The Frances Lehman   
Loeb Art Center
The interior of a gallery: gray walls, monochrome photos on the walls, and a table with more photos in the middle of the room.
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
A person stands with their back to the viewer, looking at a grid of colored artworks on a gallery wall.
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
A walkway enclosed in glass windows curves past a metal sculpture. Trees are visible in the background.
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
A person with sunglasses and black curly hair poses in front of paintings in a gallery.
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
An aerial view of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center

The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center is free and open to all. The Loeb Art Center enhances and supports the College’s goals of leadership, scholarship, and integrative learning.

The Loeb achieves this through the preservation, documentation, interpretation, presentation, and development of its collections; and through a dynamic program of temporary exhibitions and educational activities aimed at diverse audiences. Art should stand “boldly forth as an educational force,” declared founder Matthew Vassar. His college was the country’s first to be founded with a gallery and teaching collection.

News

Desig de Vol (Desire for Flight) by Pere Català i Pic - A vintage black-and-white photomontage featuring a woman's head tilted back with eyes closed and windblown hair, seamlessly integrated into the wings of a biplane numbered "67," flying high above a rural landscape.

New Exhibition Shows How Experimental Photography Pictures the Future

Posted

From October 3, 2026–January 31, 2027, the exhibition Photo-Design: Persuasion, Critique, Fantasy at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (“The Loeb”) will show visitors how experimental photography techniques have helped envision new possibilities and picture new futures.

A group of nine people standing or sitting in an art museum with paintings on the walls.

The Art of Healing

Physicians from a local hospital gathered at The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center recently to engage in an exercise designed to help them become better doctors.

Students gathered around a glass case in a museum looking in.

Loeb Awarded Grant for Founding Galleries

The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center was awarded an Implementation Grant by the Terra Foundation for American Art to support the reinstallation of Vassar’s Hudson River School paintings, a core feature of the College’s art collection.

A close-up of a rustic metal sculpture with a weathered, rusted surface. A small, green-patina mask of a human face is embedded in a cutout of the rusty metal. The sculpture is outdoors, with green grass and trees visible in the background.

Monumental Sculptural Artwork Added to Vassar College Grounds

Posted

Soaring 18 feet high, seven sentinels made of weathered steel surround a female bronze figure that appears to emerge from the earth. This dynamic and awe-inducing public artwork, situated at the northwest perimeter of the campus, is Vassar College’s newest public art acquisition.

The wall drawing in The Loeb, described in the text.

Summer Art Programming, Exhibitions Announced at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar

Posted

With the arrival of summer, Vassar’s Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center is rolling out the red carpet for art lovers this season with a wide range of events and exhibitions spanning improvised performances utilizing the gestural composing language of Soundpainting to exhibitions that explore the reciprocal relationship between place and person, showcase the museum’s collection of Hudson River School art, and examine images of the body fragmented into pieces.

Tiger painted in ink on paper mounted on silk brocade six-fold screen.

Loeb’s New Grant Launches Restoration of 17th-century Japanese Painted Screen

The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center was awarded funding by Tokyo-based Sumitomo Foundation toward the restoration of a 17th-century Japanese painted screen. A rarity and a cherished work in the Loeb’s Asian art collection, the screen was painted by Unkoku Toeki in the early 1600s. Its conservation will allow it to remain a popular teaching object for Art History at Vassar.

Exhibitions

View of Poughkeepsie by Thomas Weeks Barrett Jr., a panoramic painting of an industrial riverfront featuring factories, smokestacks, bridges, and waterfront buildings along the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie.

Common Ground: Art and Infrastructure in Poughkeepsie

September 5, 2026–January 31, 2027

An intricate composition features multiple geometric shapes intertwined with organic forms. A prominent ram's horn spirals outward, surrounded by angular structures and flowing lines that create a sense of movement. The monochromatic palette, primarily in shades of black and gray, is accented by textured patterns, enhancing the depth of the forms. Jagged lines radiate from the background, adding a dynamic quality to the overall visual action.

Atelier 17: Myths in Motion

June 5–January 17, 2027

A figure is seated at a wooden table, engaged in arranging pressed flowers. The individual holds a small branch while surrounded by scattered botanical specimens and open books featuring illustrations. Behind, a richly adorned bookshelf is filled with books, its texture contrasting with the smoothness of the table's surface. Warm lighting casts a soft glow over the scene, enhancing the earthy tones of the flowers and the reds of the chair.

The Botanist at Vassar

April 4–October 4, 2026

More Exhibitions

Events

Portrait photo of artist Sarah Elawad, a person with long dark hair and dark clothing.

Opening Celebration for Photo-Design with Artist Sarah Elawad

Celebrate the opening of the Loeb’s new exhibition, Photo-Design: Persuasion, Critique, Fantasy, which looks at the many ways designers have used photography over the last century to imagine new possibilities. Featured artist Sarah Elawad joins exhibition curator Jessica D. Brier in conversation, followed by a reception.

This event is free and open to the public.

Photo of a man with two children in an art gallery. The children are holding clipboards and pencils, and looking at art in a case to do a scavenger hunt.

Family Fun at the Loeb

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Join us for free drop-in family programs on select Sundays (October 11, November 15, and December 13) this fall. Each date will feature a different hands-on art activity inspired by art on view. Activities can be modified for all ages, but are best suited for children ages 5 and up. Check our Instagram @theloeb for details about the activity, or email loebtours@vassar.edu with questions.

This event is free and open to the public.

Photo of a man and young girl seated at a table making art with clay, colored pencils, and glue.

Family Fun at the Loeb

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Join us for free drop-in family programs on select Sundays (October 11, November 15, and December 13) this fall. Each date will feature a different hands-on art activity inspired by art on view. Activities can be modified for all ages, but are best suited for children ages 5 and up. Check our Instagram @theloeb for details about the activity, or email loebtours@vassar.edu with questions.

This event is free and open to the public.

Photo of two girls and a boy making art around a table with clay, glue, markers, and scissors.

Family Fun at the Loeb

–

Join us for free drop-in family programs on select Sundays (October 11, November 15, and December 13) this fall. Each date will feature a different hands-on art activity inspired by art on view. Activities can be modified for all ages, but are best suited for children ages 5 and up. Check our Instagram @theloeb for details about the activity, or email loebtours@vassar.edu with questions.

This event is free and open to the public.

Past Items

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Off the Wall
Perspectives from Students

Vassar College

124 Raymond Ave
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
Main (845) 437-5237 | Info (845) 437-5632