Categories
Current Exhibitions

Under the Spell of the Palm Tree: The Rice Collection of Cuban Art

On view February 6, 2025, through July 6, 2025

Manuel Mendive (Cuban, b. 1944)
Alimenta a mi gallo y se alimenta mi espíritu (Feed My
Rooster and Feed My Spirit), 1998
Oil in canvas
Framed: 80 x 60 x 3 inches
The Rice Collection
Manuel Mendive (Cuban, b. 1944)
Alimenta a mi gallo y se alimenta mi espíritu (Feed My
Rooster and Feed My Spirit)
, 1998
Oil in canvas
Framed: 80 x 60 x 3 inches
The Rice Collection
Wilfredo Lam (Cuban, 1902 – 1982)
Untitled, 1973
Oil on canvas
Framed: 36 x 32 ½ x 3 inches
The Rice Collection
Wilfredo Lam (Cuban, 1902 – 1982)
Untitled, 1973
Oil on canvas
Framed: 36 x 32 ½ x 3 inches
The Rice Collection
José Bedia (Cuban, b. 1959)
Más de lo mismo y uno de necio (More of the Same and
One of the Foolishness), 2000
Ink, conte crayon, white chalk, and pastel on amate paper
Framed: 50 x 97 x 4 inches
The Rice Collection
José Bedia (Cuban, b. 1959)
Más de lo mismo y uno de necio (More of the Same and
One of the Foolishness)
, 2000
Ink, conte crayon, white chalk, and pastel on amate paper
Framed: 50 x 97 x 4 inches
The Rice Collection

When it comes to art, the Rice Family’s first visit to Cuba in 2013 was as memorable as it was pivotal to their vocation as collectors. Cuban art became a gateway to embrace the heart and mind of a fascinating culture and its people. Collecting was no longer a hobby, but a passion, and over time the Rices would fall completely “under the spell” of Cuban art. For a decade, Susie and Mitchell’s Cuban Art Collection has been growing consistently in scope and quality, now treasuring the works of more than seventy artists from different generations and aesthetics.

The exhibition deviates from a traditional historical narrative and is presented as a compass rather than a timeline―a map for a journey through the varying themes, genres, and styles that align with the sensibilities of two generations of collectors in the Rice family. This first of six sections, The Language of Forms and the Forms of Language includes early works that demonstrate an affinity for abstraction among some Cuban pioneers of modernism in the late 1940s. The works in The Prophet’s Dream delineate both political and social awareness and the critical communal identity present in Cuban art through generations subsequent to the Cuban Revolution of 1959.

Cuba is described as an island-nation, a term that refers not only to its physical and geographic properties―the cluster of islands, islets and keys that form the biggest archipelago in the Antilles―but also the people who inhabit it. The works in The Great Journey: Archives express the trauma of national exile and the artists’ relationship to Cuba. The section Sensory Landscapes of Memory and Desire delineates the more hedonistic and whimsical imagery that percolates through Cuban contemporary art. These works exude eroticism, playfulness, intimate longings, and explorations into the depths of memory.

The Musings of Narcissus: Through the Looking Glass and What the Artist Found There, the fifth thematic section, examines a range of self-referential works of art and offers a glimpse into the process and philosophy of Cuban artists exploring self-representation and the body. Lastly, The Spirit of the Real, the Reality of the Spirit presents work born of the artists’ spiritual experiences. In most of the works in this section, mythological and symbolic elements from African-Cuban religions underlie or are at the foreground of both the narrative and the visual structure of the artworks.

Under the Spell of the Palm Tree: The Rice Collection of Cuban Art features the work of:

Abel Barroso
Adrián Fernandez
Alberto Lago
Alex Hernández
Alexi Torres
Alfredo Sosabravo
Ángel Ramírez & Jacqueline Maggi
Antonio Vidal
Belkis Ayón
Carlos Enríquez
Carlos Garaicoa
Cundo Bermúdez
Duo Ponjuán (René Francisco & Eduardo Ponjuán)

Emilio Sánchez
Enrique Riverón
Ernesto Javier Fernández
Ernesto Leal
Esterio Segura
Frank Mujica
Glenda León
Inti Hernández
Iván Capote
Jesús Hernández-Güero
Jorge Lavoy
José Alberto Figueroa
José Ángel Toirac
José Ángel Vincench

