As part of the Woodruff Center, the High Museum of Art houses magnificent standing collections of folk art, photography, decorative art and furnishings, art from Africa and Europe as well as contemporary art and nineteenth century American landscapes.

Follow this arrow to glimpse some pieces from the standing collections:

In addition to the standing collections, the High presents major exhibitions each year. The 2003 - 2004 season features an amazing depth and range of media, styles and eras:

ANSEL ADAMS AND HIS LEGACY:
FEATURING CLASSIC IMAGES FROM THE ANSEL ADAMS ARCHIVE
August 30–October 26, 2003

A MATTER OF TIME:
EDWARD HOPPER FROM THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
August 30 - October 26, 2003

VERROCCHIO'S DAVID RESTORED:
A RENAISSANCE BRONZE FROM THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE BARGELLO, FLORENCE
November 22, 2003 - February 8, 2004

AFTER WHISTLER:
THE ARTIST AND HIS INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN PAINTING
November 22, 2003 - February 8, 2004

PHOTOGRAPHY PAST/FORWARD:
APERTURE AT 50
August 23 - November 29, 2003

Doc's News appreciates the use of the images on this page, many of which are property of the High Museum.

ANSEL ADAMS AND HIS LEGACY:
FEATURING CLASSIC IMAGES FROM THE
ANSEL ADAMS ARCHIVE
August 30–October 26, 2003

Ansel Adams and His Legacy offers a new, multi-faceted look at perhaps the most renowned photographer in the history of the medium. The first part of the exhibition, Classic Images from the Ansel Adams Archive, is a unique selection of 70 of his most famous photographs. This selection was organized by the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, where Adams established his personal archive of prints, negatives and manuscripts. The second part of the exhibition will offer a fascinating opportunity to compare Adams’ work to that of his predecessors in the 19th century, his contemporaries, and later generations of landscape photographers who either continued in Adams’ tradition or rebelled against it. Other featured artists include Timothy O’Sullivan, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston, Harry Callahan, Lee Friedlander, Richard Misrach, Thomas Struth, and Mark Klett.

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A MATTER OF TIME:
EDWARD HOPPER FROM THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
August 30 - October 26

A Matter of Time: Edward Hopper from the Whitney Museum of American Art features ten paintings and six watercolors drawn from the Whitney’s landmark collection and span the artist’s career. Centered around Early Sunday Morning, an icon in American art and one of the most famous Hopper paintings owned by the Whitney, the exhibition explores the concept of time, a critical theme in his art. Also included from the High’s permanent collection is Foreshore—Two Lights (1927), a watercolor Hopper considered to be among his best.
This exhibition is jointly organized by the High Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of Art, New York.

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VERROCCHIO'S DAVID RESTORED: A RENAISSANCE BRONZE FROM THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE BARGELLO, FLORENCE
November 22, 2003 - February 8, 2004

In November 2003, one of the most important and influential masterpieces of the Renaissance will leave Italy for the first time for an exclusive presentation at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Andrea del Verrocchio's bronze masterpiece, David, is currently undergoing restoration through a collaboration between the National Museum of the Bargello in Florence, Italy and the High Museum, and will travel to Atlanta this fall for an exhibition that will present discoveries made during the first in-depth technical examination and cleaning of the work since its creation in the mid-15th century.

Most notably, it has been confirmed that the slain head of Goliath was originally positioned beside the figure next to David's left foot, but was removed and crammed between David's feet 527 years ago. The head was repositioned approximately ten years after Verrocchio completed the sculpture so that the piece would fit on a small pedestal next to a doorway inside the Palazzo Vecchio, the historic seat of city government in Florence. The restoration has also revealed brilliant gold-leaf gilding transforming David's blonde locks; evidence that the sword is not original; and vivid new anatomical details of the renowned masterwork. 

The High's exhibition in Atlanta will be the sole opportunity for visitors and scholars to see Verrocchio's David according to the artist's original composition. Upon returning to Italy, the sculpture will be returned to its 1476 configuration. The guest curator of the exhibition is Gary Radke, scholar and Professor of Fine Arts at Syracuse University.

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AFTER WHISTLER: THE ARTIST AND HIS INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN PAINTING
November 22, 2003 - February 8, 2004

Whistler's Mother may be the single most famous painting by an American artist, yet James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) occupies an uncertain place in American art. He left the United States for Europe at the age of twenty-one, never to return, and his style developed independently of American art currents.

After Whistler, organized in observance of the centenary of the artist’s death, reveals that Whistler’s significance as an American derives less from his parentage or his birthplace than from the impact he exercised on the art of this country. As one of the most celebrated and controversial artists of his time, Whistler, through his distinctive artistic persona and modernist aesthetic, informed the work of a generation of American painters.

Curated by Linda Merrill, a leading authority on the artist, After Whistler is the first major exhibition to detail his importance to American art around the turn of the 20th century. Some Americans studied his works in major exhibitions held in this country and abroad; some sought out the artist himself in his London or Paris studios. Others were affected at one remove, through such influential intermediaries as William Merritt Chase and Arthur Mathews or through the profusion of illustrated publications about Whistler.

