Birmingham Museum of Art
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| Birmingham Museum of Art | |
_Museum_of_Art.jpg/200px-Oscar_Wells_Memorial_-_Birmingham_(Alabama)_Museum_of_Art.jpg) |
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| Established | April, 1951 |
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| Location | 2000 Eighth Avenue North, Birmingham, Alabama |
| Type | Municipal Art Museum |
| Director | Gail Andrews |
| Website | www.artsbma.org |
The Birmingham Museum of Art is an important regional public art museum, located at 2000 Eighth Ave. North in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. It is currently the largest municipal art museum in the southern United States and one of the finest regional museums in the country. It houses a nationally-recognized permanent collection of more than 15,000 works of art dating from ancient to modern times, featuring paintings, drawings, and decorative arts from diverse cultures including European, American, Asian, African, Precolumbian and Native American.
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[edit] History
[edit] Birmingham Art Club
The roots of the museum date back to 1908 and the founding of the "Birmingham Art Club" which endeavored to amass a public art collection for the benefit of the citizens of Birmingham, which had been founded as a new industrial city only 37 years prior. In 1927 they were able to display their collection in the galleries of the new Birmingham Public Library. Over the next two decades the club continued to add to the collection and raise support in the press and in City Hall for the concept of a new building.
[edit] First Exhibition
In September 1950 a governing board was created to oversee the creation of a museum as "an institution of public service, educational and recreational, with all the people welcome." The following February the board hired Richard Foster Howard to serve as the first museum director. In April 1951 the newly-established "Birmingham Museum of Art" presented a public "Opening Exhibition" housed in five unused rooms in City Hall. The exhibition included some pieces from the existing Art Club collection as well as a large number of loaned works from museums across the Eastern half of the United States. The result was considered to be "the finest showing of great objects of art in the South to date."
[edit] New building
The publicity created by the exhibition led to several important gifts, notably of Chinese ceramics and textiles, Japanese prints, Old master prints, costumes, glass and oil paintings. In 1952 the Samuel H. Kress Foundation presented 29 paintings from the Italian Renaissance as a long-term loan to the new museum, forming the core of the collection of European paintings. In 1954 a large bequest made possible a new museum building. Land was purchased the next year and a design commission for a new museum building was given to the office of Warren Knight & Davis. The "Oscar Wells Memorial Building" opened to the public on May 3, 1959. In the following years the Kress Foundation made two important gifts to the museum, the trusteeship of a collection of Renaissance furniture and decorative objects in 1959, and the deed to the Italian paintings already on loan, along with 8 additional works from the same period. The following year, American Cast Iron Pipe Company loaned its Lamprecht Collection of German cast-iron objects (the largest in the world).
[edit] Expansions
In 1965 a new wing of upper floor galleries was added to the building's west wing. The following year an art library was opened in the building. In 1967 a new east wing was completed. Additional land was purchased in 1969. In 1974 another addition was completed with a three-story rebuilding of the east wing. In 1979 further reworking of the east wing added a conservation lab, loading dock, and second public entrance to the building. In 1980 gallery space was expanded by 28,000 square feet (2,600 m²). In 1986 another expansion project was planned and architect Edward Larrabee Barnes in conjunction with local architect, KPS Group, Inc., was selected to oversee the design, which included provision for a new outdoor sculpture garden and 50,000 square feet (5,000 m²) of exhibit space bringing the total to 166,000 square feet (15,400 m²).
[edit] Highlights of the Permanent Collection
Significant individual collections at the Birmingham Museum of Art include:
- African Art Collection, Includes nearly 2,000 objects and features many fine examples of figure sculpture, masks, ritual objects, furniture, and household objects, textiles, ceramics, and metal arts. Some highlights include an Egyptian false door, a Yoruba epa mask, Benin bronze hip pendant and a recently acquired very rare portrait of a kind from Dahomey. The BMA also boasts several contemporary works by African artists including Malik Sidibe, Sue Williamson, William Kentridge, and Odili Donald Odita.
- African American Art Collection, The permanent collection of the BMA includes more than 100 works by African American artists created throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and into the millennium. The collection includes pioneers such as Henry Tanner, masters such as Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden, and comtemporary artists such as Glenn Ligon, Lorna Simpson and Radcliffe Bailey.
- Asian Art Collection, The finest, largest and most comprehensive collection of Asian art in the Southeast, comprising more than 5000 objects from China, Korea, Japan, India, and Southeast Asia. The collection ranks in the top 12 nationwide and contains outstanding examples of Buddhist and Hindu art, lacquer ware, ceramics, paintings, prints, scuplture, and decorative arts.
- The Dwight and Lucille Beeson Wedgewood Collection, The finest collection of Wedgwood outside of England, comprising more than 1400 objects that illustrate the entire production of the Wedgewood factory from its early years throughout the early nineteenth century.
- Contemporary Art Collection, The most comprehensive overview of contemporary art in the region. Features works of Abstract Expressionism, Op Art, Pop Art, Minimalism, Color Field painting and Photorealism, as well as works by many young internationally renowned artists who are defining the new century. (Jose Bedia, Radcliffe Bailey, Annette Messager, Fabian Marcaccio). A growing collection of contemporary glass includes a large-scale installation by Dale Chihuly.
- Eugenia Woodward Hitt Collection of 18th-century French Art, One of the finest collections of eighteenth-century French art in the United States. The collection includes furniture of the Louis XIV, XV, XVI periods, mounted porcelain, gilt bronzes, paintings, and works on paper from the Regenacy to the period following the Revolution.
- Gustav Lamprecht and Maurice Garbaty Collections of Early 19th-century Cast Iron from Germany, one of the largest collections of its kind in the world and the only such collection in the United States. The collection includes both decorative and useful objects, such as small sculpture, plaques and medallions, sewing utensils, plates, vases, candlesticks, and jewelry.
- Kress Collection of Renaissance Art, Remarkable collection of Renaissance and Baroque paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. Features 76 works dating from the late 13th century to c.1750- artists include Allegretto Nuzi, Francesco Pesellino, Pietro, Perugino, Paris Bordone, and Leandro Bassano.
- Native American Art Collection Houses a large installation of Native American arts from across the North America. Features spectacular pieces of rare pottery, basketry, and beadwork from the Southeastern Native Americans.
- Photography Collection 700 works spanning the entire history of the medium, from early processes to large contemporary works. Collection includes significant holdings by artists such as Alfred Stieglitz, Diane Arbus, Bernice Abbott, Gordon Parks, Robert Frank, Cindy Sherman, William Christenberry, Spider Martin and Charles Moore. The Museum houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of the work of David Levinthal of any public institution.
- Charles W. Ireland Scuplture Garden, this beautiful multi-level scuplture garden is one of the largest and most significant outdoor spaces for the viewing of art in the Southeast. On view are the works from the permanent collection as well as temporary exhibitions of sculpture. Three site-specific installations by Sol LeWitt, Elyn Zimmerman, and Valerie Jaudon are featured.
[edit] References
- Howard, Helen Boswell and Richard Foster Howard. (April 1951). Catalogue of the Opening Exhibition. Birmingham Museum of Art: Birmingham, Alabama. April 8 through June 3, 1951.
- Birmingham Museum of Art. (1993) Masterpieces East & West from the collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art. Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Museum of Art. ISBN 0-931394-38-4
