The Georgia Museum of Art is both an academic museum and the official art museum of the state of Georgia, holding more than 8,000 objects. The permanent collection consists of American paintings, primarily 19th- and 20th-century; American, European and Asian works on paper; the Samuel H. Kress Collection of Italian Renaissance paintings; and growing collections of southern decorative arts and Asian art.
The core of 100 paintings donated by the museum’s founder, Alfred Heber Holbrook, includes works by Frank Weston Benson, William Merritt Chase, Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Georgia O’Keeffe, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Jacob Lawrence and Theodore Robinson. Subsequently, the Museum has developed a fine collection of works on paper, including Old Master prints, Parisian prints of the 1890s, and American prints and drawings of the early 20th century.
The museum’s sculpture holdings include work by Jane Manus and Beverly Pepper’s “Ascension,” as well as a collection of small bronzes, both animalier and human figures, by artists such as Henri Matisse, Auguste Rodin, and Rosa Bonheur. The Willson Sculpture Garden is devoted to the display of works by women sculptors.