
History
-
1858 Founding of the Carolina Art Association
View of Charleston (View from the West), 1846,by Henry Joseph Jackson (American, 1823 – 1848); oil on canvas; 31 ¾ x 41 ¾ inches (framed); Gift of Victor A. Morawetz; 1938.020.0003A group of Charleston citizens, including prominent businessmen and political leaders, organize the Carolina Art Association to promote fine arts in South Carolina through exhibitions and to create a permanent collection. The Association stages its first exhibition in April at the Apprentices Library Society on Horlbeck Alley, displaying 176 works borrowed from private collections around the city. The Association is awarded its official state charter on December 21.
-
1888 James S. Gibbes Bequest
James Shoolbred Gibbes, Last Will and Testament; Gibbes Art Gallery Trustees records (1899–1905), Gibbes archivesJames Shoolbred Gibbes, Sr., a loyal patron of the arts, writes a contingency in his will leaving in trust to the Mayor of Charleston and three private individuals $100,000 “for the erection or purchase of a suitable building to be used as a Hall or Halls for the exhibition of paintings and for necessary rooms for students in the fine arts…”.
-
1905 Temple to the Arts
Gibbes Memorial Art Gallery, Charleston, SC, 1905; Photograph by Detroit Photograph Company; Courtesy of the Collection of the Library of Congress; LC-D4-18299The Gibbes Memorial Art Gallery (now the Gibbes Museum of Art) opens with great fanfare on April 11th. Named for its benefactor, James Shoolbred Gibbes, Sr., and designed in the Beaux Arts-style by architect Frank P. Milburn, the building becomes home to the Carolina Art Association.
-
1920 Focus on Art Making
Charleston Sketch Club, 1933; Image records, Gibbes archivesIn an effort spearheaded by the Charleston Sketch Club—an auxiliary group of the Gibbes formed in 1912—a studio art school is established at the Gibbes with artist Alfred Hutty as the first director.
-
1932 First Director
Robert Whitelaw, Gibbes Main gallery, ca. late 1940s; Gibbes archivesThe first professional director, Robert N. S. Whitelaw, is hired. Whitelaw develops the museum’s earliest collecting policy focusing on American art of the South, and spearheads an ambitious exhibition program.
-
1936 Guggenheim Collection Debuts
Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection of on Non-Objective Paintings, Gibbes main gallery, 1936; Exhibition records, Gibbes archivesThe Gibbes makes international history hosting the first-ever public showing of Solomon R. Guggenheim’s collection of modern art. The exhibition is monumental, featuring 128 original works by artists such as Rudolf Bauer, Vasily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger, and Pablo Picasso.
-
1943 V is for Victory
The Ordinance Depot Show, 1943; Exhibition records, Gibbes archivesDuring World War II, museums, like businesses, factories, and other organizations, alter their normal routines to bolster wartime morale on the home front. Home to the Charleston Naval Shipyard and several military bases, Charleston is a hub of wartime activities. The Gibbes Museum hosts promotional and educational exhibitions relating to the war.
-
1950 Promoting Arts Education
Gibbes Jr. Gallery, 1950s; Women’s Council records, Gibbes archivesGibbes Art Gallery Auxiliary volunteer core (today’s Women’s Council) forms to promote arts education and boost operational support for the Gibbes through fundraising initiatives.
-
1969 Gibbes School of Art
Manning Bethea Williams, Jr. teaching at the Gibbes School of Art, ca. 1970s; Gibbes archivesThe Gibbes School of Art opens at 76 Queen Street.
-
1972 National Recognition
Gibbes garden, ca. 1979; Gibbes archivesThe Gibbes is among the first museums in the Southeast to receive accreditation from the American Association of Museums (now American Alliance of Museums)
-
1978 Expansion
Birdseye view of construction of 1978 addition; Gibbes archivesA $1,200,000 renovation, including the addition of a new wraparound wing designed by Simons, Mitchell, Small and Donahue Architects, is completed. The addition increases gallery space, storage, and provides staff office space.
-
1980 Artistic Bedfellows
Louise Nevelson and Mrs. N’s Palace, 1983; Photograph by William Struhs; Courtesy of William StruhsThe Gibbes becomes the chief venue for visual arts for Spoleto USA and over the next decade presents pivotal exhibitions of contemporary American artists including Louise Nevelson, Sol LeWitt, and Roy Lichtenstein.
-
1999 Landmark Scholarship
In Pursuit of Refinement exhibition, 1999; Photograph by William Struhs, Courtesy of William StruhsThe landmark exhibition In Pursuit of Refinement: Charlestonians Abroad, 1740-1860 debuts, featuring 145 works of fine and decorative arts. The exhibition is complemented by groundbreaking scholarship on more than a century of cultural exchange between Europe and South Carolina. Organized by the Gibbes and presented in cooperation with the Historic Charleston Foundation, the exhibit receives international recognition.
-
2008 Recognizing Contemporary Artists
Sonya Clark, 2014 winner of 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern ArtThe Gibbes establishes a prize for contemporary southern art awarding $10,000 to an artist whose work contributes to a new understanding of art in the South. The 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art is awarded annually by Society 1858, a member auxiliary group of the Gibbes comprised of dynamic young professionals who support the museum with social and educational programs.
-
2011 A Campaign for Excellence
Renovation rendering by David Hartley, 2012The Gibbes embarks upon a five-year, $13.5M capital campaign for a renovation and expansion to restore the Beaux Arts-style building to its original grandeur and function, expand gallery spaces, reopen artists’ studios and classrooms, and fully update the Museum’s climate control and security systems, and art storage facilities.
-
2016 21st Century Gibbes
The Gibbes reopens to the public after an eighteen month renovation project.