The Armory South Brings Together Artworks from 1924 Exhibition that Introduced Modernism to the South
JACKSONVILLE, FL — MOCA Jacksonville, a cultural institute of the University of North Florida, will open The Armory South: The 1924 Jacksonville Woman’s Club Exhibition Rediscovered, on view April 10 through November 23, 2025. The exhibition reassembles Modernist works from MOCA’s first exhibition in 1924 and highlights key themes around history of women in Modern art, the introduction of Modernism to the American South, and the ideas and relationships shaping American art in the mid-1920s. An Exhibition Opening Celebration will take place on Thursday, April 10. All are welcome during the Community Hour from 8-9 p.m. Media, Members, and Donors receive early access. Learn more at https://www.eventbrite.com/myevent?eid=1218716105679.
ABOUT THE ARMORY SOUTH
The Armory South: The 1924 Jacksonville Woman’s Club Exhibition Rediscovered reassembles core works from a forgotten but seminal Modernist exhibition mounted in March 1924 by the Woman’s Club of Jacksonville and the newly founded Jacksonville Fine Arts Society (now MOCA). Planned to mark the beginning of the museum’s second century in 2025, The Armory South will tell several related stories of essential importance to the history of women in Modern art, the introduction of Modernism to the American South, and the ideas and relationships shaping American art in the mid-1920s.
The title of this new exhibition is a nod to the 1913 Armory show that propelled the Modern art movement in America. In the same way, the 1924 Woman’s Club Exhibition in Jacksonville marked the beginning of Modern art in the South. The exhibition was organized by four Jacksonville women led by Merrydelle Hoyt, a largely overlooked but pioneering advocate for Modern art in Florida, and curated by the artist Wood Gaylor. It included nearly 200 works by more than eighty cutting edge Modernist artists, including George Ault, Peggy Bacon, Charles DeMuth, John Dos Passos, Wood Gaylor, Marsden Hartley, Thomas Hart Benton, Walt Kuhn, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Adelaide Lawson, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, Katherine Schmidt, Joseph Stella, and Isabel Whitney, among others. Nearly one-third of the exhibiting artists were women.
Until very recently, this remarkable history had been almost completely forgotten.
Beyond its contribution to understanding a forgotten regional history of American art, this retrospective exhibition will bring completely new evidence to bear on open questions important to our broader history of American art. The exhibition will be an opportunity to reconsider both the neglected work of influential women artists and some of the now canonical artworks that shaped Modern art in America in the early twentieth century.
A catalog is being created to accompany this exhibition with support from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.
Guest curator: Dr. P. Scott Brown, PhD.
The exhibition includes works on loan from the Brooklyn Museum; Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College; Forum Gallery, New York; The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL; the DeMell Jacobsen Collection; the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation; D. Wigmore Fine Art, Inc., New York; Myron Kunin Collection of American Art, Minneapolis, MN; Myron Kunin Collection of Art, Minneapolis, MN; Ogunquit Museum of American Art; Portland Museum of Art, Maine; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art; Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University; Dr. P. Scott and Sally Anne Brown; Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Wesleyan College; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Woodstock Artists Association & Museum; Yale University Art Gallery; and Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University.
The Armory South: The 1924 Jacksonville Woman’s Club Exhibition Rediscovered is made possible by the generous support of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art; Anne and John Baker, Lauren Baker, Sallie Ball, Jennifer and Henry Brown, The Cummer Family Foundation, Lory Doolittle, Dita Domonkos, Anne and Charlie Joseph, Kathleen Ligare, Carol Lombardo, Emily and Lawrence Lisska in Honor of the Woman’s Club of Jacksonville, Cameron and Ryland Lucie, The Woman’s Club of Jacksonville, and Ashley and Matt Wotiz
MEDIA PORTAL
Press releases, and images from the exhibitions, and credit lines are available at the link below for use.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/gvjkv5gz2okwejl5c7t36/ADwu_rhIUD15PDKBMhgCg9E?rlkey=7m954mdazbmgx2w0xzi1x46z2&st=tzk4l5bl&dl=0
ABOUT MOCA JACKSONVILLE
Founded in 1924, the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville was the first visual arts organization in Jacksonville, one of the first art museums in the state of Florida, and one of the first contemporary art museums to be founded in the United States.
One hundred years ago, a group of visionary local women artists came together to imagine the kind of city they wanted Jacksonville to be — the kind of community they wanted to live in and be a part of. At the core of their vision for a rich, vital, dynamic city were art, culture, and education. Thus, what we now call MOCA Jacksonville was born — first as a series of exhibitions by artists of the day, used as a fundraising tool to support public school education; then as a guild; and later as an art museum and educational leader.
A century later, MOCA’s mission remains focused on the art, artists, and ideas of our time, with a vision that unites education, creativity, and community building in the heart of downtown Jacksonville. MOCA is committed to offering extraordinary exhibitions and programs that not only elevate the museum but provide a stimulus and create an energized destination for our Downtown to build upon.
For more information including hours of operation, admission prices and upcoming exhibitions and programs, call 904.366.6911 or visit mocajacksonville.unf.edu.
###
AMBER SESNICK (She/Her)
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING
W: 904-620-3224 // C: 904-303-0703
LOC
MOCA JACKSONVILLE
A Cultural Institute of UNF
333 North Laura Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32202
Instagram + Twitter @mocajax // Facebook: MOCAjacksonville
MOCAJACKSONVILLE.UNF.EDU