BLOWING ROCK, NC.- The Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) announces a new exhibition, “Jack Boul: Land, City, Home,” which will open on August 30, 2025, and remain on view in the Atwell Gallery through March 7, 2026.

Jack Boul (1927–2024) was a painter, printmaker and sculptor whose work captured the quiet rhythms of life in urban, agrarian and domestic landscapes. Born in Brooklyn, he spent much of his career in Washington, D.C., where his urban landscapes took on the form of architectural portraits, focusing on the relationships formed within the built environment. His works often explore the stillness and structure of city streets, facades and rooftops, where the presence of people is implied by the spaces they inhabit, but rarely depicted.

Boul’s pastoral and cultivated landscapes, in contrast, focus on the land itself, fields, farmsteads and livestock rendered with a quiet, tender sensitivity to the natural world. In his domestic interiors, Boul turns his attention to intimate, contemplative spaces. Figures resting, reading or simply being at home evoke a quiet, emotional resonance that connects viewers to the landscapes of everyday life.

Boul’s work has been showcased in prestigious institutions around the country. His first solo showcase was in 1957 at the Franz Bader Gallery. In 1969, Boul was named an adjunct professor at American University, where he showed regularly for 15 years. His first major exhibition was in 1974 at the Baltimore Museum of Art. When he began teaching at Washinton Studio School he held annual one-man shows until his retirement in 1994.

This exhibition also highlights Boul’s connection to Camp Catawba in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, where he first encountered the Blue Ridge Mountains’ beauty—a setting that informed his sensitivity to place and atmosphere. “Jack Boul: Land, City, Home” invites viewers to experience the understated vibrancy of Boul’s work, offering a poignant meditation on the rhythms of life that flow through the landscapes we inhabit.

To deepen visitors’ engagement with Boul’s work and the history of Camp Catawba, BRAHM is hosting special programs and performances, offering a variety of perspectives.

Camp Catawba was opened in 1944 by Vera Lachmann, a refugee from Nazi Germany. Located near Blowing Rock and spanning 20 acres of land, the camp mainly hosted young boys from the New York and Washington D.C. area.

The camp’s main focus was to educate these young men in “the classics.” They studied famous composers, influential playwrights, literature and ancient civilizations. This Renaissance-style education was paired with a classic camp experience. All campers rode horses through the countryside, camped under the stars and partnered with the prominent Bolicks family to learn the complexities of running a farm.

Camp Catawba was closed in 1970, and a memorial to the camp was installed by Middle Fork Greenway in October 2021, honoring the work of Lachmann.