Recent Acquisitions

FALL 2011 ACQUISTIONS

Untitled (Study of Alexis in bed with Grace from behind)
2009
graphite on paper
James W. “Bo” Bartlett III
born Columbus, Ga. 1955
Gift of a Friend of the Museum 2011.43

A recent gift adds to the Museum’s holdings of works by Bo Bartlett. The Columbus native has become well known for works that combine realism with dreamlike narratives. Bartlett bases his paintings on drawings done from live models, and the Museum’s new untitled figure study was produced as the artist was composing his most recent series, “Paintings of Home.”

Camella
1995
ceramic on concrete
Russell Vogt
born Minnesota 1950
Gift of Evelyn and Ray Crowley 2011.41

A colorful and playful addition has been made to the outdoor space in front of the Museum’s education wing: Camella, a ceramic sculpture by Russell Vogt. This artist arrives at his color choices emotionally instead of from the observation of nature, which can be seen in the joyous use of bright colors on his depiction of a camel.

Emma
2002
113 color hand printed woodcut created in the Ukiyo-e tradition on Shiramine paper
Published by Pace Editions, Inc., edition of 55
Chuck Close
born Monroe, Wash. 1940
Museum purchase made possible by the Edward Swift Shorter Bequest Fund and the Mark Hollis Clark Bequest 2011.47

Inspired by last year’s exhibition of photorealist works from the PieperPower collection, the Museum sought to purchase an important work by an artist associated with this movement. Chuck Close’s Emma is just such a work. As a leading figure in the photorealist movement, Close has been an important contemporary artist since the 1970s. He creates portraits in the format of monumental heads painted in multiple airbrush bursts, thumbprints, or grids of looping multi-color brushstrokes, the latter being the method used to produce the painting on which the Museum’s new print is based. Emma, a portrait of the artist’s niece, took Close three months to paint. However, master printmaker Yasu Shibata spent three years working with Close to produce the print. The painstaking, historically-Japanese process involved cutting 133 wood blocks, one for each specially-chosen color in the print, which had to line up perfectly in order for the work to be printed correctly. Close’s collaboration with master printers has resulted in some of the most inventive woodcuts, lithographs, and silk-screens in contemporary printmaking.

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Burning African Village Play Set with Big House and Lynching
2006
painted laser cut steel
22 parts, edition 20/20
Kara Walker
born Stockton, Calif. 1969
Museum purchase made possible by the Edward Swift Shorter Bequest Fund, the Bequest of Edward Swift Shorter by exchange, and Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. by exchange 2011.45

The Columbus Museum is proud to be among the first southeastern museum to acquire a significant work by Kara Walker. Born in California, Walker’s art professor father moved the family to Georgia when she was a teenager. She received her BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991 and her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. She came to national prominence in 1997 when her work was included in the Biennial exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Walker uses the tradition of the cut-paper silhouette, popular in the 19th century, to explore issues of power, race, gender, and sexuality. The Museum’s acquisition of cut steel standing silhouette figures includes African huts along with stereotypical Civil War era imagery of the Old South: the “Big House” plantation mansion, willow trees, shackled slaves, Southern belles, and Confederate soldiers.

The piece is titled “Play Set,” and Walker wants the owner of the work to decide how to display the pieces, placing any number of the cut-outs in any position. With that in mind, the Museum will be collaborating with Columbus State University students to explore the works of Kara Walker, the history of silhouettes, and then work with museum staff to discuss and write label text the final display of “Play Set.”

See below for more additions to the Columbus Museum's Permanent Collection

Spring 2011 acquisitions

Winter 2010-2011 acquisitions

Fall 2010 acquisitions

Summer 2010 acquisitions

Winter 2009-2010 acquisitions