State of the Art Trivia Quiz

Answer: New York

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum can be found at the junction of Fifth Avenue and East 89th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York State. It is more commonly known simply as "The Guggenheim" and its distinctive, top-heavy, cylindrical design is one of the city's well-known landmarks. Opened in 1959, it was the first of several Guggenheim Museums around the world (including the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice), all of which were established under the auspices of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

It houses a range of artistic works - from 19th century Impressionist pieces to 21st century contemporary art - which has been developed over the years from Solomon R. Guggenheim's original personal art collection.

Answer: Maryland

The American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) is located in Baltimore, Maryland, on a former industrial site near the city's famous Inner Harbor. The "visionary art" that forms the bulk of the museum's collection is more generally referred to as "outsider art", meaning art produced by artists who were self-taught and had no formal training in the subject.

These pieces often depict the personal vision of the artist rather than being focused on the correct application of specific techniques. Since its opening in 1995, the museum has hosted annual themed exhibitions and several special exhibitions. Artists represented in its main collection include Howard Finster, who designed album covers for both R.E.M. and Talking Heads; Leo Sewell, known for his sculpture constructed from junk materials; and the surrealist sculptor Ho Baron.

Answer: Pennsylvania

Andrew Carnegie derived his massive fortune from Pittsburgh's steel industry in the late 19th century and the art museum founded by him in 1895 was constructed in that city, which is located in the state of Pennsylvania. Carnegie's vision for his museum was as a home for the "Old Masters of tomorrow" and as such it houses a range of paintings by famous artists of both that period and the first half of the 20th century. Carnegie was also responsible for instituting the annual Carnegie International exhibition, which he intended to act as a source of contemporary artwork for his museum.

However, while Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, James Whistler and Edward Hopper are all represented in the collection, the museum is also home to ancient and medieval pieces such as Greco-Roman pottery.

Answer: Ohio

William H. Taft, President of the United States from 1909 to 1913, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and spent the majority of his legal career there before his move into politics and his appointment to the White House. After winning the election of 1908, he appeared on the steps of the Baum-Taft House in downtown Cincinnati - then owned by his half-brother Charles Taft - to publicly accept the presidential nomination.

In 1927, Charles Taft and his wife donated both the house and their collection of fine art, including masterpieces by Rembrandt, Turner and Whistler, to the city and the building became the Taft Museum of Art in 1932.

Answer: Massachusetts

Harvard University can be found in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts - which was named after the English city of Cambridge that had been home to a famous university since the early 13th century. Although a city in its own right, Cambridge is located on the north bank of the Charles River opposite the city of Boston and forms part of the latter's wider urban area.

The Fogg Museum was founded in 1895 and became a constituent part of the Harvard Art Museums group in 1983 along with the Busch-Reisinger Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum.

The Fogg Museum is noted for its large collection of both European art and 19th and 20th century American art. Artists included in its collection represent centuries of art history, from Botticelli in the 15th century, to Rembrandt and Poussin in the 17th century, to 19th century Impressionists and Post-Impressionists such as Cézanne, Manet and van Gogh.

Answer: California

One of the most popular museums in the United States, "the Getty" - properly known as the J. Paul Getty Museum - is located in Los Angeles, California. The Getty Center in the Brentwood district of the city was purpose-built in 1997 to house the museum's main collection, while the previous site, the Getty Villa, was retained to house artefacts related to Ancient Greece and Rome.

The Getty Center is located on the top of a hill and visitors can access it, and the great works of art that it houses, via its own funicular railway system.

The museum was founded by the oil magnate J. Paul Getty in 1974 and (unsurprisingly for an institution founded by the one-time richest man in the world) it has subsequently used the extraordinary spending power that Getty granted to it to build an impressive collection of works by a large range of Europe's most famous artists.

Answer: Connecticut

Like Harvard University, fellow Ivy League institution, Yale University, also has noted art museums - the Yale University Art Gallery, founded in 1832, and the Yale Center for British Art, which opened in 1974. The university is located in the city of New Haven, Connecticut.

The Yale Center for British Art was funded by the wealthy philanthropist Paul Mellon who donated his amazing collection of British pictures, sculpture and books, as well as money to build a gallery to house them, to the university in 1966.

In addition to works by British artists (principally from the period 1700 to 1850), the collection includes pieces by artists of other nationalities who lived and worked in Britain. Overall, it consists of the largest collection of British art held outside of that country.

Answer: Wyoming

It is the former name of this museum that gives the best clue to its location in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, since the term "American West" is commonly used to refer to the area of the country located westwards from the states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. Jackson Hole is a valley located a few kilometres north of the town of Jackson, Wyoming, and the National Museum of Wildlife Art (and its massive bronze elk sculpture, 'Wapiti Trail' by Bart Walter) can be found overlooking the National Elk Refuge. Unsurprisingly, the museum's collection is dominated by works by some of America's best-known wildlife artists, including John James Audubon and Carl Rungius, as well as pieces by artists known for their depiction of life in the American West, such as Frederic Remington.

Answer: District of Columbia

The National Portrait Gallery of the United States opened in 1968 in the Old Patent Office Building in the nation's capital city, Washington D.C. It is part of the wider Smithsonian Institution along with museums such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum (its neighbour in the Old Patent Office Building), the National Museum of American History, the National Air and Space Museum and over a dozen others.

The National Portrait Gallery initially included both the portraits held in the wider Smithsonian collection and those included in Andrew Mellon's donation of artwork to the nation in 1930s.

The focus of the gallery is on collecting and displaying images of famous Americans throughout history.

Answer: Illinois

Richard M. Daley was the Mayor of Chicago from 1989 to 2011, so, unsurprisingly, the permanent home that he granted to the National Veterans Art Museum is located in that city - the largest in the state of Illinois. Prior to gaining its first permanent home, the collection was part of a travelling exhibition based on the works of the Vietnam Veterans Art Group.

The purpose of the museum is to promote the work of veterans of all US military conflicts - not just the Vietnam War - and to display to the public works which help to improve both understanding of these wars and their impact on the men and women who served in them.