Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens facts for kids
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Entrance to the Cummer Museum
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| Former name | The Cummer Gallery |
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| Established | November 11, 1961 |
| Location | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Type | Art museum |
| Accreditation | American Alliance of Museums |
| Collection size | 6000 |
| Visitors | 130,000 annually |
| Founder | Ninah Cummer |
| Public transit access | Bus: R5, WS12 |
| Nearest parking | Across the street (no charge) |
The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens is a cool museum in Jacksonville, Florida. It started in 1961 thanks to Ninah Cummer. She loved art and gardens, and when she passed away, she left her amazing collection and gardens to create this museum.
The museum has grown a lot since then. It now includes land that belonged to Ninah's brother-in-law. But don't worry, her original garden designs are still there. You can even see a part of her old home with its original furniture! About 130,000 people visit the museum and gardens every year.
The museum's main collection has over 5,000 pieces of art. These artworks are from all different times, from 2100 BCE to today. The museum is especially known for its European and American paintings. It also has a huge collection of special Meissen porcelain (a type of fancy pottery). The museum also has a fantastic learning center called Art Connections. It has fun, hands-on activities. This center helps students who might not get much art education.
There are three beautiful flower gardens at the museum. The oldest one was created way back in 1903! These gardens have kept their original look for over a hundred years. Famous landscape designers like the Olmsted Brothers helped create them. The Cummer Gardens are so special that they are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Contents
History of the Museum
The Cummer Family
The story of the Cummer Museum began in 1902. That's when Arthur and Ninah Cummer built their home in Jacksonville. Arthur's parents and brother lived nearby. Arthur's father, Wellington Cummer, was a very rich lumber businessman. He moved to Jacksonville in 1896. His company, Cummer Lumber, once owned the most land in Florida! He also built a railroad.
In 1906, Ninah and Arthur bought their first piece of art. It was a painting called Along the Strand. It showed two men riding horse-drawn carts on a beach. In 1931, Ninah hired a landscape designer named Ellen Biddle Shipman. She helped create the beautiful Italian Garden on their land.
After Arthur passed away in 1943, Ninah Cummer started collecting art seriously. In just 15 years, she collected 60 more artworks. All of these are still part of the museum's collection today. Ninah wanted her art and gardens to be a "center of beauty and culture." She set up a foundation to make sure her dream would continue after she was gone. She named it after her baby daughter, DeEtte Holden Cummer.
How the Museum Started
Ninah Cummer passed away in 1958. She left her home and gardens to the DeEtte Holden Cummer Museum Foundation. Her goal was to create a museum for her art. In 1960, the Cummer family homes were taken down to build the museum. Some parts of the gardens were also changed.
The new museum building was finished in 1961. It had a cool Art Deco style. One special room from the original Cummer home, called the Tudor Room, was saved. It was added right into the new museum. The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, first called The Cummer Gallery, opened on November 11, 1961.
Many important people came to the museum's opening. The mayor of Jacksonville and the governor of Florida were there. They said the museum was an amazing gift to the city. The museum showed Ninah's art collection. It also had special exhibits, like a collection of etchings by James McBey.
In 1971, the museum added a new section for 17th-century art. This made the museum even bigger!
In 1989, the museum got a very old piece of art. It was an ancient Egyptian stone carving called a stela. It was made around 2100 BCE. This stela is the oldest artwork in the museum's collection!
In the early 1990s, the museum got another building called the Barnett building. The first floor became Art Connections, the education center. The two buildings were connected. Two more large art galleries were also added. This big expansion was finished in 1992. In 2002, the museum bought another old building. It was a Tudor-style house. This building was planned for museum programs and events. The museum also added more galleries in 2005 and 2006.
On January 25, 2010, the beautiful Cummer Gardens were added to the National Register of Historic Places. This shows how important they are!
In 2016, the museum had to make a tough decision. The old Tudor-style building they bought in 2002 had a bad termite problem. It was so bad that the building had to be taken down.
Art Collection
The Cummer Museum's art collection has grown a lot. It started with Ninah Cummer's 60 artworks. Now, it has over 5,000 pieces! The collection covers art from 2100 BCE all the way to today. You can see works by famous artists like Peter Paul Rubens, Winslow Homer, and Norman Rockwell.
