Madison Morgan Cultural Center (MMCC) is the first venue to host Wesleyan College’s Masterworks: A Traveling Exhibition of American Paintings from Wesleyan College. The exhibit, on display at MMCC Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 through Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014, includes 25 paintings from Wesleyan’s Helena Eastman Ogden Campbell Collection and 10 pieces from a variety of other collections. MMCC is located at 434 S. Main St. in Madison. Gallery hours: Monday – closed, Tuesday – Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m, Sunday 2-5 p.m. Admission: $5 adults, $4 seniors, $3 students.

The core of the Campbell collection was donated to Wesleyan College from the 1930s through 1950s by distinguished painter and Wesleyan alumna Helena Eastman Ogden Campbell (class of 1897), and by friends in her New York and European artistic milieu. Over the course of 25 years, Wesleyan received 100 donations of paintings and works on paper from distinguished artists of the time. Today, the Campbell Collection of American art includes paintings, drawings, prints and several pieces of Helena’s own works. The collection is a testament to Helena’s commitment as an artist, her leadership in the New York arts community and her love for Wesleyan College.

As an exhibition, the paintings offer a window into the styles and techniques taught at the most prestigious studios of New York City and Europe during the early 1900s, such as Academie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the Philadelphia School of Art, the Chase School and the Art Students League in New York and the Chicago Art Institute. Each masterwork in the collection is exemplary and includes some of the best work by artists trained by renowned masters of American realism. The critically acclaimed artists include William Stanley Haseltine, Edward Dufner, Emil Holzhauer, Jane Peterson, Chauncey R. Ryder, Gustave Wiegand, Sophie Marston Brannan and others.

According to Wesleyan’s Center for Creative and Performing Arts Director Lisa Sloben, “This important exhibition is a snapshot of 19th and early 20th century American art. The Campbell collection is very impressive and includes many of the College’s finest works. Every exhibit has to tell a story, and this exhibit tells the story of an alumna, a woman and a serious artist in the early 1900s, and the importance of American art.”

On Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, Masterworks will travel to Brenau University in Gainesville and be on display through Sunday, March 16, 2014. Also hosting the exhibit during the next eighteen months are Gadsden Arts Center, Quincy, Fla.; The Columbus Museum, Columbus; The Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, Ala.; and Bascom: A center of Arts in Highlands, N.C.

Those interested in bringing these Wesleyan treasures to their hometown should contact Lisa Sloben at 478-757-5171 or lsloben@wesleyancollege.edu.