Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery

The Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery is the art collection of the Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. It was established in 1951 and focuses on sacred art, mainly European Old Master paintings, but also smaller collections of sculpture, furniture, architectural elements, textile, and ancient artifacts. As of 2017, it is closed for renovation and expected to reopen in 2019.[1]

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 western religious art to build a collection for the University. The first 25 paintings of the collection were displayed from Thanksgiving 1951 on in two rooms next to the Bowen Collection of Antiquities. This small gallery already 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 7 Benjamin West paintings were acquired in 1963, and in 1965 the gallery again moved, this time to the former dining hall of the university. In 1996, the Gallery became an independent corporation and changed its name to the Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery.[2]

In 2008, the Museum opened a second, smaller location in downtown Greenville at Heritage Green, but due to a lack of visitors they closed this again 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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