Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation

The
Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation

Dedicated to preserving and exhibiting masterpieces of American art

Goal
The Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation uniquely functions as a fine and decorative
art lending collection. Created in 2011 as a 501(c)3 private operating foundation, we educate and
stimulate creativity and teach viewers about our nation’s rich artistic heritage. Our goal is to celebrate
American Art.
Mission
To carefully research and obtain American masterpieces,
provide restoration, if necessary,
and facilitate long-term loans to accredited major museums and traveling exhibitions

Our unique concept allows curators to affordably complement works in their museum galleries and to
build education and docent programs. Since its inception, the Foundation has enhanced galleries through
loans to over 30 major museums and 28 venues for “The Art of Seating” exhibition throughout North
America. A list of museums is provided below.

Collection
The Foundation Collection, coupled with the founder’s personal collection, is composed of 400 works of
art, featuring paintings, sculptures and pedestals, works on paper, silver, glass, ceramics, and furniture.
The oil on canvas trove parallels our national development with narratives in American Landscape,
Seascape, Still Life, Portraiture, Conversation Pieces, and Modernism from the early 19th to the late 20th
century.

Consideration for the overall presentation further influences the mission to vigilantly confirm that the
works are housed in original or complementary period frames that are extraordinary singular art forms.
Asher B. Durand, Thomas Moran, William Bradford, William Trost Richards, and Thomas Sully are
some of the nationally recognized artists that command wall presence and tell the story of the natural
wonders within our continental boundaries. Other artists, such as Theodore Robinson and William
Merritt Chase represent the Grand Tour and concepts gained abroad. An early concentration on still life
led to a powerful progression beginning with James Peale c. 1822 and culminating with William Bailey
in 1989. The portraiture genre is star-studded with the Peale family including pendants of George and
Martha Washington by Rembrandt Peale, as well as portraits by Benjamin West, Eastman Johnson,
John Singer Sargent and Edmund Charles Tarbell. Mid-19th century still life and conversation pieces
explore turbulent times and memento mori concepts important to our culture.

The collector’s passion for color is represented throughout and is best exemplified by early modernist and
interwar works by Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Paul Kelpe, Emil Bisttram, Paul Cadmus, and Joseph
Stella. Each genre is infused with talented female artists such as Sarah Miriam Peale, Catharine Ann
Drinker Janvier, Sarah Paxton Ball Dodson, Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau, Flora Crockett,
Charmion von Wiegand, Louise Nevelson, and Elizabeth Catlett. Breaching the contemporary and 3-D
art is Frank Stella’s 1988 The Try-Works (Moby Dick Series) and Roy Lichtenstein’s Brushstroke Chair and
Ottoman. The Foundation is committed to diversity and represents all Americans, including African
American artists such as Charles Ethan Porter and Loïs Mailou Jones. Native American works from the
Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and Great Plains, among other regions, are also included in the collection.

The story of American sculpture, silver, glass, and ceramics is also woven through representative artists
with equal attention to historical significance, form, and innovation. Celebrating the artist role in the
development of major art movements, the Foundation cultivates relationships with living artists such as
Ubaldo Vitali, recipient of the McArthur Genius Award, who shared his silver creation by conducting a
Foundation-sponsored gallery tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A nascent program supports
emerging artists such as Douglas Eng, a sculptor and photographer. Sharing the Foundation artworks
with elementary school grades 1-5 informs and encourages an early love of art.

“The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design” Exhibit
The decorative arts in the Collection are highlighted by the groundbreaking concept to focus on seating
furniture, which literally puts chairs on a pedestal. Few objects tell the history of design as eloquently as
the chair. Beginning with draftsmanship and patents, each represents innovation and demonstrates how
artists employ and continue to utilize new materials and techniques to create unique, sculptural objects
with pleasing forms and functionality. More than 40 chairs in the exhibit of the 58 in the Collection
document the rich and varied evolution of American artistic furniture. The “Art of Seating: 200 Years of
American Design” exhibit has been traveling since 2011.

This stylistic journey in seating furniture offers show-stoppers by John Henry Belter, George Hunzinger,
Herter Brothers, Stickley Brothers, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles & Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, and
Frank Gehry, among others. Informative and visually exciting, the exhibit began its journey in
Jacksonville, Florida, and has since traveled to 28 venues. The tour list is below.

Should you be interested in obtaining more information about the Foundation or available loans, please
contact us. We salute your museum’s dedication to sharing our nation’s rich artistic heritage and welcome
the opportunity to elevate the conversation in your galleries.

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Museum Loans
Amon Carter Museum of American Art (TX) - Arkansas Arts Center (AR) - Boca Raton Museum of Art (FL) - Boscobel House & Gardens (NY)
Brooklyn Museum (NY) - Burchfield Penny Art Center (NY) - Butler Institute of American Art (OH) - Colby College Museum of Art (ME)
Columbia Museum of Art (SC) - Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (AR) - Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens (Jacksonville, FL)
Dixon Gallery and Gardens (Memphis, TN) - Joslyn Art Museum (NE) - Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (TN) - Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY)
Kemper Art Museum, Washington University (MO) - Milwaukee Art Museum (WI) - Mint Museum (NC) - Museum of Contemporary Art (FL)
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (MO) - Newark Museum (NJ) - Norton Museum of Art (FL) - Orlando Museum of Art (FL)
Palmer Museum of Art(PA) - Portland Art Museum (OR) - Portland Museum of Art (ME) - Portsmouth Historical Society (NH)
Philadelphia Museum of Art (PA) Saint Louis Art Museum (MO) - San Antonio Museum of Art (TX) - Shelburne Museum (VT)
Whitney Museum of American Art (NY) - Yale University Art Gallery (CT)

“The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design” Exhibitions
Academy Art Museum (MD) - Albany Institute of History & Art (NY) - Alyce de Roulet Williamson Art Gallery (CA) - Arkansas Arts Center (AR)
Columbia Museum of Art (SC) - Georgia Museum of Art (GA) - Fort Wayne Museum of Art (IN) - Fullerton Museum Center (CA)
Hilliard University Art Museum, University of Louisiana (LA) - Huntsville Museum of Art (AL) - James A. Michener Art Museum (PA)
Joslyn Art Museum (NE) - Louisiana State University Museum of Art (LA) - Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum (WI)
Museum of Contemporary Art (FL) - Reading Public Museum (PA) - Reynolda House Museum of American Art (NC) - Richard H. Driehaus Museum (IL)
Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton (Canada) - Society of the Four Arts (FL) - Telfair Museums (GA) - Texas A&M University (TX)
The Elliot Museum (FL) - The Figge Museum of Art (IA) - The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (AL)
The Western Gallery of Western Washington University (WA) - Virginia Historical Society (VA) - Westmoreland Museum of American Art (PA)

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