Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University

Although a variety of factors led to the genesis of the museum project, perhaps no single event exerted more influence than the purchase in 1948 of what has become known as Auburn University's Advancing American Art Collection. Comprised of 117 paintings that had been collected by the United States State Department, the collection was auctioned as war surplus. Hearing of the auction and recognizing an historic opportunity, Frank Applebee, then Auburn's head professor of art, gathered funding from an art department to enter the State Department auction. Taking advantage of a 95 percent discount offered by the government to qualified purchasers, Applebee was able to purchase 36 paintings for $1,072. Described as the art bargain of the century, many of these paintings represent the finest works ever executed by such luminaries of the American art scene as Ralston Crawford, Ben Shahn, Georgia O'Keefe, John Marin, Jacob Lawrence, Arthur Dove and Romare Bearden. Although now valued at between $7 and $10 million, the arrival of the collection on campus did little initially to arouse interest in constructing an art museum at a land-grant university. Indeed, the collection entered an unfortunate period when it was neglected for years and could be found hanging in faculty and administrative offices throughout the university.

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University Web Site

Driving Direction GPS Coordinates:
32.588791 -85.484852


Museum Address:
901 South College St.
Auburn, AL

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University Contacts:
Phone: (334) 844-1484