S4. Five Major American Art Museums

This course meets 5 times.

We’ll explore the history and highlights of five major American art museums from across the country. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the MFA, Boston, both founded in 1870, to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, founded in 1997, we will discover what makes these museums American treasures.  The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is also one of the oldest and largest art museums in the country. We’ll also examine Andrew Mellon’s contribution in creating the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, modeled after the London National Gallery, which Mellon admired while America’s ambassador to England.