We share our art collection with the world through exhibition loans, shared acquisitions, long-term loans through Terra Collection-in-Residence, and online, where the public can find information about specific artists and objects.
Collection
An Evolving Collection
The Terra Foundation Art Collection is an inextricable part of our history and mission. It features more than 750 paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, and sculptures made by 254 artists between the 1750s and 2000s. Since its creation in 1978, the collection and its uses have evolved to help expand narratives of American art across the globe.
Terra Foundation Art Collection
Stuart Davis, Super Table, 1925. Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.37
About the Terra Foundation Art Collection
Art Collection Loans to Exhibitions
Collection Loans
Collection Loans
Art collection loans to exhibitions are a critical part of our mission to deepen and expand narratives of American art. The foundation loans works of art to museums and institutions around the world, allowing these objects to reach new audiences, invite new interpretations, and inspire intercultural dialogues.
John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist, Mint Museum Uptown, September 18, 2021–January 2, 2022. Image courtesy of The Mint Museum.
Terra Collection-in-Residence
Terra Collection-in-Residence
Terra Collection-in-Residence
Our invitation-only extended loan program invites museums within and outside the US to borrow objects for multi-year engagements that may amplify their permanent collections, promote interdisciplinary research and learning, and spark new conversations.
Gallery Talk led by Dr. Kimia Shahi, Assistant Professor, University of Southern California and 2022-23 Fellow at the Center for the Environment, Harvard University, at the Harvard Art Museums featuring Samuel Coleman's Ships Unloading, New York (1868), on loan from the Terra Foundation for American Art. May 3, 2023. Image courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums; © President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Shared Acquisitions
Shared Acquisitions
Shared Acquisitions
The Terra Foundation co-acquires collection objects with museums that contribute to broader understandings of American art.
Calida Rawles, Thy Name We Praise, 2023. Terra Foundation for American Art and Spelman College Museum of Fine Art co-acquisition in honor of Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., 10th President of Spelman College, TCA2023.3. Photo courtesy of Lehmann Maupin Gallery.
Terra Foundation Art Collection in Chicago
Terra Foundation Art Collection in Chicago
Selected works from the Terra Foundation Art Collection are currently on loan and on view at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, as part of the Terra Collection-in-Residence initiative.
For over two decades, the Art Institute of Chicago has consistently exhibited works from the Terra Foundation’s core collection. This enduring partnership has facilitated a comprehensive presentation of the arts of the Americas. Loans from the foundation place the two collections in dialogue and expand the narratives of American art.
Art Collection in Action
Edward Hopper's painting Dawn in Pennsylvania (1942) on view in front of other Terra Foundation artworks.
Art handlers carefully place William S. Jewett's The Promised Land--The Grayson Family in its crate for travel. Photo by Michael Tropea.
Art handlers place the lid on the crate of William S. Jewett's The Promised Land--The Grayson Family. Photo by Michael Tropea. Photo by Michael Tropea.
Art handlers secure the lid of the crate for William S. Jewett's The Promised Land--The Grayson Family preparing it for travel. Photo by Michael Tropea.
Installation of Samuel F.B. Morse's Gallery of the Louvre (1831-33) at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA.
Installation view of the 2015 Terra Collective Initiative Samuel F. B. Morse's "Gallery of the Louvre" and the Art of Invention at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA.
Collection Loans Across the Globe
View the foundation’s art collection loans and grants worldwide. Dive into any point on the map to learn more about the local and global impact of the collection.
Recent Acquisitions
The foundation continues to strengthen and align its collection with its mission. New acquisitions enhance our ability to expand American art histories.
Alma Thomas, Untitled, c. 1960. Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2024.1. © 2024 Estate of Alma Thomas (Courtesy of the Hart Family) / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
David Driskell, Gabriel, 1965. Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2023.4
Melvin Edwards, Good Friends in Chicago, 1972. Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2023.5. Photo courtesy Alexander Gray Associates; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London © 2023 Melvin Edwards / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Chiura Obata, Devastation, 1945. Terra Foundation for American Art, Gift of The Estate of Chiura Obata, 2023.1
Collection Resources
Collection Handbook
Published in 2018, Conversations with the Collection invites readers to explore highlights from the Terra Foundation Art Collection, as well as essays by authors from around the world. The book is available to purchase from University of Chicago Press and is available in full online.
ArtNav
ArtNav is an interactive, multimedia platform that encourages visitors to engage deeply with selected artworks. Objects include paintings from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, accompanied by analysis and supplementary media.
Stories and News
Foundation News
Calida Rawles, Thy Name We Praise, 2023.