Columbia Museum of Art facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Columbia Museum of Art

Entrance pictured in 2019
Location	Columbia, South Carolina United States
Type	Art museum

The Columbia Museum of Art is a cool place in Columbia, South Carolina, where you can see amazing art. It's a museum dedicated to showing off beautiful paintings, sculptures, and other creative works.

Museum History: How It Started

The Columbia Museum of Art first opened in 1950. It was located in a large house that belonged to the Taylor family. This house was built in 1908 on Senate Street in Columbia. It was close to the University of South Carolina and the South Carolina State House.

The Taylor House Era

For almost 50 years, the Taylor House was the museum's home. They added new gallery rooms and even a round planetarium for science exhibits. In 1982, the Taylor House was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's an important historical building.

When the museum first opened, its art collection came from local people. They donated their own art or left it to the museum in their wills. The museum also had ten "Old Master" paintings. These were works by famous European artists from before the 1800s. Some artists included Joshua Reynolds and Scipione Pulzone.

Growing with New Art Gifts

Things changed a lot in 1954. The museum was chosen to receive special art donations. These gifts came from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. The Kress Foundation gave the museum many Renaissance and Baroque art pieces. Renaissance art was made between the 14th and 17th centuries. Baroque art followed, from the early 17th century to the mid-18th century.

Over the next 20 years, the museum received 78 artworks. These included both fine art and decorative arts. Decorative arts are beautiful, useful objects like furniture or pottery.

New Building and Amazing Art Collections

Eos, by Evelyn De Morgan, 1895

In 1988, the South Carolina State Museum opened. After this, the Columbia Museum of Art decided to focus only on art. It removed its science exhibits and the planetarium. Even with more space, the museum outgrew the old Taylor House by the 1990s. It needed a much bigger place.

Designing a Modern Museum

A new location was chosen at Main and Hampton Streets. This spot used to have two empty department stores. Part of one store was taken down to make a public space. This area is now called Boyd Plaza. It has sculptures and a garden. The other department store building was used as a base. Architects Bobby Lyles and Ashby Gressette designed the new museum around its steel frame.

The new museum opened in 1998. It had 22,000 square feet (about 2,055 square meters) of gallery space. There was also room for future growth.

Outside the Museum: Boyd Plaza

The outside of the new museum looks modern. But it also reminds people of the old Taylor House. It uses brick and has an entrance that looks like the old one. Boyd Plaza has cool sculptures. These include Upright Motive No. 8 by Henry Moore and Apollo Cascade by Robert Carroll.

Inside the Museum: Galleries and Art

When you enter the museum, you walk into a tall, open space called the Robinson Jr. Atrium. Natural light comes in from the roof. Since 2010, a huge 14-foot (4.27 meter) chandelier hangs here. It's made of red, orange, and gold glass by Dale Chihuly.

On the first floor, you'll find galleries for changing exhibitions. Two other galleries show modern and contemporary art. This art is from the museum's own collection.

Art Through the Ages

Twenty galleries on the second floor show art history. You can see European and American art from ancient times to today.

• Ancient World Art: The first gallery has art from the ancient Mediterranean world. This includes early Greek pottery and Roman glass. There are also 12 Greco-Roman marble sculptures. These were given by Dr. Robert Y. Turner. They include a statue of Hygeia and Roman portrait heads.

• European Old Masters: You'll also see European paintings and sculptures. These are from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The art from the Kress collection is mixed in with other works. This helps you see how art changed over time.

Some of the famous artists in this collection include:

Botticelli's Nativity (1475)

Asian and American Art

In 2009, a new gallery opened for Chinese art. This art was donated by Dr. Robert Y. Turner. It shows Chinese art from about 2000 BCE to 1400 CE. You can see tomb sculptures from the Tang dynasty.

The rest of the galleries on this floor have European and American art. This includes paintings, sculptures, furniture, and decorative arts from the 18th to 20th centuries.

Some of the painters include:

You can also see furniture by designers like Duncan Phyfe. There's silver, stained glass by Tiffany Studios, and pottery. The museum also has special collections. These include drawings from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection.

Special Exhibitions

The museum often has special art shows. In 2019, it showed art by Jasper Johns. He grew up in South Carolina and went to USC. The museum even has a kids' program called Gladys' Gang, named after his aunt.

The museum has also shown works by other famous artists. These include Georgia O'Keeffe, Matisse, Dalí, and Norman Rockwell. Past exhibitions have featured "Turner to Cézanne (with Van Gogh)" and "Monet to Matisse." In 2019, a huge 20-foot (610 cm) mural by Jackson Pollock was on display. The museum also had a photography show called "Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present" in 2010.

Other Institutions

• List of art museums
• List of museums in South Carolina