A PASSION FOR THE PAST
New Acquisitions from the Schoenknecht~Paul Collection
PART I : The Americans
November 13, 2015 – June 12, 2016
Beginning in the 1980s the Mobile Museum of Art began seriously collecting works of contemporary studio craft: ceramic, glass, and wood. Focus exhibitions were organized and toured. All this came about in recognition of the fact that since the 1960s the crafts experienced a great burst of creative excellence in America and worldwide. To some it was a birth, in truth it was more of a rebirth. There was a past and what was needed at the museum were the objects from the past to give a context to the present. Into the breach stepped collectors Charles G. Schoenknecht and Ward A. Paul of Grand Rapids, Michigan, long time donors to the museum who had for some 40 years been assembling a collection of decorative arts, both American and European. Following several visits to Mobile, they too saw the gap and offered a curatorially selected body of works as a gift to the Mobile community. This first presentation focuses on the American artists working in ceramic, glass, and metal.
