Memphis Brooks Museum of Art facts for kids
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Fernando Botero's Smoking Woman is looking to the Three Graces of Memphis
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| Established | 1916 |
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| Location | 1934 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee |
| Type | Art museum |
| Public transit access |  MATA |
The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is a cool art museum located in Memphis, Tennessee. It's the oldest and biggest art museum in the state of Tennessee. The museum first opened its doors in 1916. It's a special place that gets its money from private donations, not the government. You can find it in Overton Park in Midtown Memphis.
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About the Museum Buildings
The Original Overton Park Building
The first building of the museum was designed in 1913 by an architect named James Gamble Rogers. It was built with money given by Bessie Vance Brooks. She wanted to honor her husband, Samuel Hamilton Brooks. This beautiful building opened in 1916. It is now a special U.S. National Landmark.
In 1955, a round addition was built. This part was designed by a Memphis architect named Everett Woods. Later, in 1989, the museum got even bigger. Architects from Askew Nixon Ferguson (ANF) and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill worked on this expansion. The new part made the museum twice as large. It added a new public entrance and a three-story area for art. This new section connects the old and new parts of the building.
The museum has 29 different art galleries. It also has classrooms where you can learn about art. There's a special room with over 4,500 works of art on paper. These include drawings and prints. The museum also has a library with more than 5,000 books. Plus, there's an auditorium for events.
What You Can Find Inside
The museum's collection has over ten thousand pieces of art. This includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, and photographs. You can also see decorative arts like furniture. Some famous collections include:
- The Samuel H. Kress Collection of old European paintings.
- The Hugo N. Dixon Collection of Impressionist paintings.
- The Levy Collection of American prints.
The Brooks Museum also has a gift shop and a cafe called Cafe Brooks. Outside, you can enjoy the Holly Court garden. There's also a large terrace that looks out over Overton Park.
The New Downtown Museum
A brand new museum building is being built in downtown Memphis. The famous architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron helped design it. This "downtown" museum is planned to open in late 2025. It will have a public courtyard and a theater. There will be more galleries and places to see the Mississippi River.
Amazing Art Collections
The museum's permanent collection has many types of paintings. You can see art from the Italian Renaissance and Baroque periods. There are also Impressionist and 20th-century artworks.
The Kress Collection is one of many art collections given by a generous person to museums across America. The Brooks also has a great collection of English portraits. These include paintings by famous artists like Gainsborough and Reynolds.
You can also see Impressionist paintings by artists like Camille Pissarro and Renoir. Many American Impressionists are featured too. These include Winslow Homer, Thomas Hart Benton, Childe Hassam, and Robert Henri. The modern art collection has works by Kenneth Noland, Robert Motherwell, and Mark Kostabi. It also features art by the well-known Memphis artist Carroll Cloar.
The Brooks Museum also takes care of sculptures from the 1800s and 1900s. They also have decorative arts like furniture and textiles.
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