HUNTSVILLE, ALA. – The rich tapestry of the South is the focus of an exhibition at the Huntsville Museum of Art. The Farmer/James Collection of Southern Art (1850-1950) will highlight the people and places of the region during the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. This exhibition includes 50 works including portraits, still lifes and landscapes from the private collection of Drs Nancy Farmer and Everette James of Chapel Hill, N.C. The show will run through October 12.
“The paintings, pastels and drawings in this collection are skillfully executed in a range of naturalistic and impressionistic styles that capture the rich diversity of the people and land of the Southern United States,” assistant curator Colin Thompson said.
Thompson and museum staff have been coordinating this exhibition over the past two years. “Viewers to the exhibition will discover some well-known artists like Childe Hassam and George Inness, Sr, as well as a local favorite, Maria Howard Weeden.”
James is an honors graduate of the University of North Carolina and Duke Medical School. He trained in radiology at Harvard and was a postdoctoral student and a fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
In addition, James has collected American art for more than three decades, has been a guest curator for nine exhibitions, served on several art boards and was the founder and cover editor of the International Journal of Art in Medicine. He and his wife, Nancy J. Farmer, have given a number of artworks to museums, universities and colleges, as well as charitable institutions. Southern artists and women artists, in particular, remain a special interest to the couple.
Farmer received three degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been an educator at all levels, including working as a counselor, a teacher, a principal and an associate superintendent of school districts. She also taught in Europe for several years. While there, she would visit galleries on weekends and began collecting English watercolors.
The exhibition is organized by the Huntsville Museum of Art with help from Betsy and Peter Lowe.
The museum is also featuring “Picasso: 25 Years of Edition Ceramics,” which runs through June 22.
General admission for nonmembers will be $8. Museum members and children under 12 will be admitted free. The Huntsville Museum of Art, 300 Church Street South in Big Spring International Park, is open 1 to 5 pm, Sunday; 10 am to 5 pm, Monday through Saturday with extended hours on Thursday from 5 to 8 pm. For information, call 256-535-4350 or 1-800-786-9095, or visit www.hsvmuseum.org.
