Last updated: 8/2/2024
Winter Park, Florida
Street Address
1000 Holt Avenue, bldg. 303
Rollins College
Winter Park, FL 32789
Mailing Address
1000 Holt Avenue-2765
Cornell Fine Arts Musuem
Winter Park, FL 32789

Hours

Monday
closed
Tuesday
10 AM - 7 PM
Wednesday - Friday
10 AM - 4 PM
Sunday, Saturday
12 PM - 5 PM

Admissions

Free

Museum Type(s)

Art

Staff

Ena Heller Ph.D.
phone:
Austin Reeves
phone:
Dina Mack
phone:
Gisela Carbonell
phone:
Robyn Bertram
phone:
Laura Lewis Blischke
phone:
David Matteson
phone:
Description

Set on the Rollins College campus overlooking beautiful Lake Virginia, the Cornell Fine Arts Museum offers an intimate and unique experience in Winter Park. Among the more than 5,000 works ranging from antiquity to contemporary, we hold the only European Old Masters collection in the Orlando area, a sizable American art collection, and the forward-looking Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art, shown both at the museum and at The Alfond Inn a few blocks from campus.

As an educational unit of Rollins College, we are a museum dedicated to teaching through and with art. We strive to engage visitors of all ages with our collection - displayed thematically in "Conversations" among centuries, styles and media - and to share our innovative exhibitions, which change seasonally and feature art for all tastes, from the early Renaissance to cutting-edge contemporary. Educational programs, offered free of charge, include gallery talks (both at the museum and at The Alfond Inn), lectures, panel discussions, films, as well as hands-on art activities, special tours, and scavenger hunts for the younger visitors.

Mission

The Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College is a teaching museum that stimulates transformative encounters with works of art and integrates art learning into daily life for campus and community.

History

The richly diverse art collection of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum boasts more than 5,000 works and is recognized as one of the largest and most distinguished collections in Florida.

The Rollins collection of paintings began more than a century ago. It grew significantly in 1937 when the Samuel H. Kress Foundation donated several Italian Renaissance paintings including Madonna Enthroned Nursing the Christ Child by Cosimo Rosselli, a Sistine Chapel artist.

In 1941, Winter Park resident and Rollins trustee Jeanette Morse Genius, married to Dr. Hugh McKean, president of Rollins 1951-69, and an art patron and artist in her own right, donated the funds to erect the Morse Gallery of Art. Its collection of American and European art was soon the focus of many benefactors.

In 1950, George H. Sullivan, a Winter Park resident, donated a Louis Sonntag painting. Other Sullivan gifts, works by Francesco de Mura and others, followed in 1952 and 1959.

During the 1960s, gifts from alumni Jack and June Myers vastly enriched the old masters collection. In 1966, the McKeans' superb collection of Tiffany glass began a ten-year-long exhibition at the Morse Gallery.

In 1976, George, Rollins class of 1935, and Harriet Cornell contributed more than one million dollars to construct a fine arts complex. The George D. and Harriet W. Cornell Fine Arts Center opened in 1978, and the renovated and enlarged Morse Gallery of Art became the Cornell Fine Arts Museum.

On January 20, 2006 the Cornell Fine Arts Museum reopened its doors to the public after an 18-month, $4.5 million renovation. The new building, with six display galleries, a print study room, and an educational gallery has much more space, but CFAM retains the special, intimate character visitors love.

While the Cornell Fine Arts Museum has always played a vital role in the community, the past decade has reflected extraordinary growth as notable works from the collection have been publicly viewed for the first time, and more than 700 new works have been acquired by donation or purchase.

Artifact Collections

With one of the oldest and most distinguished collections in Florida, the Cornell Fine Arts Museum can boast of more than 5,000 objects from antiquity to the contemporary. The broad and eclectic holdings of the museum?including the only Old Masters collection in the greater Orlando area?include over 500 paintings, from the 14th through the 20th centuries, and over 1600 works on paper (prints, drawings, and photographs), as well objects, artifacts, and archaeological fragments from world cultures which reflect Rollins College?s commitment to educating students for global citizenship.

CFAM continues to build its collection strategically, through gift and purchase. Notable acquisitions in recent years include works by a range of acclaimed artists, from Gilbert Stuart and Elizabeth Catlett to Francesco Solimena and Felrath Hines. In 2013 a new chapter "the art of the 21st century" was added to CFAM's holdings through the vision and generosity of Barbara and Ted Alfond '68. The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art at Rollins College includes almost 300 works in various media by established and emerging international artists. The Cornell Fine Arts Museum, like most if not all of its peer institutions, can only display a fraction of its holdings at any given time.

Educational Programs

Education is the cornerstone of the mission of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, the only campus art museum in the greater Orlando area. The dynamic combination of permanent collection installations and traveling exhibitions provides many opportunities to engage visually, intellectually, and emotionally with significant works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary.

Our programs are tailored to meet the needs of K-12 and college students (from Rollins as well as other area colleges and universities), adults of all ages, and families from Winter Park, Orlando and the wider Central Florida community. Every year, we offer hundreds of tours (docent-led and audio), lectures, educational workshops and hands-on activities, films, and special members' programs.

Governance

Rollins College

Publications
Exhibition catalogues
seasonal brochures
quarterly member e-newsletters
Services
The Museum Shop

The Museum Shop offers an array of jewelry and art objects based on collections and exhibitions, as well as, posters, exhibition catalogues, educational toys, cards, and art books for children and adults.

Gift Shop
Group Tours
ADA
Wheelchair Accessible
Parking
Restrooms
Exhibitions
Museum Events
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Virginia Association of Museum's 2025 Annual Conference!

March 15 - 18, 2025

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2025 Am Assoc for State and Local History Annual Conference

September 10 - 13, 2025

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