FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 14, 2003

Uniquely American Art Celebrated in Invitational Exhibition

The Museum of Texas Tech University announces the opening of the exhibition Allied Artists of America: An Invitational in Gallery 3, beginning July 20, and showing through December 14. The Museum is located on the southeast corner of Fourth Street and Indiana Avenue, and is open to the public, free of charge.

Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, with the assistance of New Jersey painter and Allied Artists of America member Gary Erbe, organized this traveling invitational exhibition. This group exhibition focuses on 68 selected artists, their works, their interpretation of realism, and the broad scope of personal creativity in subjects and ideas. These skillful artists are drawn together by a common bond of excellence in both presentation and product. The 68 works include oils, works on paper, and sculptures.

New York City has long been a center for artists resulting in a need for art societies to display their art. The two most prestigious New York City-based art organizations are Allied Artists of America founded in 1914, and the National Academy of Design founded in 1825. These organizations have always attracted the most recognized artists who create works of great diversity and quality. There is a sense of excitement when these artists gather to show their latest works in group exhibitions.

The inaugural 1914 Allied Artists of America exhibition was at the Washington Irving High School in New York City. The annual open exhibitions were then held in the American Fine Arts Society building in New York, now the location of the renowned Art Students League. The venue shifted to exhibitions by invitation at the Brooklyn Museum in 1933-34, and a joint exhibition with the New York Water Color Club held at the New York World's Fair in 1940. From 1942-1946, Allied Artists of America annual exhibitions were displayed at the galleries of the New York Historical Society, and from 1947-48 the society's exhibitions were at the National Arts Club building. The following year, the society began a 30-year span of presenting its annual exhibitions at the National Academy of Design Galleries on upper Fifth Avenue.

In 1980, Allied Artists of America marked new milestones with its fine members' show at NYC's prestigious American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in the World Trade Center. In addition, members also exhibit at museums across the country.

Allied Artists of America, Inc., is a not-for-profit national arts society comprised of painters, sculptors, elected active members, and sustaining associate members from across the country. From 1914 to the present, the society has been faithful in achieving its goal of furthering the cause of American art through its annual exhibitions.

For more information about the Museum or to request special assistance, call the Museum Education office at (806)742-2432, or email to museum.education@ttu.edu. Stay current with Museum exhibitions and event at www.museum.ttu.edu.