Dedicated to collecting, preserving and interpreting works of art for the people of Washington County and citizens from the quad-state (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia) region for more than eighty years, the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts has been recognized as one of the finest small museums in the United States. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (formerly the American Association of Museums) and its collection includes more than 7,000 works of art. The museum has an enduring commitment to arts education and to the support of regional artists and offers changing exhibitions, studio art courses, children’s art classes, lectures and concerts.
The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts entered its 80th year of service to the region on September 16, 2011. During its 80-year history, programming at the museum has educated three generations of citizens in the fine arts, provided a nationally ranked art collection, a nationally accredited fine arts museum, free admission since its doors opened in 1931, free Saturday art classes for children, a schedule of fee-based art instruction for all ages, special events, lectures, concerts and art festivals. We are open six days a week, 52 weeks of the year and serve the four-state region. During the 80th anniversary, the museum presented special exhibitions including the Wyeth Family of Artists and Museum Art School Reunion Exhibition: Creating, Inspiring and Educating for 80 Years. In establishing the museum, Anna Brugh and William Henry Singer, Jr. launched traditions that are still alive today.
The museum’s mission is linked closely to the gift of the founders who gave the 1931 and 1949 buildings, artwork from their own art collections, and encouraged gifts from other collectors, and who helped to foster the museum’s growth during its first twenty-five years. The museum continues to assure that the collection adheres to standards of the highest quality, and as a result, the collection includes significant holdings of American and European Art, 16th century to the present, decorative arts, especially art glass, as well as important collections of Asian and African Art. The 1931 building, designed by Hyde and Shepherd, New York, New York, is protected by a Maryland Historic Trust easement.
