This post complements Chapter 22 Fine Artists Contemplate the Cabbage Palm in my book, The Palmetto Book: Histories and Mysteries of the Cabbage Palm, published by the University of Florida Press. In the book, I describe the incomparable experience of viewing the paintings in the home of Sam and Robbie Vickers. Unlike a museum, where paintings are keep a discreet distance apart, the Vickers displayed their collection en masse, creating a panoply of visual delights.
One of many rooms in the Vickerses’ home.
Now the public can see some of their collection as a result of the collection being donated to the Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville.
The current exhibit from the Vickers Collection “features nearly 170 paintings, watercolors and drawings representing 125 artists who drew inspiration from Florida’s history, landmarks and natural attractions.” And that is only one seventh of the art donated by the Vickers in February of this year. Approximately one quarter of the art works now on display feature cabbage palms. As Sam put it when we visited him, “Hard to avoid ’em.”
“Among the gifts are works by celebrated artists such as John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, Martin Johnson Heade, and Thomas Moran,“all of whom painted distinctive cabbage palms. Other fantastic cabbage palm renderings are represented by Charles R. Knight, Herman Herzog, Albert Backus, William Lamb Picknell, Christian Eisele, and Andrew Wyeth (channeling Winslow Homer?). Below are representative works of Knight and Herzog, whose work I discussed in my book, but which are not illustrated.
Herman Ottomar Herzog, Sunset Near Low Creek, Florida c. 1900 oil on canvas
Entrance to the museum is free and A Florida Legacy (selections from the Vickers collection) will run through July. It’s worth the trip. And check out the Museum Store — gorgeous cabbage palm art and note cards by Gary Borse, and by the time you get there they may be selling The Palmetto Book.