The Museum of Contemporary Art's permanent collection comprises close to 1,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs and other works.
The museum's newest exhibition, "Inside/Out," includes more than 200 pieces from the collection. Some are familiar and some have not been exhibited.
"About half of the objects have seldom been seen in exhibits and about 20 percent have never before been seen in the museum," said museum Curator Ben Thompson.
He said the idea is not only to showcase the diversity of the museum's inventory, but to use the exhibition in a way to tell the museum's history.
Sections of the exhibit are devoted to the earliest acquisitions, highlighted by the first painting in the collection, a Lee Adams watercolor donated by the artist in 1957.
The importance of donations is clear in the exhibition, with art donated by benefactors Preston Haskell and Norman Fisher.
"Seventy percent of the collection was gifted to us," Thompson said.
More than 20 percent of the museum's collection is work by local artists. Painter Memphis Wood and potter Charlie Brown are featured.
The exhibition is as much about "why" as it is about "what." It's about the museum's history and its mission. Thompson said "Inside/Out" is a prelude to the 2014 season, when the museum will mark its 90th anniversary with a series of new exhibitions.
"We will be setting new benchmarks and ambitions," he said.
For more information about the exhibit, related programs, educational opportunities and membership, visit mocajacksonville.org.
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