High Museum of Art

The High Museum of Art is a leading art museum in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, the High 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, and includes a contextual installation of a portion of his "Paradise Gardens". The museum includes a curatorial department specifically devoted to the field of 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. Special exhibitions at the High feature strong global partnerships with other museums such as the Louvre and with the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence.

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 of Art. A separate building for the museum was built adjacent to the family home in 1955.

On June 3, 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.cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/3/newsid_3007000/3007265.stm | title=1962: 130 die in Paris air crash | publisher=BBC | author=BBC News | date=1962-06-03 | accessdate=2006-11-07 ] Members of Atlanta's prominent families were lost including members of the Berry family who founded Berry College. In their honor, the Atlanta Memorial Arts Center was built for the High. The French government donated a Rodin sculpture "The Shade" to the High in memory of the victims of the crash.cite web |url=http://gtalumni.org/news/ttopics/spr00/firstperson.html | title=First Person |publisher=Georgia Tech Alumni Association | author=Gupton Jr., Guy W. "Pat" | date=Spring 2000 | accessdate=2006-11-07 ]

In 1983, a convert|135000|sqft|m2|sing=on building designed by architect Richard Meier opened to house the High Museum of Art. 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.

Several scenes for the 1986 movie Manhunter were filmed at the museum.

In 2002, three new buildings designed by Renzo Piano more than doubled the museum's size to convert|312000|sqft|m2. The Piano buildings were designed as part of an overall upgrade of the entire Woodruff Arts Center complex.

From October 2006 through 2009, Louvre Atlanta will be on view at the High . Louvre Atlanta is an unprecedented partnership that brings hundreds of paintings and sculptures from the Louvre, many of which have never before been seen in the United States, to the High. The High’s global partnerships continued in the spring of 2007 when, after more than twenty-five years of restoration work, the High Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, Italy, presents an exhibition of The Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti. [1]

Throughout the spring and summer of 2008, the High will also feature:

Louvre Atlanta: The Louvre and the Ancient World [http://www.louvreatlanta.org] October 16, 2007 - September 7, 2008

Louvre Atlanta: Eye of Josephine [http://www.louvreatlanta.org] October 16, 2007 - May 18, 2008

Street Life: American Photographs from the 1960s and 70s [http://high.org] December 22, 2007 - August 10, 2008

Young Americans: Photographs by Sheila Pree Bright [http://www.high.org] May 3 - August 10, 2008

Louvre Atlanta: Houdon at the Louvre: Masterworks of the Enlightenment [http://www.louvreatlanta.org] June 7 - September 7, 2008

Road to Freedom: Photographs from the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968 [http://www.high.org] June 7 - October 5, 2008

After 1968: Contemporary Artists and the Civil Rights Legacy [http://www.high.org] June 7 - October 5, 2008

Later in 2008, the High will present "Medieval and Renaissance Treasures from the Victoria and Albert Museum," the third installment of Louvre Atlanta, "The Louvre and the Masterpiece," and "The Treasure of Ulysses Davis," which includes over 100 pieces by the self-taught Savannah artist.

Opening in November 2008 is "The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army," a collection of terracotta figures and artifacts from Xi'an, China. [http://high.org/experience/exhibitions/upcoming.aspx]

References

External links

* [http://www.high.org/ High Museum of Art official website]