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The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center was founded in 1864 as the Vassar College Art Gallery. The current 36,400 square foot facility, designed by Cesar Pelli and named in honor of the new building’s primary donor, is celebrating its tenth anniversary. The Lehman Loeb Art Center’s collections chart the history of art from antiquity to the present and comprise over 15,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and glass and ceramic wares. Notable holdings include the Warburg Collection of Old Master prints, an important group of Hudson River School paintings given by Matthew Vassar at the college’s inception, and a wide range of works by major European and American twentieth century painters. Vassar was the first college founded with a permanent art collection and gallery, and at any given time, the Permanent Collection Galleries of the Art Center feature approximately 350 works from Vassar’s extensive collections.
Support for the art center is provided by the Friends of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center.

Designed by Cesar Pelli and opened to the public in November 1993, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center is a distinguished addition to a campus internationally known for its fine buildings. Called "a symphony of architecture" by the New York Times, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center comprises a new museum, home to one of the finest teaching collections in the nation, as well as the renovated collegiate-gothic building, Taylor-Van Ingen Hall, home of the art department and the art library. The entrance to the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center is the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller, class of 1931, Entrance Pavilion, a glass hexagon visible from just inside the college's main gate. A symbol of the art center, the pavilion is connected to Taylor-Van Ingen Hall by a buttress screen, creating a forecourt for the complex. The pavilion and glass-walled passageway leading to the exhibition areas offer views of the campus. The Hildegarde Krause Baker, class of 1911, Sculpture Garden, the Briarcombe Sculpture Courtyard, and the entry forecourt were designed by landscape architect Diana Balmori.

The Friends of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center were founded in 1974 by a handful of committed Vassar alumnae to meet the expanding needs of Vassar’s art gallery. Their purpose was to raise funds for the institution and to expand awareness of the fine Vassar art collection. In 1993, thanks to the generosity of Frances Lehman Loeb, class of 1928, the art gallery expanded to a handsome new facility designed by Cesar Pelli. The Friends of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center were an active part of the fundraising process for the new building, and were pleased to support the construction of the four westernmost galleries of the permanent collection.

The Friends membership consists of over 1,000 alumnae/i, parents, students and art lovers nationwide and in the Hudson Valley community and supports the Lehman Loeb Art Center mission as a teaching facility and resource for the community. The Friends host opening receptions and special events in the Art Center, as well as events around the country to spread good will and public awareness of art at Vassar College.

Membership benefits include invitations to these events, as well as a subscription to a bi-annual newsletter about the Art Center entitled Art at Vassar, participation in an annual trip focusing on cultural interest in an American city, and discounts on Art Center publications. Most importantly, the Friends remain steadfast in their goal to provide funds to the Art Center for the purchase of artwork to continue the expansion of this world-class collection.