Chrysler Museum of Art
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| Chrysler Museum of Art | |
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| Established | 1933 |
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| Location | Norfolk, Virginia |
| Visitor figures | 150,000 |
| Director | William Hennessey |
| Curator | Jeff Harrison |
| Website | Chrysler Museum website |
The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum in the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was originally founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. (whose wife, Jean Outland Chrysler, was a native of Norfolk), donated most of his extensive collection to the museum. This single gift significantly expanded the museum's collection, making it one of the major art museums in the Southeastern United States. From 1958 to 1971, the Chrysler Museum of Art was a smaller museum consisting solely of Chrysler's personal collection and housed in the historic Center Methodist Church in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Today's museum sits on a small body of water known as The Hague in the Ghent district, near downtown Norfolk.
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[edit] The Collection
The New York Times described the Chrysler collection as "one any museum in the world would kill for." Comprising over 30,000 objects the collection spans over 5000 years of world history. American and European paintings and sculpture from the middle ages to the present day form the core of the collection.
The museum's most significant holdings include works by Tintoretto, Veronese, Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velazquez, Salvator Rosa, Gianlorenzo Bernini, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Cole, Eugene Delacroix, Edouard Manet, Paul Cezanne, Gustave Doré, Albert Bierstadt, Auguste Rodin, Mary Cassatt, Paul Gauguin, Georges Rouault, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Richard Diebenkorn, and Franz Kline.
The Chrysler Museum is home to the final sculpture of the Baroque master Gianlorenzo Bernini, a marble bust of Jesus created as a gift for the artist's benefactor, Queen Christina of Sweden.The Museum also houses one of the world's greatest collections of glass (including outstanding works by Louis COmfort Tiffany), distinguished holdings in the decorative arts, and a fine and growing collection of photography. The arts of the ancient world, Asia, Africa, and Pre-Columbian America are also well represented.
[edit] Programs and Exhibitions
The Museum recognizes a responsibility to assist its visitors in getting the most out of their visit. A full range of guided tours, lectures, films, concerts, family days, travel programs, and publications are designed both to make the Museum a lively and engaging place to provide information on the works displayed and their historical context. The Chrysler is particularly proud of its school tour program. Each year over 100 volunteer docents welcome over 60,000 students from Hampton Roads for tours at the Museum itself and for living history experiences at the historic houses.
Each year the Chrylser presents an average of 15 special exhibitions. These bring to Norfolk outstanding artworks from around the world. Recent offerings have ranged from Myth, Magic, and Mystery: One Hundred Years of American Children's Book Illustration, to Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Painting: Works from the National Gallery of Art, the Art of Andy Warhol, Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, M.C. Escher, Ancient Gold Jewelry from the Dallas Museum of Art, Art of Glass, A Fair Wind: Maritime Paintings by WInslow Homer, and Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection.
[edit] The Jean Outland Chrysler Library
With a collection of more than 106,000 volumes, the Jean Outland Chrysler Library is one of the largest and most important art libraries in the South. The collection covers the entire history of world art, with special emphasis on material relevant to the Chrysler's Permanent Collection. The library subscribes to several hundred art-related journals, has an extensive collection of current and historical auction catalogues, and exchanges publications with 400 art museums world wide. There are also extensive vertical files on artists and art-related topics.
The library named in honor of Jean Outland Chrysler, wife of the late Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., who played a leading roled in its formation and expansion. The collection is based on the original holdings of the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences library. In 1977, the library of the London art dealer M. Knoedler & Co. was purchased, adding major historical reference volumes, periodicals, and rare annotated slaes catalogues. The Library also houses the Museum archives, a rich source of local history that includes Mark Twain's original typescript of a speech he delivered at the Jamestown Tricentennial Exposition of 1907. A collection of papers from the Moses Myers family provides unique insights into the life of an important Tidewater merchant during the nation's early history.
The A. Kempton d'Ossche Art Video Collection is a fast-growing Library resource. The collection covers a variety of artists and art topics.
[edit] Historic Houses
In addition to its main building in downtown Norfolk, the Chrysler Museum of Art also administers two important Historic Houses.
The Moses Myers House in downtown Norfolk is not only an unusually elegant example of Federal period architecture, but almost unique in America as it retains 70% of its original contents. The house and its furnishings provide a wonderful opportunity for visitors to experience first-hand the life of a prosperous Jewish merchant and his family during the early years of the 19th century. Moses Myers moved to Norfolk in 1787 with his wife Eliza. Five years later he purchased a large lot, where he erected a home for his family. Today the house contains an important collection of American, English, and French furniture, along with glass, silver, and ceramics, and portraits by Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully and John Wesley Jarvis. All were commissioned or acquired by members of the Myers family.
The Norfolk History Museum at the Willoughby-Baylor House: The Norfolk History Museum at the newly-refurbished WIlloughby-Baylor House (ca. 1794) illuminates the wide range and richness of the history of the entire region by providing enganging thematic offerings and surveys, including the decorative arts of Norfolk, the story of Norfolk at various stages in its long history as an international port and maritime center, the area's impressive naval and military heritage, and the area's historic building and residences at different periods in history.
[edit] General Museum Information
Museum Hours
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-5pm | Closed | Closed | 10am-9pm | 10am-5pm | 10am-5pm | 10am-5pm |
Moses Meyers House Hours
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-4pm | Closed | Closed | 10am-4pm | 10am-4pm | 10am-4pm | 10am-4pm |
The Norfolk History Museum at the Willoughby-Baylor House
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-4pm | Closed | Closed | 10am-4pm | 10am-4pm | 10am-4pm | 10am-4pm |
Admission Charge
Museum $7.00 for adults $5.00 for teachers, seniors and military
FREE to all visitors ages 18 and under and all students with a valid college ID.
Wednesdays are by voluntary contribution
