Stitching Venues

The New Britain Museum of American Art, founded in 1903, holds the distinction of being the first institution in the United States dedicated solely to acquiring American art. The museum was established through a $20,000 gift of gold bonds from industrialist John Butler Talcott to the New Britain Institute, with the intent to create a public art collection for the enjoyment and education of the public, especially the immigrant workers in the city. Located at 56 Lexington Street in New Britain, Connecticut, the museum's permanent collection spans four centuries of American history and is renowned for its strengths in colonial portraiture, the Hudson River School, American Impressionism, the Ash Can School, and Thomas Hart Benton's important mural series "The Arts of Life in America."