The Cummer Museum of Art Features Eugene Savage's Seminole Paintings

Written by Elizabeth Mulholland Wednesday, 19 October 2011 23:15

Jacksonville, Florida.- The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is pleased to present "Eugene Savage: The Seminole Paintings", on view through January 8th 2012. The exhibition features 42 paintings and watercolors inspired by Savage’s trips to the Everglades. As part of the Museum’s 50th Anniversary celebration, the works are being displayed publicly for the first time since the 1960s. The Cummer purchased the collection in 2007, after former trustee Samuel Vickers introduced Savage’s work to the Museum. Savage’s series is the most extensive painted record of the Florida Seminoles from the early twentieth century. He found a way to depict native culture as well as critique modern urban life. The natural rhythms of the Everglades are portrayed, which presents a vision of Seminole life. “While certainly not documentary in nature, Savage’s abstracted compositions evoke mystery and imagination,” said Keris. “I hope visitors will be enthralled by the work of Eugene Savage, and his magical recollections of the Seminoles and the Florida Everglades.”

Eugene Savage (1883-1978) began his artistic journey as a young boy. His mother encouraged him to draw, paint and take up music. When he was 18 years old, he moved to Chicago, where he attended art classes at The Chicago Art Institute and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In 1912, Savage won the competition for the Prix de Rome, a three-year fellowship in painting at the American Academy in Rome. “The Academy provided Savage with the occasion to refine his skills and master new techniques… [He] was particularly drawn to the linear strength of the early Renaissance artists, who would have a deep effect upon his early manner of painting,” said guest curator Dr. Elizabeth B. Heuer, Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of North Florida. When Savage returned to the United States after his graduation in 1915, he taught painting at Cooper Union in New York, and later on at other collegiate level schools. In 1924, Savage was elected to the National Academy of Design and also joined the faculty at Yale University, where he was named Dean of Fine Arts in 1931. He was later appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to serve on the Commission of Fine Arts, a position he held until 1941. Savage’s work attracted national praise. He mainly created murals for various public establishments and universities, such as the Butler Library at Columbia University in New York. In 1935, Savage and his wife, Mathilda, visited Florida for a winter vacation. Around this time there was an ongoing debate raging between environmentalists, who wanted total protection of the Everglades, and advocates who defended Seminole culture. The Seminole Indians and their plight intrigued Savage. In his work, he used bold colors with shifting perspectives and rhythmic lines and patterns to create stylized scenes that conveyed the simplicity of the Seminoles’ lives. Savage continued to visit south Florida over the next two decades of his life, surveying the Seminoles and their lives. “The romanticized depictions of the Seminoles and the Everglades that Savage created over the next 20 years hauntingly convey the conflict between urban and native culture,” said Keris.


While many of his works depict the Seminoles’ struggles, part of his series portrays them living in an Edenic paradise, free from the contamination of modern society. "South Moon Under" (1935) depicts a Seminole woman standing in a canoe on a peaceful lake that reflects the full moon. According to folklore, the moon has the power to control nature. This work conveys the idea that the Seminoles lived in balance and harmony with the natural world. In "Orchid Hunter" (1935), a Seminole man and woman are shown. The woman is collecting orchid buds, but leaves the plant intact so that it may continue to bloom in the future. The man is poling a canoe that is deliberately filled with only a small amount of game and fruit. Savage is showing their respect for natural resources and stresses their connection with the land. In his work, Savage found a new way to express himself."

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, built on the site of the home of Arthur and Ninah Cummer, opened its doors November 10, 1961. From Ninah Cummer's relatively small collection of sixty pieces that launched the museum, The Cummer's permanent collection has grown to over six thousand works of art encompassing eight thousand years of art history. This enormous growth was accomplished through the generosity of numerous patrons whose gifts of art ranged from single pieces to entire collections. Other notable acquisitions were purchased with endowments established for that purpose by benefactors and The Cummer Council. Particularly noteworthy additions are the Wark Collection of early Meissen porcelain, the Dennis C. Hayes Collection of Japanese woodblock prints, and the Eugène Louis Charvot Collection of nineteenth-century prints and paintings. Fifty years after its dedication, The Cummer has embarked on a renewed mission to “engage and inspire through the arts, gardens and education.” To mark the milestone, a restored Tudor Room will be unveiled at the Museum, along with core pieces from Mrs. Cummer’s original collection, and the reinstallation of The Wark Collection of Early Meissen Porcelain. In addition, The Cummer Gardens will receive unprecedented attention through new initiatives – including the eventual restoration of the historic Olmsted Garden – and the celebration of its recent listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.cummer.org

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