UF's Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art receives 1,200-piece Florida collection
February 3, 2021 | In the PressFrom The Gainesville Sun (https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/local/2021/02/03/harn-museum-receives-1-200-piece-collection-florida-centric-art-jacksonville-couple-vickers/4374168001/)
An incoming collection of Florida-centric artwork, including pieces from Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent and Thomas Moran, will be the largest single art collection donated ever to the University of Florida's Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art.
The estimated 1,200 works of art capture the state’s landscape and wildlife, historical moments and people scenes of daily life among oil paintings, watercolors, drawings and prints. The works date from the early 1800s to mid-1900s.
Jacksonville residents Sam and Robbie Vickers donated the works, 40 years after they began assembling their collection.
In the time since they began collecting, they have loaned art from their collection to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., and other Florida museums.
Harn Director Lee Anne Chesterfield said she first visited the Vickers to see their collection, well known in Florida art circles, when she joined the museum about three years ago.
"It was mind-blowing," she said. "Every room is just filled with beautiful paintings."
This spring, the Harn Museum will display a portion of the collection in its main exhibition hall. The exhibition, A Florida Legacy: Gift of Samuel H. and Roberta T. Vickers, will be on view Feb. 26-Aug. 1.
It will be organized along six thematic sections that address prominent subjects represented in the Vickers Collection: nature, history, landmarks, diversions, living and impressions.
Admission to the Harn Museum is free.
