Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Art museum in Laurel, Mississippi, United States
The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art is an art museum in Laurel, Mississippi, housing American paintings, European works, Japanese woodblock prints, British Georgian silver, and Native American baskets. The building is a neoclassical structure from the early 1920s with ornate interior spaces and several galleries spread across its floors.
The museum opened in 1923 as a memorial to Lauren Eastman Rogers, who died at age 23, and was the first art institution of its kind in Mississippi. His family and supporters founded it to bring access to art in a part of the country where such institutions were rare.
The collection of Native American baskets on display here is one of the largest in the American South, with pieces from dozens of tribal traditions. Looking at them up close, you can see the variety of weaving techniques and materials used across different communities.
The museum sits in downtown Laurel and is easy to reach on foot from the town center. Allow more time than you might expect, as the collection is larger than the building suggests from the outside.
The ironwork inside the building was made by Samuel Yellin, one of the most respected craftsmen in early 20th-century America, while the hand-molded plaster ceilings were done by Leon Hermant. Most visitors focus on the paintings and miss these details, which are worth looking up for.
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