Museums - Chrysler Museum of Art

Founded in 1939 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, the museum experienced explosive growth in 1971 when automobile heir and art collector Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. presented the city of Norfolk with his collection. Since Chrysler’s death in 1989 the museum has continued to grow and expand, building on his legacy with regular additions to its holdings. The museum’s award-winning building designed by the firm of Hartman-Cox, opened in 1989.
Over the years the museum has acquired about 600 pre-Columbian and fifty African objects (and one Native American object). Chrysler collected African, Egyptian, and pre-Columbian artworks. Seventy more antiquities were given to the museum by art collector Edwin Pearlman in 1986. Other donors include James C. Perry, Jack Tanzer, and Dr. and Mrs. Leroy J. Pearlman. The museum’s pre-Columbian collection is of high quality. Some highlights include a conch shell trumpet and a notable Maya vessel with a ballgame scene. Much of the collection is published in Old Gods and Young Heroes: The Pearlman Collection of Maya Ceramics. Currently there are thirty-four of the African objects and 150 pre-Columbian objects on view. Storage is accessible to scholars by appointment, though it is not encouraged for the African material.