By juxtaposing a dozen of Whistler’s most important oil paintings with an array of works by other artists, the exhibition demonstrates how Whistler's American contemporaries were affected by his principles, techniques, color schemes, compositions, subjects, and abstract titles.This exhibition is organized by the High Museum of Art.

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PHOTOGRAPHY PAST/FORWARD:
APERTURE AT 50
August 23 - November 29, 2003

Photography Past/Forward: Aperture at 50 features approximately 150 powerful images, including a wide range of subject matter and evolving techniques. This broad range of work from documentary to photojournalism, and experiments in multi-media technology, promises to be a survey of creative photography in the last half century. Additionally, the exhibit is a celebration of Aperture’s contribution to promote photography, as both a journal and book publisher.

The exhibition follows an unprecedented public art project entitled Aperture at 50: A Celebration of Photography, which was on view at 50 venues throughout New York City in 2002. Artists include: Minor White, Sebastião Salgado, Mary Ellen Mark, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Stephen Shore, Sally Mann, Letizia Battaglia, Dorothea Lange, Barbara Morgan, William Eggleston, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ray K. Metzker, Duane Michals, Eugene Richards, Cindy Sherman, and more.

Aperture, a not-for-profit organization devoted to photography and the visual arts, has organized this traveling exhibition and produced the accompanying publication.
For more information on Aperture, visit their website at www.aperture.org.

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GLIMPSES OF THE STANDING COLLECTIONS:

	Clockwise, starting left: African Art, American Art, Decorative Arts, European Art, Modern and Contemporary Art, Photography and Folk Art.
Visit the Museum's webpage to learn more about the standing collections: http://www.high.org (To top of this page)

THE HIGH MUSEUM HOSTS FILM SERIES -

IRANIAN FILM TODAY
September 5 - 20, 2003

Iranian filmmakers continue to produce some of international cinema’s most brilliantly observed, inventive, and humanistic works. The sixth edition of Iranian Film Today showcases this outpouring of talent and offers insights into Iranian culture and society rarely available through mainstream media. Iranian film specialist Reza Sohrabi assisted in organizing this exhibit.

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In addition to the visual arts, the High Museum is home to programs especially for children and families, and a variety of other cultural and social activities. A regularly scheduled event is:

FRIDAY JAZZ
An evening of Art & Music
Third Friday of the Month, 5 -10 p.m.
Please note: As the first step in the High's expansion plans, the 2nd and 3rd floor galleries are closed for improvements and will re-open this fall. Friday Jazz will not be held in July or August. The next Friday Jazz will be September 19:

Jacques Lesure Group
Voted "Best of Atlanta" by Creative Loafing.
Friday Jazz Activities and Events:
* Live Jazz in the Robinson Atrium, 5 to 10 p.m.
* Family art-making workshops, 6-8 p.m. 
* Dinner, desserts, and drinks for purchase prepared by Carole Parks Catering

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THE WOODRUFF ARTS CENTER and
THE HIGH MUSEUM - EXPANSION IN PROGRESS!

Rising like a phoenix from the flames, Atlanta's Woodruff Arts Center sprang from the devastation of a 1962 plane crash near Orly Airport, Paris, which took the lives of many of the great southern city's most prominent denizens of the arts. The arts center was endowed as a memorial to these generous citizens, and was eventually named for one of its major benefactors, Robert W. Woodruff, long-time head of the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company. The Woodruff Arts Center as it now exists is dedicated to excellence in both the performing and visual arts. As home of the Alliance Theatre Company, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, 14th Street Playhouse and the HIGH MUSEUM OF ART, the Arts Center offers its patrons a unique, multi-faceted experience of many distinctive arts institutions on a single campus.

Now, as a result of the unprecedented growth the High has experienced during the past decade in terms of exhibitions, community programming, and collection building, the Museum is embarking on a 3-building expansion program designed by Renzo Piano.

As a first step in the High's restoration and expansion process, the midtown location is closed during the months of July and August to allow for preparation work that will enable the linking of the new buildings to the existing facility, for restoration of the original, acclaimed Richard Meier-designed building, and for the first phase of reinstalling the permanent collections.

The midtown location will reopen on August 30, with two new exhibitions on the Museum’s fourth floor: ANSEL ADAMS AND HIS LEGACY and A MATTER OF TIME: EDWARD HOPPER from the Whitney Museum of American Art. For more information about the reopening of the permanent collection galleries in the Meier building, check the High Museum's website at http://www.high.org

The High's Folk Art and Photography Galleries, located downtown in Georgia-Pacific Center, will remain open all summer.

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Looking for a great dining experience in Atlanta? Click on the arrow to read about Doc's favorite Atlanta restaurants

Stroll with Doc Lawrence through interesting galleries and museums in other cities:

Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta

The Frist Center in Nashville

St. Petersburg's Salvadore Dali Museum

A variety of galleries in New Orleans

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