ATHENS, GA - Everett Gee Jackson/San Diego Modern, 1920–1955 will be on display from July 19 to September 28, 2008, at the Georgia Museum of Art. Organized by the San Diego Museum of Art, this traveling exhibition recognizes and commends the work of noted artist, educator and illustrator Everett Gee Jackson and serves as a re-introduction to modernism in American art. This major retrospective features more than 50 images that span Jackson’s most significant and productive years as an artist.

"The Georgia Museum of Art is interested in the connections among artists, and there are parallels between the works by Everett Gee Jackson and those by artists such as Jean Charlot in our collection. Jackson uses social realism and shows the artistic interest in everyday subject matter," said Paul Manoguerra, curator of American art at the Georgia Museum of Art.

Born in 1900 in Mexia, Texas, Jackson showed strong interest in the Southwest early in his career through his use of earth tones and color choices. As one of the first American artists to visit Mexico after its social and cultural revolution, Jackson was heavily influenced by Mexican painters Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. His stylized form and Mexican motifs form the basis of his modernist style. A gifted artist and popular teacher, Jackson’s legacy in San Diego parallels the long-lasting impact of Lamar Dodd in Georgia.

As a young man in his twenties, Jackson was one of the first Americans to visit Mexico after the country’s prolonged social and cultural revolution. While there, he became influenced by artists such as Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, as well as the Mexican Mural movement. As a result, stylized forms and Mexican motifs became dominant in Jackson’s work, and his new artistic inclination towards realism began to form the basis of his modernist style.

A gifted artist and popular teacher, Jackson’s legacy in San Diego was pervasive in his own day and has had long-lasting impact. As one of the founding artists of the Contemporary Artists of San Diego, the region’s first professional artists’ organization, created in 1929, he staked out a course for vanguard art making in the region. Jackson also taught renowned conceptual artist John Baldessari and founded SDMA’s Latin American Arts Committee.

This major retrospective organized by SDMA presents the work of Everett Gee Jackson, San Diego’s most important Modernist artist.

This exhibition is generously sponsored by YellowBook USA, the Fort Foundation Trustee Fund of the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley, the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.

Georgia Museum of Art Information

Partial support for the exhibitions and programs at the Georgia Museum of Art is provided by the Georgia Council for the Arts through appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. The Council is a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Individuals, foundations and corporations provide additional museum support through their gifts to the Arch Foundation and the University of Georgia foundation. The Georgia Museum of Art is located in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex on the East Campus of the University of Georgia. The address is 90 Carlton Street, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 30602. Hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m., Sunday from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. and closed Mondays.

Visit our web site at www.uga.edu/gamuseum  or call 706.542.GMOA (4662)