Jim Butler Paintings of Mississippi to be Shown in Cairo, Egypt

The Mississippi River flows through Cairo, Illinois. The Nile River flows through Cairo, Egypt.  This month, at the request of the U.S. State Department, Distinguished Professor Jim Butler is sending the Mississippi to the Nile.

The Department of State's ART in Embassies Program has asked the Illinois State University artist to provide three of his oil paintings, "Baton Rouge, a triptych," to be on exhibit through the year 2010 at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt.  The triptych is part of Butler's larger series, "Views Along the Mississippi River," monumental landscape paintings of sites that span the length of the Mississippi that observe the links between agricultural, industrial and commercial infrastructure with the Mississippi River as a vital transportation resource.

"Views Along the Mississippi River" was first shown at the Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences in Peoria in 1998 followed by the Forum Gallery in New York City, as well as the Dubuque Art Museum.   The project continued for Butler and was last seen at the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for the Visual Arts in Pensacola, Fla., in spring of last year. 

The exhibition has been retitled "Rapture/Rupture: Life along the Mississippi River" because Butler has added new work to respond to events such as the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.  This past summer, he spent time in the flooded areas of the Midwest which are related to the Mississippi River flooding.

Established in 1964, the ART in Embassies program represents a commitment by the U.S. Department of State and the American art community to place exhibitions of works by American artists in public spaces of U.S. ambassadorial residences.  More than 3,500 works have been seen in about 180 ambassadorial residences.  The exhibitions in embassies play an important role in U.S. public diplomacy by providing international audiences with a sense of the quality, scope and diversity of American art and culture.

Butler has his master of fine arts degree from the University of Nebraska and has been on the Illinois State faculty since 1976.       His prints and lithographs consist of photographic imagery which can be found in more than 160 public collections in the U.S. and abroad.

"I am very honored to be included in the company of the artists who have been chosen to be included in this program," Butler said.  Among the artists whose work was seen in other embassies include Willem de Kooning, Edward Hopper, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Dale Chihuly and 96-year-old New York City sculptor and painter Louise Bourgeois.