THE JULE COLLINS SMITH MUSEUM OF FINE ART
THE ART BARGAIN OF THE CENTURY
The university art collection began by chance and with an unwavering belief in Auburn. The School of Art and Architecture faculty, according to their oral histories, gave up their salary increases in 1948 to purchase 36 discounted oil paintings from the failed international exhibition, Advancing American Art , for just over one thousand dollars. Dubbed “the art bargain of the century” by Sotheby’s, many then and now recognize the grouping as one of the finest representations of mid-20th-century art located in the South.
It’s an unbelievable but true story—a 50-plus-year journey from greatness to infamy to near obscurity and back again, changing the course of Auburn history, and leading to a nationally recognized art museum at the dawn of a new century.
Auburn students examine Yasuo Kuniyoshi’s Circus Girl Resting , one of 36 Advancing American Art works acquired by the university in 1948.
ADVANCING AMERICAN ART
In 1946, the U.S. State Department attempted to counter the rise of Communism through an international touring exhibition that demonstrated the country’s freedom of expression and her artistic “coming of age.” With 117 paintings by established and emerging artists curated for a groundbreaking survey bound for Eastern Europe, Latin America and China, Advancing American Art was born.
The headlines hit newsstands in both art and mainstream media. While the art world raved, protests from President Harry S. Truman, the U.S. Congress, and the press, not to mention the American public, proved louder. They challenged the modern styles, what art should (or should not) represent as “American,” and ironically, artists’ political beliefs. With funding cuts looming, Secretary of State George C. Marshall canceled the tour, auctioning the paintings through the War Assets Administration. One national magazine predicted that no American institution would ever exhibit the paintings again.
They were wrong. Auburn bought her Advancing American Art paintings as war surplus at a discount, setting into motion the eventual 2003 establishment of the university’s Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art.
ADVANCING AMERICAN ART
A great representation of the mid-20th-century American art scene, including works by Romare Bearden, Arthur Dove, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe and Ben Shahn.
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Welcome to The Jule
The Jule is home to Auburn University’s impressive fine and decorative art collection, comprised of thousands of objects reflecting the importance and impact of creativity across centuries and the globe. The museum shares the visual arts through programming and conservation, especially engaging with students, faculty and communities throughout Alabama. Outdoor sculpture also activates extensive grounds. EXPLORE.
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EXPERIENCE. ENGAGE. @TheJuleMuseum
AUDUBON
A cornerstone of the museum’s holdings, this collection includes more than 100 hand-colored etchings by naturalist John James Audubon.
AMERICAN ART AND ARTISTS
The largest grouping in the museum collection, this category ranges from hand-colored etchings to photographs and silver jewelry to oil portraits. Artists represented include Thomas Hart Benton, Louise Nevelson, James Peale Sr., Robert Rauschenberg and William Spratling.
EUROPEAN
This subset contains works by such renowned figures as Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Francisco de Goya, Damien Hirst, Oscar De Mejo, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Berthe Morisot, Pablo Picasso and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
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ALABAMA ART AND ARTISTS
This grouping reflects the works of accomplished faculty and alumni of the oldest accredited art department in the South. Other art includes portrait and landscape photography, and works by artists ranging from Anne Goldthwaite to Roger Brown.
PRINTS AND DRAWINGS
These genres comprise nearly one-half of the entire art collection, including the significant Imprinting the South Collection. Etchings, pastels, serigraphs, woodcuts and more can be found by such artists as Emma Amos, Camille Billops, Warrington Colescott, Hugo Gellert and Clare Leighton.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Pictures by Andy Warhol comprise the largest segment of the photography collection. Portraits and landscapes by Diane Arbus, RaMell Ross, Jerry Siegel and Kathryn Tucker Windham and Beth Maynor Young contrast against Eliot Porter’s images of Iceland.
CERAMICS, POTTERY & GLASS
Alabama’s agrarian legacy is reflected in an extensive collection of earthenware, including face jugs, while modern ceramics and glassware invite you to explore compelling contemporary aesthetic qualities and themes. Artists represented range from Burlon Craig to Beth Lipman and from Joseph Clifford Rushton to Frank Fleming.
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ASIAN
This subset ranges from 17th and 18th-century Tibetan bronzes to colorful 19th-century woodcuts to contemporary ceramics. Artists include Jiha Moon, Yōshū Chikanobu and Masaomi Yasunaga. 11
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MEXICAN AND HISPANIC
Primarily mid-20th century, this sub-collection mainly reflects the struggling working class as well as antiestablishment messaging, though contemporary works by artists such as José Bedia Valdés and Gamaliel Rodríguez capture other themes. Other major figures include Graciela Iturbide, José Clemente Orozco, José Guadalupe Posada, Diego Rivera and Francsico Zúñiga.
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VISIONARY ART
Lonnie Holley, Bernice Sims, Mose Tolliver, Myrtice West and Mary Frances Whitfield are some of the artists represented in this genre. Their works reveal a depth of observation and understanding to elicit broad emotions of empathy, anger, puzzlement and joy.
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COLLECTION OBJECTS:
1. Yasuo Kuniyoshi (American, 1889 –1953), Circus Girl Resting , 1925, oil paint on canvas. Advancing American Art Collection.
2. Nahum Tschacbasov (American, 1899 –1984), Mother and Child , 1945, oil paint on masonite. Advancing American Art Collection.
3. Michael Sherrill (American, b. 1954), Rhododendron , ca. 1998, porcelain and steel. Museum purchase with funds provided by TenSeventyTwo - A Campaign for Collecting and Conserving Art.
4. John James Audubon (French American, b. Haiti, 1785 –1851), Hooping Crane , 1834, ink and watercolor paint on paper. The Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Collection.
5. Salvador Dalí (Spanish, 1904 –1989) , Argus , 1963, ink on paper. Gift of Bill L. Harbert, class of 1948.
6. Frank Fleming (American, 1940 –2018) , Serenade , 2013, bronze. Museum purchase with funds provided by Montgomery Auburn alumni and friends, and JCSM Art Society, Montgomery.
7. Camille Billops (American, b. 1939 ) , For Japanese with Mirrors , 1975, etching and aquatint. Museum purchase with funds provided by TenSeventyTwo - A Campaign for Collecting and Conserving Art.
8. Roger Brown (American, 1941 –1997) , Navy Pier , 1986, lithograph. Museum purchase and partial gift of the Brown family.
9. RaMell Ross (American, b. 1982), Typeface , 2021, archival pigment print. The Mamie Hardy Memorial Endowment.
10. Cicero Demosthenes Hudson (American, 1813 –1879), Single Loop Handle Syrup Jug , ca. 1850s –70s, stoneware. Museum purchase with funds provided by TenSeventyTwo - A Campaign for Collecting and Conserving Art, 2020.
11. Yōshū Chikanobu (Japanese, 1838 –1912), Snow, Moon, Flowers: Snow in Kashino , ink on paper. Gift of Lewis Taft Glenn.
12. Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886 –1957 ), Mercado de flores , 1930, lithograph, ink on paper. The Robert B. Ekelund Jr. and Mark Thornton Collection, in memory of Robert B. Ekelund.
13. Beth Lo (American, b. 1949), Yunomi , 2013, ceramic. Porter · Price Collection (Ronald C. Porter, '71).
14. Mose Tolliver (American, 1915 –2020), Untitled (Man in Car) , n.d., latex house paint. Gift of Micki Beth Stiller.
COVER: Mildred Thompson (American, 1935 –2003) , Advancing Impulses , 1987, oil on canvas. Museum Purchase with funds provided by the Gerald and Emily Leischuck Endowment for Museum Acquisitions.
