Booth Western Art Museum
The Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, has acquired a number of important works by top Western artists. The pieces come from the collection of Bob and Barbara Hunter and include paintings by H. David Wright, Michael Coleman, Robert Peters, Krystii Melaine, Arturo Chavez and others.
“I have known Barbara Hunter and her late husband Bob for nearly 20 years. Their enthusiasm for collecting nearly everything was obvious from our first meeting and grew continuously. Their capacity for research and connoisseurship was similarly impressive from the beginning and grew along with their collection as well. Among all the collectors I have worked with they had among the best ‘eyes’ and the ability to determine the outstanding producers in each collecting category they tackled,” says Seth Hopkins, executive director of the museum.
Hopkins continues: “Bob and Barbara loved to travel the West, visiting other collectors, artists, galleries and museums along their routes. They had made friends in nearly every Western state on their collecting odyssey, but always came back home to live amongst their prized possessions in Georgia. They did not consider themselves the owners of the art, but rather the custodians for this generation. As the collection outgrew the space available, they were quite generous with providing the Booth Western Art Museum with gifts of paintings and sculpture, usually one or two, or even three very nice pieces per year. Somehow though, the collection didn’t shrink; seems they bought a couple more each time they gave one. And while many among the general public might think it odd that they had taken the doors off several closets to create mini galleries for their treasures, true collectors acknowledged it as a great idea from kindred spirits.”