Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC, Offers Lecture on Artist Robert S. Duncanson – Nov. 18, 2014

The Columbia Museum of Art, in Columbia, SC, and Friends of African American Art and Culture (FAAAC) present a special lecture, “Robert S. Duncanson: 19th-Century African-American Master,” by CMA Chief Curator Will South in the Museum’s Lorick Auditorium on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014, at 6pm. The lecture, sponsored by the CMA membership affiliate FAAAC, is presented in celebration of the Museum’s recent gift of Duncanson’s oil painting, “Landscape with Fantastic Architecture”. After the lecture, attendees will be the first to view the painting on display.

Robert S. Duncanson (American, 1821-1872), “Landscape with Fantastic Architecture,” n.d. oil on canvas, 9 x 14 1/16 in.

The CMA has a long-standing commitment to collecting and exhibiting African-American art, and this beautiful addition to the collection enhances the CMA’s opportunity to present and interpret the history of art in America.

“Duncanson was described during his life as the ‘greatest landscape painter in the West,'” says South. “In recent decades, he has been rediscovered as an artist of exceptional talent who painted some of the most important murals in America prior to the Civil War, but faded into obscurity after his death. Landscape with Fantastic Architecture is a small, but jewel-like, example of the artist’s skill and vision. In it, he creates a visually pristine and ideal world, a view typical of the Hudson River School.”

Duncanson was an artist who worked to excel as a painter, a career normally not available to African-Americans in the 19th century. Despite formidable challenges, he made himself into an artist and forged a place in history as one of the finest painters of the period.

The painting is given in honor of Karen Brosius in recognition of her first decade as director of the Columbia Museum of Art by Kay and John Bachmann, Melissa and Joe Blanchard, Susan and Darnall Boyd, Suzan D. Boyd and M. Edward Sellers, Susie B. and C. Carroll Heyward, Hannah and Ron Rogers, Kit and Joel Smith, Susan Thorpe and John Baynes, and Joann and Claude Walker.

“I love being at the CMA,” says Brosius. “The past ten years have been a tremendous experience to see the Museum grow in such a positive direction. This is truly a great honor, and I am deeply grateful to the generous donors that made this gift possible and to all the museum members and supporters who make the CMA such an important institution.”

“The donors felt that a painting by Robert Scott Duncanson was a special way not only to celebrate Karen’s decade as our director,” says Kay Bachmann, CMA board of trustees member and gift donor, “but also to memorialize Karen’s and CMA’s commitment to including important African-American artists in our collection. We are delighted that it will be first introduced into the collection at a special event for the FAAAC.”

Lecture at 6pm followed by light refreshments in the lobby. Free.

Robert Scott Duncanson was born circa 1821 in New York’s Finger Lakes region in Fayette, NY, into a family of free African-Americans. His early artistic training is unknown, but by the early 1840s he was exhibiting his work in the Cincinnati, OH, area. In 1853, he traveled to Glasgow, Scotland, with the help of the Freedman’s Aid Society of Ohio, to study painting and began painting portraits of prominent white abolitionists from Detroit and Cincinnati upon his return a year later. Duncanson gained international recognition for his landscape paintings, which were influenced by the painters of the Hudson River School. He traveled extensively depicting numerous landscape scenes throughout North Carolina, Pennsylvania, England, Canada, and Scotland. In 1863, he again left for Europe to escape the turmoil of the Civil War. Four years later, he returned, continuing his work in landscapes with much success. He died in 1872.

For further information call the Museum at 803/799-2810 or visit (www.columbiamuseum.org).

Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC, Implements Renewable Energy Project

The Columbia Museum of Art, located on Main Street in downtown Columbia, SC, implemented a renewable energy project using a recently installed solar panel array on the roof of its building which is reducing the amount of energy the museum has to purchase. The Museum received a $213,500 grant from the Budget and Control Board’s South Carolina Energy Office to fund the 177 solar panels, special installation equipment, 6 electrical inverters and a web based monitoring system. A special educational webpage at (www.columbiamuseum.org) provides visitors with fun facts, live readings of energy saved, photos and interactive games for kids.

The Solar Panels will:
PRODUCE 10-20% of the Museum’s daily usage
OFFSET 40 tons of carbon every year
SAVE 379 trees per year
GENERATE 53,340 kilowatts per hour

“The South Carolina Energy Office is very excited to be a part of such a great project,” Ashlie Lancaster, director of the energy office, said. “This project demonstrates the value of using solar in a facility that has a lot of visitors. We are glad the Columbia Museum of Art is using this opportunity as an educational tool for the public as well as creating a source for clean energy.”

This scalable project fosters market penetration of renewable energy technology by promoting the benefits of solar power production. As a downtown anchor, the Museum endorses a cleaner, healthier environment by utilizing a renewable resource to reduce and displace its traditional electricity consumption. This is the only solar project of this size in the city of Columbia.

“We are thrilled to be making technological advances that are greatly impacting our environment in a positive way. Additionally, this project allows us to reduce our utility costs and to redirect those resources toward programs that advance our educational mission,” Museum executive director, Karen Brosius, said.

The South Carolina Energy Office (SCEO) provides a broad range of resources designed to help citizens, businesses and public entities save energy and money. In recent years, the SCEO has helped save South Carolina over $250 million through public and private energy-saving measures and new energy technologies. The SCEO is a unit of the South Carolina Budget and Control Board. Additional information can be found at (www.energy.sc.gov). These projects are funded through a grant from the Department of Energy under Award Number(s) DE-EE0000158.

The Columbia Museum of Art is South Carolina’s premier international art museum and houses a world-class collection of European and American art. Founded in 1950, the Museum opened its new building on Main Street in 1998 with 25 galleries. The collection includes masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, porcelain and works by significant furniture and silver makers, as well as American, Asian, and modern and contemporary art. In recent years the Museum’s collection of Asian art and Antiquities has grown through generous gifts to the collection. Of particular interest are Sandro Botticelli’s Nativity, Claude Monet’s The Seine at Giverny, Canaletto’s View of the Molo, and art glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The Museum’s newly commissioned Chihuly chandelier is now on view in the Museum’s David Wallace Robinson, Jr. Atrium. The Museum offers changing exhibitions from renowned museums as well as educational programs for all ages that include art classes, art camps, lectures, films and concerts. It is the recipient of a National Art Education Association award for its contributions to arts education and an Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award for the Arts for outstanding contributions to the arts in South Carolina. Generous support to the Museum is provided by the City of Columbia, Richland County, the South Carolina Arts Commission and the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties.

For further information call the Museum at 803/799-2810 or visit (www.columbiamuseum.org).