The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art is an art museum at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. It is in the UF Cultural Plaza area in the southwest part of campus. The Harn is a 112,800-square-foot-facility, making it one of the largest universityart museums in the South. This includes 40,400 square feet of exhibition space, 5 garden spaces, a 250-seat auditorium, museum store, study center, café and classroom spaces. The museum has a permanent collection and an array of temporary exhibitions. The Harn's permanent collection totals more than 11,300 objects, which are focused on Asian, African, modern and contemporary art, as well as photography. The museum sponsors international and Florida-centric exhibitions. The university sponsors educational programs at the museum including films, lectures, interactive activities, and school and family offerings. In October 2005 the Harn expanded by more than with the opening of the Mary Ann Harn Cofrin Pavilion, which includes new educational and meeting areas and the Camellia Court Cafe, the first eatery for visitors of the Cultural Plaza. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. UF offers a virtual tour for prospective visitors.
History
The Harn Museum of Art is named in honor of Samuel Peebles Harn, whose widow, three daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren made the founding gift to UF for the museum’s construction. The family pledged more than $3 million for the construction of an arts museum in 1983. The Harn Museum of Art opened September 20, 1990. In 2000, the family of David A. Cofrin made a gift to fund an 18,000-square-foot addition. The addition, named the Mary Ann Harn Cofrin Pavilion, opened in October 2005. The Cofrin Pavilion features 6,500 feet of exhibition space for international contemporary art, the Camellia Court Café, an outdoor plaza and the Goforth Learning Center, which is used for meetings, programs and educational activities.On February 6, 2008, Dr. and Mrs. David A. Cofrin made a commitment of $10 million to the University of Florida to fund the addition of a new wing dedicated to Asian art. Opened in 2012 on the northwest side of the museum, the 26,000-square-foot addition features an Asian art gallery, curatorial offices, and art storage and conservation space for the Asian collections. The expansion included an outdoor Asian garden to complement the new wing.
Management
The founding director of the Harn Museum of Art was Budd Harris Bishop, who was previously at the Columbus Museum of Art. He joined in 1987 and selected the architect, hired staff and significantly built up the collection during his tenure. Bishop served as director through 1998. Rebecca Nagy served as museum director for 16 years until her retirement in 2018. In July 2018, Lee Ann Chesterfield began serving at the Harn Museum's director.
Architecture
The original architecture for the Harn Museum was designed by Kha Le-Huu, a native of South Vietnam and a 1982 architecture alumni of the University of Florida. Le-Huu reportedly designed the building to include buddhist sensibilities in the entrance garden along with featuring his contemporary aesthetic for geometric elements including use of the tetrahedron. Kha Le-Huu & Partners of Orlando, Florida also designed the additional wing for Asian art, completed in 2011. The Harn Museum features several outdoor gardens including an Asian Water Garden and an Asian Rock Garden designed by Hoichi Kurisu of Kurisu International. The Arts in Medicine program at the University of Florida works together with patients to generate new patterns for the zen rock garden as a form of therapy at the Harn Museum. Two additional gardens, by landscape designer Aaron Lee Wiener, are viewable from the galleries.
Collections
Selected artists
Among others, the following artists are represented in the museum:
