The Daily Tar Heel

Serving the students and the University community since 1893

Thursday June 1st

Ackland Art Museum

The Ackland Art Museum is located on the edge of the University of North Carolina at 101 S. Columbia St. The museum has more than 17,000 works of art in its collection from European masterworks to modern photography. All work is available for students and community members to view.

Other exhibits include European masterworks, twentieth-century and contemporary art, African art and North Carolina pottery. There are between 10 and 12 changing exhibits every year. Originally built in 1958, the building has undergone two major renovations but remains in its original building. 

In addition to exhibits, the Ackland hosts some educational programs such as Art & Literature in the Galleries and drawing classes in the museum. Admission is free. Visit the museum website at ackland.org for more information.



Peter Nisbet, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Ackland Art Museum, discusses the meaning of a painting in the Becoming a Woman in the Age of Enlightenment exhibit.

Explore life as a woman in 18th-century France at the Ackland

In the current political climate of gender issues and cultural reflection across a diverse array of ideas, the Ackland Art Museum’s newest exhibition, "Becoming a Woman in the Age of Enlightenment: French Art from The Horvitz Collection," is uncommonly timely. "Becoming a Woman" explores the so-called “Woman's Question” that was pivotal to some of the most pressing debates of the French Enlightenment during the 18th century.  It is a thematic exhibit with 130 pieces of artwork ranging from drawings, to paintings, to sculptures, to prints — with only 10 of these pieces created by women. It conveys various depictions of the societal role of women spanning across 150 years of French art and will be on display from Jan. 26 to April 8.

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The Ackland Art Museum's exhibit "Religion and Ritual" will be on display until May 13. Photo courtesy of Emily Bowles.

Ackland Art Museum's ‘Religion and Ritual’ showcases extensive collection of Asian art

While Asian art has grown especially in strength and importance over the last 30 years, the Ackland Art Museum remains home to the only collection of Asian art in the state — and one of the major collections in the southeast.  Now, a new exhibition titled Religion and Ritual, on display at the Ackland from Jan. 3 to May 13, presents the beauty of some of this wondrous collection.

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