Painting St. Augustine
The Harn Museum of Art presents Painting St. Augustine: Selections from the Samuel H. and Roberta T. Vickers Collection featuring nearly forty paintings by more than twenty artists who captured vibrant landscapes and city views of Florida's oldest city. The works date from the late 19th to the mid-20th century and cover a broad range of themes from views of coastlines and waterways to depictions of picturesque streets of the historic district. The exhibition is drawn from The Florida Art Collection, a landmark gift given to the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida in 2020 by Samuel H. and Roberta T. Vickers who formed one of the most extensive collections of Florida-themed art.
Visitors to St. Augustine in the late 19th century included artists who were inspired by the area's historic sites and the tropical beauty of the islands and forested wetlands along the coast. Artists such as William Staples Drown, Robert S. German, Frank Henry Shapleigh and Laura Woodward first visited St. Augustine in the 1880s and gathered at the Ponce de León Hotel, now part of Flagler College. Completed in 1888, this grand hotel built by Henry Morrison Flagler, the American industrialist and founder of the Florida East Coast Railway, included artist studios and exhibition spaces. By the 1890s,
St. Augustine had become a winter playground for artists and tourists alike, and paintings such as those on view here held a direct appeal to visitors who could purchase them as souvenirs of their travels.
Painting St. Augustine also includes works by celebrated artists who were either year-round residents or wintered in St. Augustine in the early to mid-20th century.
Examples include Arthur Vidal Diehl, Emmett Fritz, Hildegarde Muller-Uri, Heinrich H.
Pfeiffer, and Anthony Thieme. By this period, Florida was experiencing both a real estate and tourism boom due to expanded rail and road networks. Artists came to St. Augustine in larger numbers, opened art galleries and formed art organizations such as the St. Augustine Arts Club, founded in 1931. They promoted St. Augustine as a vibrant arts community and exhibited their paintings at venues throughout the country. The stirring landscapes and vivid scenes of the city's distinctive landmarks on view in this exhibition serve as enduring support for artist Anthony Thieme's declaration that St. Augustine is "the most paintable city in America."
Dulce María Román
Chief Curator and Curator of Modern Art Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida
Painting St. Augustine
The Harn Museum of Art presents Painting St. Augustine: Selections from the Samuel H. and Roberta T. Vickers Collection featuring nearly forty paintings by more than twenty artists who captured vibrant landscapes and city views of Florida's oldest city. The works date from the late 19th to the mid-20th century and cover a broad range of themes from views of coastlines and waterways to depictions of picturesque streets of the historic district. The exhibition is drawn from The Florida Art Collection, a landmark gift given to the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida in 2020 by Samuel H. and Roberta T. Vickers who formed one of the most extensive collections of Florida-themed art.
Visitors to St. Augustine in the late 19th century included artists who were inspired by the area's historic sites and the tropical beauty of the islands and forested wetlands along the coast. Artists such as William Staples Drown, Robert S. German, Frank Henry Shapleigh and Laura Woodward first visited St. Augustine in the 1880s and gathered at the Ponce de León Hotel, now part of Flagler College. Completed in 1888, this grand hotel built by Henry Morrison Flagler, the American industrialist and founder of the Florida East Coast Railway, included artist studios and exhibition spaces. By the 1890s,
St. Augustine had become a winter playground for artists and tourists alike, and paintings such as those on view here held a direct appeal to visitors who could purchase them as souvenirs of their travels.
Painting St. Augustine also includes works by celebrated artists who were either year-round residents or wintered in St. Augustine in the early to mid-20th century.
Examples include Arthur Vidal Diehl, Emmett Fritz, Hildegarde Muller-Uri, Heinrich H.
Pfeiffer, and Anthony Thieme. By this period, Florida was experiencing both a real estate and tourism boom due to expanded rail and road networks. Artists came to St. Augustine in larger numbers, opened art galleries and formed art organizations such as the St. Augustine Arts Club, founded in 1931. They promoted St. Augustine as a vibrant arts community and exhibited their paintings at venues throughout the country. The stirring landscapes and vivid scenes of the city's distinctive landmarks on view in this exhibition serve as enduring support for artist Anthony Thieme's declaration that St. Augustine is "the most paintable city in America."
Dulce María Román
Chief Curator and Curator of Modern Art Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida