Annotations: George Cooke, Thomas Hope and the Lure of Antiquity
February 5 - July 22, 2012
Galleria Cases

George Cooke (1793-1849), who began his career as a self-taught painter, sought to increase his skill and knowledge by following the custom of many American artists in traveling to Europe.  In the absence of a native school of art during the eighteenth century, American artists based their work on European models, and the scarcity of art academies in the United States sent artists to Europe to train their eyes and to learn the artist’s craft.  This practice was also followed throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth.

During this period in 1828, Cooke copied passages from the introduction and figures from the engravings of noted antiquarian Thomas Hope’s Costume of the Ancients.  This exhibition explores how he might have used the costumes and poses from Hope’s publication as inspiration for his portraits of Native Americans and of Henry Clay.  The flow of inspiration from antiquity to the 19th century artwork of Hope and other American artists is investigated by placing them side by side in this installation.

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Sound and Vision: Monumental Rock & Roll Photography
December 10 , 2011 – April 1, 2012
Third Floor Galleries

This exhibition is organized by the Columbus Museum, and is guest curated by Christopher Murray of Govinda Gallery in Washington, D.C. Through the medium of photography, each artist in this exhibition has captured rock and roll's most notable and memorable figures of the last five decades with images that are startling, poignant and remarkable.

Working with the photographers and their estates, and using the original negatives and chromes, Murray has collaborated with David Adamson of Adamson Additions to create prints using the finest digital technology available. Bursting with richness and detail, the resulting prints breathe new life into these photographs.

This Exhibition is made possible by the generous funding from the Hardaway Endowment Fund and the 2011 Let There be Art.

On With The Show! History of the Springer Opera House and Theatre in Columbus
September 24, 2011 – February 12, 2012
History Gallery

On With The Show! History of the Springer Opera House and Theatre in Columbus will celebrate the Columbus area’s theatre arts heritage. Our community’s cultural arts institutions have played important roles in developing the city’s character and forming its identity. The exhibition will focus on the history of theatre in Columbus, from its antebellum splendor to its present-day Renaissance, with the glorious, historic Springer Opera House as the centerpiece.

To Remember a Vanishing World: The Photographs of D.L. Hightower
August 30, 2010 – February 28, 2012
Sidney H. Yarbrough III Gallery

Between 1930 and 1965, businessman and amateur photographer Draffus Lamar Hightower created a unique photographic record of life in his native Barbour County, Alabama. Consisting of more than 5,000 candid images of the people, places and events Hightower believed epitomized life in the county, this purposeful documentary forms an unrivaled record of a place in time. The selection of images featured in this exhibition represents a cross-section of this remarkable collection. 

From Hightower’s childhood, when he bought his first camera from a Sears catalog, to his retirement years, he was rarely without a camera handy. Included in To Remember a Vanishing World are dozens of his images of the natural and built environment which helped give Barbour County its special character, portrait photographs, and snapshots of people both going about everyday activities and participating in special community events. Hightower’s collection, which he donated to the town of Clayton, Alabama and was later acquired by the University of South Alabama Archives, is the subject of a book by long-time University of South Alabama archivist and history professor Michael V.R. Thomason.

This exhibition is made possible by generous support from Dan and Kathelen Amos.

Shape Shift: Changes in Women’s
Fashion Silhouettes, 1850-1930
Opened May 7, 2011

By the People, For the People, the Museum’s display of art from the permanent collection, includes galleries that feature regularly changing installations. 

Costumes from the collection are now on display in the Bradley House Galleries.  Shape Shift: Changes in Women’s Fashion Silhouettes, 1850-1930 was curated by Cassandra Lagmay, an intern in the curatorial department. The installation presents seven ensembles, various accessories and period illustrations. 

The term “fashion” refers to popular demand in current styles of clothing and accessories. What is fashionable today will be considered old-fashioned tomorrow. Over time, women’s “fashion silhouettes” -- or shape of popular dress -- have changed to reflect contemporary ideas of identity and beauty. In the 19th century, bodies were sculpted using bustles, corsets and padding in search of the perfect form. The rigid undergarments and heavy cloth conveyed both elegance and proper sophistication. Fashion in the 1910s through the 1930s became more practical for everyday activities. Corsets were no longer fashionable.  Popular dress featured a boyish waistline, shorter skirt length, looser fit and showed more skin.

Shape Shift highlights these changing silhouettes and presents how the ideals of beauty transformed over time.

Charles Valentine sitting in front of his store in Clayton, Alabama

Courtesy of the Clayton Historical Preservation Authority Collection, University of South Alabama Archives

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