The museum is also home to the Wark Collection of Early Meissen Porcelain. These special pieces were either given to the museum as gifts. Or, they were bought using money raised by the museum.
Special Art Collections
The Cummer Museum has seven special collections:
- The Constance I. and Ralph H. Wark Collection of Early Meissen Porcelain – Ralph Wark started collecting Meissen porcelain in 1922. He gathered over 700 pieces! He and his sister donated this huge collection to the Cummer in 1965.
- The Eugène Louis Charvot Collection – This collection has over 200 artworks. They were made by Eugène Louis Charvot, a French doctor and army officer who was also a painter.
- Joseph Jeffers Dodge Collection – This collection includes 230 works by an American artist named Joseph Jeffers Dodge.
- The Dennis C. Hayes Collection of Japanese Prints – This collection has 190 Japanese prints from the 1800s and 1900s.
- The James McBey Collection – This is one of the largest collections of James McBey's art outside of his home country, Scotland. It shows his work from his whole career.
- The Eugene Savage Collection – This collection has works by Eugene Savage. He was a member of the National Academy of Design. His art shows Seminole traditions from the 1930s.
- Permanent Collection Archives and Rare Books – This collection has old papers and rare books. They help us learn more about the other special collections. It even includes some books from the Cummers' own library!
The Tudor Room
One room from the original Cummer home was saved. It's called the Tudor Room. It was kept so that everyone could get a peek into Ninah Cummer's life. It still has all its old furniture. You can also see some paintings from the Cummers' first art collection. There are even portraits of Ninah and Arthur Cummer. Ninah also made a special needlepoint picture of her Italian Garden, which is in this room.
Sculptures
Many sculptures from the museum's collection are displayed outside. You can find them around the museum grounds. For example, Running Boy by Janet Scudder is in the courtyard. A sculpture of Mercury stands in the middle of the Olmsted Garden. Diana of the Chase by Anna Hyatt Huntington is in the upper part of the gardens. There's also a sculpture garden around the Barnett building. Other sculptures are displayed inside the museum.
Beautiful Gardens
The Cummer Gardens cover about 1.45 acres. They are filled with native Florida plants and huge live oak trees. You'll also see reflecting pools, fountains, and sculptures. The gardens are divided into three main areas. There's also a big lawn by the St. Johns River. Many original trees were cut down for flower beds. But the ones that stayed grew up to 150 feet tall! Ninah Cummer loved lions, and you can find lion details all over the gardens.
The first gardens on the Cummer property were designed in 1903. This was right after the house was finished. Later, in 1910, Thomas Meehan & Sons redesigned a garden. This became known as the English Garden. Ellen Biddle Shipman designed the Italian Garden in 1931. Sections of Clara and Waldo's garden were designed by William Lyman Phillips. He worked with the Olmsted Brothers firm. The Cummer Gardens are on the National Register of Historic Places. This is because they show how American garden design changed in the early 1900s.
You can even take a virtual tour of the Cummer's gardens online! This lets you explore them from anywhere. You can learn about the plants and sculptures in each garden.
In September 2017, Hurricane Irma caused a lot of damage to the gardens. The St. Johns River overflowed, flooding the gardens with about four feet of water. A big project started in December 2018 to fix the English, Italian, and Olmsted Gardens. It cost $1.3 million! The plan used old records, photos, and plant lists to restore the gardens to their original look. The English Gardens reopened in April 2019. All three gardens were fully open to the public by July 2019.
The English Garden
The English Garden is a rectangular garden. It has brick paths and a special archway covered in cypress trees. You'll also see many statues and garden decorations. The garden is full of hundreds of native trees, bushes, and flowers. Azaleas are a very important flower here. There's also a wall garden built in 1922. The main feature of the garden is a large wisteria arbor.
Thomas Meehan & Sons designed the English Garden in 1910. It was first called the Wisteria Garden. In 1925, Ninah learned about azaleas from an expert. She loved them so much that she visited azalea gardens in South Carolina for ideas. With advice from the expert, she replanted much of her English garden with azaleas. She then renamed it the Azalea Garden.
