Collections and Research Projects
Search the collection online
Search the online database of the Smart Museum's permanent collection including over 10,000 objects.
View works in the collection in the Education Study Room
Objects that are not currently on view in the galleries can be used for teaching in our Education Study Room. To study specific works or to choose artworks for use in the Study Room, please contact Curatorial Assistant Jessica Moss at 773.702.3258 or jsmoss@uchicago.edu.
Please make your reservations at least two weeks in advance.
The Joseph R. Shapiro Art to Live With Collection
In 1958 Joseph R. Shapiro, a University of Chicago alumnus, lawyer, and a founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, donated to the University 300 works on paper by modern European masters as well as Chicago artists. The Art to Live With Collection was created to, as Shapiro himself said, "acquaint students with the experience of having an original work of art to live with." The program was active for much of the 1960s and 1970s and became inactive in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the Shapiro Art to Live With Collection was transferred to the Smart Museum. In 2001/02 and again in 2002/03 grants from the Women's Board of the University of Chicago enabled the Smart to hire a student intern to research the collection. Museum curators and the Smart's registrar installed the collection in University dorms and offices widely used by students. These include the University Community Service Center, Student Housing Office, Shoreland's café and resident master suite, Burton Judson lounges, Max Palevsky yellow and blue lounges, and Broadview.