Currier Museum of Art

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Coordinates: 42°59′49″N 71°27′18″W / 42.99694, -71.455

An exterior view of the museum from 2008. In the foreground is the sculpture "Origins" by Mark di Suvero.
An exterior view of the museum from 2008. In the foreground is the sculpture "Origins" by Mark di Suvero.

The Currier Museum of Art is an internationally renowned art museum in Manchester, New Hampshire, USA, featuring European and American paintings, decorative arts, photographs and sculpture. The permanent collection includes works by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, O'Keeffe, Calder, Scheier and Goldsmith, John Singer Sargent, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Andrew Wyeth. Public programs include tours, live classical music and "Family Days" which include activities for all ages.

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[edit] History

The museum, originally known as the Currier Art Gallery, was founded in 1929 from a bequest of former New Hampshire Governor Moody Currier and his third wife, Hannah Slade Currier.

Museum founders Mr. and Mrs. Currier.

Currier's will provided for the establishment of an art museum, "for the benefit and advancement of humanity." While not an art collector himself, his funding allowed for the purchase of a great deal of art.

After his third wife's death in 1915, a board of trustees was appointed to carry out the Curriers' wishes that a structure be constructed. Multiple architectural proposals were entertained and the project was not awarded until 1926 to the New York firm of Tilton and Githens.[1] In October 1929, the art gallery opened its new facility.

The main atrium in 2008.
The main atrium in 2008.

The first director was Maud Briggs Knowlton, one of the first women to be a museum administrator in the United States.[1]

In 1982, new pavilions, designed by the New York firm Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer, were built to accommodate the museum’s growing collections, programs and staff. The Currier Art Center, home to art activities for all ages, was relocated to the adjacent former Women’s Aid Home in 1998.

In September 2002, the Gallery changed its name to the Currier Museum of Art, because, in the words of its then-director, it "recognizes the Currier’s true mission and clarifies our function for those less familiar with us." [1]

[edit] Museum expansion

The Henry Melville Fuller Winter Garden in 2008.
The Henry Melville Fuller Winter Garden in 2008.

On June 30, 2005, as part of the first phase of major renovations, a moving firm moved the historic Kennard House, formerly the location of the museum offices, from Beech Street to Pearl Street. The house was built in 1867 in the Second Empire style, and was home to several of the city's wealthy industrialists.

In March 2006 it was announced that the museum would close on June 27, 2006 for the duration of the $21.4 million expansion. The construction was to take approximately 18 months.

The museum reopened to the public as scheduled on March 30, 2008.[2]

[edit] Zimmerman House

The museum operates tours of the nearby Zimmerman House a Usonian House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "A New England collection on tour - 'American Art from The Currier Gallery of Art'" (December 1995). Magazine Antiques. Brant Publications, Inc.. 
  2. ^ Currier Museum planning reopening. The Boston Globe (2008-01-20).

[edit] External links



Illustrations and floor plan from the 1920 proposal for the original museum by Boston architectural firm Cram and Ferguson. This design did not win the project.