North Carolina Museum of Art
Encyclopedia
The North Carolina Museum of Art is an art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina
, featuring paintings and sculpture
representing 5,000 years of artistic work from antiquity to the present. The museum features more than 40 galleries as well as more than a dozen works of art in its 164 acre (0.66368504 km²) Museum Park. West Building, completed in April 2010, holds the museum’s permanent collection, and East Building features special exhibitions.
in 1929.
In 1947 the state legislature appropriated $1 million to purchase a collection of art for the people of North Carolina
. The money was used to purchase 139 European and American works. The Samuel H. Kress Foundation matched the appropriation with a gift of 71 works, primarily Italian Renaissance
. The 1947 state earmarking of funds for an art collection was the first in the United States.
-based architects Thomas Phifer and Partners as part of an expansion initiative. The single-story structure, surrounded by sculpture gardens and pools, was created to feature the museum’s permanent collection as well as more than 100 new works of art acquired on the occasion of the expansion. Highlights include a gift of 30 Auguste Rodin
sculptures and work by artists Roxy Paine
, Ursula von Rydingsvard
, El Anatsui
, Jaume Plensa
, Jackie Ferrara, Ellsworth Kelly
, and David Park. The project also transformed the museum’s East Building into a center for temporary exhibitions, education and public programs, public events, and administrative functions. The project cost $72.3 million. The exterior walls of the West Building are covered with anodized aluminum panels that are canted two degrees back from vertical with seams covered by highly polished steel bands. The roof of the West Building includes parabolic-shaped 6.5 ft (2 m) by 37 ft (11.3 m) coffers, which admit natural light.
to the 19th century, Egyptian funerary art, sculpture and vase painting from ancient Greece
and Rome
, American art
of the 18th through 20th centuries, and international contemporary art
. Other strengths include African, ancient American, pre-Columbian, and Oceanic art, and Jewish ceremonial objects.
Kingdom. Later acquisitions expanded regional coverage to include other parts of sub-Saharan Africa
with an eye toward assembling works that demonstrated a particular ethnic style, such as those of the Chokwe and Luba
peoples of central Africa
. Though much of the collection is rooted in traditional media such as wood, metal, and textiles and derives from established creative traditions, many works date from the mid-20th century and give insight into global exchanges that have taken place on the continent for centuries.
and concluding with paintings by leading American impressionists. In between, the collection addresses many of the themes and subjects of American art history, such as the celebration of wilderness and the search for a national identity; the conflicts over race, immigration, and social class; and the rapid evolution of society from Jefferson’s republic of farmers to Rockefeller’s industrial dynamo.
. Known for their achievements in science and the arts, the Maya dominated the region for most of two millennia. The museum’s collection reflects their religious beliefs, sport, ritual, and daily life.
, Francis Cotes
, Sir William Beechey
, Thomas Gainsborough
, and Sir Henry Raeburn
. The museum’s French and Spanish collections include portraits and still lifes by Boudin
, Millet
, Pissarro, and Monet.
and Raphael
, and 17th-century baroque art
.
, Jan Steen
, Jan Lievens
, Jacob van Ruisdael, and Govaert Flinck, Jan Brueghel the Elder
, Peter Paul Rubens, Gerard Seghers
, Anthony van Dyck
, Jacob Jordaens
, and Frans Snyders.
’s video The Quintet of Remembrance (2000) and Michal Rovner’s video installation Tfila (2004). Cultural and regional representation has also been expanded, with the museum actively acquiring works by artists of diverse backgrounds. In 2003 the museum started actively collecting contemporary photography. By 2010 the collection totaled over 200 photographs by national and international photographers, including works by Rosemary Laing, Dinh Q. Lê
, Vera Lutter, and Lorna Simpson
. The collection also includes a comprehensive survey of North Carolina artists.
and concerts are presented at the Joseph M. Bryan, Jr., Theater in the Museum Park.
The museum’s contemporary art program extends into the landscape surrounding the museum, where artists have created both temporary and permanent site-specific works of art in the Museum Park. As of 2010, art on view in the Park includes works by Thomas Sayre, Vollis Simpson, Chris Drury
, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, and Ledelle Moe. Other outdoor sculptures—Ronald Bladen’s Three Elements, Henry Moore
’s Large Spindle Piece and Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge—are installed in the gardens surrounding West Building. Picture This, part of the museum’s amphitheater, is a monumental work of art designed by artist Barbara Kruger
in collaboration with architects and landscape architects.
