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| New Orleans Museum of Art |
Interior View
In 1911, the Isaac Delgado Museum of Art (currently known as the New Orleans Museum of Art) opened in City Park.
Photograph of Isaac Delgado.
Isaac Delgado was born in 1839 in Kingston, Jamaica and arrived in New Orleans when he was 14 years old to live with his aunt
and uncle in the Garden District.
He worked for his uncle's sugar business and became a charter member of the Louisiana Sugar Exchange.
Louisiana Sugar Exchange
Delgado was a member of the exclusive the Boston Club, the Chess Checkers and Whist Club, and the Opera House Association.
The Boston Club
Chess Checkers and Whist Club
New Orleans Opera House
Delgado died in 1912. He willed his plantation, Albania, and nearly $1 million for a trade school for young men. Delgado also
contributed to Charity Hospital, the Eye, Ear and Nose Hospital and to the New Orleans Convalescent Home.
Delgado Tomb in Metairie Cemetery
Tombstone of Isaac Delgado and family
Original Charity Hospital in New Orleans
Art Deco style "new" Charity Hospital
Delgado also donated funds to establish a manual trades school for boys in 1909. It opened in 1921 and is now called Delgado
Community College.
Delgado Trades School, 1920's
Close up of Entrance
One more view
Isaac Delgado also offered the city $150,000 to build a "temple of art for rich and poor alike".
When the neo-classical, Beaux Arts-style museum opened in December 1911, Delgado was too ill to attend. He died weeks
later, and left his art collection which had been gathered by his late aunt.
Interior View, 1930's
The original building encompasses 25,000-square-feet but new wings have been added through the years.
The Museum houses a $200 million collection in 46 galleries: European painting and sculpture from the 16th through 20th
centuries; American painting and sculpture from the 18th and 19th centuries; European and American prints and drawings; Asian,
African, Oceanic, Pre-Columbian, and Native American art; photography; and European and American decorative arts. Special
collections include the Peter Carl Fabergé treasures and the Latin American Colonial collection.
Another 1930's view
The Museum ranks among the top 25% of the nation's largest and most significant museums.
The world class Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden contains 50 modern and contemporary pieces on five acres of
land adjacent to the museum.
Source: http://www.neworleansmuseums.com/artmuseums/noma.html
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| New Orleans Museum of Art |
The original museum (in the Beaux-Arts style) was designed by New Orleans architect Julius Koch.
Link to Julius Koch photograph.
More about:
Beaux-Arts architecture
Examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in New Orleans:
Ritz Carlton on Canal Street.
Kress Building on Canal St.
International House Hotel (New Orleans)
Federal Court House (New Orleans)
NEXT -- WPA in New Orleans
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