Telfair Museums: Curator’s Choice

Opened in 1886, Telfair Museums in Savannah, Georgia, is the oldest

public art museum in the southern USA. Today, Telfair Museums consists

of three unique buildings: the Telfair Academy, the historic

Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters, and the contemporary Jepson

Center for the Arts. Telfair Museums was formally founded with the

bequest of Mary Telfair in 1875 and now has grown to over 6,300

paintings, sculpture, works on paper and decorative arts. Telfair's

collections are particularly strong in American Impressionism, the

Ashcan School, and American and English silver. Director Robin

Nicholson's text is an engaging insight into the history of Telfair

Museums and its varied collections, featuring artworks by Childe Hassam,

Henry Ossawa Tanner, George Bellows, Helen Levitt, and

Mickalene Thomas.