Morris Museum of Art

The Morris Museum of Art is an art museum in Augusta, Georgia, dedicated to the collection and exhibition of art and artists of the American South. Established in 1985 as a non-profit foundation by William S. Morris III, publisher of The Augusta Chronicle, it holds the distinction of being the first museum in the United States devoted exclusively to Southern art. The museum opened to the public on September 26, 1992, and has since grown to hold more than 5,000 works in its permanent collection. Located adjacent to Riverwalk Augusta and the Savannah River, it serves as a major cultural institution for the region, offering changing exhibitions, educational programs, musical events, and hands-on art programs.

William S. Morris III, chairman of the Augusta-based Morris Communications Corporation, founded the museum in memory of his parents. The institution was incorporated as a non-profit foundation in 1985. Its curricular direction crystallized in 1989 when Morris purchased 230 pictures from Southern art collector Robert P. Coggins of Marietta, Georgia. This collection, which had toured southeastern United States museums from 1984 to 1987 under the title "Art and Artists of the South," formed the nucleus of the museum's holdings. Following Coggins's death, the museum acquired additional works from his estate. Louise Keith Claussen was appointed museum director in 1990, and under her leadership the museum opened as "The Morris" on September 26, 1992, drawing over 10,000 visitors in its first two months. In 2007, the museum received the Governor's Award in the Humanities from the state of Georgia.

The Morris Museum of Art's collection encompasses approximately 2,500 to over 5,000 works, primarily paintings and works on paper by artists born in the American South or whose work demonstrates recognizable regional influences. The collection spans from early natural history watercolors through nineteenth-century landscapes to modern and contemporary works. Notable areas of strength include the symbolist paintings of ElliottEFA Elliott Daingerfield, early modernist works by Will Henry Stevens, and representations of the Charleston Renaissance by Alfred Hutty. The collection also emphasizes self-taught and folk art traditions, with significant holdings by artists such as George Andrews, known as "Dot Man," and Nellie Mae Rowe. The geographic scope extends across the southern United States, with particular attention to Georgia and the broader Southeast.

The museum's collection includes significant works across multiple periods and styles. Early holdings include watercolors by the British entomologist and ornithologist John Abbot, as well as nineteenth-century landscapes by Henry Ossawa Tanner and Joseph Rusling Meeker. Among modern acquisitions, a large-scale work by Robert Rauschenberg, commissioned specifically for the collection, depicts motifs from Augusta. The museum also holds works by Jasper Johns, who was born in Augusta. Other notable artists represented include Benny Andrews, Nell Choate Jones, Lamar Dodd, Augusta Oelschig, Alexander John Drysdale, Hattie Saussy, Art Rosenbaum, Don Cooper, William Posey Silva, and members of the Murphy family from Savannah. The depth of the Daingerfield, Stevens, and Hutty holdings constitutes a particular scholarly resource for researchers of American regional art movements.

The Morris Museum of Art is situated in the Augusta Riverfront Center on the banks of the Savannah River. Its location adjacent to Riverwalk Augusta places it within the city's downtown riverfront district, connecting it to pedestrian pathways along the river and to the broader cultural and recreational infrastructure of Augusta. This riverside setting provides public access and visibility within the urban core of Georgia's second-largest city.

The museum operates as a non-profit institution with public access, located in Augusta, Georgia. Its programming includes changing exhibitions drawn from its permanent collection, educational initiatives, musical performances, and hands-on art activities. The museum maintains an official website at www.themorris.org for current information on exhibitions, hours, and events. As the only museum in the United States exclusively dedicated to Southern art, it occupies a distinctive position within the national museum landscape and serves both scholarly researchers and the general public interested in the artistic heritage of the American South.