Cummer Resources

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is committed to engage and inspire through the arts, gardens and education. A permanent collection of nearly 5,000 works of art on a riverfront campus offers more than 95,000 annual visitors a truly unique experience on the First Coast. Nationally recognized education programs serve adults and children of all abilities.

Art »
Upcoming Exhibitions
Past Exhibitions
European Collection
American Collection
Meissen Porcelain Collection
Antiquities
Special Collections
Gardens »
Upper Garden
English Garden
Olmsted Garden
Italian Garden
Season Highlights
Garden Ornaments
Education »
Art Connections
Classes
Tours
Programs
For Teachers
For Kids
Docents
Get Involved »
Join the Cummer
Benefits and Levels
Membership Groups
Our Partners
Make A Donation
Volunteer Opportunities
Internships
Employment

Collectors’ Choice: Featured Collector, Cullen Hammond

Jul

22

Written by Caitlyn Cooney, Curatorial Intern

cullen

 

Hammond Painting In the Woods

Philip Evergood, Painting in the Woods, 1952, Pencil on Paper

Part of the thrill of collecting is the process of finding a piece: negotiating prices, working with dealers, going to auctions, and hunting for the treasure. A collector falls in love with a piece, an artist, a movement, and embarks on the adventure to find such works. Cullen Hammond has acquired his nearly 60 pieces within his collection by exploring and hunting through galleries and auction houses throughout the South, many of which sparked his interest in early to mid-20th century American art.

Hammond’s interest in art began immediately upon his graduation from Law School after he was amazed at the results of a restoration done on a family member’s artwork. For the past 40 years, his passion for collecting has only grown stronger. His strive to find treasures in various auction houses and galleries hasn’t stopped at the object, but rather inspired him to dig deeper, and learn about the artworks, artists, and movements associated with them. This research led him to understand and appreciate the works with his collection, three of which are currently on view within the exhibition.

 

Hammond Interior

Fairfield Porter, Interior with Christmas Tree, 1971, Lithograph

The range of pieces in Hammond’s collection speaks to the renaissance seen in American art at the turn of the century, as alternate media from fine oil paintings or bronze sculptures were becoming more widely accepted. Each of Hammond’s featured works represent a different stylistic moment within American Modern art. His Fairfield Porter lithograph entitled Interior with Christmas Tree (1971) embodies the craze for printmaking and experimentation by many artists with lithography seen in the 1960s and 70s.

Charles Sheeler’s Chartres Cathedral  (1946) reinterprets the traditional European depictions of cathedrals in the impressionistic style. Sheeler’s loose brushstrokes speak to that movement, yet revive it in his use of watercolor instead of oil. Thus, Sheeler presents a reinterpretation of a traditional European subject and style within a Modern American culture.

Hammond Chartres

Charles Sheeler, Chartres Cathedral, 1946, Watercolor

As evident from the featured pieces, his collection includes many works on paper. “Oil paintings tend to be more expensive” he states, “and I have a budget!” As a collector, Hammond’s goal is not so much to collect the most expensive, prominent artists, but rather to find pieces, or “treasures,” that mean something to him. Each of these pieces speak to an aspect of the golden years in American Modern art, and it is Hammond’s passion to have discovered each one. It is his ambition to keep discovering and to keep learning in the future.

 

 

The exhibition Collectors’ Choice: Inside the Hearts and Minds of Regional Collectors will be on view from May 17th to September 14th, 2014.

For more information, please visit the Cummer’s website at  https://www.cummer.org/

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Post Author

This post was written by who has written 153 posts on The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens.

Comments are closed.