Once M&G’s Board determined that the current building wasn’t the best option for the care of and access to the Collection, they commissioned a Charitable Interest Assessment (also called a feasibility study). The Assessment’s purpose was to determine both the interest of current M&G donors as well as a broader segment of Greenville residents and community leaders in supporting a capital campaign for a new M&G. Further, the Assessment sought to determine both the preference among interviewees for the location of a new M&G and the impact that location would have on the success of the necessary capital campaign. A strong majority of participants indicated they would support the campaign for the new M&G in “walkable downtown” Greenville—ensuring much greater access to the Collection.

Opening a new museum facility in walkable downtown Greenville will provide state of the art environmental design and mechanicals for the Collection, square footage that will nearly double the size of the current space, the ability to design the museum visitor’s experience with the Collection, and greater access to an internationally respected art collection that has been called “a hidden gem.” M&G will be positioned in the heart of a growing tourism destination, where thousands of people visit annually, rather than a private University campus on the city’s borders.

$22.5 Million dollars for the build-out of the new M&G in the South Carolina Arts & Cultural Center as well as seeding an operating endowment for M&G. Specifically, the allocation of the Beauty Matters Campaign Goal is as follows:

22.5M Comprehensive Campaign

While the art galleries are closed to the public, M&G staff are still caring for the art and objects, managing loans, and preparing the Collection for a significant move. In addition to the behind-the-scenes labor of collection care, M&G continues to pursue our mission of transforming lives through fine art through our public programming for children and adults. Key Arts Encounter programs include Homeschool Days and Museum on the Move—both which have been augmented with digital versions as a result of COVID-19. Art Break for adults–previously a monthly in-person lunch & learn during the academic year—has been launched as a podcast for the 2020-2021 academic year given COVID-19 restrictions.  Plus, M&G has launched multiple enrichment features online about the Collection and the world of art.

No. While the University and M&G are and will continue to be strategic ministry partners, they operate with different leadership and separate budgets with separate and distinct fundraising and earned revenue operations.

The “Bob Jones Collection” is well-known in the art community around the world. In fact, M&G has loaned works in the Collection as close as the Greenville County Museum of Art and as far away as the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. For a list of museums M&G has loaned to, visit In Good Company.

“It is a rare and special opportunity to see art of this period and caliber outside New York City, Washington, D.C., or the major capitals of Europe.”

Susan H. Edwards, Ph.D.
Executive Director and CEO
Frist Center for the Visual Art

“It is one of the largest and most interesting collections of European paintings in this country.”

Susan Donahue Kuretsky
Vassar College

Credibility: In the late 1940s, art historian and connoisseur, Carl Hamilton, suggested to Bob Jones Jr. that the college should have an art collection since the nation’s strongest institutions of higher learning had respected collections of art. The Collection, then, would help provide a source of credibility for the school’s position academically. Bob Jones Jr. presented the idea to the Executive Committee and pointed out that with an excellent School of Fine Arts and a strong School of Religion, it was especially appropriate to confine the collection to western religious art since every collection required a focus to prevent becoming a random gathering of unrelated works. Bob Jones College had received the Bowen Collection of Bible Land Materials (antiquities and models) in previous years, so it was decided that the art and antiquities would be displayed together in the same building. The college set aside annual funds for purchasing art as a priority for the school’s liberal arts focus.

Cultural and Spiritual Emphasis: The collection is uniquely composed of religious paintings—primarily those which illustrate Scriptural events or portray biblical characters. Its impact is cultural by providing students of all ages an understanding of history, the development of art in the Western world, and an appreciation of great painting. But more importantly, the Collection also promotes spiritual growth and a realization of the power and universality of the Christian message and the Word of God, whether proclaimed from the pulpit, by pen, or the brush of an artist. M&G’s founder, Dr. Bob Jones Jr. emphasized that the collection was “an educational tool and source of reference in connection with the study of the history of art.” He stated publicly at the museum’s 1951 dedication, “You may not be an artist yourselves, but you have eyes to see and hearts to appreciate, and souls to respond. It is my prayer that each of you will find here something which will make your lives more richly revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Through its collection of sacred art, the Museum & Gallery exists to promote the appreciation, understanding, and preservation of quality fine art that reflects universal and scriptural truths based on God’s Word and works. M&G extends its collection into communities at home and abroad through its educational and cultural outreaches that enrich the whole man—mind, heart, and soul.

To reach our mission of transforming lives through fine art, the Museum & Gallery seeks and develops opportunities with students of all ages—through events, programming, in-school lessons, tours, exhibit loans, and online features. We take joy in sharing the Collection locally and as far as our work and the art can travel because we genuinely desire to touch the whole person—mind, heart, and soul, as the Lord allows.

Like Joseph, Moses, Daniel, and Paul who lived faithfully in secular societies and used every tool, even those deemed “secular” to reveal the power of God, so M&G has a similar opportunity to present these ages old, man-made objects as vehicles to draw men to the beauty of Christ Himself.