Image: Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn
The Jule has added Mary Wallace Kirk’s ‘Noon Hour’—by the American artist, who lived from 1889 to 1978—to Auburn University’s art collection as a newly acquired object. The acquisition places the work among the newly acquired objects added to the university collection.
Dr. Lynn Barstis Williams Katz donated the work to the Imprinting the South Collection.
‘Noon Hour’ is not on display yet, but it will be seen in the future.
The image presents a sepia-toned print of a worn wooden cabin in daylight, with lush plants surrounding the cabin’s elevation. The object record classifies it as an intaglio etching: a sepia ink etching on cream paper, dated approximately 1935–1949.
The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art stewards the university art collection of more than 3,000 objects. University classes, faculty and employees actively engage with those collection objects to expand education, research and service. Among the collection’s highlights are works on paper depicting the South, alongside Southern visionary art, Audubon etchings, contemporary prints and photographs, Mexican modernism, and pottery and ceramics.
