‘Cross Pollination’ wrapping up at Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville

Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church and Our Contemporary Moment, will be on view at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens through January 17, 2021.

Cross Pollination takes flight from the influential series of paintings, The Gems of Brazil (1863-64) by Martin Johnson Heade, and expands outward to explore pollination in nature and ecology, as well as pollination as a metaphor for the interplay between art and science, relationships among artists and the connections across time, from the 19th to the 21st centuries. 

The exhibition was developed collaboratively by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, The Olana Partnership at the Olana State Historic Site and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and draws from core work in each of their collections. 

Sixteen of Heade’s paintings from The Gems of Brazil currently in the collection of Crystal Bridges are presented in conversation not only with works by fellow artists Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, but also with artwork by their daughters, Emily Cole and Isabel Charlotte Church, and major artists working today. 

This exhibition celebrates the beauty of the natural world — a theme that aligns with many of the works within the Museum’s permanent collection, as well as its historically significant riverfront gardens. 

“Artists across history have explored the lessons that nature can teach us about our own lives. This exhibition presents visually stunning and thought-provoking artworks that invite us all to consider the interconnectedness of our own experiences and actions,” said Holly Keris, the Museum’s J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver Chief Curator. “Cross Pollination is an exquisite complement to our permanent collection and gardens, providing a new lens through which to view these incredible assets that have been available to the community for nearly 60 years. Additionally, our proximity to St. Augustine, where featured artist Martin Johnson Heade spent his final years, enhances the geographic significance.”

This exhibition is a collaboration between Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Thomas Cole National Historical Site and the Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site. The exhibition tour is organized by Crystal Bridges. Support for this exhibition and its national tour is provided by Art Bridges. Additional major support has been provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.