Overview of the Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC
| By: Courtesy of the Gibbes Museum | 03/09/2010 |
GIBBES MUSEUM OF ART
Experience Charleston’s history through Art! Located in the historic district, the Gibbes houses a premier collection of art, principally American works with a Charleston or Southern connection and presents special exhibitions annually. Come face to face with stories of the South Carolina Lowcountry as seen through painting, miniature portraiture, sculpture, photographs and more.
A complimentary cell phone tour is offered with paid admission.
Adults $9; Seniors
Students and Military $7;
Youth (ages 6 – 12) $5;
Members & Children under 5 – Free
The museum and Museum Store is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am-5pm and Sunday 1pm-5pm (closed Mondays).
LOCATED AT: 135 Meeting Street (843) 722-2706
The Charleston Story
With over 10,000 objects, the permanent collection housed at the Gibbes Museum of Art presents a rich, vibrant history of the Lowcountry. The ongoing exhibition The Charleston Story highlights significant people, places, and periods from Charleston's beginning as a British colony, through the American Revolution, the later ravages of the Civil War, and culminating today as a culturally diverse and dynamic community.
Established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858, the Gibbes Museum of Art opened its doors to the public in 1905. Located along the Museum Mile in Charleston’s historic district, the museum offers visitors the opportunity to explore stories of the South as seen through painting, sculpture, photographs and more. The Gibbes’ permanent collection consists of over 10,000 works, principally American with a Charleston or Southern connection. The museum presents special exhibitions and public programs throughout the year.
In 1857, a group of Charleston citizens organized the
Carolina Art Association whose primary purpose was to promote fine arts in South Carolina. The Association was awarded its official state charter on December 21, 1858. From the beginning, the Association was committed to collecting historical and contemporary art related to Charleston.
Inspired by his lifelong love of the arts, local businessman James Shoolbred Gibbes Sr., left $100,000 in a trust to be used for the “erection or purchase of a suitable building to be used as a Hall or Halls for the exhibition of paintings.” The James Gibbes Memorial Art Gallery (now the Gibbes Museum of Art) opened to the public on April 11, 1905.
By the 1920s Charleston had become an attractive destination for artists such as Edward Hopper, and the Gibbes played an important role in shaping the aesthetic traditions in the region. It also attracted art collectors like Solomon Guggenheim and Samuel Kress. It was in 1936 that the Gibbes presented the first ever exhibition of Guggenheim’s non-objective art collection (the collection would later form the core collection at the Guggenheim Museum in New York). This influx of artists greatly shaped the burgeoning group of Charleston Renaissance artists including Alice R.H. Smith, Alfred Hutty, and Elizabeth O’Neill Verner.
In 1977, the Gibbes became the principal venue for the presentation of visual arts for Spoleto Festival, U.S.A. During the 1980s, in conjunction with Spoleto, the Gibbes presented exhibitions featuring such pivotal contemporary American artists as Louise Nevelson, Sol LeWitt, and Roy Lichtenstein. In 1983, the Gibbes hosted its first exhibition of work by local African American artist Edwin A. Harleston, and later formed associations with the City’s MOJA Festival, which celebrates Charleston’s African American heritage.
Through a strong roster of recent exhibitions, the Gibbes has continued to advance scholarship related to the art of Charleston and the South. The 1999 landmark exhibition In Pursuit of Refinement: Charlestonians Abroad, 1740-1860 received international recognition for its insightful exploration of cultural exchange between Europe and South Carolina. In 2008, the Gibbes presented Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art, a groundbreaking traveling exhibition that examined plantation-related works of art from the 18th century to the present.
Now in its second century, the Gibbes Museum of Art continues its dedication to collecting and presenting Southern art from the Colonial period through today. Museum visitors can enjoy treasures from Charleston’s history in the ongoing exhibition The Charleston Story as well as special exhibitions on view. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday and a complimentary cell phone tour is offered with admission.
Check out other PremiereCharleston articles about the Gibbes Museum here.
Gibbes Museum and Museum Store Hours
Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm; Sunday 1pm – 5pm
Admission Prices
Adults $9; Seniors, Students and Military $7; Youth (ages 6 – 12) $5; Members & Children under 5 – Free
135 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401. 843.722.2706. www.gibbesmuseum.org
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June 16, 2010
