Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery

The Museum & Gallery, Inc. is currently located on the campus of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. It was established in 1951, and focuses on sacred art, mainly European Old Master paintings, but also includes smaller collections of sculpture, furniture, architectural elements, textiles, Greek and Russian icons, and ancient artifacts. As of 2017, the museum is closed for a planned move to downtown Greenville, SC.[1]

Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery
Established1951
LocationSouth Carolina, U.S.
TypeArt
FounderBob Jones Jr.
Bob Jones Sr.
Francesco di Vannuccio, Crucifix, ca. 1370

History

Bob Jones Jr., son and successor of Bob Jones Sr. who founded the university, started collecting art in 1948. An acquisition fund was created to buy religious art from the western world to build a collection to serve both the University and South Carolina. The collection opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1951 with 25 paintings on display in two galleries next to the Bowen Collection of Antiquities. Even at this small beginning, the collection included works by Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, and Jusepe de Ribera. The collection grew rapidly, and in 1956 it moved to the new Fine Arts building. By 1962 it contained more than 200 works of art. The seven Benjamin West paintings from the Progress of Revealed Religion series (commissioned by King George III) were acquired in 1963, and in 1965 the collection again moved, this time to the former dining hall of the university. In 1996, M&G became an independent corporation and ultimately changed its name in 2019 to Museum & Gallery, Inc.[2]

In 2008, the Museum opened a second, smaller location in downtown Greenville at Heritage Green; however due to a lack of visitors and the need to review the collection's expansion and future, M&G chose to close the satellite location in 2017.[3]

Selected Old Master paintings

Italy

Northern Europe

Spain

France

Great Britain

United States

Notes
  1. "Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University". Bob Jones University. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  2. "M&G's Beginnings". Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  3. Hyde, Paul (27 January 2017). "BJU closes museums: one for renovation, one permanently". Greenville Online. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

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