What Goes Twitter ? / Who Goes Twitter ? / The Timken Museum of Art now on Twitter.com

Written by rubin Monday, 15 June 2009 22:12

SAN DIEGO, CA  –The Timken Museum of Art, the permanent home of the highly acclaimed Putnam Foundation’s world-class collection of European and American art and Russian icons is now on the social networking site Twitter.com. It is listed as TimkenArtMuseum . Considered one of the finest small museums in the world, the Timken Museum of Art provides visitors an accessible and enriching cultural experience featuring a beautiful collection, intimate surroundings and perennially free admission.   “Twitter allows us to be in regular contact with our supporters.  Beyond simply getting information out, it means we can bring the public the sort of information that is lost in the more traditional newsletter or press release format.  We are now in direct touch,” said John Wilson, executive director of the museum.

Masterworks in the collection cover 700 years of history and range from 14^th century altarpieces through 18^th century portraits and landscapes to 19^th century still lifes.  The works of Italian, Dutch, Flemish, French and American painters are represented.  The collection also includes the only Rembrandt painting on public display in the area.  

The historical roots of the Timken date back to the early 1900s when Anne and Amy Putnam arrived in San Diego.  The two sisters had a deeply felt love of fine art and spent decades acquiring European old master paintings.  In 1951, the Putnam sisters established the nonprofit Putnam Foundation, under which their artworks became designated as the Putnam Foundation Collection.  In 1965 the paintings, which had been loaned to fine arts institutions throughout the world, were reunited and hung in their permanent quarters at the Timken Museum of Art.

The Timken is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and Sundays 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.  It is closed on Mondays and major holidays.  For more information visit www.timkenmuseum.org , TimkenArtMuseum on www.Twitter.com or call (619) 239-5548.