Nevada Museum of Art celebrates 90 years.
To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Nevada Museum of Art, the organization is looking to its history. The museum was started in large part by a group of eager women (during a time when women’s rights were fragile) who were hell-bent on changing the perception of Reno from a place for gambling and divorce to one with deep cultural roots. Today, we look back, more than 100 years into the past, to understand the stories of the individuals who brought Nevada’s only accredited art museum to life with a display of the artwork that started it all.
“The fact that the museum has thrived for 90 years and is the state’s only accredited art museum confirms what those women believed … that Reno will embrace culture,” says Dana Sullivan Kilroy, a spokesperson for the museum.
On display until March 27, 2022, is The Latimer School: Lorenzo Latimer and the Latimer Art Club, a collection of paintings from Latimer and his students. In the early 1900s, Latimer, a Bay Area resident, used to summer in Lake Tahoe. While visiting, he painted watercolors featuring local landscapes. Using this medium with a dose of whimsy, his paintings were rooted in reality, stills of exactly what sat in front of his canvas. When a group of women met Latimer and saw his work, they begged him to come to Reno and teach them the art of watercolors. He did, and in 1921, the Latimer Art Club, the nonprofit organization that would eventually become the Nevada Art Gallery and then the Nevada Museum of Art, was formed.
The exhibit showcases paintings of familiar landmarks throughout Northern Nevada, seemingly unchanged over the past century. Walking through, you’ll catch glimpses of Mt. Rose, Pyramid Lake, and Lake Tahoe that look as if they could have been painted yesterday. In addition to Latimer’s works — which include stills of Santa Cruz, Contra Costa County, and more — paintings created by his students also hang in the gallery, with prominent collections by Nevada Wilson, Minerva Pierce, and Nettie McDonald.
Since 2004, the museum has held residence on West Liberty Street in Reno, and local restaurateur Mark Estee brought a culinary component to the space in 2015. Once a white-tablecloth, fine-dining experience, chez louie has been transformed, because of COVID-19, into a counter-service eatery featuring the same high-quality food (think smoked salmon crêpes, ahi salad, and budino) customers are accustomed to, plus beer and wine, with ample seating to enjoy.
Visit the museum before March 28, 2022, to experience the historic collection, and take the journey a step further by attending one of several special talks about the start of the museum and Lorenzo Latimer and the Latimer Art Club’s lasting impacts.
Writer Nora Heston Tarte is a longtime Reno resident. You can follow her local exploits and travel adventures on Instagram @Wanderlust_n_wine.
Nevada Museum of Art
160 W. Liberty St., Reno
775-329-3333 • Nevadaart.org
