The Collectors’ Circle is a group of Museum members with a shared interest in art, connoisseurship and collecting who gather several times a year for passionate discussion and vibrant exchange of ideas.

The Circle also supports the proactive development, stewardship and conservation of the Asheville Art Museum’s permanent collection through the annual purchase of works of art through their yearly dues.

The works acquired by the Museum after the Selection Dinner include: Oscar Bailey, Ed Ruscha, Ten Times with Ten Books, 1971; Alex Harris, Karl Marx Theater from the Cuba Series, 1998-2003; Clemens Kalischer, Cunnigham and Dancers, 1948 and ‘The Ruse of Medusa’ production photograph, Buckminster Fuller, William Schrauger, Elaine de Kooning and Merce Cunningham, 1948; Whitfield Lovell, One of These Days, 2006; John Sloan, The Picture Buyer, 1911; Robert C. Turner, Pitcher, ca. 1960 and William Wegman, Red Detachment, 2005.

“The work that is purchased by the Collectors’ Circle and contributed to the Museum will be of benefit to the community for generations to come,” said Museum Board Chairman Rob Pulleyn. “I think it is important for those with the ability to help the Museum develop a diverse, inclusive and first rate collection of work.”

The 2007 Collectors’ Circle members were Dick Albyn, Phil Broughton and David Smith, Nat and Anne Burkhardt, Brian Butler, John Cram and Matt Chambers, Doug Gall and Byron Greiner, Ray Griffin and Thom Robinson, Dan and Melissa Jacobs, Stephen and Suzanne Jones, Joe and Cynthia Kimmel, Delphia Lamberson, Brian and Gail McCarthy, David Moltke-Hansen and Patricia Poteat, Fran Myers, Ted and Ann Oliver, Kathryn Philpott-Hill, Mary Powell, Rob Pulleyn, Paul and Cherry Lentz Saenger, Randy Shull and Hedy Fischer, Susan Turner and Larry Turner.






Oscar Bailey
Ed Ruscha, Ten Times with Ten Books, 1971
Panoramic gelatin silver print
10 x 47.5 inches
Museum purchase with funds provided by 2007 Collectors’ Circle member Frances Myers in memory of Nat C. Myers

Oscar Bailey began making photographs in the 1950s and earned his MFA in photography in 1958. In 1969, he started the photography program at the University of South Florida. Since retiring to Yancey County in 1985, he has taught at Penland School of Crafts. His panoramic photograph Ed Ruscha, Ten Times with Ten Books shows the continuity of use of antiquated photographic equipment and gives the Museum a wonderful image of an important 20^th century artist, Ed Ruscha.

This purchase is made possible by the generosity of Circle member Frances Myers in memory of Nat C. Myers.

Alex Harris
Karl Marx Theater, from the Cuba Series, 1998-2003
Ektacolor photograph
40 x 50 inches
Museum purchase with funds provided by 2007 Collectors’ Circle members Ray Griffin and Thom Robinson

From 1998-2003 documentary photographer Alex Harris made multiple trips to Cuba to capture a nation wrestling with social and economic challenges. In Karl Marx Theater, Harris offers a view of Havana through the windshield of an aging American automobile.

Harris founded The Center for Documentary Photography at Duke University where he is currently Professor of the Practice of Public Policy and Documentary Studies.

Additional support was provided by Circle members Ray Griffin and Thom Robinson for this acquisition.

Clemens Kalischer
Cunningham and Dancers, 1948
Gelatin silver print
14 x 11 inches
Museum purchase with funds provided by 2007 Collectors’ Circle member Rob Pulleyn 

Clemens Kalischer
‘The Ruse of Medusa’ production photograph, Buckminster Fuller, William Schrauger, Elaine de Kooning and Merce Cunningham, 1948
Gelatin silver print
11 x 14 inches
Museum purchase with funds provided by 2007 Collectors’ Circle member Rob Pulleyn

New York based photographer Clemens Kalischer visited Black Mountain College (BMC) for the first time in 1948. That summer some of the 20th century’s most brilliant artists were living and studying at BMC, including John Cage, Merce Cunnigham, Elaine de Kooning and Buckminster Fuller.

While there, Kalischer photographed his fellow artists performing a production of the surrealist play “The Ruse of Medusa” by French composer Erik Satie. These photographs were a part of the Museum’s recent Black Mountain College: An Exhibition Series and add greatly to the Museum’s collection of works by artists associated with the College.

Gracious thanks to Circle member Rob Pulleyn for making these purchases possible.

Whitfield Lovell
One of These Days, 2006
Charcoal on wood, china set
81 x 41 inches
2007 Collectors’ Circle Purchase

Whitfield Lovell is a New York based African American artist who explores and documents the lives of black men and women at the turn of the 20^th century, primarily those in the rural South.

One of These Days is part of an ongoing series of multi-part installations which incorporates portraits drawn on wood with numerous household objects and evokes domestic rituals and the customs of the times.

Generous additional support was provided by Circle members Phillip Broughton and David Smith for this work.

John Sloan’s The Picture Buyer is a beautiful piece by an artist whose work showed an interest in immediacy and realism that was contrary to the art world establishment’s vision in the early 20th century.

Sloan was part of a group of artists, “The Eight,” including George Luks, Earnest Lawson, Arthur B. Davies, Robert Henri, William Glackens, Maurice Prendergast and Evert Shinn known as precursors to the Modernist movement later in the century.

This work was acquired through the generosity of Circle members Frances Myers and Dick and Nancy Albyn.

Robert C. Turner
Pitcher, ca. 1960
stoneware
7.5 x 10 x 8.5 inches
Museum purchase with funds provided by 2007 Collectors’ Circle members David Moltke-Hansen and Patricia Poteat, Gail and Brian McCarthy.

Robert Turner not only began the ceramics program at Black Mountain College, but he was involved with Penland School of Crafts as an instructor and considered by many as one of the most influential potters and teachers of the last half of the 20th century.

Throughout his 60-year career as a ceramicist, Turner received numerous awards for his work and participated in a number of group and solo exhibitions, both in the United States and abroad. This pitcher, with its drawn free-from decoration, is a fine example of his earlier work.

The work was acquired through the generosity of Circle members David Moltke-Hansen and Patricia Poteat and Gail and Brian McCarthy.

William Wegman
Red Detachment, 2005
Color Polaroid photograph
24 x 20 inches
2007 Collectors’ Circle Purchase

William Wegman is an art photographer who also works in video and mixed media. Wegman is best known for compositions involving his Weimaraner dogs in various costumes, poses and scenarios.

Red Detachment is an example of Wegman’s work with the oversize Polaroid 20 x 24 inch camera. The camera produces large format prints known for their color and detail, as well as their uniqueness—only one print is produced.

For more information or to join the Collectors’ Circle, please visit www.ashevilleart.org or contact Rebecca Lynch-Maass at 828.253.3227, ext. 114 or email rlynchmaass@ashevilleart.org.