Hibel Museum of Art

The Hibel Museum of Art was a single-artist museum dedicated to the work of American painter Edna Hibel, located on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter, Florida. Established in 1977 and dissolved in 2018 after a protracted legal dispute, the museum housed paintings, lithographs, and other artworks by Hibel, along with her personal art library. For much of its existence, it served as a center for exhibitions, educational programs, and public events in Palm Beach County.

The museum opened in 1977 in Palm Beach, Florida, through the efforts of collectors Ethelbelle and Clayton B. Craig, who had begun acquiring works by Edna Hibel in 1961 after meeting her at her gallery in Rockport, Massachusetts. The Craigs founded the museum to preserve a significant cross section of Hibel's work for students, scholars, and admirers. The collection expanded through donations, including Asian snuff bottles from the Caldwell Family and additional works by Hibel as well as other art, dolls, and sculptures. The museum relocated temporarily to Lake Worth, Florida in 1999, then moved to its permanent building on the Florida Atlantic University campus in 2002. The institution closed in 2015 at the outset of a dispute between the Edna Hibel Art Foundation and Florida Atlantic University, and was formally dissolved in 2018.

The museum's holdings centered on Edna Hibel's paintings and lithographs, anchored by the Ethelbelle and Clayton B. Craig collection of 180 paintings, stone lithographs, and the Craigs' own collection of antiques, paperweights, Asian artifacts, and furniture. Over time, the collection diversified to include Asian snuff bottles, additional works by Hibel, other artworks, dolls, and sculptures. The museum also maintained Edna Hibel's personal art library. Following the dissolution, the collection was dispersed to other institutions, with ten works transferred to the Wright Museum of Art at Beloit College.

The signature holding of the museum was the Ethelbelle and Clayton B. Craig collection, comprising 180 paintings by Edna Hibel together with her stone lithographs. This core collection was supplemented by the Craigs' decorative arts and antiquities. The Asian snuff bottle collection donated by the Caldwell Family represented a significant secondary holding. After the museum's closure, at least ten works from the collection were transferred to the Wright Museum of Art at Beloit College as part of the broader dispersal of assets.

The museum's final building on the Florida Atlantic University campus was designed by Kha Le-Huu and Partners. Construction began in 2001, funded by $900,000 from Edna Hibel combined with state matching funds. The written agreement between Hibel and the university described this sum as a donation and stipulated a forty-year lease at $1 per year, a contractual arrangement that later became central to the legal dispute leading to the museum's dissolution.

The Hibel Museum of Art is no longer open to the public. The institution initially closed in 2015 and was dissolved in 2018 following litigation between the Edna Hibel Art Foundation and Florida Atlantic University. The dispute arose from conflicting understandings of the 2002 agreement: Hibel and her foundation believed they had invested in a permanent home, while the university treated the $900,000 as a donation with a lease attached. Uncertainty deepened after Hibel's death in 2014, and in July 2015 a museum employee surrendered their key to the university without consulting the foundation. The university interpreted this as abandonment, cited additional alleged violations, and terminated the lease. In 2018, Judge August A. Bonavita ruled that Florida Atlantic University could retain some artworks and contents to offset approximately $42,000 in legal fees. The former museum website, hibel.org, is no longer active.