Hibel Museum of Art was an art museum on the campus of
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...
in
Jupiter, Florida dedicated to the paintings, lithographs, and other artwork of artist
Edna Hibel. The museum hosted local and traveling exhibitions, public events and educational programs, and also was home to Edna Hibel's personal art library.
History
The museum opened in 1977 in
Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...
displaying the Ethelbelle and Clayton B. Craig collection works by Hibel. The Craigs had begun collecting works by the artist in 1961 when they met Hibel in her gallery in
Rockport,
.
They founded the museum with the intention of retaining a significant cross section of Hibel's work in a single institution for the benefit of students, scholars and admirers.
The collection grew with the donation of Asian
snuff bottles from the Caldwell Family, and additional donations of Edna Hibel's work and other artworks, dolls, and sculptures. The museum was temporarily relocated to
Lake Worth, Florida in 1999 and then in 2002 moved to its final location on the Florida Atlantic University campus. The museum was designed by Kha Le-Huu and Partners. Construction on the building began in 2001 with $900,000 from Hibel combined with some state matching funds.
Dissolution
The museum initially closed in 2015 at the beginning of a dispute between the Edna Hibel Art Foundation and Florida Atlantic University. The written agreement to Edna Hibel described the $900,000 as a donation to the university and stipulated a forty-year, $1-per-year lease. In court documents, Hibel and her foundation claimed they thought they had invested in a permanent home. Museum employees became more uncertain after Hibel's death in 2014, and in July 2015 an employee handed their key over to the university without consulting the Hibel Art Foundation. The university saw this as abandoning the property and thus, citing also other violations, terminated the lease and evicted the foundation. The foundation claimed they had requested access to the museum but that Florida Atlantic University had not responded.
In 2018, Judge August A. Bonavita ruled that Florida Atlantic University could keep some of the artworks and other contents of the museum to help compensate for $42,000 in legal fees.
The collection of the museum is being dispersed to other institutions, beginning with the transfer of ten works to the
Wright Museum of Art at
Beloit College
Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin. Founded in 1846, when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and has ...
.
See also
*
List of single-artist museums
This is a list of single-artist museums, which are museums displaying the work of, or bearing the name of, a single visual artist.
* Basuki Abdullah – Basoeki Abdullah Museum, Jakarta, Indonesia
* Affandi – Affandi Museum, Yogyakarta, Indones ...
References
External links
Interview with Edna Hibel, ca. 2000 (YouTube)
Interview with Edna Hibel, ca. 2007 (YouTube)
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Museums in Palm Beach County, Florida
Art museums and galleries in Florida
Defunct art museums and galleries in the United States
Museums devoted to one artist
Art museums and galleries established in 1977
1977 establishments in Florida
Art museums and galleries disestablished in 2018
2018 disestablishments in Florida
Florida Atlantic University