Jonathan Green: The Artist and The Collector

Works by Jonathan Green and Works by African-American Artists Collected by Jonathan Green and Richard Weedman

June 5 – Oct. 19, 2008

An encore exhibition of sorts for the Myrtle Beach Art Museum, Jonathan Green: The Artist and the Collector follows the immensely popular 2003 exhibit Southern Images of Faith, Family and Friends: The Art of Jonathan Green. Green is a beloved South Carolina native son and the preeminent artist of the Lowcountry’s Gullah culture.  His paintings, created over three decades, feature familiar images drawn from his own personal experiences, steeped in the traditions of family, community and life in the Lowcountry. They have drawn national and international attention to the unique and tenacious Gullah culture that has enriched the coastal regions of the Southeast for centuries.

	His unique style shows the primal beauty that exists in the simplest tasks and serves to document a humanist perspective and a way of life.  Green’s art captures the essence of simple acts of joy- from swinging, fishing or walking on the beach.
Jonathan Green, the collector, has amassed hundreds of works of art by notable and emerging artists alike.  The Museum is pleased to showcase some 40 of these, all by African Americans, including works by Romare Bearden, William Carter, Elizabeth Catlett, David Driscoll, William H. Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Hughie Lee-Smith and Charles White.

Docent Tours for Jonathan Green: The Artist

(full schedule on the News & Events page)

2pm, Saturday, October 11th
2pm, Sunday, October 19th

Family Day Celebrating the Gullah Culture and Jonathan Green: The Artist & The Collector
Saturday, June 14, 2008, 11am–3pm

Visit our Family Day page for details of our Gullah Culture Celebration and for other past Family Day events.

People Reading: Selections from the Collection of Donald and Patricia Oresman

May 8 – Oct. 5, 2008.  Docent tour on October 5th with Bobbie Lawson

Manhattan attorney Donald Oresman and his wife Patricia have collected over 1,300 works of art whose subject is simply people reading. From this collection, which has been featured in The New Yorker and The Paris Review, Dr. Thomas L. Johnson (Librarian Emeritus, South Caroliniana Library, Board of Directors, USC) has curated 60 works which will be on display. 

Aquatint, ink and pencil, watercolor, wood engraving, color lithography, etching, gouache and pencil, dry point—the list of media abounds, as does the notoriety of the artists, which includes heralded names such as Will Barnet, Pierre Bonnard, Elizabeth Catlett, Marc Chagall, Diego Rivera, Ben Shahn and Kees van Dongen.

The exhibition catalog includes a delightful foreword written by Myrtle Beach's own Sigmund Abeles.