collection at high speed, since we had only a two-hour block of time available. We were fortunate to have the director available to point out highlights, and give us the interesting stories behind some of the acquisitions. This is a great place to see a diverse collection without being overwhelmed with room after room of things that look the same. A great visit!

Our visit was timed with an exhibition of etchings, etc. and it was very comprehensive. Nice environment overall with a nice variety of work in the museum. Do wish they could incorporate a little of the outdoors in their exhibits because the grounds are also nice.

This college art museum has a broad collection. It's plenty big, but still manageable if you only have one or two hours. Monet's Wisteria is a highlight. So is the Token Booth by Red Grooms.