The Watercolors of Durs Rudy New Discoveries in Fraktur
GERARD C. WERTKIN
BIBLICAL TEXT Lehigh County, Pennsylvania c. 1830 Ink and watercolor on paper 7 x 10' Private collection
As in the other recently discov- ered works by Durs Rudy, this depiction of Christ's Crucifixion is a complex work. This Atfarg fat ...,.si.teloigutig 24`a aVigi idkatti at. ts Cap. 34 AP. D recently found fraktur is rich in architectural details.
he great Pennsylvania anti- were notable for the illuminated or quarian Henry C. Mercer decorated texts that Mercer called recalled being "astonished fraktur,3 were formed. and delighted" in August Today, newsworthy discoveries 1897, when he saw a collec- in the field of American folk art, par- tion of frakturs for the first ticularly in eighteenth- and nineteenth- time, as preserved in a Men- century materials, are increasingly nonite community in central rare. This is especially true of those TBucks County.' A month earlier, Edwin areas identified and collected early in Atlee Barber had acquired an 1804 the history of the field. Interest in the Vorschrift for the Philadelphia Mu- folk arts of the Pennsylvania Germans seum of Art because of the striking dates back at least one hundred years; similarity of its decorative motifs to while previously undocumented works those on examples of Pennsylvania pot- of significance emerge from obscurity tery that he had collected for the from time to time, highly important Museum.2 Before long, several pio- discoveries seldom occur, as they did neering collections of Pennsylvania when Mercer and Barber first encoun- German folk art, a number of which tered examples of fraktur.
SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 33 For these reasons, the discovery of three exceptionally well-preserved but unrecorded frakturs attributed to the gifted artist Durs Rudy recently captured the imagination of scholars and collectors alike. Apparently tucked away for years among the papers of an old Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, fam- ily, Rudy's illuminated biblical texts were discovered just prior to an estate auction to which the family's property had been consigned.4 One of the new discoveries depicts Christ's Crucifixion (Mark 15:34), another, a baptism(Mat -
They are colorful, spirited,
and immensely appealing
works of art. thew 28:19), and the third, the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 12-15). Each watercolor bears Rudy's initials and one is dated 1830. Their appear- ance is especially noteworthy because they provide additional insights into the work of an artist who has intrigued students of the field for many years, but about whom there remains consider- able uncertainty. Although the term "fraktur" gained currency in the field of Ameri- can folk art following its adoption by Henry Mercer in 1897, its use is recorded in Pennsylvania much earlier.5 Originally a reference to a style of ornate "broken" lettering, the term today encompasses a wonderful variety of illuminated texts, including writing samplers (Vorschriften), deco- rated baptismal certificates (Tauf scheine), and a host of other forms both sacred and secular, from book- plates to house blessings.6 Frequently rendered in brilliant watercolors and sharing a traditional corpus of folk motifs, frakturs provide a colorful rec- ord of Pennsylvania life, faith, and art from the mid-eighteenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries. Durs Rudy was first identified in print as a creator of fraktur by Donald Shelley in 1961.7 However, since the name was borne both by a father and 13 t itsc(tt tip o 11C o(jt—tu u t his son, some uncertainty exists as to which Durs Rudy is to be associated with the fraktur attributed to this hand. The Rudy family arrived in America aboard The Commerce in 1803, disem- barking at the port of Philadelphia.8
34 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART BIBLICAL TEXT Lehigh County, Pennsylvania 1830 Ink and watercolor on paper 7 x 10" Private collection
One of three newly discovered frakturs by Rudy, this work illuminates the story of the Prodigal Son, which is found in Luke, Chapter 15. It reads clockwise from the bottom right. Durs Rudy has initialed and dated this work.
Durs Rudy, Sr.(1766-1843), was Swiss in origin; his son(1789-1850) was born in Baden.° According to longstanding family tradition, Durs Rudy, Jr., was an artist "who sketched and painted [the] local countryside."I° Although it is to the younger Rudy, tavern owner, shop- keeper, and organist at Neff's Church, N.Whitehall Township in Lehigh Coun- ty, that the most ambitious of these frakturs have been attributed, Freder- ick S. Weiser warns that we must be careful not to assume that the son cre- ated them all." Indeed, according to Weiser, Durs Rudy, Sr., was the more skilled artist and penman of the two.I2 Most recorded frakturs attrib- uted to Durs Rudy fall into one of two main categories. In the first, consisting of Taufscheine, bookplates, and a house blessing, the text clearly dominates the composition. Rendered expertly in a distinctive German cursive hand with splendid initial letters, these frakturs are rather formal certificates, reminis- cent of European examples. Framing the text of each Taufschein, the house blessing, and at least one of the recorded bookplates is a distinguishing pair of columns with transom, deco- rated in a restrained fashion with small flowers and, occasionally, other ele- ments. Of these, the birth and bap- tismal certificate of William Deibert (c. 1815), formerly in the noted collec- tion of Henry S. Borneman and now at The Free Library of Philadelphia, is the most exuberantly drawn and in- cludes a floral garland and the initial "W" richly bedecked with flowers.I3 However, an unrecorded Taufschein made for Michael Finck and now in a private collection lacks Rudy's charac- teristic columns. The three newly discovered frakturs by Durs Rudy fall into the sec-
SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 35 BIBLICAL TEXT Lehigh county, Pennsylvania itc-i.Vg/c fitS) e c. 1830 'Pet "WUfe rift -t-ta fit Ink and watercolor on paper d5"Offes be, T•iffet4 offit$ itub 7 x 10' `De$ 03eitiseit, ei es. BATHE 26 59. 057,\<_9Y AN±Y \5--t3 (3\Nos Private collection
In this newly found illumina- tion of Matthew 28:19, Rudy returns to a favorite theme. A ifa icgtitleitt o ittit tutu-men similar depiction of a baptism by Rudy may be found in a fraktur now in the museum of Fine Arts, Boston, but with- out the architectural detail shown here.
t Et1c wit .')V i Ulm ( )3 59. D
ond category of this work. Unlike the rate bodies of work, each executed Rudy, Jr., or Durs Rudy, Sr., or some Taufscheine, these drawings are fully within circumscribed periods of time. other form of documentation appears, developed compositions based on bib- A further consideration of the content it will be difficult to make a positive lical narrative and presented either of these frakturs, however, undermines identification. Notwithstanding this separately, in series, or, in several this assumption. The use of the distin- uncertainty, Rudy family tradition and known examples, as a metamorpho- guishing columns and crosspiece to the weight of scholarly opinion hold sis.14 In these, it is the imagery, rather frame the textual portions of the Tauf- that Durs Jr. created the extraordinary than the text, that is emphasized. They scheine is a common feature of several biblical drawings that are the emphasis are colorful, spirited, and immensely of the biblical drawings as well. of this essay. appealing works of art. Indeed, it is the use of this almost iden- Among the various categories of tical device in both categories of com- Pennsylvania German frakturs, de- ...most fraktur artists position that clearly binds the two tailed renderings drawn from biblical formats together. Other stylistic sim- narrative are among the most rare. preferred to address ilarities are present as well, including Although illustrated Bibles and printed the use of a closely related group of religious tracts were commonly avail- religious doctrine delightful architectural elements in able during the period that frakturs some examples of both categories of flourished in Pennsylvania, hand- Symbolically rather than Rudy's watercolors. While several of drawn depictions of sacred history the Taufscheine contain somewhat are very infrequently encountered. To directly. Durs Rudy is not more refined and carefully drawn cal- be sure, occasional examples of this ligraphy than the frakturs of the later kind of material may be found in the typical in this regard. group, the style of writing is remark- great manuscript illuminations of the ably consistent throughout Rudy's Ephrata Cloister and from the hand of In seeking to distinguish be- work. Although it may be possible that such fraktur artists as Friedrich Krebs tween the two artists, it is tempting to father and son worked closely together and Arnold Puwelle, as well as Ludwig assign one format to the father and the or even collaborated on some frakturs, Denig, whose hand-drawn illustrated other to the son. All of the documented I believe that it is difficult to sustain a Bible was recently published by the Taufscheine and bookplates were cre- clear and convincing case for two Museum of American Folk Art and the ated between 1806 and c. 1821. The artists. Pennsylvania German Society in asso- dated drawings, on the other hand, are Until a dated example is found ciation with Hudson Hills Press.15 The from 1830 to 1842. At first blush, it which places that object clearly outside familiar imagery of Adam and Eve in would appear that these are two sepa- the possible working life of either Durs the Garden of Eden is also not un-
