Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts
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Stanford University Museum of Art (SUMA) is an art museum on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. It displays art in 24 galleries plus sculpture gardens, terraces, and a courtyard all with free admission.
The museum was established, along with the university, in 1891 by railroad magnate by Leland Stanford and his wife Jane. As with the university, the museum was created in memory of the couple's late son, Leland Stanford, Jr., and the museum was known initially as the Leland Stanford Junior Museum. The museum opened to the public in 1894 as one of the largest museums in the United States.
Less than a year after Mrs. Stanford's death more than two-thirds of the building and collections were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, after which the museum received little attention and was finally closed in 1945. In 1963, Lorenz Eitner, the new Chair of the Department of Art, worked to revive the museum. In 1985, with work by Professor Albert Elsen, the B. Gerald Cantor Rodin Sculpture Garden was established. In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the museum and it was again closed. Following further donations by broker B. Gerald Cantor (co-founder Cantor Fitzgerald) and his wife Iris, the center reopened in 1999 as the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts
One of the highlights of the Cantor Center is the Rodin sculpture garden which contains 20 bronzes. Among them are the famous Gates of Hell, Adam, Eve, The Three Shades, and The Burghers of Calais which is displayed at the Stanford Main Quad. In addition The Thinker is normally displayed near Stanford's Meyer Library, but is on loan as of 2004. In total, the Cantors donated 187 of Rodin's works, making Stanford University the second largest Rodin collection in the world.