Current Exhibitions

The Creative Eye: Selections from the Carol Beesley Collection of Photographs, in Honor of Michael Hennagin

Feb 2, 2010 – May 9, 2010

In November 2009, the museum unveiled an exhibition of photographs from former OU painting faculty member Carol Beesley’s 30-year collection. The exhibition continues with a new selection of works from Beesley’s recent gift to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. The collection is a significant addition to the museum’s photography holdings and includes work by many of the most important figures in the history of modern photography. The continued exhibition features artists such as Alma Levenson, Alan Ross and Julie Graber, as well as work by well- known contemporary artists Andrew Strout, Robert Dawson and John Pfahl. Beesley’s role as a mentor and supporter of the studio program and the university is reflected by the inclusion of photographs by several former students and faculty members as well. Beesley’s collection is given in honor of her late husband Michael Hennagin, who taught music composition at OU for 20 years.

Click here to read more about the Creative Eye exhibition.

Revisiting the New Deal: Government Patronage and the Fine Arts, 1933-1943

Feb 6, 2010 - May 11, 2010
(Opening reception: Friday, February 5; 7-9 pm)

During the Great Depression, the administration of FranklinD.Roosevelt offered a New Deal to the American people to help alleviatethe economic turmoil of the 1930s. The federal government extendedeconomic relief and economic opportunity to American artists under itsvarious programs: the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP, 1933-34); theTreasury Department’s Section of Fine Arts (1934-43); the TreasuryRelief Art Project (TRAP, 1935-39); and the Federal Art Project(FAP,1935-43).Artists produced thousands of easel paintings, prints,and posters,much of which was dispersed to museums and culturalinstitutions in the1940s. The art museum at the University of Oklahomareceived a sizeable number of works of art under the efforts of OscarB. Jacobson, who had acted as a supervisor for TRAP in 1935.

This exhibition surveys the large collection of painting, sculpture and prints that the museum acquired between 1935-43.