New Orleans Museum of Art

New Orleans Museum of Art. Founded in 1911 through a philanthropic gift from Isaac Delgado, a prominent sugar cane broker, the museum is one of the premier fine arts institutions in the Gulf South. Its permanent collection, housed in a Beaux-Arts building within the expansive City Park, spans more than five millennia of global artistic achievement. The institution is renowned for its strengths in French art, photography, and Japanese art, alongside significant holdings of American art and African art.

History

The museum was established following a bequest from Isaac Delgado, who envisioned a "temple of art for rich and poor alike" in the city. It opened its doors on December 16, 1911, as the Delgado Museum of Art, with an initial collection focused on European painting and American portraiture. Under the leadership of early directors like Arthur Feitel and later James B. Byrnes, the museum's scope expanded significantly. A major transformative period began in the 1970s under director E. John Bullard, who oversaw a substantial building expansion and the acquisition of cornerstone collections, including the Kress collection of Italian Renaissance paintings. The institution weathered significant challenges, most notably Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which caused damage to its facilities and the surrounding City Park, but it emerged with renewed community focus and physical enhancements.

Collections

The museum's encyclopedic holdings comprise over 40,000 objects. Its celebrated collection of French art includes important works by Edgar Degas, who had familial ties to New Orleans, as well as paintings by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse. The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, established through a major gift, significantly augmented the museum's modern and contemporary sculpture. Other notable strengths include one of the nation's finest collections of photography, with works by Ansel Adams and Robert Frank, and exceptional holdings in Japanese art, particularly Edo period paintings and ukiyo-e prints. The African art collection features masks and figures from regions like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali, while the Oceanic art and Pre-Columbian art collections provide broad global context.

Building and grounds

The original 1911 Beaux-Arts building was designed by architects Samuel Marx and William Orr. A major 1971 expansion, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, added modernist wings that more than tripled the gallery space. The museum's most prominent landscape feature is the 11-acre Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, which opened in 2003 within the pine groves of City Park. This garden integrates over 90 sculptures by artists such as Henry Moore, Louise Bourgeois, and Jaume Plensa alongside lagoons, pedestrian bridges, and a mature landscape, creating a seamless dialogue between art and the natural environment. Further renovations after Hurricane Katrina improved infrastructure and accessibility.

Notable exhibitions

The museum has organized and hosted numerous significant traveling and original exhibitions. It presented a major retrospective of the work of Edgar Degas in 1999, exploring his New Orleans connection. Other landmark shows have included "The Treasures of Tutankhamun" in 1977, which drew record crowds, and "Femme, Femme, Femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from David to Picasso" in 2003. More recently, exhibitions like "Changing Course: Reflections on New Orleans Histories" have engaged with contemporary social issues, while shows featuring artists like Kehinde Wiley and Kara Walker have highlighted important voices in contemporary art.

Governance and funding

The museum is a private, non-profit institution governed by a board of trustees. It operates with funding from a combination of endowment income, membership support, contributions from foundations like the Helis Foundation and the Tulane-affiliated Museum, corporate sponsorships, and government grants from entities such as the Louisiana Division of the Arts. The director, a position held since 2010 by Susan Taylor, formerly of the Princeton University Art Museum, oversees the institution's artistic and operational vision. Major capital campaigns have historically supported expansions and the development of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden.

Public programs and education

The museum maintains a robust schedule of public programs, including weekly "Artful Palate" talks, film series in partnership with the New Orleans Film Society, and live music events. Its education department serves a wide audience through school tours, studio art classes for all ages, and community outreach initiatives like the "Van Gogh Visits" program, which brings art experiences to local hospitals. The institution also offers scholarly resources through its Mildred S. and Edgar B. Stern Library, one of the largest art reference libraries in the Gulf South, and produces publications related to its collections and exhibitions.