The Italian Garden
Ellen Biddle Shipman designed the Italian Garden in May 1931. It has two rows of neatly trimmed evergreen bushes. These are placed between two long, rectangular reflecting pools. At the end of the garden, there's a beautiful marble fountain. It's surrounded by an arched gloriette. You'll also find many statues, ornaments, and pots of small trees and flowers.
In 2002, the main fountain was replaced. The old one was made of a material that had worn out. A new, exact copy was made from special marble in Italy.
The Olmsted Garden
The Olmsted Garden was designed by the Olmsted Brothers. They were the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in New York City! This garden was behind Waldo and Clara's home. It has many kinds of flowers and trees. There's also a curved staircase and three garden "rooms."
After the property was sold in 1960, the garden became overgrown. But when the Barnett building was bought, plans were made to fix it. They used old photos to bring it back to its original design. The restoration was finished in 2013. The main feature of the garden used to be a bronze statue of Mercury. This statue was given away in the 1960s. But it was donated back to the museum around 2013. Now, it's back in its special spot in the restored garden.
The Cummer Oak
The Cummer oak is a huge live oak tree. Experts think it's between 400 and 450 years old! It stands tall over the gardens. It's 80 feet high and 138 feet wide. Its trunk is 21 feet around!
Learning and Education
The museum's expansion in 1992 created a new learning center. It's called Art Connections. This center has given thousands of local schoolchildren a chance to learn about art. They get to do hands-on activities, take art classes, and go on special tours. In 1994, Art Connections won a special award for its great community service.
Art Connections got a complete makeover in 2004. Many new, high-tech activities were added. For example, there's a virtual canvas where you can paint with a laser-light paintbrush. There's also a room where your shadows turn into art on the wall!
Art Connections offers many educational programs. These include Women of Vision and Junior Docents. They also host the VSA Arts Festival and the Weaver Academy of Art.
The Very Special Arts Festival is a yearly event. It's for special education students and is held at the Cummer Museum. In 2014, over 2,000 students and 1,000 volunteers took part! Museum volunteers help students with hands-on art projects. Some of these projects have even been shown in the museum!
The Weaver Academy of Art started in 2007. It helps elementary school children who might not have many chances to learn about art. This program helps over 3,000 students and 200 teachers in the area. It's the biggest education program at the Cummer Museum. It offers museum tours, classroom visits, training for teachers, and free passes for teachers and students.
Families with young children can get a Family Backpack. You can check one out at the Art Connections Interactive Center. Each backpack has materials and activities for younger visitors. They help families discover and understand art while at the museum. Family Backpacks come in four themes: Animals, Color Splash, Gardens, and My Family.
Visitors can also create their own art while exploring the galleries and gardens. Just visit the CREATE Cart! On the cart, you'll find boxes with a clipboard, paper, and colored pencils. You can check out these boxes for free. Just remember to return them to the cart before you leave the museum.
Gallery
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Johann Joachim Kändler, Ormolu Mantel Clock with Meissen Figurines, c. 1735
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Edmund Darch Lewis, Mount Washington, New Hampshire, c. 1865
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Winslow Homer, Waiting for a Bite, c. 1874
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Thomas Moran, Ponce de León in Florida, c. 1877-1878
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Unknown artist, Mosaic with mask of Silenus, c. 100 CE
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Workshop of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal de Richelieu, c. 1641
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Jacques de Claeuw, Vanitas, c. 1677
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Frans Snyders, Still Life with Fruit and Flowers, c. 1630
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Robert Henri, Guide to Croaghan (Brian O'Malley), c. 1913
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Theodoor Rombouts, The Concert, c. 1620
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Gustave Léonard de Jonghe, The Japanese Fan, c. 1865
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Marie Victoire Lemoine, Portrait of Zamor, c. 1785
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Jonas Lie, View of the Seine, c. 1909
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William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Return from the Harvest, c. 1878
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Pieter Thijs and Pieter Boel, Huntsman with His Dogs and Game, c. 1650
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See also
In Spanish: Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens para niños
