The Zigler Art Museum (ZAM) is an art museum in

Jennings, Louisiana Jennings is a city in, and the parish seat of, Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, United States, near Lake Charles. The population was 10,383 at the 2010 census, a small decline from the 2000 tabulation. The city is 68 percent white. Jennings is ...

. It is located inside the City Hall. The ZAM permanent collection represents major movements in art from the Nineteenth Century to the present. Established in 1970 by Ruth Zigler with 20 works of art and nine

diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...

s, the ZAM collection has grown to include over 600 objects.

Description

The ZAM's exhibitions, which rotate quarterly, include thematic selections from the Permanent Collection, travelling exhibitions, and those curated by ZAM staff. ZAM's collection includes local, national, and international works of art, with an aim to chronicle the development of visual art in Louisiana. Focusing on work of the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries, the museum's fine and decorative arts embody Louisiana's history and culture, while placing this local art within the global scene. This context provides an appropriate backdrop for the museum's focus on emerging Louisiana artists. Highlights from the collection include work by

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictoria ...

, Charles Sprague Pearce, Helen Turner,

Angela Gregory Angela Gregory (October 18, 1903 – February 13, 1990) was an American Sculpture, sculptor and professor of art. Gregory has been called the "doyenne of Louisiana sculpture". She became one of the few women of her era to be recognized nationally ...

Clementine Hunter Clementine Hunter (pronounced Clementeen) (late December 1886 or early January 1887 – January 1, 1988) was a self-taught Black folk artist from the Cane River region of Louisiana, who lived and worked on Melrose Plantation. Hunter was born ...

Ellsworth Woodward Ellsworth Woodward (1861–1939) was an American artist and art educator. During the late 19th century in New Orleans, Ellsworth and his older brother William Woodward were two of the most influential figures in Southern art. Ellsworth was born 1 ...

, Alexander Calder,

Helen Gerardia Helen Gerardia (1903–1988) was a Russian Empire-born American painter. Early life and education She was born in Ekaterinoslav, Russian Empire in 1903. She immigrated to the United States and studied under Hans Hofmann from 1946 to 1947. Caree ...

, Alexander Drysdale, and a large collection of work by William Tolliver.

History

Ruth Zigler started ZAM' with a trust fund in 1963. An avid collector, she also donated her personal art collection and the Clara Street house that she and her late husband, Fred B. Zigler, had owned since 1908. In anticipation of an expanding art collection and to house nine large wildlife dioramas, Ruth added two wings onto the home in 1969. TheZAM's formally opened to the public in 1970. The ZAM collection now includes works of art by local, national, and European artists. The collection consists of two- and three-dimensional works from the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries, ranging from folk to

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

paintings, from native crafts to bronze sculptures, and from carved wood to photography. In December 2015, ZAM moved into the City Hall building. The new facility provided more space for the collection and a location that would allow more interaction with the other cultural entities of Jennings.
Zigler Art Museum
{{authority control Museums in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana

Art museums and galleries in Louisiana Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisian ...

Natural history museums in Louisiana Art museums established in 1970 1970 establishments in Louisiana