Museum History
Harnett Museum of Art
The Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art is a forum for the visual arts and a catalyst for widely varied issues of visual expression, art research, and scholarship within the University and throughout the greater community and region. The museum regularly presents exhibitions, lectures, gallery talks, workshops, and other programs to further this mission.
Formerly known as the Marsh Art Gallery, the museum moved into new spaces in the Modlin Center for the Arts in 1996. This move marked the beginning of the University of Richmond’s active acquisition of works of art for the permanent collection. In 2005, the Marsh Art Gallery was renamed the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art in honor of the Harnett’s long-time support of the visual arts on campus.
Harnett Print Study Center
Inaugurated on September 22, 2001, the Harnett Print Study Center opened with generous funding from Joel and Lila Harnett. The Center houses the University’s collection of works on paper (prints, drawings, and photographs), and it serves as an art-safe classroom accommodating groups of up to fifteen people.
About Joel and Lila Harnett
The University’s art museum, the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, and the Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center are named in honor of the Harnetts.
Joel Harnett, a noted publisher, poet, art collector, and civic leader (he ran for New York City mayor in 1977), was a 1945 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Richmond. In 1950, and for almost two decades, he was with Look Magazine in New York. In 1969, he founded Media Horizons, a public radio, broadcasting, and magazine company. In 1980, he and his wife Lila launched several prominent magazines, including Phoenix Home & Garden, one of the country's most successful regional home and garden publications.
Lila Harnett is a collector of American art; she served as an art critic at CUE Magazine and was a member of the New York State Council on the Arts, where she was chair of the Museum Committee. Her education included study at the Art Students’ League and the New York School of Interior Design. She was the founding president of ArtTable in 1980, a national organization for professional women in the arts, now with chapters across the country. She was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Richmond in 2007.
Lora Robins Gallery
As the University's natural sciences museum, the Lora Robins Gallery holds over 100,000 pieces ranging from Jurassic dinosaur fossils to rare gems, minerals, prehistoric shells, coral, and fluorescent rocks.
The museum began with the donations of longtime benefactor Mrs. Lora Robins in 1977. The original museum, which housed minerals, decorative arts, and shell specimens, was expanded and relocated in 1989 to its present location in a separate wing of the Boatwright Memorial Library.
About Lora Robins
In 1977, Mrs. Lora M. Robins, H'73, widow of the late E. Claiborne Robins, shared her love for beauty in nature by founding the University’s natural sciences gallery. She generously donated several artifacts from her collection and continued to support University Museums throughout her life.