Jacksonville Museum Also Hosts J. Seward Johnson Exhibition

This Fall

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cummer Museum of Art &
 Gardens announces plans to open the new Thomas H. Jacobsen Gallery of American
 Art on November 15, 2005. The new 2,100 square-foot gallery will open with
 more than 80 works from the outstanding Thomas H. Jacobsen and Diane D.
 Jacobsen collection of American art.
     "Diane Jacobsen is a great supporter of The Cummer and we feel honored to
 open the new Jacobsen Gallery, and with such a high quality collection. This
 is a great opportunity to unite tradition with The Cummer's new vision of
 becoming a regional destination," said Museum Director Maarten van de Guchte.
     The new gallery launches The Cummer's Board of Trustee's expanded focus on
 American art. Masterworks in the inaugural exhibition of the Jacobsen
 collection include painters Jasper Cropsey, William Harnett, Theodore
 Robinson, Max Weber, Marsden Hartley and N.C. Wyeth and sculptors Randolph
 Rogers, Bessie Potter Vonnoh and Paul Manship.
     Diane Jacobsen's gift of funding for the gallery and gifts to the museum's
 art collection as well as funds to support acquisitions pay tribute to her
 husband Thomas H. Jacobsen, a leader in the commercial banking industry who
 passed away in 2002 of leukemia.
     Mr. Jacobsen was an executive, Vice Chairman and Director of Jacksonville-
 based Barnett Banks, Inc. before being appointed CEO of Mercantile Bancorp,
 St. Louis in 1989. As a result of several successful mergers he guided, he was
 named Chairman of Firstar and Chairman Emeritus of U.S. Bancorp. A widely
 respected figure on the national scene, Mr. Jacobsen served as President of
 the Federal Reserve Advisory Council, which advises the Chairman on monetary
 policy.
     The gallery space is designed by Jacksonville's award-winning Rink Design
 Partnership and formerly functioned as museum work-space. This is the first
 new gallery to be opened at The Cummer since 1992 and is located on the first
 floor and south of the Barnett Concourse. Diane D. Jacobsen resides in Ponte
 Vedra Beach and St. Louis.
     Additionally, this fall the Cummer hosts Beyond the Frame: Impressionism
 Revisited, The Sculptures of J. Seward Johnson. The exhibition is organized
 and circulated by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington. D.C.
     The show runs September 29, 2005 through January 8, 2006. It's the largest
 exhibition of J. Seward Johnson sculptures in Florida. These whimsical
 installations are life-scale, three-dimensional representations of some of the
 most famous paintings from French Impressionism. Viewers play an interactive
 role as they experience what it would be like to walk through renowned
 paintings by artists like Monet, Renoir, Manet and Van Gogh.
     After a lifetime as a painter, in 1968, J. Seward Johnson turned to
 sculpture. Since then, over 200 of Johnson's lifesize cast bronze figures have
 been featured in collections worldwide.
 
     For information, visit http://www.cummer.org.
 
      Contact:
      Liz Morgan, Liz Morgan PR
      904-388-1650, ext. 15
 
 

SOURCE  The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens