Sheldon Museum of Art

 

Authors

Date of this Version

2011

Citation

Sheldon Museum of Art, January 21- May 1, 2011

Comments

All images are copyright by the original artists. Publication copyright 2011 The Regents of the University of Nebraska

Abstract

The Rohman name has been synonymous with the artistic an cultural life of Lincoln and greater Nebraska for decades. It can be seen on buildings and projects throughout the city and state, from Opera Omaha and the University of Nebraska- Lincoln opera program to the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney and Lincoln's own Meadowlark Music Festival. In summer 2005, the Rohman's were the first family to be honored with a named gallery at the Sheldon Museum of Art. But the Rohman's have also enriched the region's cultural heritage in less visible ways too numerous to count. An American Taste: The Rohman Collection pays tribute to their generosity to, and legacy at, the Sheldon, which has taken the form of a special, unparalleled, contribution: their art collection.

The Rohmans have continued to build this institution's holdings of nineteenth- and twentieth-century sculpture by donating pieces by Malvina Hoffman and Edward Thaxter, but perhaps their most visible contribution was to the acquisition of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen's monumental outdoor sculpture Torn Notebook (fig. 7), a work that has become synonymous with the University of Nebraska since its unveiling and, appropriately, greets all visitors to the campus and the city.

The artworks on display here and in Poetical Fire are but a small fraction of the more than one hundred objects that the Rohmans have contributed over the last forty years. The collection that bears their name is a testament to their astute eye and discriminating tastes, as well as to their generous philanthropy.

Share

COinS