Cover Story: High timeline

1905

High Museum begins as the Atlanta Art Association.

1926

Mrs. Joseph M. High donates home on Peachtree and 15th streets as an art museum and school. Becomes High Museum of Art in 1928.

1926

Roland J. McKinney is High’s first director. Collection comprises 30 paintings; membership dues are $5; admission is 35 cents; annual attendance is 16,000.

1962

The Atlanta Art Association takes chartered plane to France, which tragically crashes during takeoff at Orly Field in Paris. All 106 members of the association die.

1963

Gudmund Vigtel becomes director. Formerly of Corcoran Museum of Art, Vigtel brings strong interest in contemporary art to museum.

1965

Construction begins on the Memorial Arts Building, a tribute to the crash victims.

1968

The Memorial Arts Building opens, housing the museum, the symphony, theater and art school. France makes gift of Rodin statue, “The Shade,” in memory of crash victims.

1970

Major gifts include Frances and Emory Cocke Collection of English porcelain and Fred and Rita Richman Collection of African art.

1975

The New Image exhibition features work by Mel Bochner, Robert Smithson and Dorothea Rockburne.

1976

With help of a federal grant, sculptor Isamu Noguchi is commissioned by the museum to design his first permanent children’s playground, “Playscapes,” at Piedmont Park.

1979

The Avant-Garde: 12 in Atlanta exhibition features Atlanta artists, including Martin Emanuel and Katherine Mitchell.

1980

Richard Meier is selected as architect for new museum.

1980

Emory professor Clark Poling curates Contemporary Art in Southern California exhibition, featuring work by Ed Ruscha and John Baldessari.

1981

High’s prominent Virginia Carroll Crawford Collection of decorative arts established.

1982

Out of the South exhibition features work by Southern-born, contemporary artists including Lynda Benglis, Jasper Johns and Cy Twombly.

1983

The High’s Richard Meier-designed building opens.

1991

Ned Rifkin becomes director and ushers in new era of financial security for museum. Museum endowment is $18 million.

1993

Frances Bunzi endows the museum’s first chair for curator of European art.

1996

Olympics-era Rings: Five Passions in World Art exhibition becomes benchmark for blockbuster exhibitions.

1997

T. Marshall Hahn Collection of folk art established.

1998

Picasso: Masterworks from the Museum of Modern Art is second best-attended show in museum’s history.

1998

Lenore and Burton Gold Collection of modern and contemporary art is established.

1999

Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People garners national press. It’s the third best-attended show in museum’s history.

1999

Largest Impressionist exhibition in the Southeast, Impressionism: Paintings Collected by European Museums, is the best-attended show in High’s history.

2000

Former Deputy Director Michael Shapiro becomes director.

2000

Renzo Piano selected to expand Woodruff Arts Center, including the High.

Nov. 12, 2005

High expansion opens to the public with Andrew Wyeth: Memory & Magic exhibition. Endowment stands at about $85 million.