In accordance with Governor Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 117, and to help limit the spread of COVID-19 in North Carolina, the NCMA is closed beginning March 17 until further notice. The Museum Park remains open; Park visitors are encouraged to practice social distancing. All Museum events, programs, and tours have been canceled or postponed during this time. See a full list of affected programs and events at ncartmuseum.org/covid19. Ticket holders can email help@ncartmuseum.org with questions.
Property of the People: The Foundations of the NCMA, 1924–1945
East Building
This exhibition examines the first 20 years of development of the Museum, when a group of public-spirited North Carolinians formed and shaped an organization whose purpose was to secure a state art museum in the capital city; to collect, preserve, and exhibit works of art, both old and new; and to stimulate interest in art, particularly among the rising generation.
They styled themselves the North Carolina Art Society, and throughout the late ʼ20s, ʼ30s, and early ʼ40s, through Depression, recovery, and the Second World War, these men and women pursued and ultimately achieved this mission—and under the leadership of one woman, Katherine Pendleton Arrington, “a formidable young widow from Warrenton.” This exhibition tells their story.
A collection of late-antique glass and paintings from the Phifer collection on display in the temporary State Art Museum, Agriculture Building, Raleigh, 1938.
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