Benjamin West, a native of Springfield, Pa., was a founding member of the Royal Academy in England and taught important American artists, including Samuel F.B. Morse and Washington Allston. The portrait by West (below) is now the earliest American painting in the museum’s collection.
John Linton Chapman was born in Washington, D.C., but was a longtime resident of Italy. He painted the Via Appia, the section of the Roman road that led to southern Italy, several times. This version (below) shows the view along the road looking back toward Rome. The painting was part of the museum’s award-winning 2004 exhibition “Classic Ground: Mid-Nineteenth-Century American Painting and the Italian Encounter” and is also on the cover of the exhibition catalogue.
“Both paintings, important additions to the museum’s already strong collection of American art, will be on display in the new permanent collection galleries when GMOA reopens on January 29,” says Paul Manoguerra, GMOA’s curator of American art. “We are grateful to the West Foundation for giving these two excellent paintings in celebration of the new galleries and the work of our director.”
Most of us can relate to having a long, boring layover at an airport—or arriving at the airport hours early to go through security and then sitting around at the gate waiting until boarding call. The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has a great way to keep travelers entertained.
SFO has a museum program accredited by the American Association of Museums (AAM). The San Francisco Airport commission joined forces with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francicso in 1980 to start this program. A year later, San Francisco Airport Museums was established as a department at SFO.
In the beginning, exhibitions were present in one terminal but now have about 20 galleries spread throughout the airport. Exhibitions range from art to science and change several times a month. The SFO’s museum became the first of its kind to be accredited by AAM in 1999.
GMOA’s curator of American Art, Paul Manoguerra, is currently planning an exhibition for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as part of its Airport Art Program next April. This exhibition, All Creatures Great and Small: Self-Taught Artists from the Georgia Museum of Art and the Mullis Collection, will present works from GMOA’s permanent collection and an Atlanta private collection. These works, including paintings, sculptures and mixed media creations depict animals created by self-taught American artists.
