The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma is announcing plans for a retrospective exhibition of works by Oscar Brousse Jacobson to commemorate the centennial of his appointment at the university. Scheduled for 2015, the retrospective will be the most comprehensive exhibition of his work and career to date. To make the exhibition and catalog as complete as possible, the museum is asking the public for help tracking down works by Jacobson currently in private hands.
Jacobson joined OU in 1915 as the only member of the art faculty, but eventually oversaw the dramatic expansion of the School of Art and the creation of an art museum in 1936 that would eventually become the FJJMA.
He became a passionate supporter of the visual arts in the Southwest and an enthusiastic promoter of Native American fine art. Jacobson also was a prolific artist and created in excess of 600 works of art over his career.
Although Jacobson was unquestionably important to the visual arts in this region, there has been little scholarly study of his career. In order to document Jacobson’s long career effectively, the FJJMA is creating a database to catalog Jacobson’s output. This catalogue raisonné will provide an invaluable research tool for future scholars. The project will be spearheaded by Mark White, the Eugene B. Adkins and Chief Curator at the FJJMA.
“Jacobson was fairly successful selling his work during his lifetime, but many of those pieces remain in private hands,” White said. “We’re hoping that the catalogue raisonné and this call for Jacobson pieces will help us to locate many of the important works that are not in public museums. Including those paintings in the exhibition and accompanying catalog will contribute significantly to the study of Jacobson’s career.”
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Contact Mark White, Eugene B. Adkins and Chief Curator, at maw@ou.edu or (405) 325-3450 if you have any works or other information.
