Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art
The Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art was a privately-owned art museum located in the Anchorage Building at 8316 Mountbatten Road Northeast overlooking Lake Tuscaloosa in Tuscaloosa's North River district. It housed the collection of Jack Westervelt Warner, CEO of the Gulf States Paper Corporation (now the Westervelt Company). The museum, opened in 2003, was owned by the Westervelt Company, but operated by the Jack Warner Foundation. Warner's wife, Susan Austin-Warner, was the museum's last director.
The museum's collection of over 400 pieces included masterworks by notable American artists such as Thomas Cole, Duncan Phyfe, Paul Revere, Andrew Wyeth, John Singer Sargeant, Winslow Homer, James McNeill Whistler and Mary Cassatt. Decorative artworks include silver objects made by Paul Revere and furniture made by Duncan Phyfe, Charles Honore Lannuier and Joseph Barry. The collection ranges from the late 18th to the early 20th century and includes portraits from life of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette.
In 2011 Westervelt's board began selling off some of the more valuable works from the collection to benefit shareholders. They were removed and sold privately or through auction houses without informing the Warner family or museum staff. The foundation suspended school tours and training programs pending a new agreement with the Westervelt Company about operations. Rather than come to an agreement, the company decided to terminate the lease on the Anchorage Building and move some of the remaining artworks into the Westervelt Company's headquarters offices.
References
- Armstrong, Tom (2001) An American Odyssey: The Warner Collection of Fine and Decorative Arts. New York: Monacelli Press/Sotheby's
- Callahan, Nancy (April 2, 2010) "Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art" Encyclopedia of Alabama - accessed April 20, 2011
- Cobb, Mark Hughes (April 6, 2011) "29 paintings removed from Westervelt-Warner museum." Tuscaloosa News
- "School tours suspended at Westervelt-Warner Museum" (April 20, 2011) Birmingham Business Journal
- Cobb, Mark Hughes (April 23, 2011) "Westervelt headquarters to house collection." Tuscaloosa News