With the long-awaited grand reopening of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA) approaching next spring, AMFA made a simultaneous announcement in both Little Rock and New York City, revealing the exhibitions and site-specific commissions that will be on display when the museum opens on April 22, 2023. Former President Bill Clinton was present with AMFA leadership in Manhattan.
“My predecessor as governor, Winthrop Rockefeller, was right to call the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts ‘more than a museum.’ I’m thrilled that with this transformation, visitors from around the corner and around the globe will enjoy a world-class facility in the heart of Little Rock,” said Clinton. “This project is such a great model of public/private cooperation – for small cities and big cities alike – and I’m grateful to everyone who came together to make it possible.”
The oldest and largest cultural institution of its kind in Arkansas, the 11-acre campus has been reimagined with a new 133,000-square-foot building that will house a permanent and international collection of 14,000 artworks, the oldest of which date back to the 1300s.
The opening exhibitions include some of the museum’s most significant works, such as drawings by Signac, Marin and O’Keeffe, and rare paintings by Rivera and Elaine de Kooning. One exhibition, titled Drawn to Paper, will showcase AMFA’s extensive collection of 20th century American and European artworks on paper, while the banner inaugural exhibition, Together, will feature new acquisitions and loans from artists such as Elias Sime, Ryan RedCorn, LaToya Hobbs and Oliver Lee Jackson that explore our connectedness to each other and to the natural world.
“With our permanent collection installation and exhibitions, our visitors will experience works that uniquely tell the story of AMFA, an institution that has brought the world of art to Arkansas for generations,” said Dr. Victoria Ramirez, AMFA’s Executive Director. “We’re very excited to partner with the dynamic artists we chose for our inaugural year’s commissions and special exhibitions – all of whom collectively represent diverse artistic voices and practices.”
Thanks to the renovation, the museum itself is a piece of art designed by Studio Gang, a world-renowned architecture and urban design practice led by MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang. The new design revitalizes its existing structures and unites them with a “blossoming” central addition that establishes a bold new architectural identity for the museum, with the organic curves and pleated roof of the central addition establishing a light-filled, connective space that intuitively guides visitors into the museum’s reimagined spaces. The 1937 art deco facade at the building’s north entrance has been restored, while a new entrance to the south opens directly into an 11-acre landscape that extends the museum experience into MacArthur Park.
“Since its inception, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts has held community and arts education at its heart. But its facilities were holding the museum back from reaching its full potential,” said Jeanne Gang, Founding Partner of Studio Gang. “Our design strengthens the museum’s role as a cultural anchor for Little Rock by uniting once-disparate structures into a cohesive whole and opening the building to the surrounding city and landscape. By optimizing its functional spaces and expanding its galleries, classrooms and social spaces, the building transforms the visitor experience into one that is intuitive, inspiring and continuous with its setting in MacArthur Park.”
The project was made possible by a highly successful fundraising effort. With an original goal of $128 million, Reimagining the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts has raised over $150 million to date and is on track to hit $155 million. The leading donors include the Windgate Foundation, Harriet and Warren Stephens, the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust, Terri and Chuck Erwin, and the State of Arkansas.
Harriet Stephens, Building Committee Chair and Capital Campaign Co-Chair, said: “From its beginnings, this institution has always been born of, and sustained by, the passion of a dedicated community. This project was a perfect opportunity to give Little Rock and Arkansas the world-class, 21st-century, sustainable arts destination it deserved for now and for the future.”
To learn more about the new AMFA building, exhibitions and commission, visit the museum’s website.
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