NEW ORLEANS, LA – Opening on May 15, 2019, the expansion of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) will feature 26 new works by artists working primarily in the 21st century. The expansion, which broke ground in December 2017, builds on the success of the museum’s existing five-acre Besthoff Sculpture Garden, widely regarded as one of the top sculpture gardens in the world. The existing site is home to 64 sculptures from renowned artists from the 19th century to the present.

Artists featured in the expansion include Larry Bell, Tony Cragg, Johan Creten, Katharina Fritsch, Frank Gehry, Jeppe Hein, Georg Herold, Thomas Houseago, Shirazeh Houshiary, Baltasar Lobo, Robert Longo, Gerold Miller, Beverly Pepper, Pedro Reyes, George Rickey, Ursula van Rydingsvard, Sean Scully, Yinka Shonibare, Frank Stella, Hank Willis Thomas, Bernar Venet, and Fred Wilson. A work by Ugo Rondinone will be installed in the garden in late 2019. Two new works have been commissioned for the site: a 60-foot-long mosaic wall by artist Teresita Fernández, and a glass bridge by Elyn Zimmerman.

 “The Besthoff Sculpture Garden expansion celebrates NOMA’s primary mission of sharing significant art and artists with the broadest possible public. It also incorporates contemporary, innovative approaches for a healthy and sustainable environment into a compelling experience of art,” said Susan Taylor, Montine McDaniel Freeman Director. “We look forward to sharing with our public new work by some of the most interesting and important artists working today.” 

The Besthoff Sculpture Garden expansion will offer a lush, green space that will allow NOMA to celebrate art, and broaden the museum’s opportunities to engage with the community in an inviting and environmentally sustainable way. The new garden will showcase contemporary sculpture that has inspired our landscape architects to engage with the work and emphasize the relationship between landscape and art. A sculpture pavilion will be located in the expanded garden, offering exhibition space for indoor sculpture and other works in NOMA’s collection that complement the garden’s installations. 

 “It has been a collector’s dream, putting together the sculptures that will populate the sculpture garden expansion,” said Walda Besthoff, patron of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. “Many outdoor collections grow over time, and do not always have the forcefulness or unity of a carefully designed entity within a specifically designed landscape. Sydney and I have had the rare privilege of formulating a plan in collaboration with the New Orleans Museum of Art.” 

Like the existing garden, the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden expansion will be free and open to the public, seven days a week. 

For More Information 

Follow along with NOMA’s progress on Instagram at @neworleansmuseumofart 

About NOMA and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden 

The New Orleans Museum of Art, founded in 1910 by Isaac Delgado, houses more than 40,000 works of art encompassing 5,000 years of history. Works from the permanent collection, along with continuously changing special exhibitions, are on view in the museum’s 46 galleries Tuesday through Thursday from 10 AM to 6 PM, Friday from 10 AM to 9 PM, Saturdays from 10 AM to 5 PM and Sundays from 11 AM to 5 PM. NOMA offers docent-guided tours at 1 PM Tuesday – Sunday. The adjoining Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden features work by more than 85 artists, including several 20th and 21st-century master sculptors. NOMA’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden is free and open to the public seven days a week: 9 AM to 6 PM. The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden are fully accessible to handicapped visitors and wheelchairs are available from the front desk. For more information about NOMA, call (504) 658-4100 or visit www.noma.org. Museum admission is free on Wednesdays for Louisiana residents, courtesy of The Helis Foundation. Teenagers (ages 13-19) receive free admission every day through the end of the year, courtesy of The Helis Foundation. 

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For additional information and hi-res images, contact Margaux Krane: 504.658.4106 | mkrane@noma.org

Gallery of lo-res images: