American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection

October 14 - January 07,2023

From the San Antonio Museum of Art:

"The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) is pleased to announce that it will present American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection, an exhibition featuring more than a hundred artworks depicting the American experience in striking landscapes, Colonial-era portraits, still lifes, impressionist paintings, abstractions, and bronze sculptures. Organized by The Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee, the exhibition will open on Oct. 14, 2023, and run through Jan. 7, 2024. American Made spans over 250 years of American art and features exemplary works by renowned artists, including Baby Charles Looking Over His Mother’s Shoulder (No.3) by Mary Cassatt, An American Landscape by Luigi Lucioni, Elsie Wagg by John Singer Sargent, Chow Choy by Robert Henri, Seated Woman by Elizabeth Catlett, and Paris le Soir by Loïs Mailou Jones. “This assemblage of art is a study collection from which future generations will, hopefully, learn and grow to revere our rich American cultural heritage,” said Diane DeMell Jacobsen, PhD. As a collector, Diane DeMell Jacobsen recognizes that, historically, collections of American art have represented one story posited as the “American story”—a story that is part of our history but is one voice in a vast sea of voices. American Made demonstrates not only the ways in which American art has changed stylistically but also how the face of American art has changed—literally and figuratively. Though many objects from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection have been on view at museums around the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, American Made is the first exhibition to bring together highlights of this extensive private collection. “As the history of American art continues to be written and rewritten, American Made gives us the opportunity to not only celebrate the ingenuity and creativity of American artists spanning more than two centuries, but it also allows us an opportunity to rethink the history of American art and, fundamentally, who we are as Americans,” said Regina Palm, Marie and Hugh Halff, Jr. Curatorial Fellow for American Art, the Museum’s in-house curator for the exhibition. The artworks in American Made are organized based on their individual significance rather than in chronological order. This creates an intriguing interplay between historical paintings and modern works of art designed to ignite conversations and stimulate curiosity among visitors. "We are thrilled to present American Made at SAMA,” said Emily Ballew Neff, PhD, The Kelso Director at SAMA.” “Dr. Jacobson has accomplished a bold, challenging, and generous thing to do as a private citizen and collector: gather together a dynamic collection covering two centuries of American artmaking at the highest level of quality and share it with the public to stimulate interest in American artists and our shared heritage, and prompt conversations about our very nationhood and the role of art and artists within it.” Accompanying the show is a catalogue principally authored by Elizabeth Heuer, PhD, with contributions from other leading scholars, edited by The Mint’s Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, and published by D. Giles Ltd. Following its run at SAMA, the exhibition will travel to the Huntsville Museum of Art in Alabama. American Made was curated by Todd Herman, PhD, President and CEO of The Mint Museum; Kevin Sharp, Director of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; and Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, Senior Curator of American Art at The Mint Museum; with contributions by William Keyse Rudolph, PhD, Deputy Director, Curatorial Affairs at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Photography for the catalogue, American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection, has been generously supported by the Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992.

The national tour of American Made is made possible by Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle, Heather James Fine Art, Schoelkopf Gallery, Sotheby’s, and U.S. Private Wealth Management, U.S. Bank.

In San Antonio, the exhibition has been generously supported by The Brown Foundation and the Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992.

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About San Antonio Museum of Art The San Antonio Museum of Art serves as a forum to explore and connect with art that spans the world’s geographies, artistic periods, genres, and cultures. Its collection contains nearly 30,000 works representing 5,000 years of history. Housed in the historic Lone Star Brewery on the Museum Reach of San Antonio’s River Walk, the San Antonio Museum of Art is committed to promoting the rich cultural heritage and life of the city.

The Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation The Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation is dedicated to preserving and exhibiting American art by carefully researching and obtaining American masterpieces, providing restoration, if necessary, and facilitating long-term loans to accredited major museums and traveling exhibitions. Created in 2011 as a 501(c)3 private operating foundation, the Foundation educates and stimulates creativity and teaches viewers about our nation’s rich artistic heritage with the goal of celebrating American art. Visitor Information: American Made is included with Museum admission. There is a $5 special exhibition surcharge during Bexar County Free Hours. "

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