The Museum of Primitive Art, is a now defunct museum devoted to the arts of the indigenous cultures of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas as well as the early civilizations of Europe and Asia. It was founded in 1954 by Nelson Rockefeller

Nelson Rockefeller

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...

, who donated his own collection of Tribal art

Tribal art

Tribal art is an umbrella term used to describe visual arts and material culture of indigenous peoples. Also known as Ethnographic art, or, controversially, Primitive Art, tribal arts have historically been collected by Western anthropologists, private collectors, and museums, particularly...

. The museum opened to the public in 1957 in a townhouse on West 54th Street in New York City. Robert Goldwater

Robert Goldwater

Robert Goldwater was an art historian, African arts scholar and the first director of the Museum of Primitive Art, New York, from 1957 to 1973. He was married to the late French-born American artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeois.Born in New York City, Goldwater received his BA in 1929 from...

 (1907-1973) was the museum’s first director. The museum closed in 1976, and its collections were transferred to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

.