Museum of Primitive Art



The Museum of Primitive Art was a museum devoted to the early arts of the indigenous cultures of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. It was founded in 1954 by Nelson Rockefeller, who donated his own collection of Tribal art. The museum opened to the public in 1957 in a townhouse at 15 West 54th Street in New York City. Robert Goldwater (1907–1973) was the museum’s first director. The museum closed in 1976, and its collections were transferred to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.