The High Museum of Art is the primary art museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The museum is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center, which also includes the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Young Audiences and the 14th Street Playhouse.

The High Museum holds more than 11,000 works of art in its permanent collection. Included in this collection are 19th and 20th century American art; European art; decorative art; African American art; modern and contemporary art; photography and African art. Highlights of the permanent collection include works by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Claude Monet, Martin Johnson Heade, Dorothea Lange, Clarence John Laughlin, and Chuck Close. The High places special emphasis on supporting and collecting works by Southern artists such as Howard Finster. The museum includes a curatorial department specifically devoted to the field of folk and self-taught art, a distinction unique among North American museums. The High’s Media Arts department produces an annual film series and festivals of foreign, independent and classic film.

History

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The museum was founded in 1905 as the Atlanta Art Association. In 1926, the High family, for whom the museum is named, donated their family home on Peachtree Street to house the collection. A separate building for the museum was built adjacent to the family home in 1955. In 1968, 122 Atlanta arts patrons died in an airplane crash while on a museum-sponsored trip to Europe. In their honor, the Atlanta Memorial Arts Center was built for the High Museum.

In 1983, a 135,000 square foot building designed by architect Richard Meier opened to house the High Museum. The Meier building was funded by a $7.9 million challenge grant from former Coca-Cola president Robert W. Woodruff matched by $20 million raised by the museum. In 2005, three new buildings designed by Renzo Piano more than doubled the museum's size to 312,000 square feet. The Piano buildings were designed as part of an overall upgrade of the entire Woodruff Arts Center complex.

External links

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• High Museum of Art — official website
• High Museum of Art — Architecture

Art museums and galleries in the United States | Museums in Georgia, United States | High Museum of Art