Minneapolis Institute of Arts
this outstanding fine arts museum is located in the
Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota occupying 8 acres
that had been part of Morrison Park. Since it is a significant,
government funded public museum, there isn't a charge, except for
special exhibitions and offers photography of its permanent
collection for scholarly or personal use. The Minneapolis Society of
Fine Arts started back in 1883 to add an arts venue to the
community, with the group organizing art exhibitions during the
decade, until 1889, when the society would become the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts and moved into its first home inside the newly
constructed Minneapolis Public Library. In 1915, it would be moved
into its own new structure, constructed on land the Morrison family
had donated and had been occupied by their Villa Rosa mansion. It
would grow into the best example of beaux-arts style in the state
and is located in the Washburn-Fair Oaks mansion district that would
be added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The
magnificent museum showcases an encyclopedic collection of about
80,000 works that span 5000 years of world history and includes;
decorative arts, paintings, prints and drawings, photographs,
architecture and textiles; with collections from Oceania, Africa and
the Americas, with a strong holding in Asian art that has been
called one of the best and most complete Asian art collections in
the nation. This excellent collection contains Chinese ceramics,
architecture, jade and bronzes. The biggest piece in the collections
is the Purcell-Cutts house that is considered to be one of the most
important examples of Prairie school architecture, that was
rejuvenated by the museum and opened in 1990.
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