American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell, November 7, 2010–January 30, 2011
Binh Danh: In the Eclipse of Angkor, November 7, 2010–January 30, 2011
Bob Trotman: Inverted Utopias, November 7, 2010–March 27, 2011
Fins and Feathers: Original Children’s Book Illustrations from The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, November 7, 2010–January 30, 2011
John James Audubon’s The Birds of America, November 7, 2010–ongoing
Julie Mehretu: City Sitings, August 17–November 30, 2008
Far from Home, February 17–July 13, 2008
Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism, October 21, 2007–January 20, 2008
The BIG Picture, March 18, 2007–September 2, 2007
Temples and Tombs: Treasures of Egyptian Art from The British Museum, April 14–July 8, 2007
Contemporary North Carolina Photography from the Museum's Collection, First rotation:
September 3–November 5, 2006, Second rotation: November 19, 2006–February 18, 2007
Revolution in Paint, September 17, 2006–February 11, 2007
Monet in Normandy, October 15, 2006–January 14, 2007
Common Ground: Discovering Community in 150 Years of Art
Selections from the Collection of Julia J. Norrell, May 7–July 16, 2006
Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt's Etchings: Selections from the John Villarino Collection, March 5–May 28, 2006
The Potter's Eye: Art and Tradition in North Carolina Pottery, October 30, 2005–March 19, 2006
Crosscurrents: Art, Craft, and Design in North Carolina, September 25, 2005–January 8, 2006
On-line Exhibition: Winners of the In Focus Digital Photography Contest, Through December 31, 2005
Shadow Boxes: Collages of Experience and Memory, August 15–December 11, 2005
Fusion: Contemporary Glass Art from North Carolina Collections, May 8–August 7, 2005
In Focus: Contemporary Photography From The Allen G. Thomas Jr. Collection, April 3–July 17, 2005
Objects of Desire: The Museum Collects, 1994–2004, Ended March 2, 2005
Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris: Masterpieces from The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 10, 2004–January 16, 2005
American Eden: Landscape Masterworks of the Hudson River School: From the Collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, June 6–August 29, 2004
Brushes With Life: Art, Artists and Mental Illness, Ended August 15, 2004
Defying Gravity: Contemporary Art and Flight, November 2, 2003–March 7, 2004
Augustus Saint-Gaudens: American Sculptor of the Gilded Age, February 23–May 11, 2003
Accent of Africa, April 6–August 10, 2003
In Memoriam: George Bireline (1923–2002), December 18, 2002–August 3, 2003
Art in the Age of Rubens and Rembrandt, October 13, 2002–January 5, 2003
Selections from The Birds of America by John James Audubon, July 14–December 1, 2002
The Reverend McKendree Robbins Long: Picture Painter of the Apocalypse, April 7–August 25, 2002
Empire of the Sultans: Ottoman Art from the Khalili Collection, May 19–July 28, 2002
Toulouse-Lautrec: Master of the Moulin Rouge from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art, November 11, 2001–February 17, 2002
Picasso, Braque, Leger: Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Julian H. Robertson, June 10–September 9, 2001
Xu-Bing: Reading Landscape, April 29–August 5, 2001
Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Synchromism, March 4–July 1, 2001
Is Seeing Believing?, January 14– April 1, 2001
Ansel Adams, October 8, 2000–January 7, 2001
Rodin, April 16–August 13, 2000
Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau, January 31–March 28, 1999
Sinners and Saints, Darkness and Light: Caravaggio and His Dutch and Flemish Followers, September 27–December 13, 1998
Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory
Photographs by Bill Bamberger, July 26–October 18, 1998
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
, featuring paintings and sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
representing 5,000 years of artistic work from antiquity to the present. The museum features more than 40 galleries as well as more than a dozen works of art in its 164 acre (0.66368504 km²) Museum Park. West Building, completed in April 2010, holds the museum’s permanent collection, and East Building features special exhibitions.
History
In 1924, the North Carolina State Art Society formed to generate interest in creating an art museum for the state. In 1928 the society acquired funds and 75 paintings displayed first in a series of temporary art exhibition spaces in the Agriculture Building in RaleighRaleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
in 1929.
