A Silver Menagrie: The Betty Grisham Collection of Buccellati Animals

Adrian E. Thompson, "Portrait of Little Margaret Florence Dubose at Rural Refiracy Plantation near Plantersville, Alabama," 1853.

American art, with a major emphasis on Southern art, is the core focus of the Huntsville Museum of Art’s (HMA) collection. Over 60% of the 2,300 objects in the Museum’s permanent collection reinforce aspects of American art: 1) graphic art c. 1900-1960, 2) paintings, sculpture and works on paper by contemporary artists, and 3) works by Southern artists. African, Asian, and European art, from cultures influential on American, regional and local art, is HMA’s secondary collecting focus.

To develop maximum value with limited resources, the Museum has acquired over 400 works on paper by American artists. Included are artists such as Whistler, Marsh, Bellows, Sloan, Rauschenberg, Stella, and Warhol. This graphic art focus has allowed HMA to provide its community first-hand access to original works of art by leading 20th century American artists. Grants and gifts have aided this growth: NEA purchase grants have helped acquire works by living artists, and gifts and bequests have strengthened historic collections.

Regional artists are well represented in HMA’s collection. The Museum has acquired works by American artists with Alabama ties including Richmond Burton, William Christenberry, Gerald Hayes, Nall Hollis, David Parrish and Stephen Rolfe Powell.

HMA’s strong commitment to building a regionally significant collection is also affirmed by the rapid growth of its Southern photography collection, which now includes over 200 prints, and by regular acquisitions from HMA’s regional biennial Red Clay Survey exhibitions and from Encounters exhibitions featuring work by contemporary artists with strong regional ties.

The Museum has also made efforts to acquire works with special meaning for Huntsville’s large scientific community, such as Warhol’s “Moonwalk” portfolio, and a group of watercolors of Huntsville and Marshall Space Flight Center painted by Renato Moncini when he worked as a NASA illustrator for the Apollo Program. Works by artists with regional ties comprise approximately 25% of the collection.

An eclectic holding of more than 600 works in various media, received as “founding” gifts prior to establishment of HMA’s current collection priorities, form the remainder of the collection. These works, which include European and Japanese prints, Japanese oban nishiki-e and netsuke, Chinese snuff bottles, and carved African objects, are valuable community resources that affirm the artistic heritage of its specialized audiences, broadening general cultural awareness, teaching basic art principles, and providing context for American achievements in the arts.