Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art

Infobox Museum
name = Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art

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established = October 3, 2003
location = Auburn, Alabama
type = public
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director = Dr. Michael De Marsche
curator =
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website = [http://www.julecollinssmithmuseum.com/ www.julecollinssmithmuseum.com] The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art is an art museum on the campus of Auburn University, and is the only university art museum in Alabama.cite web |url=http://www.ocm.auburn.edu/news_releases/museum.html |title=AU's Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art Opens Oct. 3 |author=Brown, Haden |date=2003-08-27 |accessdate=2007-08-19 |publisher=Auburn University News] Opened on October 3, 2003, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art sits on approximately 20 acres of land, and includes eight exhibition galleries within its 40,000 square feet of available space.cite web|url=http://jcsm.auburn.edu/theMuseum/factSheet.html |title=Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art Fact sheet |accessdate=2007-08-19 |publisher=Auburn University] In addition to the galleries, the museum facility includes an auditorium, cafe, study room, and museum shop. Outside the main building, botanical gardens encompass fifteen acres of land, including a three acre lake.

The museum is named after Jule Collins Smith, the wife of Al Smith, who graduated from Auburn University in 1947. Smith donated $3 million to the project as a gift to his wife, in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary.

Exhibits

Permanent collection

The museum's permanent collection focuses mainly on 19th and 20th century American and European Art. The museum includes works by Romare Bearden, Ralston Crawford, Arthur Dove, Georgia O'Keefe, Jacob Lawrence, John Marin, and Ben Shahn, within its "Advancing American Art" collection. Within the museum's "Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Collection" are 114 prints by naturalist John James Audubon. In addition, the museum contains the "Bill L. Harbert Collection of European Art" collection. This exhibit contains works by Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Traveling exhibitions

In the Fall of 2005 (September 1 - December 4, 2005), the museum presented its first traveling exhibit, a collection of quilts titled "The Quilts of Gee’s Bend".cite web |url=http://www.julecollinssmithmuseum.com/whatsHappen/quilts.html |title=The Quilts of Gee’s Bend |accessdate=2007-08-19 |publisher=Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art] The exhibit features "70 quilts created by four generations of artists from the isolated community of Gee's Bend, Alabama." "The Quilts of Gee’s Bend" has been described as "some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced."

From March 24, 2006 through May 28, 2006, the museum displayed an exhibit on loan from the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia.cite web |url=http://www.julecollinssmithmuseum.com/whatsHappen/modernDrawings.html |title=Modern Drawings from the Ceseri Collection and the Georgia Museum of Art |accessdate=2007-08-19 |publisher=Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art] The exhibit featured drawings from 19 and 20th century artists such as Charles Burchfield, Giorgio de Chirico, Elaine De Kooning, and Robert Motherwell. The drawings were a representation of Modernism, with images from the Renaissance to modern times.

Beginning in May 2006, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art unveiled another exhibit with the assistance of the Georgia Museum of Art.cite web |url=http://www.julecollinssmithmuseum.com/whatsHappen/SpiritoftheModern.html |title=The Spirit of the Modern: Drawings and Graphics by Maltby Sykes |accessdate=2007-08-19 |publisher=Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art] Entitled "The Spirit of the Modern: Drawings and Graphics by Maltby Sykes", the exhibit featured work by Maltby Sykes. Known for his work in both paint and print, Sykes was represented by more than fifty objects. Together, the works are indicative of his development from social realism through modern abstraction and remained on display until July 30, 2006.

During the years since it opened, the museum has also featured traveling exhibits displaying ceramic work by Eva Zeisel, architecture inspired by Sambo Mockbee, and paintings by Hugh Williams.cite web |url=http://jcsm.auburn.edu/whatsHappen/EvaZeisel.html |title=Eva Zeisel: The Playful Search for Beauty |accessdate=2007-08-19 |publisher=Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art] cite web |url=http://www.julecollinssmithmuseum.com/whatsHappen/RuralStudio.html |title=Rural Studio: Education of the Citizen Architect |accessdate=2007-08-19 |publisher=Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art] cite web |url=http://www.julecollinssmithmuseum.com/whatsHappen/HughWilliams.html |title=Exploration: Discovery: Transformation: new work by Hugh Williams |accessdate=2007-08-19 |publisher=Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art]

References

External links

* [http://jcsm.auburn.edu/ Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art official site]
* [http://www.auburn.edu/academic/other/geesbend/home.html The Quilts of Gee’s Bend in context] . Auburn University’s program in Women’s Studies
* [http://cadc.auburn.edu/soa/rural%2Dstudio/mockbee.htm The Life of Samuel "Sambo" Mockbee] courtesy of Rural Studio