Master Works by Kentucky Painters: 1819-1935
September 14 - November 30, 2008

PAUL SAWYIER American, 1865-1917 Young Kentucky Fisherman oil on canvas Gift of Hilary J. Boone, Jr.

More than a century of Kentucky’s artistic heritage are on view in this exhibition of portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and historical subjects by artists who lived or worked in Kentucky.

Museum visitors can experience Kentucky's natural beauty—from tranquil woodlands to riverside palisades—as seen through the eyes of artists such as Harvey Joiner, Paul Sawyier, John Thomas Bauscher, and Carl Christian Brenner.

Portraits in the exhibition range from 1820s oils by Matthew Jouett and Aaron Houghton Corwine to Patty Thum’s Lady of the Lilies and James Roy Hopkins’s Lady in Blue. Other featured artists include: Stephen Alke, Oliver Frazier, Hattie Hutchcraft Hill, Matthew Jouett, Magdalene Harvey McDowell, Paul Plaschke, Samuel Woodson Price, Dixie Selden, and Edward Troye.

Thirty years ago, the Art Museum hosted the first scholarly exhibition of Kentucky’s master painters. This new exhibition, guest curated by art historian and scholar Estill Curtis Pennington, brings to light three decades of new research, new scholarship, and newly discovered artwork.

Master Works by Kentucky Painters showcases paintings from private collections and public institutions as well as from the Art M;Museum's own holdings. Lenders to Kentucky Painters include Ashland: The Henry Clay House and Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington; the Hopewell Museum in Paris; the Brennan House, The Farmington Historic Home, the Filson Historical Society, Liberty Hall Historic Site and the Speed Museum of Art, in Louisville; and Morris Communications Corporation and the Morris Museum in Augusta, Georgia.

Jesta Bell: J.B. Armstrong Discovered will be on display as a pendant to this exhibition.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Friends of the Art Museum. Additional support has been provided by Anna Armstrong, the Gaines Center for the Humanities, Insight Communications, Jordan-Chiles Inc., Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau, and WUKY. Promotional partners include Blue Ribbon Hospitality, Bulleit Bourbon, Equus Run Vineyards, and Ruth Hunt Candy Co.

Several events have been planned around this exhibition including:
Art@Noon Lectures
"My Old Kentucky Home" Family Day
Looking Back: Kentucky Painters Lecture
by exhibition curator Estill Curtis Pennington.

PATTY PRATHER THUM (1853-1926) Lady of the Lilies c.1910, oil on canvas Collection of Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY Gift of Mrs. Hattie Bishop Speed.

THOMAS SATTERWHITE NOBLE Wisdom & Folly 1875, oil on canvas Gift of Mr. & Mrs. William W. Garretson