New Exhibition at Auburn University Museum Explores Prints by Edvard Munch

Written by Patricia Berman Wednesday, 23 May 2012 20:46

AUBURN, AL.- The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art (JCSM) at Auburn University presents a new exhibition, Prints by Edvard Munch, on view from Feb. 5–April 30 in the Noel and Kathryn Dickinson Wadsworth Gallery. Edvard Munch, a Norwegian artist who lived from 1863 to 1944 is world renowned for his evocative depictions of universal human emotions and experiences––love, attraction, separation and death. His widely reproduced painting, "The Scream", captures in expressive brushwork the anxious psyche of modern man, overwhelmed by his perceptions of a cruel or indifferent world. Art changes lives. Our mandate within the larger mission of Auburn University is to preserve, enhance, research and interpret the collections entrusted to us. Through the presentation of compelling exhibitions and programming to our diverse audiences, we foster the transformative power of art.

Equally adept in printmaking as in paint, Munch exploited the directness of graphic media to intensify his artistic statements. Munch frequently reworked themes he explored in prior paintings and prints, simplifying forms almost to the point of abstraction and distilling his narrative to pure symbolism. His prints are often unique impressions, as Munch altered his inking from one sheet to the next in search of varied emotive possibilities from the same matrix.

JCSM presents a selection of Munch’s graphic work, a very rare occurrence throughout this region, made possible through a generous loan of prints from a collector whose granddaughter is a student at Auburn University. Those works are augmented by prints from the Epstein Family Collection, one of the most important collections of Munch’s graphic art and a major lender to the Munch print exhibition recently on view at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Included in the JCSM exhibition are some of the artist’s most haunting images: The Kiss , The Dead Mother and Her Child and Melancholy III.




Frank Applebee, Chair of the School of Art and Architecture, in 1948 arranged for the purchase of 36 paintings for $1,072 from a government auction. This formed the core of what was hoped to be a Museum collection.  These paintings offer an extraordinary representation of the American art scene with works by such artists as Ralston Crawford, Ben Shahn, Georgia O'Keeffe, John Marin, Jacob Lawrence, Arthur Dove and Romare Bearden. Though funding for the museum was not forthcoming there were those who held fast to the idea.

JCSM is open to the public: October 3, 2003 . . Location: Auburn University, Alabama  
Architects: Gresham, Smith and Partners of Birmingham, Alabama 
Landscape Architects: Nimrod Long and Associates of Birmingham, Alabama

A 40,000 square-foot modern building with a travertine stone exterior.  The main level incorporates a lobby, office suite, seven exhibition galleries, a museum shop, a café, an auditorium, and a terrace overlooking the lake. The lower level accommodates a vault system, a carpentry shop and staff and security offices. Approximately 15 acres of botanical gardens featuring large-scale sculpture, a three-acre lake, and a landscape that incorporates walking paths, benches and water features.

Programming related to this exhibition will include a talk by Munch scholar Patricia Gray Berman on February 24 at 4 pm in the JCSM auditorium and An Evening with Munch: Auburn University Departments of Music and Theatre which features an evening of music and theatrical performance on April 21 at 5pm. Visit : http://jcsm.auburn.edu/index.php#nogo

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