The Tarble Arts Center is currently featuring a free exhibition of paintings by 20th Century artist Paul T. Sargent until Oct.6.

The exhibition will include about 40 paintings from private collectors and area collections. Also included in this event are photos, sketches and artifacts, many of which have never been on display before, a press release stated.

Sargent was a student at Eastern from 1900-1906, when the university was known as Eastern Illinois State Normal School. The press release stated he was “arguably the first noted artist to come from Eastern.”

He gained popularity through his many Midwest Impressionist landscapes, many of which were done around this area. After graduating from Eastern, Sargent became a student at the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied for six years and also worked as a free-lance artist in the city. He then returned to this area and taught painting classes at Eastern from 1938-1942.

Michael Watts, director of the Tarble Arts Center, said that Sargent taught Ralph Wickiser and Alice Baber, two of the more well-known artists to come out of Eastern.

After his 1946 death, he was honored with Eastern’s first art gallery, named the Paul T. Sargent Gallery.

The Tarble Arts Center is located on 9th Street at Cleveland Avenue. It is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Sunday, and closed on Mondays and holidays. For more information on the exhibition, call the center at 581-2787.