The Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, about 40 minutes north of Atlanta, is a pilgrimage to the Wild West without even coming close to the other side of the Mississippi. And it has a few surprises, like this 1936 study for the Lee & Jackson Monument located in Charles Village of Baltimore, Maryland.
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Study for Lee & Jackson Monument
Booth Western Art Museum |
The Booth is massive! And its collections are immense. The museum is 120,000 square feet and houses the largest permanent exhibition space for Western art in the United States and is the second largest art museum in Georgia! It immediately became an Atlanta-area treasure when it opened its doors in 2003.
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Study for
Lee & Jackson Monument |
In addition to regular temporary exhibitions, the museum galleries include contemporary Western American art (their collection of art by living artists is significant!), historic Western art, Civil War art (like the Lee & Jackson Monument study), Western movie posters (fun!), Western illustrations, and a very special exhibit—the Carolyn & James Millar Presidential Gallery—that features portraits and original writings of every U.S. President from George Washington to Barack Obama.
And then there are the six to ten temporary and/or special exhibits per year and numerous special events, including an annual black-tie fundraising gala.
Must-see attractions at the Booth: the Presidential gallery, the sculpture gallery, the modern Western art gallery, the real Western stage coaches (they're huge!), the massive Indian sculpture on the second floor...just make the time to see everything! It's all fascinating.
The Booth is a Smithsonian affiliate museum, meaning they can borrow artifacts from the Smithsonian collections...they often have some from the Smithsonian on exhibit.