José Bedia
José Rosabal
Juan Roberto Diago Querol
Kádir López
Lázaro Saavedra
Liset Castillo
Mabel Poblet
Manuel Mendive
Marco Castillo
Mario Carreño
Pedro de Oraá
Pedro Pablo Oliva
Rafael Soriano

René Francisco Rodríguez
Rene Portocarrero
Reynier Leyva Novo (Chino Novo)
Ricardo Miguel Hernández
Roberto Diago
Roberto Fabelo
Salvador Corratgé
Sandra Ramos
Tania Bruguera
Tomás Sánchez
Waldo Díaz-Balart
Wifredo Lam

Mario Carreño (Cuban, 1913 – 1999)
The Farm, 1945
Oil on canvas
Framed: 40 x 46 x 3 inches
The Rice Collection
Mario Carreño (Cuban, 1913 – 1999)
The Farm, 1945
Oil on canvas
Framed: 40 x 46 x 3 inches
The Rice Collection
Roberto Diago (Cuban, 1920 – 1955)
Presente en tu vida (Present in Your Life), 2011
Mixed media on canvas
Framed: 51 x 39 ¼ x 2 inches
The Rice Collection
Roberto Diago (Cuban, 1920 – 1955)
Presente en tu vida (Present in Your Life), 2011
Mixed media on canvas
Framed: 51 x 39 ¼ x 2 inches
The Rice Collection

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Current Exhibitions

Ancient Athens: Birthplace of Democracy

On view October 25, 2024 through, April 13, 2025

Gaetano Pedo (Italian, active c. 1880s), Herm of Pericles, c. 1880s. Albumen print. 10 1/16 × 7 5/16 inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Knight Zewadski, 1989.109.182
Gaetano Pedo (Italian, active c. 1880s), Herm of Pericles, c. 1880s. Albumen print. 10 1/16 × 7 5/16 inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Knight Zewadski, 1989.109.182
Athena Promachos Ceramic vessel (ps-Panathenaic amphora; attr. to near Eucharides Painter); Attica, Greece; late Archaic period, c. 490–480 BCE. On Loan from a Sarasota Private Collection, IL.2024.008.001
Athena Promachos
Ceramic vessel (ps-Panathenaic amphora; attr. to near Eucharides Painter); Attica, Greece; late Archaic period, c. 490–480 ʙᴄᴇ. On Loan from a Sarasota Private Collection, IL.2024.008.001

The U.S. democratic constitution was in large part inspired by the popular government of Classical Athens, as well as the Roman Republic and the French Enlightenment. During the 2024 Presidential Elections, the Tampa Museum of Art will highlight the ancient Greek city-state Athens, as the birthplace of democracy. There, between the 6th and 4th centuries bce, male citizens gained power in a form of government based on the rule of law.

The exhibition is based on the Museum’s extensive collection of 19th century photography, paired with a dozen antiquities from the permanent collection as well as some significant loans. Ancient Athens: Birthplace of Democracy illustrates archaeological site such as the Acropolis, the arts and culture of Classical Athens such as sculpture and ceramic vases, theater and athletics, as well as the gods and goddesses worshipped in the city. The exhibition allows visitors to contemplate the ideals of the society that gave birth to democracy.

From the sixth through the fifth century bce, political reforms broke the power of the nobility (aristokratia) and eventually gave way to popular government (dēmokratia) in ancient Athens. Organized into an independent city-state (polis) that included the countryside of Attica, Athens became the bastion of freedom and democracy, and the beacon of Classical civilization at the height of Greek art and culture. Only one of the hundreds of city-states across the Greek world that witnessed the rise of popular government, Athens may rightfully be considered the birthplace of democracy not only because it is the most famous and best-documented case but also because it was the state with the largest population at the time in which democracy reached its most radical form.

During the Presidential Election in the United States in 2024, the birth of democracy in ancient Athens gains additional historical relevance. The legacy of Classical Athens goes back two and a half thousand years. Its art continues to inspire contemporary artists. Greek myths and legends, tragedies and comedies inspire modern literature, cinema and theater. This exhibition aims to examine what the original ideals of democracy, liberty and justice for all, equality before the law and the pursuit of happiness still mean today.

Fratelli Alinari (Italian, est. 1852), Discobolus, c. 1880. Albumen print. 10 × 7 ½ inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. William Knight Zewadski, 1999.078
Fratelli Alinari (Italian, est. 1852), Discobolus, c. 1880. Albumen print. 10 × 7 ½ inches. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. William Knight Zewadski, 1999.078
Dimitris Constantin (Greek, active c. 1858–1870) (attributed to), Acropolis Excavated (Kritios Boy and the Moschophoros), 1866. Albumen silver print from a glass plate. 10 × 8 inches. On Loan from the Collection of William Knight Zewadski, IL.2024.041
Dimitris Constantin (Greek, active c. 1858–1870) (attributed to), Acropolis Excavated (Kritios Boy and the Moschophoros), 1866. Albumen silver print from a glass plate. 10 × 8 inches. On Loan from the Collection of William Knight Zewadski, IL.2024.041
Categories
Current Exhibitions

The Art of Coptic Egypt 

From the Collection of Dr. Robert Steven Bianchi 

On view September 13, 2024, through September 28, 2025 

Venus Statuette
Bone figurine; Egypt; Roman Imperial period, ca. 1st–4th cent. CE
ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (2009.005)
Venus Statuette
Bone figurine; Egypt; Roman Imperial period, ca. 1st–4th cent. ᴄᴇ
ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (2009.005)
Vase with Altars and Fish
Ceramic vessel; Egypt; late Antique—Byzantine period, ca. 4th–7th cent. CE
ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (X.400)
Vase with Altars and Fish
Ceramic vessel; Egypt; late Antique—Byzantine period, ca. 4th–7th cent. ᴄᴇ
ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (X.400)

The word “Copt” refers to the native population of Egypt, many of whom converted to Christianity in the early centuries of the Roman period. Tradition maintains that the Holy Family sojourned in Egypt and that Saint Mark, the Evangelist, established the first Christian church in Egypt in Alexandria in the first century. The Copts shared a common material culture with their polytheistic neighbors. Imperial edicts established Christianity as the religion of the empire in the late 4th century, which allowed the Coptic community to flourish. 

The Art of Coptic Egypt showcases over fifty artifacts from a local private collection dating from early centuries of the Roman Imperial to the Middle Ages, although special attention is given to objects specifically associated with the Coptic church. Today, there is still a thriving, vibrant Coptic community in Egypt and beyond, including in Tampa. 

The noun “Copt” and the adjective “Coptic” are etymologically derived from الْقِبْط, al-qibt, an abbreviated Arabic transcription of the Greek Αἴγυπτοs, Aigyptos, that in turn is based on the ancient Egyptian phrase Hut-ka-Ptah, the temple of Ptah, which was used to refer to the city of Memphis as a substitute for Egypt as a whole. (Compare our use of the phrase “the White House” as a substitute for the U.S. government.) Initially, the noun “Copt” was applied to non-Arabic speaking non-Muslims living in Egypt. Eventually, it came to identify the native Egyptians who converted to Christianity since the early centuries of the Roman Imperial Period. 

During these early centuries the Copts living in Egypt were part of the Roman Empire. They shared a common material culture with their polytheistic neighbors—those who worship many gods. That culture derived in part from pharaonic Egypt, as well as Greece and Rome. Intimately bound to the first generations of Christianity, Egypt also witness severe persecutions under the Roman Empire. The liturgical calendar of the Coptic Church actually marks its beginning from 284 of the common era—the Anno Martyrum (“Year of the Martyrs”)—the year Emperor Diocletian came to the throne and under whose reign the second wave of persecutions took place. 

The provisions of the Edict of Milan promulgated by Emperor Constantine the Great (313 ᴄᴇ) removed the stigma of being a Christian. The Edict of Thessalonica, issued by Emperor Theodosius I (380 ᴄᴇ), established Christianity as the only recognized religion across the Empire. The Coptic community flourished even after the fall of Alexandria to ‛Amr ibn al-‛As (641 ᴄᴇ), which ushered in the Islamic Period, when many traditions of the Copts were allowed to continue. The objects on display in this exhibition are part of the private collection of renowned Egyptologist and Fine Arts Historian Dr. Robert Steven Bianchi. 

Pilgrim Flask
Depicting St. Menas with two camels
Ceramic vessel (ampula); Abu Mina, Egypt; late Antique—Byzantine period, ca. 4th–7th cent. CE
ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (X.700)
Pilgrim Flask
Depicting St. Menas with two camels
Ceramic vessel (ampula); Abu Mina, Egypt; late Antique—Byzantine period, ca. 4th–7th cent. ᴄᴇ
ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (X.700)
Psalm Book 
With Arabic and Coptic Texts
Paper, leather bound book; Egypt; Modern period, ca. 18th–19th cent.
ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (X.7000)
Psalm Book
With Arabic and Coptic Texts
Paper, leather bound book; Egypt; Modern period, ca. 18th–19th cent.
ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ROBERT STEVEN BIANCHI (X.7000)
Categories
Current Exhibitions

Jennifer Steinkamp: Madame Curie

On view August 8, 2024, through August 10, 2025

Digital image of colorful flowers.
Jennifer Steinkamp (American, b. 1958), Madame Curie, 2011-2023. Eight-channel, synchronized projection. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul, and London.

I am among those who think that science has great beauty.

— Marie Curie

Beauty gives you a sense of what it is like to be alive.

— Jennifer Steinkamp

The Tampa Museum of Art’s inaugural multi-media exhibition in the Bronson Thayer Gallery celebrates two female trailblazers: scientist Marie Curie (Polish-French, 1876-1934) and artist Jennifer Steinkamp (American, b. 1958). Curie remains the only woman awarded two Nobel Prizes for her groundbreaking scientific discoveries and research. Born nearly a century later, Steinkamp is internationally recognized for her monumental installations that unite art with technology. Pioneers in their respective disciplines  – science and art  – the exhibition Jennifer Steinkamp: Madame Curie highlights the remarkable work of both women. This presentation also launches the Museum’s new media and immersive art initiative, a milestone in our institution’s programming history.

Like Marie Curie, Steinkamp has long been inspired by science and how science transforms humanity. For over 30 years, she has been making site-specific art exploring the relationship between nature, power, and gender. With advances in technology and her affinity for design and coding, Steinkamp viewed the computer as a tool to make art. Madame Curie, commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in 2011, was informed by Steinkamp’s investigations into the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station, a decommissioned power plant located halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. Her research inevitably led her to Marie Curie’s trailblazing work in physics and chemistry, specifically Curie’s revolutionary research on radioactivity and the discovery of polonium and radium.

While reading Curie’s biography, authored by the scientist’s daughter Eve Curie, Steinkamp noticed flowers and gardening were mentioned throughout the book—a passion that coincided with her love of science. Steinkamp created animation renderings of over 40 flowers mentioned in Curie’s biography. In Steinkamp’s Madame Curie, billowing stems of apple blossoms, daisies, eucalyptus, passion flowers, periwinkle, and wisteria float, tumble, and cascade across the gallery’s walls. The layered blooms create the perception of infinite space and continuous time. For the Tampa Museum of Art’s exhibition of Madame Curie, Steinkamp created a version of the animation specific to the gallery’s architecture. In this immersive installation, Steinkamp emphasizes the beauty of nature and how it brought Curie a sense of wonderment and joy throughout her life.

Categories
Current Exhibitions

Suchitra Mattai: Bodies and Souls

On view June 21, 2024, through April 20, 2025

Suchitra Mattai (Guyanese, b. 1973), "Womb", 2023. Vintage saris, fabric, 3-d printed celestial figure sculptures. 90 x 74 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles. Photographer: Heather Rasmussen
Suchitra Mattai (Guyanese, b. 1973), Womb, 2023. Vintage saris, fabric, 3-d printed celestial figure sculptures. 90 x 74 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles. Photographer: Heather Rasmussen

Suchitra Mattai: Bodies and Souls represents Suchitra Mattai’s (Guyanese, b. 1973) first solo Museum exhibition on the East Coast and in Florida. Compromised largely of new works, the show focuses on three themes central to Mattai’s practice: migration, motherland, and materiality. Within these themes, Mattai explores her own family’s history and identity, as well as the narratives of Guyana’s Indo-Caribbean community. Mattai’s work references historical moments, such as the migration of indentured laborers from India to the shores of Guyana, and also examines the physical and emotional relationship to home and motherland. Mattai creates artworks that flip traditional mythologies by placing South Asian women and Brown bodies as the central figures in her vibrant compositions. These unique histories – from surveying Guyana’s colonial past to shared Indian traditions against the lush backdrop of the Caribbean, and the familial bonds between matriarchs, mothers, and daughters – anchor Mattai’s art. She uses materials familiar to her – such as vintage saris, bindis and beading, and Hindu relics- to reclaim history and give prominence to voices silenced or ignored throughout time.

Born in Georgetown, Guyana, Mattai has lived across continents yet retains close ties to the South Asian communities in the Caribbean and the US. The artist earned her MFA in painting and drawing as well as an MA in South Asian art from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Over the last five years, her work has shifted from painting to sculptural textile installations. In addition to Suchitra Mattai: Bodies and Souls at the Tampa Museum of Art, in 2024, Mattai’s art is the focus of solo exhibitions at the ICA San Francisco; Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, New York; and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. She has been featured in group shows at the MCA Chicago, Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, the MCA Denver, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Mattai lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

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Current Exhibitions

Esterio Segura: Hybrid of a Chrysler

On view now

Esterio Segura highlights the complexity of everyday life in Cuba in artworks exploring the socio-political, cultural, and spiritual landscape of the island nation. Different manifestations of winged animals and machines, airplanes, and submarines appear in his art and represent themes of freedom, isolation, immigration, desire, and exile. Hybrid of a Chrysler, features Segura’s signature use of wings attached to the roof of a 1953 Chrysler Windsor. The car, like the classic autos used daily in Cuba, appears ready for flight. Hybrid of a Chrysler premiered at the Tampa Museum of Art in 2016 and has traveled across the globe to Venice, Italy and Washington DC, to Gainesville, Florida, and has now returned to Tampa
Esterio Segura (Cuban, b. 1970)
Hybrid of a Chrysler, 2016
Vintage automobile and mixed media installation
Collection of Susie and Mitchell Rice

Esterio Segura highlights the complexity of everyday life in Cuba in artworks exploring the socio-political, cultural, and spiritual landscape of the island nation. Different manifestations of winged animals and machines, airplanes, and submarines appear in his art and represent themes of freedom, isolation, immigration, desire, and exile. Hybrid of a Chrysler, features Segura’s signature use of wings attached to the roof of a 1953 Chrysler Windsor. The car, like the classic autos used daily in Cuba, appears ready for flight. Hybrid of a Chrysler premiered at the Tampa Museum of Art in 2016 and has traveled across the globe to Venice, Italy and Washington DC, to Gainesville, Florida, and has now returned to Tampa.

In a recent interview, Segura shared, “The subject of flight is an idea that I have taken from the image of an airplane, the image of wings, and the consciousness of what travel meant to me. I was 25 when I first traveled outside of Cuba [and in] 2001, I started thinking seriously about making a project on this subject…The awareness of others entered the work—those who emigrate, or yearn to, or experience nostalgia, or miss people who may return or not. Above all, everything is specifically related to flight or travel. Hybrid of a Chrysler emerged from this nexus.”

Born in Santiago, Cuba, Segura attended the prestigious Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana. His art, ranging from painting, sculpture, and installation, has been exhibited around the world and his works reside in prominent public and private collections. The Tampa Museum of Art recently acquired Segura’s Good Bye My Love, currently on view in the Patel Family Lobby. Segura’s art will be featured in the upcoming 2025 exhibition Under the Spell of the Palm Tree: The Rice Collection of Cuban Art.

