Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art
The Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art is a privately-owned art museum located at 8316 Mountbatten Road Northeast in Tuscaloosa. It houses the collection of Jack Westervelt Warner, CEO of the Gulf States Paper Corporation (now the Westervelt Company). The museum, opened in 2003, is owned by the Westervelt Company, but operated by the Warner Foundation.
The museum's collection of over 400 pieces includes masterworks by notable American artists such as Thomas Cole, Duncan Phyfe, Paul Revere, Andrew Wyeth, John Singer Sargeant, Winslow Homer, James McNeill Whistler and Mary Cassatt. Decorative artworks include silver objects made by Paul Revere and furniture made by Duncan Phyfe, Charles Honore Lannuier and Joseph Barry. The collection ranges from the late 18th to the early 20th century and includes portraits from life of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette.
The museum is housed in well-appointed furnished galleries in a fieldstone-clad building overlooking Lake Tuscaloosa. Susan Austin is the museum's director.
In 2011 Westervelt's board began selling off some of the more valuable works from the collection to benefit shareholders. They were removed and shipped to Christie's auction house in New York without informing the Warner family or museum staff. The foundation suspended school tours and training programs pending a new agreement with the Westervelt Company about operations.
References
- Armstrong, Tom (2001) An American Odyssey: The Warner Collection of Fine and Decorative Arts. New York: Monacelli Press/Sotheby's
- Callahan, Nancy (April 2, 2010) "Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art" Encyclopedia of Alabama - accessed April 20, 2011
- Cobb, Mark Hughes (April 6, 2011) "29 paintings removed from Westervelt-Warner museum." Tuscaloosa News
- "School tours suspended at Westervelt-Warner Museum" (April 20, 2011) Birmingham Business Journal