Sheldon gallery naming for Rohman family proposed

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Harvey Perlman announced that he and University of Nebraska President J. B. Milliken will recommend to the NU Board of Regents that a permanent collection gallery at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery be named in honor of the Carl "Ky" Rohman family.

The gallery naming recognizes the outstanding contributions that Rohman, a Lincoln businessman and arts supporter, and his family have made to Sheldon through the University of Nebraska Foundation and the Nebraska Art Association. Throughout the years, Rohman and his immediate family have greatly enriched the Sheldon through significant gifts of works of art and by generous contributions of time and talent to the museum and its programs.

Rohman earned bachelor's (1942) and law (1947) degrees at the University of Nebraska, and has been a member of the Sheldon board since 1990 and served as its chair from 1996 through 2002, exercising leadership and contributing counsel to the gallery's directors. He and his wife, Jane, a member of the Nebraska Art Association board of trustees, contribute to the growth of the Sheldon collections through gifts to the NU Foundation and as models to other collectors in the region. Among the works of art they have donated are sculptures by Scott Burton, Robert Rauschenberg and Hugo Robus. In addition, they have made significant gifts honoring contributors to the Sheldon, including an Alice Morgan Wright sculpture in honor of Jane Pope Geske, Theodore Roszak's aluminum sculpture "Transverse Polar" in honor of George W. Neubert, and an important seascape by Francis A. Silva in memory of Thomas Cochrane Woods III.

Because of the Rohman family's interest in early American art, the Sheldon's collections of 19th-century painting, including major works by American realist and impressionist painters, have been greatly enhanced by the family's gifts to the museum. Gifts from Beatrice Rohman, Rohman's mother, include examples by noted Boston painter William McGregor Paxton and American impressionist artist Theodore Wendel. Thomas Crawford's marble sculpture "Truants (The Bird's Nest)" of 1856 and Guy Pene du Bois' oil painting "Timid Model" were also among her donations. In addition, Lilian Westcott Hale's "The Convalescent (Zeffy in Bed)", a favorite painting among Sheldon visitors, was acquired though the Beatrice D. Rohman Fund.

Rohman's first wife, Lorraine LeMar Rohman, who died in 1988, was a two-term president (1975-77) and life trustee of the Nebraska Art Association. Among the many donations of works of art the couple made were paintings by noted 19th-century American painters Ralph Albert Blakelock and Emil Carlsen. Among the magnificent gifts donated in Lorraine's memory are a still life by Martin Johnson Heade, one of America's great 19th-century painters; Augustus Vincent Tack's "Abstraction"; Boris Lovet-Lorski's bronze sculpture "On Parade (Stallions)"; and a rare portfolio of William Sharp's signature chromolithographs, "American Water Lily."

The Rohman family has also supported the acquisition of several major sculptures for Nebraska Art Association and university collections, including an Alexander Calder sculpture and "Torn Notebook" by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.

"It is highly appropriate that Ky Rohman and his family be recognized by naming a permanent gallery in the Sheldon in their honor," Perlman said. "The Rohman family, through it many contributions over the years, has played an indispensable role in helping establish the Sheldon as one of the finest university-based art galleries in the United States."

Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery Director Janice Driesbach noted the particular importance of Rohman and his family in developing the museum's historical collections, an area that is challenging to develop.

"Artists such as Martin Johnson Heade were often not appreciated until their values had escalated to where few museums could afford to acquire them," Driesbach said. "The interest Ky Rohman and his family have demonstrated in the arts, their intelligent appreciation and passion to share with the community, are remarkable. They have not only directly impacted Sheldon, but also set an example that inspires others."

An official celebration of the Rohman family naming and gifts, pending Regents approval, will take place at Sheldon with a special installation in late spring 2005.

The University of Nebraska Foundation is a nonprofit corporation founded in 1936 to supplement support for students, faculty, facilities and programs at the University of Nebraska's four campuses through gifts from alumni, friends, corporations and other foundations.

The Nebraska Art Association is the Sheldon's dedicated nonprofit support organization. For more than a century, the NAA has supported cultural enrichment in Nebraska through the visual arts. Acquiring, exhibiting, preserving and interpreting art is the mission of the association.

CONTACT: Jessica Kennedy, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, (402) 472-1197