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Current Exhibitions

Joseph Veach Noble Through the Eye of a Collector 

On view April 18, 2024 through February 19, 2026

"Mycenaean Cup" on Stem This wine cup on a high stem from Athens dates to the Late Helladic period, when the Mycenaean civilization reached its height Ceramic vessel (kylix); Attica, Greece; Mycenaean period, ca. 1400-1375 bce. TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART, JOSEPH VEACH NOBLE COLLECTION, 1986.019
Mycenaean Cup on Stem
This wine cup on a high stem from Athens dates to the Late Helladic period, when the Mycenaean civilization reached its height

Ceramic vessel (kylix); Attica, Greece; Mycenaean period, ca. 1400-1375 BCE. TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART, JOSEPH VEACH NOBLE COLLECTION, 1986.019
"Neptune with Dolphin" The Roman lord of horses, and god of rivers, springs and seas, has a dolphin to his right leg. He may once have held a trident. Marble sculpture; Rome, Italy; Roman Imperial period, ca. 50-100 ce. TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART, JOSEPH VEACH NOBLE COLLECTION, 1986.135
Neptune with Dolphin
The Roman lord of horses, and god of rivers, springs and seas, has a dolphin to his right leg. He may once have held a trident.

Marble sculpture; Rome, Italy; Roman Imperial period, ca. 50-100 CE. TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART, JOSEPH VEACH NOBLE COLLECTION, 1986.135

Born in Philadelphia, Joseph Veach Noble was not only a museum administrator and director, but also an avid collector and connoisseur of Greek and Roman antiquities, with a particular interest in ancient Greek ceramic vases. While he began his career in cinema, Noble was appointed Operating Administrator at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1956. He held that position until 1967, when he became The Met’s Vice-Director of Administration. In 1970, Noble founded the Museum of the City of New York where he served as Director until his retirement in 1985. At the age of 87, he died in West Orange, New Jersey.

At the time of the acquisition in 1986, the Noble Collection was thought to comprise the largest private collection of Athenian vases in North America. Focusing on Mr. Noble as a connoisseur, this exhibition explores what motivated Noble’s interests and fascinations with the different materials and mediums, styles and techniques of ancient art. Joseph Veach Noble: Through the Eye of a Collector is one of several new exhibitions dedicated to the Museum’s permanent collection that will be on view for long-term displays over the coming years.

"Venus Holding Apple" 

The Roman goddess of love and sexuality holds an apple in her left hand, a token which designated her the winner in the Judgment of Paris. 

 

Bronze figurine; Rome, Italy [?]; Republican-Imperial period, ca. 1st cent. bce-1st cent. ce. TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART, JOSEPH VEACH NOBLE COLLECTION, PURCHASED IN PART WITH FUNDS DONATED BY VINCENT BEKIEMPIS, 1986.139
Venus Holding Apple
The Roman goddess of love and sexuality holds an apple in her left hand, a token which designated her the winner in the Judgment of Paris.

Bronze figurine; Rome, Italy [?]; Republican-Imperial period, ca. 1st cent. BCE-1st cent. CE. TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART, JOSEPH VEACH NOBLE COLLECTION, PURCHASED IN PART WITH FUNDS DONATED BY VINCENT BEKIEMPIS, 1986.139
"Pseudo-Panathenaic Amphora" This double-handled vase was Noble’s most prized possession. It depicts Athena Promachus, fully dressed as champion of battle, in Archaic black-figure style. Ceramic vessel (amphora); Attica, Greece; Archaic period, ca. 540 bce. TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART, JOSEPH VEACH NOBLE COLLECTION, 1986.024
Pseudo-Panathenaic Amphora
This double-handled vase was Noble’s most prized possession. It depicts Athena Promachus, fully dressed as champion of battle, in Archaic black-figure style.

Ceramic vessel (amphora); Attica, Greece; Archaic period, ca. 540 BCE. TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART, JOSEPH VEACH NOBLE COLLECTION, 1986.024

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Current Exhibitions

Vaughn Spann: Allegories

On view February 15, 2024, through February 2, 2025

Vaughn Spann (American, b. 1992), "Within the Margins of Eternity", 2023. Polymer paint and mixed media on wood panel. 120 x 120 inches. Courtesy the artist & David Castillo, Miami
Vaughn Spann (American, b. 1992), Within the Margins of Eternity, 2023. Polymer paint and mixed media on wood panel. 120 x 120 inches. Courtesy the artist & David Castillo, Miami
Vaughn Spann (American, b. 1992), "Manifestations", 2023. Polymer paint and mixed media on wood panel. 120 x 120 inches. Courtesy the artist & David Castillo, Miami
Vaughn Spann (American, b. 1992), Manifestations, 2023. Polymer paint and mixed media on wood panel. 120 x 120 inches. Courtesy the artist & David Castillo, Miami

