Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art currently under construction in Bentonville, Arkansas, U.S..
An opening date has not been set. It is expected to employ approximately 75 people, and will be within walking distance of downtown Bentonville.
The ARTKABINETT social network of independent collectors is always looking for some place new to view exciting art. Yesterday and today we are spending time in the heart of the Ozark mountains.
Although the museum has not set a target completion date yet, it has already amassed $488 million in assets as of August 2008, an amount that will increase as more expensive pieces are continually added to the museum's collection. $317 million of the project's cost has been donated by Northwest Arkansas philanthropist, Alice Walton.
Walton is all focused on creating this national art museum devoted to American artists from the majestic period to the current. In 2005, Walton outshined by over bidding a couple of East Coast museums paying a wealthy amount for the 1849 Asher B. Durand work “Kindred Spirits.” (shown, lower left). Previously, the work resided in the New York Public Library.
While there is a lot raising eyebrows at this art work but then we others appreciating the project both for the inspiring personality of Walton’s anthology and for her choice of installing the masterpiece in here against the pleasing locations of prominent art museums.
Alice Walton, the daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, spearheads the Walton Family Foundation's involvement in developing Crystal Bridges.
The museum's glass-and-wood design by architect Moshe Safdie features a series of pavilions nestled around two creek-fed ponds.
The complex will include 100,000 square feet of galleries, several meeting and classroom spaces, a library, a sculpture garden, and a 250-seat auditorium.
Additionally, there will be outdoor areas for concerts and public events, as well as extensive nature trails.
Designed to house the world's best collection of American art, the Bentonville, Arkansas museum has been delayed in construction due to high costs of materials.
Containing Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton's American art collection, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art sits on 100 acres of the Ozarks forest and once finally open, hopes to see 250,000 visitors per year.
Crystal Bridges has been in the news for numerous arrangements and partnerships with other art galleries to share collections in the past few years.
In 2007, Fisk University agreed to share Georgia O'Keeffe's Stieglitz collection, donated to the university by O'Keefe, with Crystal Bridges for $30 million. That agreement is currently tied up in a legal battle with the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in New Mexico.
Crystal Bridges has also apparently been in discussions with the High Museum in Atlanta to share collections for an undisclosed amount.
Other headlines were generated after delays in construction and considerably higher costs for the paintings, collections, and museum itself than originally proposed to the city of Bentonville, Arkansas have led to concerns about the favorable tax exemptions granted to the museum from the city in 2005 to secure its construction. Total tax losses to the state of Arkansas and the city of Bentonville are estimated at $17 million based on the financial disclosures given by the museum in the 2008 court case with Fisk.
The total amount of tax loss has been estimated to be considerably higher by the time the museum opens, but may never be disclosed due to the museum's tight-lipped policies regarding financial status and choice not to disclose the amount spent since 2008 to secure major art pieces, collections and sculpture.
The museum's permanent collection will feature American art from the Colonial era to contemporary work. Notable works include a Charles Willson Peale portrait of George Washington as well as paintings by George Bellows, Jasper Cropsey, Asher Durand, Thomas Eakins, Marsden Hartley, Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Charles Bird King, John LaFarge, Stuart Davis, Romare Bearden, Norman Rockwell, Mary McCleary and Walton Ford.
Many of Crystal Bridges' paintings are currently on extended loan to other U.S. institutions. Two works, Richard Caton Woodville's War News from Mexico and Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait's The Life of a Hunter: A Tight Fix are included in American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915, a traveling exhibition organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Sculpture will also figure in the collection, on view in interior galleries and along outdoor sculpture trails. Sculptors represented in the permanent collection include Paul Manship, Mark di Suvero, Ted Jones and James Turrell.
Don Bacigalupi was appointed director of the museum in August 2009. Previously, Robert G. Workman had served as director. In 2005, art historian John Wilmerding was hired for acquisition and advice on museum programming. http://crystalbridges.org/
