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October Issue 2007
South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, SC, Features Works from the Mark Coplan Collection
Corrie McCallum
A large collection of South Carolina art assembled by one of the Palmetto State's most passionate collectors will be displayed publicly for the first time when the exhibit The Mark B. Coplan Collection of Art at the SC State Museum opens at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, SC. The exhibit will be on view in the Lipscomb Gallery from Oct. 12 through March 23, 2008.
Barbara Buchanan
The compilation of 110 pieces, gathered over about 20 years by noted art enthusiast Mark Coplan and acquired by the museum in 2006, includes pottery, paintings, wood carvings, drawings, photography, printmaking, sculpture and more by artists such as Leo Twiggs, Corrie McCallum, Alfred Hutty, Ed Lewandowski, Carl Blair, Preston Orr, Cecil Williams, Beverly Buchanan, Mike Williams, Robert Courtright and others.
Brian Rutenberg
"The Coplan collection represents works of art by emerging and established, fine and folk artists primarily from South Carolina," said Curator of Art Paul Matheny.
J. Bardin
Coplan began purchasing art in the 1970s. By the time he passed away in 2002, he had amassed a numerically large and artistically significant collection which was known and respected statewide. The State Museum acquired a large portion of the collection from his sister Lana Coplan Schlossberg and her husband Michael. Other family members hold the remainder of the art.
James Bright Bailey
"This addition to the collection represents the largest single acquisition of art for the State Museum and includes a significant amount of contemporary artwork, an area that needed more representation in our collection. That's especially true since the number of excellent contemporary artists grows each year as more artists become established across this state," says Matheny.
Marcello Novo
"Like Mark, we want to preserve and promote South Carolina artists and their work, which is a large part of our mission," continues Matheny. "This collection represents some of the best work of South Carolina artists who were living and working as Mark selected it, because he was not only an enthusiastic collector, but also very discriminating."
Billy Hinson
The exhibit will open in two "waves." On Nov. 15, a month after the initial opening, a number of pieces will be added to the exhibit when they return from exhibition in Rock Hill, where they will be shown in a cooperative project with Winthrop University.
For further information check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings, contact Paul Matheny at 803/898-4941 or visit
(www.southcarolinastatemuseum.org).
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