In 1947 the state legislature appropriated $1 million to purchase a collection of art for the people of North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. The money was used to purchase 139 European and American works. The Samuel H. Kress Foundation matched the appropriation with a gift of 71 works, primarily Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
. The 1947 state earmarking of funds for an art collection was the first in the United States.
Morgan Street Location
In April 1956 the museum opened in the renovated State Highway Division Building on Morgan Street in downtown Raleigh, the state capital. It was the first art museum in the country to be established using state funds.Blue Ridge Road and the Stone Building
In 1967 the present-day Blue Ridge Road site was chosen as the location for a new building, as the museum had outgrown the Morgan Street location. Designed by Edward Durrell Stone and Associates of New York and Holloway-Reeves Architects of North Carolina, the new building opened in 1983. Stone used spatial experimentation with pure geometric form for the museum by using a square as a basic unit and designing the entire site by manipulating the square form. This was Stone's last major design prior to his death. After he died in 1978, the exterior was changed from white marble to red brick.Expansion
In April 2010 the museum opened the new 127000 square feet (11,798.7 m²) West Building, designed by New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
-based architects Thomas Phifer and Partners as part of an expansion initiative. The single-story structure, surrounded by sculpture gardens and pools, was created to feature the museum’s permanent collection as well as more than 100 new works of art acquired on the occasion of the expansion. Highlights include a gift of 30 Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
sculptures and work by artists Roxy Paine
Roxy Paine
Roxy Paine is an American artist. He was educated at both the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico and the Pratt Institute in New York....
, Ursula von Rydingsvard
Ursula von Rydingsvard
Ursula von Rydingsvard born in Deensen, Germany is a sculptor who has been working in Brooklyn, New York for the past 30 years. She received her MFA from Columbia University in 1975 after which time she started to work with cedar, a material through which she has explored a wide range of...
, El Anatsui
El Anatsui
El Anatsui is a Ghanaian sculptor active for much of his career in Nigeria.Anatsui was born in Anyako, and trained at the College of Art, University of Science and Technology, in Kumasi, in central Ghana...
, Jaume Plensa
Jaume Plensa
Jaime Plensa is an Spanish artist and sculptor.-Biography:Plensa was born at Barcelona. Plensa studied art in his home city, in the "Llotja" School and in the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Jorge....
, Jackie Ferrara, Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly is an American painter and sculptor associated with Hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and the Minimalist school. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing the simplicity of form found similar to the work of John McLaughlin. Kelly often employs bright colors to...
, and David Park. The project also transformed the museum’s East Building into a center for temporary exhibitions, education and public programs, public events, and administrative functions. The project cost $72.3 million. The exterior walls of the West Building are covered with anodized aluminum panels that are canted two degrees back from vertical with seams covered by highly polished steel bands. The roof of the West Building includes parabolic-shaped 6.5 ft (2 m) by 37 ft (11.3 m) coffers, which admit natural light.
Permanent collection
The museum’s permanent collection includes European paintings from the RenaissanceRenaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
to the 19th century, Egyptian funerary art, sculpture and vase painting from ancient Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, American art
American Art
American Art is the debut album of the band Weatherbox. It was released on May 8, 2007 on Doghouse Records. The album received critical acclaim from several sources including underground music distribution company Smartpunk, who lauded the band's style:...
of the 18th through 20th centuries, and international contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
. Other strengths include African, ancient American, pre-Columbian, and Oceanic art, and Jewish ceremonial objects.
African
The museum’s African collection originated in the 1970s with historical material from the 19th and 20th centuries, including important items from the BeninBenin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
Kingdom. Later acquisitions expanded regional coverage to include other parts of sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
with an eye toward assembling works that demonstrated a particular ethnic style, such as those of the Chokwe and Luba
Luba people
The Luba are one of the Bantu peoples of Central Africa. They are indigenous to the Katanga, Kasai, and Maniema regions which were historic provinces of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo...
peoples of central Africa
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
. Though much of the collection is rooted in traditional media such as wood, metal, and textiles and derives from established creative traditions, many works date from the mid-20th century and give insight into global exchanges that have taken place on the continent for centuries.
