“C” is for Columbia Museum of Art

“C” is for Columbia Museum of Art. The Columbia Museum of Art was established in 1950 as an art, history, and science museum and included the Gibbs planetarium. In 1990 the mission statement was changed to focus entirely on American and European fine, design, and decorative arts from the medieval period to the present period.  In 1998 the museum moved into to a new facility on Main Street. The museum’s collection contains more than 7,000 paintings, works on paper, and examples of the decorative arts. Gifts from the Kress Foundation in 1954 and 1963 enhanced the collection with work by such artists as Botticelli, Boucher, Canaletto, and Tintoretto. Resources within the museum including include an art library and auditorium. The largest art organization in South Carolina, the Columbia Museum of Art is accredited by the American Association of Museums.