Stroll through the different galleries to see American and European art ranging from the Renaissance to current day. Learn about the museum’s origins in the Currier History Gallery and enjoy the Currier’s extensive collections of paintings, sculpture, furniture, glass, and ceramics throughout the museum.
The Currier Museum of Art is committed to providing stimulating, diverse, and enjoyable encounters with original works of art and, in doing so, hopes to inspire the hearts, minds and imagination of its members and visitors. The museum provides the public with opportunities to learn about the past, appreciate and evaluate the present, and contemplate the future.
Moody Currier (1806-1898) created an extraordinary legacy. His will provided for the establishment of an art museum in
Manchester, New Hampshire, “for the benefit and advancement of humanity.” After his own death and that of his third wife, Hannah,
in 1915, a board of trustees was appointed to carry out the Curriers’ wishes.
Although Moody Currier was a generous patron of art and literature, he was not an art collector. His bequest to the museum,
however, included a generous endowment for purchasing art. This purchase fund is the chief reason for the high quality of the
Currier’s collection. Because of it, the museum has been able to buy choice pieces as they appeared on the market, and these, in
turn, have attracted generous donations from private collectors.
The building did not rise without controversy. After rejecting two Boston architecture firms, the trustees chose the New York firm of
Tilton and Githens, who had recently completed the Manchester Public Library. Their design, an elegant and welcoming Italian
palazzo faced with Kentucky limestone, was greeted with enthusiasm, and ground was broken in 1927. The museum was built on
the former site of the Curriers’ large Victorian home. The Currier Gallery of Art opened to the public in October 1929.
Since 1929, the Currier’s collections have grown to include European and American art from the Renaissance to the present,
including painting, sculpture, furniture, silver, glass, and textiles. New pavilions, designed by the New York firm Hardy Holzman
Pfeiffer, were completed in 1982 to accommodate the museum’s growing collections, programs and staff. The Currier Art Center,
home to art activities for all ages, was relocated to the adjacent former Women’s Aid Home in 1998.
As the museum has grown over the years, its mission has remained true to the Curriers’ vision. Exhibitions and programs are
designed, as Moody Currier specified, “to elevate the quality of life in New Hampshire.” The Currier Museum of Art continues this
commitment to art and education, offering a wide range of programs for audiences of all ages.
Access: General Public
Appointment required: False
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