FIGGE ART MUSEUM

The 'Figge Art Museum' opened in Davenport, Iowa on August 6, 2005 and replaces the Davenport Museum of Art, which was founded in 1925 as the first municipal art gallery in the state. The new building was designed by Modernist British architect David Chipperfield.^[1] The Figge Art Museum gets its name from the V.O. and Elizabeth Kahl Figge Foundation, which donated $13.25 million towards its construction. The Figge family has a long tradition of philanthropy and cultural enrichment.
The first pieces of its collections were donated by Davenport community leader Charles Ficke (1850-1931), a local banker and politician who collected art from around the world. Robert E. Harsche, then Director of the Art Institute of Chicago, reported that to his knowledge no American public art gallery had "started out with so large a number of important paintings as a nucleus."^[2]
The museum is best known for its extensive collection of Haitian, Colonial Mexican and Midwestern art, particularly pieces by Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, including the only self-portrait Wood ever painted. It also houses a substantial American collection (including works by Albert Bierstadt, James McNeill Whistler, William Merritt Chase, Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth, Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns), European art (including work by artists such as Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt, Claude Lorrain, Francisco Goya, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Toulouse-Lautrec and Pierre-Auguste Renoir), and works from East Asia (with pieces by Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kunisada). The museum is also home of the Grant Wood archives, and received substantial support from the The Henry Luce Foundation for the conservation of these archives.
Its inaugural exhibition, "The Great American Thing: 1915-1935" opened September 17, 2005 and featured major works from early American Modernists.^[3] Actor and well-known painter Martin Mull visited the Figge during an exhibition of his works in 2006.
The museum is 115,000 square feet (10,683 m²) and is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.^[4]
The museum is in the 100-year flood plain in Davenport, but it is built elevated above that level to prevent any damage from potential floods. Its design will enable the facility to remain open during 100-year floods.

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References

External links

References

1. Project Portfolio / Figge Art Museum
2. Charles August Ficke: An American Success Story
3. Design - Art Urbane - 2005.1109
4. Smithsonian Affiliations

External links

★ figgeartmuseum.org Official website