The Gibbes Museum of Art is an art museum in Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

. Established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858, the museum moved into a new Beaux Arts building at 135 Meeting Street in 1905. Located in the Charleston Historic District

Charleston Historic District

The Charleston Historic District, also known as Charleston Old and Historic District, is a historic district in Charleston, South Carolina. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960....

, the Gibbes houses a premier collection of over 10,000 works of fine art

Fine art

Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....

, principally American works, many with a connection to Charleston or the South.

The benefactor, James Shoolbred Gibbes, donated $100,000 to the Carolina Arts Association upon his death in 1899 for the "erection of a suitable building for the exhibitions of paintings". Not receiving the money until 1903, the Association hired Frank Pierce Milburn

Frank Pierce Milburn

Frank Pierce Milburn was a prolific architect of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While Milburn designed commercial buildings and residences, his practice was primarily focused on public buildings, particularly courthouses and legislative buildings...

 to design the gallery. His design included a Tiffany-style dome, Doric columns and pediment capped windows and doors.

The museum's collections include the work of numerous artists with connections to Charleston; among them are Henrietta Johnston

Henrietta Johnston

Henrietta de Beaulieu Dering Johnston was a pastelist of uncertain origin active in the English colonies in North America from approximately 1708 until her death...

, Mary Roberts

Mary Roberts (painter)

Mary Roberts was an American miniaturist active in Charleston, South Carolina in the 1740s and 1750s. One of the earliest American miniaturists, and the first woman recorded as working in the medium in the American colonies, she is also believed to have painted the first watercolor-on-ivory...

, and Jeremiah Theus

Jeremiah Theus

Jeremiah Theus was a Swiss-born American painter, primarily of portraits...

.