Recent Acquisitions

The JCSM has purchased a late 19th century work by Frederick Arthur Bridgman. The painting, entitled View of Amalfi, is an oil painting of the Italian village. Frederick Bridgman was born in Tuskegee,Alabama (1847–1928) and became known as one of the few great American practitioners of the Orientalist genre. Orientalism was a widely popular genre of art and study in the 19th century thatallowed the west to construct an imaginary and sometimes ironicallyidealized representation of a broad range of cultures termed the “orient.”

Recent Gifts

JCSM is the recipient of several new gifts of art from members Nicholas Davis and Noel and Kathryn Wadsworth, Fred D. Bentley,Sr., and Stephen and Nanci Chazen.Nicholas D. Davis, Auburn University, alumni professor of architecture, generously donated two prints by internationally renowned painter and graphic artist Maltby Sykes, a long-time teacher at Auburn University. An exhibition of Maltby Sykes’s work was on display at JCSM from May 26-–July 30, 2006. The gifts from Mr. Davis include Trellis (1955), a color engraving and mezzotint printed for the International Graphic Artists Society and a tri-metal plate lithograph entitled Galaxy (1968).Founding Circle Members Noel and Kathryn Wadsworth presented JCSM with beautiful oil on canvas painting by Harry Roseland (American, 1868–1950) entitled, A Game of Checkers (1901). Harry Roseland was one of the most noted American genre painters of the early 20th century. Genre painting, a style highly popular in nineteenth-century America, depicted everyday life and often told a funny or didactic story. Mr. Fred D. Bentley, Sr. of Marietta, GA gave the museum two 19th century paintings: one by Albert Bierstadt and the other by Henry Fenstermacher. Bierstadt is a noted American landscape artist of the latter 19th century whose dramatic landscapes draw viewers into the magnificence of the American West. Henry Fenstermacher is less known, but he represents another popular 19th century artistic practice using trompe l’oeil – literally “to trick the eye” –a technique that relies on highly realistic depictions of objects in space. Stephen and Nanci Chazen of Birmingham honored Auburn Alumni John ’68 and ConnieFloyd, ’59,’60,’72, and the late Henry Sturkie ’57 with a gift from the Unus Foundation in their names. Their gift, an encaustic painting Miles Davis by Canadian artist Tony Scherman (b.1950), is now the most contemporary work in our collection. We are grateful to theChazen’s for providing this important gift for the JCSM collection.

Our deepest gratitude goes to these patrons of art for their thoughtful donations to JCSM collections. To show our appreciation for such thoughtfulness, JCSM has created a small viewing area in the museum in which to specially showcase our newest acquisitions.