Birmingham Museum of Art, Art museum in Birmingham, United States
The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama, with a collection of more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts. Its 1959 building, designed by Warren, Knight & Davis and expanded by Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1993, has a dark green polished stone center section with a glass entrance and a tall window above, flanked by white stone-clad wings. A metal canopy over the entrance reads "BIRMINGHAM MUSEUM OF ART", and the facade inscription reads "OSCAR WELLS MEMORIAL".
The museum grew out of the Birmingham Art Club, founded in 1908 to promote culture in the young city; the club gathered and exhibited artworks until the museum itself was founded in 1951. The present building, by Birmingham firm Warren, Knight & Davis, was erected in 1959, and Edward Larrabee Barnes of New York completed a renovation and expansion in 1993.
The museum displays works by local artists and presents the artistic tradition of the South through paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts. Visitors can see how the region has developed its own artistic identity and what themes have mattered to creators here.
The museum stands in Birmingham's cultural district, and general admission is free except for some special exhibitions. The 1993 Edward Larrabee Barnes expansion added a sculpture garden and brought the building to 180,000 square feet. The Clarence B. Hanson Jr. Library holds over 35,000 volumes tied to the collection.
The museum joined the Monuments Men and Women Museum Network in 2021, launched by the Monuments Men and Women Foundation. Its Clarence B. Hanson Jr. Library holds over 35,000 volumes tied mainly to the collection. The 1955 memorial garden was started by Red Mountain Garden Club president Fariss Gambrill Lynn.
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