Time is running out to see the traveling exhibition “American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection.” On display at the San Antonio Museum of Art’s Cowden Gallery through Jan. 7, the exhibition stands out in its effort to highlight historically underrepresented voices.
Originally organized by the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, “American Made” is a sampling of U.S. art from the private collection of Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen. It features more than 100 works from nearly as many artists and spans some 250 years.
Because of its emphasis on showcasing underrepresented voices, it brings together seemingly disparate works. That means viewers will see pieces displayed together that normally wouldn’t be featured in the same room.
“Our sightlines are predominantly built around female artists as well as artist of color as well as representations of females and artist of color,” exhibition curator Regina Palm during the press preview of the exhibition. “And from those sightlines, we have built the exhibition out. So we have juxtopositions of historical works of art with modern works of art.”
The exhibition is made especially timely by the nation’s rapidly changing demographics and as women and other minority groups continue the fight to ensure their civil rights are respected.
“For us at SAMA, it’s about more than the artist who created these works,” Palm explained. “‘American Made’ … it’s complex, that phrase.”
The exhibition asks questions including:
- What does it mean to be American made?
- What does it mean to be American?
- What does that look like?
- Who gets to represent it?
- Who doesn’t?
- Who gets to decide?
“This exhibition does not have the answer to those questions,” Palm said. “But what this exhibitionist is is a platform and space where we begin to rethink our own American collection and how to display it within the gallery.”
Dignity and representation
As viewers enter the gallery, they’re greeted by a powerful painting by artist and civil rights activist Robert Gwathmey of Black sharecroppers. The image emphasizes the strength of field workers in the 1950s while depicting the dignity of work.
“As much as our country was founded by our so-called forefathers, the pilgrims, by the colonists, the great industrialists who indeed built this country, it was also built on the backs of slaves and immigrants, the latter of which is very much true today,” Palm said. “So, that is the tone we are setting with this exhibition.”
Collector Diane DeMell Jacobsen, who was also at the press preview, echoed Palm’s sentiments. An interest in making publicly accessible art more inclusive drove her to add a striking 1913 Robert Henri portrait of an Asian American girl to the exhibition.
“I have a niece who was adopted from Korea, and I would take her to museums,” DeMell Jacobsen said. “She looked at all the portraits in the museum, she took my hand and said, ‘Aunt Diane, how come nobody here looks like me?’ And I said, ‘This is wrong!’ We need to represent all Americans. We should have Asian Americans, indigenous peoples, people with Spanish backgrounds. We need to represent them all.”
Beyond the diversity of representation, the exhibition offers a diversity of styles, from painted portraits to bronze sculptures.
One area of the exhibition, which Palm playfully refers to as “the corner of deception” features Trompe l’œil works, or two-dimensional paintings designed to fool viewer into believing they’re three dimensional. An opposing corner, referred to as “the corner of contemplation,” is densely arrayed with portraits and still life paintings. It offers a sitting area for viewers.
One of the shows highlights is The Arch of Nero by landscape artist Thomas Cole. Painted in 1846, the painting depicts the remnants of a Roman aqueduct. While capturing the peace and beauty of the Italian landscape, the image also is fraught with political meaning.
Cole painted the work in 1846, when the U.S. entered the Mexican-American War. The ruins of the aqueduct are meant to remind viewers of the Roman Empire, which fell into imperial decadence during the reign of Nero. By dressing small figures near the painting’s base in red, white and blue, Cole draws parallels with the United States and calls upon the nation to live up to its promises and ideals.
Another highlight is a portrait of Martha Washington by artist Rembrandt Peale. The pairing is a rare opportunity for visitors to view the nation’s original first lady with equal reverence to her husband. DeMell Jacobsen tried for years to obtain a portrait of the historical figure and almost gave up before bidding on Peale’s work at auction.
“I learned that he had only painted nine or 10 portraits of Martha while he had painted hundreds of George,” she said.
DeMell Jacobsen said seeing the exhibition has been a joyful and overwhelming experience after having recently restored and reframed many of its works.
“This exhibit has been to three other museums, and this is the most inventive, beautiful and coordinated display that I’ve seen,” she added. “The work of the entire staff here at SAMA, they have done something very special, the way they did the juxtapositions, the way they did the groupings. I’ve never seen it done like this before. It’s extraordinary.”
American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, on view through Jan. 7, 2023, San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones Ave., (210) 978-8100, samuseum.org.
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This article appears in Dec 13-26, 2023.