Museums in California Southern California The Autry National Center Autry-museum.org 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA, 90027-1462 Phone: (323) 667-2000 The Autry National Center explores the experiences and perceptions of the diverse peoples of the American West, connecting the past with the present to inform our shared future. The Autry Center merged with the Southwest Museum of the American Indian and Women of the West Museums. The collection therefore contains art of the American West, Native American Art, and exhibitions on women’s experiences on the western frontier. The Getty Center The J. Paul Getty Museum 1200 Getty Center Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90049 Phone: (310) 440-7330 The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and European and American photographs. Its famous gardens were designed by the renowned artist Robert Irwin. The Getty Villa 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, California 90049 Phone: (310) 440-7300 for ticket availability. The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa in Malibu is modeled on the ancient Villa of the Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy. It houses the museum’s antiquities collection and is dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and the ancient Etruscans. Its gardens were designed in the ancient Roman style. The main garden replicates that of the original ancient villa. Bowers Museum of Cultural Art Bowers.org 2002 N. Main St, Santa Ana, CA 92706 Phone: (714) 567-3600 Tribal Art including Pacific Islands: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia, Africa: Peoples of the Niger, Nomads of North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, China and Southeast Asia: Tribal People of China and Southeast Asia, Southeast Asian archipelagos and Tribal India, The Americas: Pre-Columbian America and The Native American West . International partnerships developed with the Palace Museum, Beijing, the British Museum, and many others brings major traveling exhibitions to the Bowers Museum. California African American Museum Caam.ca.gov 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, CA 90037 Phone: (213) 744-7432 The collection includes traditional African Art, Modern and Contemporary art from the Harlem Renaissance, academic and naturalistic 19th century landscape paintings, and contemporary art from the African Diaspora. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens The Huntington -- Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2100 The Huntington is a research and educational center set amidst 120 acres of breathtaking gardens. Three art galleries and a library showcase magnificent collections of paintings, sculptures, rare books, manuscripts, and decorative arts. Highlights of Henry Huntington’s rare book collection include the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (c.1410), and a Gutenberg Bible (c.1455). Inside Huntington’s mansion is found the art collection that includes Thomas Gainsborough's masterpiece The Blue Boy (c. 1770), Sir Thomas Lawrence's Pinkie (1794), Edward Hopper's The Long Leg, and Rogier van der Weyden's Madonna and Child (15th century). The Virginia Steele Scott Gallery of American Art contains important works of American artists from the 18th and early 20th centuries, including works by John Singer Sargent, William Harnett, John Singleton Copley and Mary Cassatt. The botanical collection features over 14,000 different species of plants, the spectacular 12-acre desert garden, the serenely beautiful Japanese garden, the camellia gardens, and much more. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036 Phone: (323) 857-6000 (general information) (323) 857-0098 (TDD) Containing more than100,000 works of art, the L.A. County Museum is the largest encyclopedic museum west of Chicago. Its collection includes major artworks from Egypt, the Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome, Islam, European masterpieces from the Renaissance through early modernism, and finally cutting-edge contemporary art. It also houses East Indian and Asian Art, including the most comprehensive Korean art collection outside of Korea, and the Japanese collection housed in the stunning Pavilion for Japanese Art. The Los Angeles Museum of Natural History The Los Angeles Museum of Natural History 900 Exposition Blvd. (between Vermont and Figueroa. Click here for directions.) Los Angeles, CA 90007 Phone: (213) 763-DINO Besides housing exciting exhibits of towering dinosaurs, permanent dioramas of African and American mammals, and gems and minerals, the Natural History museum contains examples of artwork from the native peoples of California and the Southwest. It also houses art and artifacts in spectacular work done by Pre-Columbian peoples including the Olmecs, Maya, and Aztecs. Museum of Contemporary Art, The Geffen Contemporary Museum of Contemporary Art MOCA at California Plaza 250 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles 90012 Phone: (213) 621-1741 Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA, is devoted exclusively to contemporary art. Its collection