Norton Museum
of Art
The Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach,
Florida houses a marvelous collection of more than 5000 works of
art that focuses on American, Chinese and European art along
with photography and contemporary art. It was started in 1941 by
Ralph Hubbard Norton and his first wife, Elizabeth Calhoun
Norton, since Ralph had been the head of the Chicago based Acme
Steel Company, and retired, moving to West Palm Beach. He wanted
to share his magnificent collection of paintings and sculptures,
so he had Marion Sims Wyeth, design an art deco neoclassical
structure that would open its doors in 1941, with a mission
statement to preserve for the future, the beautiful things of
the past. The museum would enjoy an outstanding expansion when
the Gail and Melvin Nessel Wing was added giving the museum
another 45,000 square foot of exhibit space and increase its
size to 122,500 square feet. It would take two years to
construct, but it opened in 2003 with more room to showcase
their artworks, in essence, increasing their capacity by 75%,
and more chances to increase their excellent permanent
collection. This wonderful wing adds another fourteen galleries,
a glass ceiling installation commissioned from Dale Chihuly, an
enclosed courtyard that can accommodate more social and
educational events, a three story atrium that was designed to
evoke the museum's art and a cantilevered spiral staircase.
Their American collection contains 1200 works with works from
great artists like Charles Marion Russell, Mary Cassatt, Jackson
Pollock, George Wesley Bellows and Stuart Davis, while the
European collection contains works by Lucas Cranach I, Peter
Paul Rubens, Mariotto Albertinelli, Edgar Degas, Ferdinand Bol,
Claude Monet, Luca Giordano, Paul Gauguin, Sir Joshua Reynolds,
Jean-Baptiste Greuze and Gustave Courbet.
|
