The Creative Eye: 

Selections from the Carol Beesley Collection of Photographs, in Honor of Michael Hennagin

Nov 7, 2009 – Jan 3, 2010
(Opening reception: Friday, November 6; 7-9 pm)

This exhibition features photographs from former OU painting faculty member Carol Beesley’s 30-year collection. A recent gift to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, the collection is a significant addition to the museum’s photography holdings. It includes work by many of the most important figures in the history of modern photography such as Edward Weston, Frederick Sommer, Laura Gilpin and Paul Camponigro, as well as work by well-known contemporary artists William Wegman, Sally Mann and Jerry Uelsmann. 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. A guest lecture by Jon Burris, executive director of Untitled Art Space in Oklahoma City, will accompany this exhibition’s opening Nov. 6 at 6 pm.

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 Franklin D. Roosevelt offered a New Deal to the American people to help alleviate the economic turmoil of the 1930s. The federal government extended economic relief and economic opportunity to American artists under its various programs: the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP, 1933-34); the Treasury Department’s Section of Fine Arts (1934-43); the Treasury Relief 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 cultural institutions in the 1940s. The art museum at the University of Oklahoma received a sizeable number of works of art under the efforts of Oscar B. 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.