CASE STUDY OF THE

GIBBES MUSEUM OF
ART

BY
GUNNA RAVI(196033)
ADDRESS:135 Meeting St, Charleston, SC 29401, USA

The Gibbes Museum of Art, formerly known as the Gibbes Art Gallery, is an art
museum in Charleston, South Carolina. Established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858, the
museum moved into a new Beaux Arts building at 135 Meeting Street, in the Charleston Historic
District, in 1905. The Gibbes houses a premier collection of over 10,000 works of fine art, principally
American works, many with a connection to Charleston or the South.
The Gibbes Memorial Art Gallery (now the Gibbes Museum of Art) opens with great
fanfare on April 11th. Named for its benefactor, James Shoolbred Gibbes, Sr., and
designed in the Beaux Arts-style by architect Frank P. Milburn, the building becomes
home to the Carolina Art Association.

The museum formally opened on April 11, 1905. The collection on display on the
opening day included more than 300 pictures, many bronzes, and about 200 miniatures
in addition to an "instructive collection" of Japanese prints.

After closing in the early 21st century for an extensive two-year, the museum reopened
to the public on May 28, 2016. In renovating the museum, the development teams used
the original blueprints, discovered in the City of Charleston archives in 2008, to return
the building to its 1905 Beaux Arts style layout. The first floor has classrooms, artist
studios, lecture and event spaces, a café, and a museum store. The rear reception area
opens to the garden, part of Charleston’s historic Gateway Walk founded by the Garden
Club of Charleston.
CROSS SECTION