focuses on work produced since 1940 in all media. In a remarkably short time, MOCA has acquired a permanent collection of over 5,000 artworks and continues to grow. Today the museum is housed in three unique facilities: MOCA Grand Avenue, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, and the MOCA Pacific Design Center. The Geffen Contemporary Museum of Contemporary Art 152 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles 90013 Recorded Information Phone: (21) 62-MOCA-2 Box Office (213) 621-1732 Membership Office (213) 621-1794 The Geffen is a vast multi-level warehouse-type space used form MOCA installations that art too large for the MOCA building on Grand Avenue. Shows here focus on changing exhibitions of contemporary art in many exciting forms—from paintings, prints, sculpture, installations, films and videos to innovative media and performing arts programs. The Norton Simon Museum of Art The Norton Simon Museum of Art 411 W. Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91105-1825 Phone: (626) 449-6840 The Norton Simon Museum of Art is well-known to viewers of the Pasadena Rose Parade as the low-profile brown building in the background. It holds one of the world's finest and most prestigious collections of art acquired by an individual collector. This excellent collection span 2000 years of Western and Asian art. It is rich in European and American masterpieces in painting, sculpture, printmaking, and drawing, boasting works by Rembrandt, Goya, Degas, Renoir Cezanne, Gauguin and Picasso. Rodin sculptures can be found in the museum and surrounding gardens. One entire floor is dedicated to beautiful examples of Southeast Asian and Indian sculptures that are also gracefully displayed in the tranquil gardens whose pond was inspired by Monet’s gardens at Giverny. The Pacific Asia Museum Pacificasiamuseum.org 46 North Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena California 91101 Phone: (626) 449-2742 x10 The Pacific Asia Museum’s permanent collection contains more than 14,000 rare and representative examples of art and artifacts from Asia and the Pacific Islands, spanning a period of five thousand years. Collections include Chinese decorative arts and ceramics, South East Asian Art, Pacific Island Art, Himalayan Buddhist Art, Japanese Decorative art, Arts of Korea, Orientalist Art and notable special collections. The Palm Springs Desert Museum The Palm Springs Desert Museum 101 Museum Drive, Palm Springs, California 92262 Phone: (760) 325-7186 Established in 1938, the Palm Springs Art Museum has become the center of the desert’s art community. What began as a museum about the desert has evolved into an oasis for the arts with Modern and Contemporary American works by artists such as Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Duane Hanson, and Mark di Suvero; Contemporary California painting and sculpture by Sam Francis, Edward Ruscha, Robert Arneson, Nathan Oliveira, and others; Studio Art Glass by Dale Chihuly, Howard Ben Tré, and William Morris; and Classic Western American Art by Thomas Moran, Charles Russell, Frederic Remington, and others. The modern building, designed by renowned California architect E. Stewart Williams, is the focal point of the 125,000-square-foot complex that also houses collections of Native American and Mesoamerican Art. Among the American photographers included in the Photography Collection are the Stephen H. Willard Collection and Archive, and the Bill Anderson Photography Collection. Balboa Park, San Diego Museums: View a list of Museums in Balboa Park 1439 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101 Phone: 619-239-0512 Balboa Park is the nation’s largest urban cultural park. It contains the world-famous San Diego Zoo and 15 major museums. The following art museums are located within Balboa Park: the Mingei, San Diego Museum of Art and Timken Museum. Mingei International Museum Map to Park Location 8 Phone: (619) 239-0003 The Mingei International Museum features exhibits of fork art of the world, including New Guinea, Indonesia and Japan. Its exhibitions of traditional and contemporary folk art, craft, and design from the past and present are shown in modern, state-of-the-art gallery spaces. Contemporary artists in woodworking, ceramics, textiles, glass, enamel, jewelry and metalwork are showcased in special exhibitions. Whether drawn from its extensive holdings or featured as part of a major touring show, the Mingei showcases the finest examples of creative expression from everyday artist craftsmen from a wide diversity of world cultural traditions. San Diego Museum of Art 1439 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101 Map to Park Location 10 Phone: (619) 232-7931 As the region's oldest and largest art museum, the San Diego Museum of Art's renowned holdings include a fine selection of European old masters, 19th and 20th century American art, an encyclopedic Asian collection, and growing collections of contemporary and Latin American art. In addition, the museum presents major art exhibitions from around the world, as well as an extensive schedule of supporting cultural and educational programs.