American
The museum’s American art collection encompasses paintings and sculpture from the late colonial period (mid-18th century) to the advent of modern art in the early 20th century, beginning with three imposing portraits by John Singleton CopleyJohn Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley was an American painter, born presumably in Boston, Massachusetts, and a son of Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Irish. He is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects...
and concluding with paintings by leading American impressionists. In between, the collection addresses many of the themes and subjects of American art history, such as the celebration of wilderness and the search for a national identity; the conflicts over race, immigration, and social class; and the rapid evolution of society from Jefferson’s republic of farmers to Rockefeller’s industrial dynamo.
Ancient American
The ancient American collection features art from three distinct areas of the Western Hemisphere: Mesoamerica, Central America, and the Andes. The ancient American gallery focuses on Mesoamerica, particularly the art of the ancient MayaMaya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
. Known for their achievements in science and the arts, the Maya dominated the region for most of two millennia. The museum’s collection reflects their religious beliefs, sport, ritual, and daily life.
Egyptian
Although comprising only 38 artifacts, the ancient Egyptian art collection at the North Carolina Museum of Art represents the major periods of ancient Egyptian history, from the Predynastic (Nagada I, 4000–3500 BCE) to the Roman (30 BCE – 642 CE) periods. The Museum’s oldest artifact is a black-topped red ceramic jar handmade approximately 6,000 years ago. All periods combined, the collection’s strength resides in funerary material, which includes the painted coffins of Djed Mut and Amunred, servant statues for chores in the afterlife (called shabtis), and a canopic jar that once contained the mummified liver of a man named Qeny. The remainder of the collection focuses on the many gods worshipped in Egypt.European
The museum’s strength lies in its European collection. Of the 139 paintings and sculptures purchased with the original appropriation of funds, 123 were European. When these paintings were augmented by the 75 primarily Italian paintings and sculptures given to the museum by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1961, they created a European collection that is recognized as one of the finest in the United States. The gallery is primarily a collection of paintings but also includes a number of noteworthy sculptures, including more than 30 bronzes by Auguste Rodin.British, Spanish, and French Post–1600
The museum possesses a number of British portraits, most of which are installed in a gallery devoted to European portraiture and its early American counterpart. The collection features important works by Paul van Somer, Anthony van DyckAnthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next...
, Francis Cotes
Francis Cotes
Francis Cotes was an English painter, one of the pioneers of English pastel painting, and a founder member of the Royal Academy in 1768.-Life and work:...
, Sir William Beechey
William Beechey
Sir Henry William Beechey , English portrait-painter, was born at Burford, the son of William Beechey and Hannah Read ....
, Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
, and Sir Henry Raeburn
Henry Raeburn
Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish portrait painter, the first significant Scottish portraitist since the Act of Union 1707 to remain based in Scotland.-Biography:...
. The museum’s French and Spanish collections include portraits and still lifes by Boudin
Boudin
Boudin describes a number of different types of sausage used in French, Belgian, German, French Canadian, Creole and Cajun cuisine.-Types:*Boudin blanc: A white sausage made of pork without the blood. Pork liver and heart meat are typically included...
, Millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
, Pissarro, and Monet.
Italian
The museum’s collection of Italian paintings is one of its most robust. Highlights include a gallery devoted to altarpieces and devotional works from the 16th through 18th centuries, paintings by TitianTitian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
and Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, and 17th-century baroque art
Baroque art
Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. The movement is often identified with Absolutism, the Counter Reformation and Catholic Revival, but the existence of important Baroque art and architecture in non-absolutist and Protestant states throughout Western...
.
Northern European
The museum’s Northern European collection comprises a small but select group of Northern Renaissance paintings and sculptures, an important collection of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings, and a Flemish baroque kunstkamer inspired by 17th-century examples. The 17th-century Dutch and Flemish collections are larger in number and include works by Hendrick Ter BrugghenHendrick ter Brugghen
Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen was a Dutch painter, and a leading member of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio — the so-called Dutch Caravaggisti.- Biography :...
, Jan Steen
Jan Steen
Jan Havickszoon Steen was a Dutch genre painter of the 17th century . Psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour are marks of his trade.-Life:...
