During a quiet Wednesday night visit, while touring the Phoenix Art Museum, the current exhibits I saw are among the best ones presented that I’ve seen during the past eight years. It was especially pleasing to finally see a collection I’d been looking forward to for quite awhile. The collection displayed here is by Richard Avedon (1923-2004) one of the best known portrait photographers of the 20th century. He worked for many of the best fashion publications of the era, such as Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. Avedon created many memorable fashion layouts with celebrities like Brooke Shields for Calvin Klein jeans during the 1980s, as one of the most famous examples.
The Phoenix Art Museum is vast, ideal for exhibitions of this type encompassing 285,000 square feet. This venue is the largest of its kind in the Southwest and offers a wide array of exhibits, specializing in contemporary art. However, the museum also offers thousands of works from the ancient to modern, representing cultures from around the world. The museum opened in 1959, conveniently located on the Central Corridor in close proximity to several other museums and galleries that I’ve profiled before, such as the Heard Museum, Phoenix Police Museum, The Olney Gallery at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and several others that are conveniently located on the light rail system.
The first Phoenix Art Center was created during the Great Depression in 1936 by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) which operated the Federal Arts Project which funded visual arts projects throughout the United States during the period of 1935-1943. By the early 1950s, the architect Alden B. Dow who was known for designing civic and arts centers was chosen by the Phoenix Board Of Trustees to design a complex that would house a museum, library, and theatre. (This building housed the main branch of the Phoenix Library from 1952 until 1995). The growth of Phoenix was tremendous during this era, so within a few years of the 1959 opening the museum was ready for an expansion.
The first expansion in 1965 enlarged the Phoenix Art Museum from 25,000 to 72,000 square feet. Additional expansions during 1996 and 2006 provided numerous improvements and amenities such as new exhibition galleries, a research library, cafe and sculpture garden. The expanded museum gift shop is one of the things I always look forward to when paying a visit here as I always finds something to delight me. Over the years the Phoenix Art Museum has hosted over 400 amazing exhibits such as one by Dale Chihuly who is known for stunning works of intricate glass sculptures. This was the most memorable exhibit for me, and I’d love to see that return to the museum again!
However, during this current visit I rediscovered an artist that I’d completely forgotten about! So, I made sure to get photos of his works to share for this post. Gustave Baumann (1881-1971) was a leading creator of woodcut, printmaking, and also known for the use of brilliant, vibrant colors in his paintings, often featuring scenes of the Southwest. Many of his best works were completed during the 1920s and 30s, specializing in gorgeous garden and landscape scenes. Baumann’s paintings are among the many delights to be found at the Phoenix Art Museum – and I always look forward to return visits to refresh my memories!
For more information about visiting the Phoenix Art Museum, check out the following site: The http://phxart.org
