Boca Raton Museum of Art

Design for New 44,000 Square Foot Museum in Mizner Park Opening 2001

Boca Raton, FL

561-392-2500

http://www.bocamuseum.org/

Founded in 1950 as the Art Guild of Boca Raton, art classes and exhibitions were first held in space provided by the Town Hall and the historic Mimer-designed Boca Raton Hotel and Club.

In 1962, the Art Guild acquired 2.5 acres of high-visibility property located on a main traffic route between Interstate-95 and downtown Boca Raton, and constructed the building that the Museum occupies today (2000). In 1969, two studio classrooms were added. In 1973, the Art Guild became a not-for-profit corporation, and 17 years later, changed its name to the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Inc., filing Articles of Amendment to its Articles of Incorporation.

In 1978, the Museum hired its first full-time Director and began a serious program of collections acquisition and changing exhibitions. By the late 1980s, the Board of Trustees began to address the need for museum expansion to accommodate the growth of the Museum's collections, programs and attendance. In 1990, a 1,340 square-foot gallery was added to house the newly-acquired Dr. & Mrs. John J. Mayers Collection of Modern Art, as well as a third art classroom, and expanded museum shop and administrative offices to meet the museum's immediate needs. With an eye to the future, in 1993, the Museum purchased a 175,000 square-foot building (the former IBM assembly plant) for investment and possible future expansion.

The Boca Raton Museum of Art has evolved into one of the leading cultural institutions in South Florida. The Museum has achieved recognition through its critically acclaimed exhibitions, its highly respected art school, educational and community outreach programs. The Museum's permanent collection numbers more than 3,000 works and includes significant examples of contemporary American and European painting, drawing, graphics and sculpture; 19th and 20th century photography; African, Pre-Columbian and Oceanic art. The Dr. and Mrs. John J. Mayers Collection comprises more than fifty superb works by modem masters including Braque, de Chirico, Degas, Demuth, Glackens, Klee, Leger, Matisse, Modigliani, Picasso, and Seurat.

Annually, the Museum presents academically-superior changing exhibitions ranging from international artists and art movements, to historical overviews of art movements such as the "Painting With Light: 19th Century American Landscape Painting" (1996), "Wolf Kahn: A Dialogue Between Traditional and Abstract Art" 1970-1995 (1996), "Matta: Re-Generation" (1997), "Surrealism and American Art 1932-1949" (1997-98), "Sandro Chia: New Work, Celebrating Canaletto: 18th Century Etchings," and "Six Centuries of Venetian Glass" (1998). Additionally, each year the Museum organizes up to eight exhibitions that highlight Florida artists, as well as showcase recent donations to the Museum's collections.

The Boca Raton Museum of Art is located at 501 Plaza Real, Mizner Park, Boca Raton, FL 33432. For hours and admission fees please see the Museum's website.

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