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The Mint Museum displays Masterpieces from New Orleans Museum of Art

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Written by rubin   
Sunday, 15 March 2009 07:55

Claude Monet,French, 1840–1926 - Houses on the Old Bridge at Vernon, circa 1883 - Oil on canvas. Promised and Partial Gift of Mrs. John N. Weinstock in memory of Mr. and Mrs. B. Bernard Kreisler.

CHARLOTTE, NC - When the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, staff at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) took refuge in their museum to protect its artwork from looters and water damage. The fruits of their efforts are reflected in the pristine collections of European and American art which will be on view at the Mint Museum of Art March 14 through June 21, 2009 as the special exhibition Masterworks from the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Mary Cassatt, American, 1845–1927 Mother & Child in the Conservatory, 1906 - oil on canvas - Museum Purchase, with funds contributed by Mr. and Mrs. Harold ForgotstonParticularly rich in French and American art, the permanent collection of NOMA includes paintings and sculptures by some of the world’s greatest artists. Although the museum’s collection of 40,000 artworks was largely unharmed by the hurricane, the building and adjacent sculpture garden sustained more than $6 million in damage. The fees that NOMA generates from this traveling exhibition will benefit its Katrina Recovery Fund.

Masterworks from the New Orleans Museum of Art celebrates the European and American portions of NOMA’s distinguished and diverse holdings. Nearly 90 of the museum’s most prized works from the late 17th through the mid-20th centuries will be on display for this rare opportunity, including paintings and sculptures by Paul Ce?zanne, Joan Miro?, Claude Monet, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Auguste Rodin, John Singer Sargent and Giambattista Tiepolo. Of particular note are paintings, drawings, pastels and sculptures by Edgar Degas, who frequently visited New Orleans to see family, and a 10-foot-tall portrait of Marie Antoinette by Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun, one of the most acclaimed woman artists of the 18th century.

The Mint Museum of Art initially served the region as the first branch of the United States Mint, coining $5 million in gold from 1836 to the outbreak of the Civil War. A grassroots community effort during the Depression saved the original Federal-style building designed by William Strickland from demolition and moved it to its present Randolph Road site. The museum formally opened to the public on October 22, 1936 as North Carolina's first art museum.  For a complete schedule of programs surrounding this exhibition, visit www.mintmuseum.org .

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