High Museum of Art
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The High Museum of Art is the primary art museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The museum is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center, which also includes the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Young Audiences and the 14th Street Playhouse.
The High Museum holds more than 11,000 works of art in its permanent collection. Included in this collection are 19th and 20th century American art; European art; decorative art; African American art; modern and contemporary art; photography and African art. Highlights of the permanent collection include works by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Claude Monet, Martin Johnson Heade, Dorothea Lange, Clarence John Laughlin, and Chuck Close. The High places special emphasis on supporting and collecting works by Southern artists such as Howard Finster. The museum includes a curatorial department specifically devoted to the field of folk and self-taught art, a distinction unique among North American museums. The High’s Media Arts department produces an annual film series and festivals of foreign, independent and classic film.
[edit] History
The museum was founded in 1905 as the Atlanta Art Association. In 1926, the High family, for whom the museum is named, donated their family home on Peachtree Street to house the collection following a series of exhibitions involving the Grand Central Galleries organized by Atlanta collector J.J. Haverty. Many pieces from the Haverty collection are now in the High Museum. A separate building for the museum was built adjacent to the family home in 1955.
On June 3rd, 1962, 106 Atlanta arts patrons died in an airplane crash at Orly Airport in Paris, France while on a museum-sponsored trip. Including crew and other passengers, 130 people were killed in what was, at the time, the worst single plane aviation disaster in history.[1] Members of Atlanta's prominent families were lost including members of the Berry family which founded Berry College. In their honor, the Atlanta Memorial Arts Center was built for the High Museum. The French government donated a Rodin sculpture "The Shade" to the High in memory of the victims of the crash.[2]
In 1983, a 135,000 square foot building designed by architect Richard Meier opened to house the High Museum. The Meier building was funded by a $7.9 million challenge grant from former Coca-Cola president Robert W. Woodruff matched by $20 million raised by the museum. In 2005, three new buildings designed by Renzo Piano more than doubled the museum's size to 312,000 square feet. The Piano buildings were designed as part of an overall upgrade of the entire Woodruff Arts Center complex.
From October 2006 through 2009, the High Museum will be presenting Louvre Atlanta, in which hundreds of paintings and sculptures from the Louvre, many of which have never before been seen in the United States, will be on display at the High.
[edit] References
- ^ BBC News (1962-06-03). 1962: 130 die in Paris air crash. BBC. Retrieved on 2006-11-07.
- ^ Gupton Jr., Guy W. "Pat" (Spring 2000). First Person. Georgia Tech Alumni Association. Retrieved on 2006-11-07.
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