, Jan Lievens
Jan Lievens
Jan Lievens was a Dutch painter, usually associated with Rembrandt, working in a similar style.-Biography:According to Arnold Houbraken, Jan was the son of Lieven Hendriksze, a tapestry worker , and was trained by Joris Verschoten. He was sent to Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam at about the age of 10...
, Jacob van Ruisdael, and Govaert Flinck, Jan Brueghel the Elder
Jan Brueghel the Elder
Jan Brueghel the Elder was a Flemish painter, son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and father of Jan Brueghel the Younger. Nicknamed "Velvet" Brueghel, "Flower" Brueghel, and "Paradise" Brueghel, of which the latter two were derived from his floral still lifes which were his favored subjects, while the...
, Peter Paul Rubens, Gerard Seghers
Gerard Seghers
Gerard Seghers , also Zegers, was a Flemish Baroque painter and one of the leading Caravaggisti in the Southern Netherlands.-Biography:...
, Anthony van Dyck
Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next...
, Jacob Jordaens
Jacob Jordaens
Jacob Jordaens was one of three Flemish Baroque painters, along with Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, to bring prestige to the Antwerp school of painting. Unlike those contemporaries he never traveled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their...
, and Frans Snyders.
Contemporary
In recent years major acquisitions have helped build a significant collection of contemporary art. A concerted effort has been made to acquire works in new and experimental media, such as Bill ViolaBill Viola
Bill Viola is a contemporary video artist. He is considered a leading figure in the generation of artists whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in New Media...
’s video The Quintet of Remembrance (2000) and Michal Rovner’s video installation Tfila (2004). Cultural and regional representation has also been expanded, with the museum actively acquiring works by artists of diverse backgrounds. In 2003 the museum started actively collecting contemporary photography. By 2010 the collection totaled over 200 photographs by national and international photographers, including works by Rosemary Laing, Dinh Q. Lê
Dinh Q. Lê
Dinh Q. Lê is a Vietnamese American fine arts photographer, best known for his woven-photographs.Dinh Q. Lê was born in 1968 in Hà Tiên, a Vietnamese town near the Cambodia border. The Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia took place in 1978, when Lê was ten, his family emigrated to Los Angeles thereafter...
, Vera Lutter, and Lorna Simpson
Lorna Simpson
Lorna Simpson is an African American artist and photographer who made her name in the 1980s and 1990s with artworks such as Guarded Conditions and Square Deal. Her work often portrays black women combined with text to express contemporary society's relationship with race, ethnicity and sex...
. The collection also includes a comprehensive survey of North Carolina artists.
Modern (to circa 1960)
In West Building the museum’s modern collection occupies several rooms, with an expansive suite of galleries devoted to the art of the 20th and 21st centuries. The collection features works by the foremost German modern artists of the early 20th century, the first generation of American modernists, and cubist and surrealist pieces.Judaic
The museum’s Judaic art collection celebrates the spiritual life and ceremonies of the Jewish people through ritual objects of artistic excellence. It is one of only two galleries devoted to Judaica in an American art museum. The Judaic Art Gallery features objects from the major Jewish traditions—Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Oriental—as well as from modern Israel. All objects are designed for use in synagogue worship, observance of the Sabbath and holidays, or ceremonial occasions honoring the life cycle and Jewish home.Museum Park
Encompassing 164 acre (0.66368504 km²) of fields, woodlands, and creeks, the Museum Park features more than a dozen site-specific works of art and two miles (3 km) of trails. The campus is the nation’s largest museum art park. In the warm weather months, outdoor moviesOutdoor cinema
An outdoor cinema consists of a digital or analog movie projector, scaffolded construction or inflatable projection screen, and sound system....
and concerts are presented at the Joseph M. Bryan, Jr., Theater in the Museum Park.
The museum’s contemporary art program extends into the landscape surrounding the museum, where artists have created both temporary and permanent site-specific works of art in the Museum Park. As of 2010, art on view in the Park includes works by Thomas Sayre, Vollis Simpson, Chris Drury
Chris Drury
Christopher Drury is an American retired professional ice hockey player. Drury is a Hobey Baker Award-winner with Boston University, a Calder Trophy winner with the Colorado Avalanche, a Stanley Cup champion with the Avalanche, a two-time Olympic silver medalist with the United States, and a...
, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, and Ledelle Moe. Other outdoor sculptures—Ronald Bladen’s Three Elements, Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
’s Large Spindle Piece and Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge—are installed in the gardens surrounding West Building. Picture This, part of the museum’s amphitheater, is a monumental work of art designed by artist Barbara Kruger
Barbara Kruger
Barbara Kruger is an American conceptual artist. Much of her work consists of black-and-white photographs overlaid with declarative captions—in white-on-red Futura Bold Oblique or Helvetica Ultra Condensed...
in collaboration with architects and landscape architects.
Exhibitions
In addition to the permanent collection, the museum generally has at least one traveling or temporary exhibition on display.Previous exhibitions
30 Americans: Contemporary African American Art Collection from the Rubell Family, March 19, 2011-September 4, 2011American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell, November 7, 2010–January 30, 2011
Binh Danh: In the Eclipse of Angkor, November 7, 2010–January 30, 2011
Bob Trotman: Inverted Utopias, November 7, 2010–March 27, 2011
Fins and Feathers: Original Children’s Book Illustrations from The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, November 7, 2010–January 30, 2011
John James Audubon’s The Birds of America, November 7, 2010–ongoing
Julie Mehretu: City Sitings, August 17–November 30, 2008
Far from Home, February 17–July 13, 2008
Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism, October 21, 2007–January 20, 2008
The BIG Picture, March 18, 2007–September 2, 2007
Temples and Tombs: Treasures of Egyptian Art from The British Museum, April 14–July 8, 2007
Contemporary North Carolina Photography from the Museum's Collection, First rotation:
September 3–November 5, 2006, Second rotation: November 19, 2006–February 18, 2007
Revolution in Paint, September 17, 2006–February 11, 2007
Monet in Normandy, October 15, 2006–January 14, 2007
Common Ground: Discovering Community in 150 Years of Art
Selections from the Collection of Julia J. Norrell, May 7–July 16, 2006
Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt's Etchings: Selections from the John Villarino Collection, March 5–May 28, 2006
The Potter's Eye: Art and Tradition in North Carolina Pottery, October 30, 2005–March 19, 2006
Crosscurrents: Art, Craft, and Design in North Carolina, September 25, 2005–January 8, 2006
On-line Exhibition: Winners of the In Focus Digital Photography Contest, Through December 31, 2005
Shadow Boxes: Collages of Experience and Memory, August 15–December 11, 2005
Fusion: Contemporary Glass Art from North Carolina Collections, May 8–August 7, 2005
In Focus: Contemporary Photography From The Allen G. Thomas Jr. Collection, April 3–July 17, 2005
Objects of Desire: The Museum Collects, 1994–2004, Ended March 2, 2005
Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris: Masterpieces from The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 10, 2004–January 16, 2005
American Eden: Landscape Masterworks of the Hudson River School: From the Collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, June 6–August 29, 2004
Brushes With Life: Art, Artists and Mental Illness, Ended August 15, 2004
Defying Gravity: Contemporary Art and Flight, November 2, 2003–March 7, 2004
Augustus Saint-Gaudens: American Sculptor of the Gilded Age, February 23–May 11, 2003
Accent of Africa, April 6–August 10, 2003
In Memoriam: George Bireline (1923–2002), December 18, 2002–August 3, 2003
Art in the Age of Rubens and Rembrandt, October 13, 2002–January 5, 2003
Selections from The Birds of America by John James Audubon, July 14–December 1, 2002
The Reverend McKendree Robbins Long: Picture Painter of the Apocalypse, April 7–August 25, 2002
Empire of the Sultans: Ottoman Art from the Khalili Collection, May 19–July 28, 2002
Toulouse-Lautrec: Master of the Moulin Rouge from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art, November 11, 2001–February 17, 2002
Picasso, Braque, Leger: Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Julian H. Robertson, June 10–September 9, 2001
Xu-Bing: Reading Landscape, April 29–August 5, 2001
Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Synchromism, March 4–July 1, 2001
Is Seeing Believing?, January 14– April 1, 2001
Ansel Adams, October 8, 2000–January 7, 2001
Rodin, April 16–August 13, 2000
Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau, January 31–March 28, 1999
Sinners and Saints, Darkness and Light: Caravaggio and His Dutch and Flemish Followers, September 27–December 13, 1998
Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory
Photographs by Bill Bamberger, July 26–October 18, 1998