Retrospective of Franklin Adams' Artwork Opens at Carroll Gallery
The work of the late Franklin Adams, professor of both architecture and art at Tulane University, is being celebrated in an exhibit at the Carroll Gallery in the Woldenberg Art Center of the Newcomb Art Department. The exhibit opens on Thursday (Jan. 15) and continues through Feb. 13.
A longtime architecture and art professor at Tulane, the late Franklin Adams is celebrated in a retrospective of his artwork at the Carroll Gallery on the uptown campus.
“Franklin Adams: A Retrospective” presents some of Adams' most popular works including the “intimate” collection, which features drawings of nude figures as well as intricate drawings of clothes at rest without a body wearing them.
Carol Leake, a Loyola University art professor, is curator of the exhibit. The Friends of Franklin Adams, a group of artists and Adams' friends and family, conceived the idea of the exhibit before the artist's death in spring 2008.
Adams himself made suggestions for works to include in the exhibition.
“The nudes, drawn over many years and even the clothes without bodies in them are intimate in their up-close detail, vividly and meaningfully observed,” wrote Adams in his last artist's statement.
“The emphasis is intensely personal, concerned with daily life and, to me, thus more meaningful and more real than larger subjects or themes could ever be.”
The drawing “Blouse With Flared Cuffs” is an example of the “intimate” collection of the late Franklin Adams. (Provided by the Carroll Gallery)
The exhibit includes pencil drawings, paintings, bronze sculptures and collages along with three-dimensional paper assemblages.
“The Friends of Franklin Adams wanted to present an overview of Franklin's work in a way in which he would be involved,” says Laura Richens, curator of the Carroll Gallery. “Before he passed away in April he was a big part of the planning, and the group just continued on to make the show happen.”
Adams was a prolific artist known for designing Mardi Gras posters, theater sets, graphic art, paintings and sculptures.
Among Adams' graphic design achievements is the logo used by New Orleans jewelry Mignon Faget, a 1955 Newcomb College graduate.
According to Richens, the exhibit is suitable for all ages and will be especially interesting to art students. Adams was renowned as an outstanding teacher of the foundations of design and painting.
The exhibit is free and open to the public. Carroll Gallery hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The opening reception on Thursday (Jan. 15) is from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. at the gallery.
