ANNUAL REPORT - Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art

In the Museum
THE MATILDA GEDDINGS GRAY FOUNDATION
COLLECTION OF F
Ongoing
Cheekwood's Museum of Art houses the Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation Collection,
Collection have been exhibited worldwide. The Collection includes 57 rare pieces
highlighted by three Russian Imperial Easter eggs, and a number of important
functional items, fantasy items, and floral works.
WILLIAM EDMONDSON: THE HAND AND THE SPIRIT
Ongoing
This outstanding exhibition features selections from Cheekwood's collection, the largest
public collection of William Edmondson's work. Born to former slaves on a plantation
south of Nashville, Edmondson (1874-1951) taught himself to carve tombstones and
became one of the most celebrated African-American sculptors of the 20th Century.
A GENIUS FOR PLACE:
AMERICAN LANDSCAPES OF THE COUNTRY PLACE ERA
October 6 - December 30, 2007
Historian and author Robin Karson and photographer Carol Betsch collaborated on six imaginative landscape designs, complimenting the design of
-by-24 inch black-and-white photographs and
seven 42-by-52-inch color Iris prints.
Presented by Wachovia
A CENTURY ON PAPER
June 28 - September 21, 2008
Since Cheekwood was founded, the museum has amassed an excellent collection of twentieth-century works on paper. The exhibition surveyed the result
of many wonderful gift purchases for the permanent collection. While works by many of the most recognized twentieth-century masters were included, it
also provided excellent examples of prints, drawings, and watercolors by either lesser-known or regionally recognized artists. Works ranged from American
Realists such as Reginald March and Isabel Bishop to early Modernist like John Marin and Stuart Davis to Edward Ruscha and David Hockney.
Sponsored by First Tennessee
Thomas Hart Benton, American, 1889-1975, The Boy, 1949. Ink and Watercolor on Paper, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Hill
7
Carol Betsch, Stan Hywet, Akron, Ohio, Design by Warren Manning, 1916
Courtesy of the American Library of Landscape History
PAINTERS OF AMERICAN LIFE: THE EIGHT
exhibition that travelled to Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia (December 8,
2007 February 17, 2008); Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art,
Nashville, Tennessee (March 7 June 10, 2008); Telfair Museum of Art,
Savannah, Georgia (September 17 November 20, 2008); Gibbes Museum of
Art, Charleston, South Carolina (December 19, 2008 March 22, 2009);
Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando, FL, (April 10 June 21, 2009).