Honolulu Museum of Art

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The main entrance to the Museum, in August 2014
  • Established: 1927

The Honolulu Museum of Art is the premier art museum in the State of Hawai‘i. Located along Beretania Street, across from Thomas Square in downtown Honolulu, it boasts sizable collections of both historical and contemporary art, from East Asia, the Pacific, Europe, the Americas, and beyond, including many notable works.

The Museum was first established as the Honolulu Academy of Arts in 1927 by Anne Rice Cooke, who established it in her home, a building designed by Bertram Goodhue. In the 1950s to 1970s, the Academy expanded considerably, adding a library, gift shop, café, education wing, theater, additional administrative office space, and a contemporary art gallery. The Linekona Art School was established by the Academy in 1989 on a site across the street. Further expansion was undertaken in 2001, and in 2011 the Academy acquired The Contemporary Museum, a previously separate institution based in Honolulu's Makiki Heights; the Academy of Arts was renamed the Honolulu Museum of Art at that time.

In the 2000s, the Museum acquired much of the collection of the late ukiyo-e expert Richard Lane (d. 2002), adding many significant treasures to the Museum's Japanese collections. In 2015, the Museum hired Healoha Johnston to become the first Curator of Hawaiian Art in the museum's history, and likely the first in the US, and in the world.[1]

References

  • Gallery labels at Honolulu Museum of Art.[1]
  1. "Museum welcomes first curator devoted to arts of Hawai‘i collection," Honolulu Museum of Art official blog, 20 June 2015.