In a recent interview, artist Vaughn Spann (American, b. 1992) remarked, “Abstraction maps reality.” The four monumental paintings on view, all from the series Marked Men, represent the convergence of abstraction and figuration in Spann’s art. Rendered as a grid, each panel features a prominent ‘X’ at the center of the composition. Vibrant paint—from sapphire to sky blue, crimson red, fire orange, and marigold yellow, to blush pink and emerald green—emphasize Spann’s lattice of kaleidoscopic color. A combination of pigment and housepaint, the artist works the surface of the painting on the floor of his studio, building texture withing the picture plane, and then completes the work upright on the wall.

The X serves as a stand-in for the body and represents both personal and collective experiences. Created in a variety of hues and form, the X ranges from prominently visible to camouflaged or hidden. In Spann’s paintings, the X serves as a portrait of the everyman who has been targeted in racial profiling. It reflects self as well as the unknown or anonymous person. In discussing the inspiration for the Marked Men series, Spann shared: “I was stopped and frisked for the first time while I was an undergrad student…I was walking home from studying at a friend’s house. Cops pulled me over. Four other cop cars came by. They put me against a gate, and my hands are up, split. That same gesture echoes the X. And, for me, that’s such a symbolic form, and so powerful to this contemporary moment.”

Spann’s paintings illustrate a breadth of art historical and contemporary art influences, from the colorful abstract paintings by Stanley Whitney and Brice Marden’s lyrical yet minimal canvases, to Pop art icon Andy Warhol. Although each painter offers a uniquely different approach to art making, the grid and notion of repetition or seriality unites the artists. Both a formal and narrative choice, the containment of the grid heightens the image’s meaning or allegory. In discussing his grid paintings, Whitney once remarked, “There is freedom in setting limits for one self.” Spann, greatly inspired by Whitney, builds on this sentiment and adds, “…with freedom comes responsibility.” In this gallery, Spann’s Marked Men series signifies the artist’s dedication to social activism while paying homage to art history.

Born in Orlando, Florida, Vaughn Spann received his BFA in studio art from Rutgers State University and earned his MFA in painting and printmaking from Yale University’s School of Art. His art has been exhibited across the globe, with exhibitions mounted at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Rubell Museum. Spann’s work resides in the collections of the North Carolina Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, and others.

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Current Exhibitions

C. Paul Jennewein

On view April 16, 2023 through 2025

C. Paul Jennewein (German-American, 1890-1978), Greek Dance, 1984 (Cast from the 1926 original). Bronze with gold patina; H. 18 1/8 in. Tampa Museum of Art, Gift of Brookgreen Gardens in honor of C. Paul Jennewein, 1989.002.

The art of German-born, American sculptor C. Paul Jennewein (1890-1978) reveals the inspiration of the ancient world while also engaging with the new sculptural styles of his time, merging Art Deco with the Neo-Classical tradition. In 1978, the Tampa Bay Art Center, predecessor of the Tampa Museum of Art, received a bequest of nearly 2,600 objects including statues and paintings, as well as preparatory drawings, plaster models, and related ephemera of Jennewein’s work. The Jennewein bequest forms the largest collection of a single artist’s work in Museum’s holdings, and provides a bridge between the antiquities and modern art in the permanent collection.

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Current Exhibitions

Laura with Bun by Jaume Plensa

On view now

Jaume Plensa (Spanish, b. 1955) Laura with Bun, 2014.. Cast iron.
© Jaume Plensa. Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
Photo: Courtesy Skip O’Rourke/Tampa Bay Times

Jaume Plensa is an internationally acclaimed artist who has exhibited his sculptures in museums all over the world. In locations as diverse as Seoul, Paris, Chicago, Bordeaux and London, Plensa’s monumental sculptures have reaffirmed the power of art to transform a public space into a community. This is aptly demonstrated in his first major commission in the United States, The Crown Fountain in Chicago’s Millennium Park (2004). Two 11-story LED towers face each other across a thin pool of water, with images of a changing and diverse city reflected in the water, a continuously cycling metaphor for the life of a city.

