Jones Collection exhibition opens at Spelman College

7:25 p.m., Sept. 9, 2005--More than 200 faculty, students and community leaders attended the opening of “A Century of African American Art: Selections from the Paul R. Jones Collection” at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta Sept. 8.

The exhibit, which was organized and presented by the University of Delaware, features more than 60 paintings, prints, photographs and sculptures by well-known artists, including Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Betye Saar, James VanDerZee, Carrie Mae Weems and Hale Woodruff. It will be on view through Dec. 10.

“This year, Spelman College will celebrate its 125th anniversary, and we have declared the year 2005-06 the Year of the Arts at Spelman College. 'A Century of African American Art: Selections From The Paul R. Jones Collection'... [is] a wonderful way to kick off this exciting year,” Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College, said. “This is a meaningful exhibition for our students and for the city of Atlanta.&#

One of the oldest and most complete holdings of African-American art in the world, the Paul R. Jones Collection was donated by the Atlanta collector to UD in February 2001. One of the goals of the collection is that the art works be made available for scholarly research and be accessible, particularly to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In conjunction with the opening of the exhibit at Spelman, the two schools formalized an institutional partnership.

“We are certain that the time we are taking to grow this institutional partnership will have monumental rewards for both our institutions, and I am very pleased,” Tatum said.

At the exhibition opening, from left, UD President David P. Roselle, Paul R. Jones, Spelman President Beverly Daniel Tatum and Amalia Amaki, curator of the Paul R. Jones Collection.

Paul Jones, who received a standing ovation at the opening, said the exhibition represented a portion of a dream he has had for a long time: “To take art that I’ve collected throughout the years and see it as a common denominator, bringing people from all persuasions, all walks of life, together around something that they can enjoy, share and develop friendships.”

UD President David P. Roselle, who led a delegation from the University, said the period since UD received the Paul R. Jones Collection has been a very exciting and productive time, during which the collection has become better known and a source of pride for students and the University community.

Amalia Amaki, curator of the Paul R. Jones Collection, said the objects in the collection represent a wide range of visual expression and provide an opportunity for careful study of the interaction among works, individual images and the artists who created them, as well as the social and historical contexts that engendered them.

“The exhibition facilitates examinations of four issues in American art: portraiture and realism in relation to abstract expressionism, the implications of color, the role of narrative and the concept of multiple originals,” Amaki said. “In so doing, efforts are made to ‘de-race’ African-American art--not to strip the work of its idiomatic cultural footing, but rather to situate it within the larger picture of the nation’s history and cultural traditions. The eclectic selections allow viewers to self-examine while engaging the works presented.”

Ashley Poteat, a Spelman sophomore Spanish and pre-law major, said the exhibition was a great advantage for Spelman College students.

“We can now see a selection of works by artists that are usually left out,” Poteat said at the exhibition. “Now, we can not only learn about them, but we can look at them for ourselves. This is right up there with the best of them."

The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is the only museum in the nation that focuses on works by and about women of the African Diaspora. Since it was established in 1996, the museum has received awards from prestigious organizations including the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Fulton County Arts Council, the Institute of Museums and Library Services, the Museum Loan Network, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Peter Norton Family Foundation. In July, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution identified it as one of Atlanta’s “Fabulous Five Museums.”

Founded in 1881, Spelman College is the only historically Black college in the nation to be included on the 2005 U.S. News and World Report list of top 75 "Best Liberal Arts Colleges—Undergraduate." The private women's college boasts outstanding alumnae, including Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman; U.S. Foreign Service Director Ruth Davis; authors Tina McElroy Ansa and Pearl Cleage; and actress LaTanya Richardson. Each year, nearly one-third of Spelman students receive degrees in the sciences. The students number more than 2,186 and represent 43 states and 34 foreign countries.

For more information about Spelman College, visit [www.spelman.edu].

Article by Martin Mbugua
Photos by Wilford Harewood for Spelman College

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