Columbia Museum of Art gets blockbuster impressionist show

The Columbia Museum of Art will bring in its most expensive exhibition ever next year, one featuring big names including Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Vincent van Gogh.

The museum announced today that it will be the opening U.S. venue for "Turner to Cezanne: Masterpieces from the Davis Collection, National Museum Wales."

"It think we’re unique in having this kind of a show in South Carolina," said Karen Brosius, museum director.

The 50 paintings and some drawings, done between 1850 and 1920, are being shown for the first time in the United States. The exhibition will run March 6 - June 7, 2009.

The museum already has raised about $485,000 toward the $500,000 cost of the show. Much of that expense will go toward the rental fee, shipping and insurance.

Among the other artists whose works will be in the show are J.M.W. Turner, Pierre Bonnard, Maurice de Vlaminck, Edouard Manet, Jean- Francois Millet and Camille Corot.

The big names alone wouldn’t make the show important, said museum chief curator Todd Herman.

"These are excellent examples of major works by major artists," he said.

The artworks were collected between 1908 and 1923 by sisters Gwendoline and Margaret Davies, who were among the first British collectors to buy impressionist paintings. It was the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art in Great Britain.

In the 1950s and ‘60s the sisters donated 250 works to the National Museum Wales, which is a group of seven museums.

For the first time, the art museum will raise admission prices for a special show. While "Turner to Cezanne" is up, the entrance fee will be $15. The usual fee is $5 for adults. The museum’s $35 basic annual membership allows free admission all year.

Read more about the show in Friday’s editions of The State.