The Crown Fountain was the beginning of Plensa’s investigation of the portrait via photography and form. This led to works like Laura with Bun. At more than 23 feet tall, this artwork expresses both individual and universal traits at great scale, inviting viewers to consider multiple aspects of beauty and human nature. Like all of his large-scale female portrait heads, Laura has her eyes closed, as if looking within. In speaking about these works, Plensa has said, “Look into yourself. My piece is a mirror to reflect your image, so you can think about your own interior—how much beauty we have inside of ourselves.”

Laura with Bun initially came to Tampa as part of the 2016 exhibition Jaume Plensa: Human Landscape. Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous gift and the overwhelming popular support of nearly 100 donors, the Museum has committed to purchase the sculpture for our permanent collection. For their support of this purchase, we are most grateful to:

Anonymous

Celia & Jim Ferman

The Williams Family

Penny & Jeff Vinik

Mark Anderson & Keith Bucklew

Maureen & Douglas Cohn

Stephen & Marsha Dickey

Sara Golding Scher & David Scher

Allison, Robby, Dallas, & Adelaide Adams

Carlton Fields

Blake & Tate Casper

PNC Bank

Susie & Mitchell Rice in honor of Michael Tomor

Jeff Tucker & Len Kizner

FRIENDS of the Museum

And all the Friends of Laura:

Burton N. Mulford & R. Dean Hamric

Mary Alice McClendon

Sara & Mort Richter

Tampa Downtown Partnership

Thomas Hochhausler & Sung Lee

Julianne McKeel

Sharmila & Vivek Seth

Ellen & Don Stichter

Mrs. John Brabson in honor of her family

Reba Cardillo

Margo & Hilliard Eure

Drs. Daniel & Jamie Fernandez

Holmes Hepner & Associates Architects

Rob Iles & Mike Paonessa

Sue & Bob Isbell

Judi Kelly

Arnold & Gail Levine

Keith & Judith Maurer

Ingeborg Michaels

Dr. Richard E. & Mrs Mary B. Perry

Robin C. Sharp & Annemarie Christino

Barbara & Fell Stubbs

Laura & Ed Waller

Linda Rice

William M. Blanchard

Donna & Tom Brumfield

Suzanne Camp Crosby

John Hunter

Sandy & Floyd Juster

Art Keeble

Bob & Kathy Lewis

Leslie & Hampton Stephens

Your Neighbors at TAPS Restaurant Bar & Lounge

Pam Wysocki

Sharon & Lew Sibert

Anonymous

Hillary Carlson Cone in memory of Douglas P. Cone

Todd Edwards

Candy Olson in honor of

Charles, Henry, Edward & Margaret Jaskowiak

and Lynnea & Robbie Cobey-Broad

Keen O’Sullivan

Ellen & Bruce Houghton

Susan Landa in memory of Peter Landa

Grant Wilson & Diana Stevens

in memory of Laura Lundgren

Jim & Susan Casebeer

Chris & Stephanie Arnold

Dolores Coe

Ana Cruz

HJ Freeman

William Hein

Nancy, Ryan, & Briana Kipnis

Bill & Pam Michul

Bill Rogers

Julie Graham Sargent

Bob & Cathy Smith

Lincoln J. Tamayo

Alison Watkins

Marilyn & Robert Farber

David & Diane Drapcho

Colin DeVito

Harrison DeVito

John & Patricia Gorzka

in honor of Julia Gorzka Freeman

Bill & Judy Graham

Gail R. Hirsch

Jennifer Holmberg

Beth Iandoli

Marcia Israeloff & Paul Jacobsen

Kathy, Natalie, & Kaitlin Lowy

Amy, Michael, & Myla Martz

Joe & Laraine O’Neill

Mindy & Carl Snyder

Dana & Paul Whiting Jr.

Anonymous

Marilyn Zoidis

Alice Prida

Martha Coulter

Miriam B. Zack

Julia, Brett, & Jack Freeman

Mr. & Dr. Sarro

Anonymous

Abby Jetmundsen

Leo Pevnick