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Huntington Museum of Art presents hosts Mr. Fitz exhibition

Huntington Museum of Art presents presents Huntington Federal Savings Bank Presents. Mr. Fitz: Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Huntington Museum of Art, an exhibition on view through February 3, 2013. The exhibition marks 60 years of bringing art to the Tri-State community. This extended exhibition presents selected highlights from the more than 425 works donated by the late Herbert Fitzpatrick.

It was Herbert Fitzpatrick along with other visionaries who in 1947 began discussing the idea of a cultural center or museum in Huntington. Mr. Fitzpatrick jumpstarted the project with the donation of 52 acres for a site to erect an art gallery to store his collection, as well as provide for an arboretum, bird sanctuary and nature trails. The Huntington Galleries (now known as the Huntington Museum of Art) opened in 1952.

Fitzpatrick was an avid art collector and had a great eye for beauty in many guises. His tastes in art were wide-ranging, from British silver from the Georgian period, Near Eastern prayer rugs, fine European and American paintings, sculpture, drawings and prints, and Asian decorative arts.

For the past two years the Museum’s Archivist/Librarian Chris Hatten has been researching Herbert Fitzpatrick and the early years of the Museum. Photographs, videos and ephemera from the Library archives and new material collected during his research will be on view in a portion of the gallery. A limited edition book about Herbert Fitzpatrick and the founding of the Museum written by Chris Hatten will accompany this exhibit. – www.hmoa.org