Zita Marks Templeman, an artist, collector and benefactor, shared her home and extensive art collection with a wide circle of friends. Today, her bequest of 124 pictures to the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) allows more art lovers to appreciate her treasures in her collection.
NOMA is exhibiting a selection from her gift in “Home Is Where The Art Is: Zita Marks Templeman (1918′005) Artist, Collector, Benefactor,” on view through January 6 in the museum galleries on the second floor that bear her name to honor and remember this erstwhile fellow of NOMA.
As both an artist and collector, Templeman’s commitment to art never wavered. An artist’s eye was evident in the eclectic décor of her house; pictures in her home were hung edge to edge from floor to ceiling, and her taste in dress as much as in the collection she assembled.
When she emerged from her studio she found herself in the company of Manet, Degas, Whistler, Morisot and Renoir, not to mention works of art by her contemporaries like Ida Kohlmeyer, her friend and teacher.
“I hope this exhibition will encourage people to collect art,” said George Roland, curator of prints and drawings for NOMA.
“The exhibition is not intimidating, it’s welcoming. Visitors will look at the exhibition and realize that this is what you can do when you collect art for your home.”
Never assembled from a planned agenda, the Templeman collection is as spontaneous as its namesake. Works spanning the previous two centuries †some by great masters, some by contemporary stars and some by the yet-undiscovered †caught her attention. The only common thread being her love of the human figure, the subject of almost every image.
The museum is at 1 Collins Diboll Circle, City Park. For information, www.noma.org or 504-658-4100.
