Columbia SC Museum of Art part 1

The current museum building opened in 1998 taking over the site where Macy's and Belk department stores once stood; the museum was founded in 1908 but expanded quickly with the donation of 78 pieces in 1954 by the Kress Foundation

Chandelier, Antonio Salviati, c. 1880; a lawyer by profession, the artist became fanatical about reviving the glory days of 18th century Venetian glassmaking; one of my favorite pieces in the museum!

Untitled, Dale Chihuly, 2010; this massive chandelier hangs in the atrium welcoming visitors to the museum; admission was $8 with the museum located in the center of downtown Columbia

General George Washington, Charles Willson Peale, 1780; the artist served in the Revolutionary War as a captain but would achieve fame for his many portraits of the man who would become the United States' first President

Bureau, Thomas Day, 1855; a free Black man during the times of slavery, Day operated one of the most successful cabinet shops in NC prior to the Civil War

Storyteller, Chinese, Eastern Han Dynasty, 25 AD; the goal of this humorous figure was to represent a storyteller that would entertain the deceased in the afterlife by telling fanciful tales

Bonjour Teapot from No. 5948 Pattern, Clarice Cliff, 1934; the artist's daring ceramic forms and brightly hand-painted designs brought everyday dishware careening into the Jazz Age

Cuneiform Clay Tablet, Mesopotamian Period from Assyria, c. 12th to 7th centuries BC; cuneiform is the earliest known form of writing and was first developed as a way to record business transactions

By the Windowsill, Luigi Lucioni, 1932; so realistic is Lucioni's painting that it's easy to assume there is a dog in the window rather than a vase designed to look like a dog

Liberation of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, Renee Cox, 1998; in this prophetic work, Cox paints her alter ego as a superhero who fights racial stereotypes and teaches children about Black history

Sky Window, Gene Davis, 1981; working as a journalist in the late 1940s, he covered the Roosevelt and Truman presidential administrations, and was often President Truman's partner for poker games

Book of Hours, Anonymous (from Brugges), c. 1450; a book of hours is a prayer book containing excerpts from the Bible meant to be read at certain hours of the day; before the development of movable type, each book was handwritten and hand-illustrated

The Undiscovered Country, Mary Evelyn Pickering de Morgan, 1894; the artist was a big proponent of women's suffrage as well as a pacifist; during the first half of her marriage she even supported (well ahead of her time) her husband's pottery business

Unidentified Portrait, Christopher Murphy Jr, 1937; one of Savannah's most accomplished and beloved artists, Murphy found it inspirational to paint children of all classes and backgrounds

Soup Tureen and Stand, Chinese (for the French market), 1795; note how the urn's stem outlines the spectral images of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI!; despite the arrival of Limoges and Sevres, Chinese porcelain remained popular

Still Life with Fruit, Severin Roesen, 1850; trained as a china and enamel painter in his native Germany, Roesen emigrated to the US in 1848 where he was able to support himself through his painting, a rarity at the time

Card Table, George Seddon, c. 1790; probably used in a ladies drawing room or parlor, this satinwood table could have been used for games of Whist or for gambling which was popular among all social classes

Ewer with Dragon Handle, the Venice and Murano Glass Co., 1890; once the pandemic has abated and it's safe to travel abroad, I'd love to visit Murano (and Burano) again if anyone wants to go

Square Dance, Kyra Markham, 1945; during WW2, Markham devoted her art to anti-Nazi propaganda; here she uses the square dance to symbolize the triumph of American values over tyranny

The Bronco Rider, Frederic Remington, 1895; this was the artist's first attempt at sculpting after a successful career painting and illustrating; the Rough Riders gave Teddy Roosevelt a casting of this sculpture as a tribute in 1898

Armoire, Louis Majorelle, c. 1900; the natural aspects of this Art Nouveau armoire are plentiful, including tulips, birds and trees in varied wood veneers as well as a surveying cat