Columbus Museum
Founded in 1953, the Columbus Museum is one of the largest museums in the Southeast and is unique for its dual concentration on American art and regional history, displayed in both its permanent collection as well as temporary exhibitions.
As an integral part of, and partner with, the Muscogee County School District since its inception, the Museum enriches its community and serves its schoolchildren through a full calendar of educational programs as well. The Museum's doors are always open with free admission to the public. These efforts combine in the Museum's mission statement "to collect, preserve, research and interpret American art and regional culture for the education, enrichment and enjoyment of a broad and diverse public."
Following the death of noted Columbus industrialist W.C. Bradley in 1947, the present-day 12-acre site of the Columbus Museum, located in the heart of the historic Midtown section of Columbus, was donated by his family to the city of Columbus to be used as a center of culture and education. The Olmsted Garden on the grounds on the Columbus Museum were designed by Olmsted & Olmsted, sons of the famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and their 1928 design follows many of the elder Olmsted's aesthetics with sweeping vistas, rose gardens, dramatic ravines, waterfalls, forest glens and massive plantings for dramatic seasonal effect. In 1991, a group of committed Museum supporters began to renovate this historic Southern garden and today the restored garden retains much of its original grandeur. Sunset Terrace, the 1912 Mediterranean Revival home of W.C. Bradley, was transformed into the Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts, which opened its doors to the public on March 29, 1953.
Though a volunteer working for no pay, original Museum Director Edward Swift Shorter opened the Museum with an ambitious offering of exhibitions and programs. Within a year, the first major show, Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, opened, inspiring Shorter to describe the burgeoning Museum as "a lusty infant ... showing maturity." Through sheer determination and vast connections in artistic circles, Shorter also built up the Museum's stature with the acquisition of significant works by primarily Georgia artists such as Lamar Dodd. In recognition of his efforts, Shorter was honored upon his retirement in 1965 with one of the highest awards the art world can bestow, the Gari Melchers Gold Medal Award from the Artist Fellowship Foundation in New York City for "materially furthering the interests of the profession of fine arts and culture in America."
A major milestone in the Museum's history came in April 1989 when, after the years-long New Masterpiece Fund campaign achieved its goal, a major expansion of the Museum resulted in the creation of an architecturally stunning, world-class facility. Still incorporating the original Bradley Home, the Museum now features 89,000 total square feet, including 30,000 square feet of gallery space, 5,000 square feet of collections storage, a 298-seat auditorium, 4,000 square feet for exhibition preparation and a conservation lab, 1,000 square feet for a theater and 4,000 square feet for an education wing. Noted among the additions are the Chattahoochee Legacy Gallery, which features more than 600 objects illuminating 10,000 years of history in the Chattahoochee Valley region, and Transformations, an inter-active discovery gallery for children.
Today, the Columbus Museum continues its storied legacy through the efforts of a dedicated leadership and staff, which since 1994 has been led by Director Tom Butler. With an increased focus on its collection of American works on paper in recent years, the Museum completed in 2008 the acquisition of the Flom Collection, 105 drawings by famed artists such as Winslow Homer, James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Eastman Johnson, which now distinguishes the Museum as one of the most significant repositories of American drawings in the nation.
There are many reasons why the Columbus Museum is the premier cultural destination of its region: its prized permanent collection; award-winning original and travelling art and history exhibitions; programs that range in just a month's span from a Black History Month film series to a decorative arts symposium featuring experts from across the country; dedication to its vital role as an educational institution. These facts give life to the Museum's slogan -- always changing, always free.
Explore Related Categories
