Academics and Art
After retiring from an active law practice in New York at the age of 70, Alfred Heber Holbrook began a personal quest to learn about art. A trip to Athens, Georgia, in the 1940s led to his introduction to Lamar Dodd, head of the University of Georgia's art department. The two became close friends, sharing a joint vision of enriching the visual arts environment in the state.
Draped in a pink artist's smock and with pipe in hard, the retired attorney attended art classes at the university. The Georgia Museum of Art was founded in 1945, with Holbrook as its first director. Becoming one of Georgia's most beloved citizens, he served as director past his ninetieth birthday.
Originally located in the basement of the old library on North Campus, the museum opened to the public in 1948 with a core of 100 paintings donated by Holbrook. Today, the museum occupies nearly 80,000 square feet in a contemporary building in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex on East Campus. More than 10,000 pieces of art entail the museum's permanent collection. Full article HERE.
