Henry E Huntington Library & Art Gallery

See schedule o

See schedule o

Art museum division the art museum features british, european, american, and asian art spanning more than 500 years and includes more than 45,000 objects. Extraordinary examples of decorative and folk art, paintings, prints and drawings, photography, and sculpture are displayed in the huntington art gallery (the original home of henry e. And arabella huntington) and in the virginia steele scott galleries of american art. Both buildings also showcase smaller, temporary exhibitions that focus on masterworks in the collection or place the huntington's historic works in conversation with contemporary artistic practice.british and european artdisplayed in an early 20th-century beaux-arts residence, once the winter home of henry e. And arabella huntington, the british and european art collection encompasses a broad range of styles, cultures, and media, from antiquity to the present day. It features one of the most significant holdings of british art outside the united kingdom, including its famous collection of 18th-century grand manner portraits, including thomas gainsborough's the blue boy, joshua reynolds' sarah siddons as the tragic muse, and thomas lawrence's pinkie, images of opulence that continue to inspire contemporary artists such as kehinde wiley. Important examples of 19th-century british landscape paintings by artists such as john constable and j. M. W. Turner echo the lush gardens outside the gallery walls, while one of the largest holdings of material in the world related to the arts and crafts design firm william morris and co. Makes clear connections with the work of american designers charles and henry greene, on view in the virginia steele scott galleries of american artjust a short walk across the grounds.visitors can also discover a broad range of european art, from rogier van der weyden's tender virgin and child (ca. 1460) to tour-de-force bronze sculpture by flemish and italian masters, such as giambologna's nessus and deianira (ca. 1575), and the glittering luxury of 18th-century french paintings, sculpture, and decorative art. Selections from the huntington's holdings of old master prints and british drawings, including one of the greatest collections of work by visionary british artist william blake, are also frequently on view. Temporary installations by artists working today highlight the relevance of historic art to contemporary creativity.american artthe huntington is home to 31 galleries of american art, ranging from the early colonial period to the present and representing painting, sculpture, photography, film, decorative arts, architecture, and textiles. In the galleries, visitors will encounter american folk and self-taught art; paintings about the urban and rural american experience; artworks and methods rooted in indigenous knowledge, informing our presence on the ancestral lands of the tongva and kizh nations; and works that reflect american nation-building and expansion. Consider a powerful marble sculpture of an ancient queen of palmyra by queer 19th-century sculptor harriet goodhue hosmer, a hyperdetailed view of an andean peak by hudson river school painter frederic edwin church, and a monumental carved redwood screen by california african american modernist sargent claude johnson. The architecture and furniture designs of pasadena architects charles and henry greene are highlighted, as are works by frank lloyd wright, the herter brothers, and tiffany & co. American paintings by john singleton copley, thomas cole, edward hopper, miki hayakawa, mabel alvarez, agnes pelton, charles white, and andy warhol grace the galleries, and even more works on paper, textiles, and photographs are part of the holdings. Every artwork in the collection reveals the idiosyncratic vision of an artist grappling with some facet of the broad american experience. The galleries are also activated by contemporary american artists from los angeles and beyond who dialogue with the historical collections and the acres of cultivated gardens and landscapes right outside the doors.the huntington's collection of american art began with henry and arabella huntington's purchases of american paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts to complement their growing library holdings related to american history. In 1979, a gift of 50 paintings from the virginia steele scott foundation dramatically grew the collection, resulting in a separate building that opened in 1984. The lois and robert f. Erburu gallery, designed by frederick fisher and partners architects, added significant space to the building in 2009. In 2016, eight new galleries, also designed by fisher and partners, provided an expansion to house the jonathan and karin fielding collection of american folk art. The susan and stephen chandler wing provides space for temporary exhibitions, and the dorothy collins brown wing features works by charles and henry greene, architects of the arts and crafts movement.asian artthe asian art collections at the huntington are heterogenous, ranging from small collections of chinese export wares to rare chinese books and paintings and japanese ceramics. Like many gilded age collections, the huntington's acquired objects are prized for their exotic appeal, beauty, and artistry, exemplified by our rare yuan dynasty (12711368) vase set in french ormolu-style mounts in the 18th century.more recently, the huntington has built on such early collections with the acquisition of works related to the east asian garden arts, including objects and paintings that connect the allied arts of literature, painting, music, theater, tea culture, and stone appreciation. Highlights include a rare early edition of the ten bamboo studio manual of calligraphy and painting, a multi-block, color-printed painting manual published between 1633 and 1703.the new studio for lodging the mind, located at the north end of the chinese garden, is a 1,720-square-foot, light- and climate-controlled gallery space suitable for the display of works of art, including paper and silk. The gallery's name evokes reflections on art collecting by the northern song scholar su shi (10371101), who famously argued that one should temporarily "lodge one's mind" in treasured objects but should never become so attached to them that one becomes controlled by them. The gallery opened in 2020 with the inaugural exhibition "a garden of words: the calligraphy of liu fang yuan", which highlighted the work of 21 ink artists who were commissioned to create the original works of calligraphyartful brush writings in ink on paperthat served as the models for the many literary inscriptions in the garden.exhibitions during the year:* betye saar: drifting toward twilight* mineo mizuno: homage to nature* sargent claude johnson* borderlands* mineo mizuno: in the huntington art gallery* albrecht drer: wanderlust* paintings in print: studying art in china* art for the people: wpa-era paintings from the dijkstra collection* in our time: prints by r.b. Kitaj* gee's bend: shared legacy