A "Cave" of Treasures

Towering trees canopy the white, cave-like building that is Greenville County Museum of Art. This building was awarded “one of the most interesting” buildings by the American Association of Architects. It is a massive structure that houses a colossal adventure worth exploring.

Originally, the Greenville Fine Arts League started in 1945, and purchased The Gassaway Mansion in 1958 with help from the City of Greenville and Creative Artist Committee. The arts collection was maintained with help from the S.C. General Assembly that created the Greenville County Museum Commission. However, in time, they realized they needed a bigger venue to show all the art they had accumulated, as well as house temporary exhibitions. With this, it was decided they would move to the area of Heritage Green in 1972, while the Gassaway Mansion would be used for housing Christian art and for venue rentals.

After two years of construction, this building at Heritage Green was open to the public. The building and heart of the collection was made possible thanks to Arthur and Holly Magill. Selling off another part of their collection, a portion of the profits made the upkeep of the art and free admission possible. In fact, the Magills made a donation so large to the museum, that it was the largest monetary donation in South Carolina up to that time!

Now, you can enter the cave of a museum and ascend or descend the spiraling staircase that leads to amazing collections of American art. The museum holds the world's largest public collection of watercolors by Andrew Wyeth and also has several paintings by Jasper Johns. Be sure to read to the excerpts regarding the artist as you enter each exhibit. The rooms you explore are spacious to offer you plenty of room to wander at your own pace and wonder at the four-story museum, a refuge from the busy streets outside.

By the way, you are now on the ground that was the core of the GWC--its main building had dining rooms and classrooms on the lower floors and living quarters upstairs. The Greenville Women’s College dining area was located next to the post office in a building called North Hall, situated near Marshall Street towards the back of campus. Imagine a grand, formal room here, where the women would eat at family-style 8-person tables, and the female professors dined with them. The students wore pajamas to breakfast on Sunday mornings with rollers still in their hair as they prepared for the mandatory church services. We have to remember these women would often live, eat, study, and sleep in this enclosed space away from the world--much like a cave then too! In fact, in 1905, the building was renovated to include the "Zoo Swim Pool." Even recreation happened in the same connected corridors!

Even though we might think of it as cramped, the student newspaper reports that some women loved the enclosed familial space. When the campus moved in the 1960s, the women felt a sense of loss at the long tables at the sprawling campus, after being so used to eating family-style with their professors. Intimacy had its perks, but plenty of other women appreciated the freedoms that came with the new "modern" academic spaces of their education alongside men.

Suggested Readings:

"Greenville County Museum of Art." GVLToday. 11 Oct. 2018.

"Greenville County Museum of Art." Visit Greenville SC. 11 Oct. 2018.

"History." Greenville County Museum of Art. 11 Oct. 2018.