by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
The current feature exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, “Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe,” had the largest opening weekend in terms of attendance in at least three years. It’s on the third floor of the museum but when you’re there to view the American icon’s influence on art be sure to make some time for what’s on the second floor: an exhibit of works from the museum’s permanent collection.
When what is now MOCA was called the Jacksonville Art Museum in the 1960s, the institution began collecting art through gifts and endowments. Now totaling more than 850 works, the collection is stored in the basement in a climate-controlled area.
Through MOCA’s partnership with the University of North Florida, the inventory is being examined and evaluated and more of it will be on exhibit in the future, said MOCA Curator Ben Thompson.
”We’re in the process of collection management,” he added. “UNF has brought staffing resources and scholarly research through its faculty and students. They are helping us understand our collection. Once we know what we have we can present it effectively.”
What Thompson described as the “most significant pieces” in the collection are on exhibit. In the Atrium Gallery is a painting by Joanne Mitchell titled, “Iva.” It’s an homage to one of the artist’s German Shepherds. Each piece has its own history. The Mitchell painting, Thompson said, was originally part of the Prudential Insurance Company’s corporate collection, then was gifted to the City and displayed at the Times-Union Center before the City returned it to MOCA.
On the second floor is where the museum’s Alexander Calder mobile is installed. Thompson said it’s the second-most significant piece in the collection and is the first time it has been exhibited in Jacksonville.
The exhibit represents about 12 percent of the museum’s collection, including 29 Pablo Picasso prints and an abstract work by Claus Oldenburg.
Another aspect of UNF’s contribution to the permanent collection is producing a digital image of every drawing, painting, sculpture and photograph. Eventually the museum will publish a catalog and Thompson said plans are also being developed to install kiosks in each gallery to make the images of the collection available to visitors.
The selections from MOCA’s permanent collection will be exhibited for at least six months.
“This exhibit is like nothing people have ever seen at this museum,” he said.
Curator Ben Thompson said many of the pieces in the current exhibit of works from MOCA’s permanent collection have never before been exhibited.
Curatorial Assistant Aaron Garvey installed MOCA’s Alexander Calder mobile.
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