Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art

Frommer's Review

This relatively new museum covers Colorado's most illustrious artist, Vance Kirkland (1904-81), in grand fashion, while also presenting a world-class collection of decorative arts. Kirkland was a watercolor painter focused on Western landscapes when he started experimenting and combined oils and watercolors on one canvas. The traditional arts establishment dropped his modern ideas like a bad habit, but he later won accolades for creating his own artistic universe in his stunning paintings, about 60 of which are on display here. His preserved brick studio (first built in 1911) has an unusual harness he used for painting on flat canvases facedown (dating from his "dot" period). The decorative arts collection includes more than 3,300 pieces ranging from teacups to armchairs, and there are also more than 700 works by notable Colorado artists other than Kirkland.

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