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Florida Southern College presents
exhibition of artist Byron Browne

LAKELAND, Fla. (Sept. 3, 2001) - Florida Southern College will feature the art of abstractionist Byron Browne in the Melvin Art Gallery beginning Sept. 20 and running through Oct. 12. Opening night events start at 7 p.m.

The exhibition is on loan from the Harmon-Meek Gallery in Naples, Fla. "We are very fortunate that through our relationship with Bill Meek, an FSC graduate whose Harmon-Meek Gallery is agent for Byron Browne's estate, to be able to mount an important retrospective exhibition of Browne's work," said Dr. James Rogers, FSC professor and chairman of the art department.

Browne (1907-61) was a painter and sculptor born in Yonkers, N.Y. As a founding member of the American Abstract Artists, he and other leaders of this small group championed the cause of abstract modernism throughout the 1930s and early to mid-1940s. "Without them, there could not have been Abstract Expressionism and the other international styles that made New York the art capital of the world," Rogers said.

The Melvin Gallery is publishing a 64-page catalog to accompany the exhibition. It contains more than 60 color reproductions of Browne's works, tracing the development of his career. Rogers said the catalog represents an important contribution to the study of Browne and "hopefully to the understanding of the development of modernism in American art."

The Melvin Art Gallery is open weekdays from 1 to 4 p.m. and before and during intermissions of most performances of the FSC Fine Arts Series.

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

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