36 SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART BIBLICAL TEXT commonly seen. These, however, are Probably Lehigh County, exceptions to the rule. Perhaps adher- Pennsylvania ing to Protestant scruples against idola- c. 1810 try, most fraktur artists preferred to Ink and watercolor on paper address religious doctrine symbolically 8/14 x 6/14 The Free Library of rather than directly. Durs Rudy is not Philadelphia typical in this regard. He turned regu- larly to the principal events of the New An illumination of one of Testament and to the promulgation of t ti.51110uletneq 4sittit. ICflLflC1 ta it , Rudy's favorite biblical texts religious doctrine. Attzt stigtto tit geipcut (Matthew 28:18-19), in which ust V..tuar e.4 tut), 44eit la;tted, 5e. The use of fraktur by Durs Rudy Christ sends his disciples forth VeCciitt 'Wtv'ett tvAtircieNgteV I to promulgate the Christian faith may to preach the Gospel. aq,46it jut Zgeor. vets- )8 - • raa9 be seen in the texts he chose to illumi- _ nate. These include Chapter 28 of the gospel of St. Matthew, in which Christ sends his disciples forth to preach the gospel, one example of which was for- TAUFSCHEIN FOR WILLIAM merly in the Borneman collection and DEIBERT is now at The Free Library of Phila- Lehigh County, Pennsylvania delphia; a representation of Adam and C. 1815 Eve formerly in the Unger collection Watercolor and ink on paper and now at Winterthur; and a depiction 7/14 x 13 of a baptism originally in the collection The Free Library of of Elie Nadelman and Maxim Karolik Philadelphia and now at the Museum of Fine Arts in
Despite the formality of this Boston. To these important examples certificate, which records the must now be added the three wonder- BRODERICK infant's birth and baptism in ful watercolors discovered last year. OAN 1814, it exemplifies Durs As is common in other frakturs Rudy's colorfully exuberant of the era, Durs Rudy's figures are style, presented anachronistically in the dress of the late eighteenth century rather than in that of the period described. Generally drawn in profile, Rudy's figures each have characteristi- cally large, square jaws and large eyes. His is a colorful world. The three TAUFSCHEIN FOR MICHAEL newly found frakturs are especially FINCK Probably Lehigh County, interesting for their architectural fea- Pennsylvania tures as well. c. 1815-25 Each of the three recently dis- Ink and watercolor on paper covered frakturs shown here illustrate a 8Yox 12/14" different theme from one of the three Private collection Synoptic Gospels, themes to which the artist regularly returned. The Cruci- Taufscheine were occasionally fixion, for example, is closely reminis- commissioned well after the cent of a panel in a Lehigh County birth and baptism of the child. Historical Society metamorphosis by This Taulschein includes archi- tectural elements typical of Rudy; the baptism recalls the Rudy Rudy's work. fraktur in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; the Prodigal Son theme mir- rors another Rudy metamorphosis. +if/tuft ill ,t3Stircit ot4i. Despite the similarities, these images are more complex and more fully de- t•mitVr inifitart) $itittiCktP1 veloped than those of the previously recorded frakturs. nsirr When Donald Shelley first doc- L., umented the work of Durs Rudy he referred to the artist as "mysterious," perhaps because his work is so dif- ferent from that of other fraktur artists.
SUMMER 1993 FOLK ART 37 Since 1961, when Shelley made this (Allentown, Pa.: The Pennsylvania German METAMORPHOSES observation, however, we have come to Folklore Society, 1961) pp. 22-23. There is Lehigh County, Pennsylvania no general agreement among American know Rudy better, from the richness c. 1832 scholars as to proper usage for the term or Ink and watercolor on paper of the legacy he has left. The three how completely it is to be anglicized. It In four parts, each 4x 6/14" frakturs recently discovered serve to often appears with an uppercase "F," as it Opens to 4 x 12/12" confirm the conclusion that he was a would appear in German. In its plural Lehigh County Historical richly gifted artist who was committed form, it appears with and without the final "s." In addition to Pennsylvania, the art of Society to church and community.* fraktur flourished in other places where Pennsylvania Germans settled, including Providing religious instruction , NOTES Virginia and Ontario. and lessons in Christian moral• 1 Henry C. Mercer, "The Survival of the 7 Shelley, op cit., p. 121. Recognition in ity, the metamorphosis Mediaeval Art of Illuminative Writing print of Rudy as an artist, although not allowed the reader to turn its
among the Pennsylvania Germans," Ameri- with specific reference to fraktur, occurred opened half pages up or down to view can Philosophical Society Proceedings 36 much earlier; see Charles Rhoads Roberts (September 17, 1897), p. 425.(Also issued and others, History ofLehigh County, a progression of changing page images. by the Bucks County Historical Society as Pennsylvania (Allentown, Pa.: Lehigh half No. 2 in its "Contributions to American Valley Publishing Company, 1914), vol. 2, History" series.) p. 467. Top 2 Barber Correspondence file, Letter to 8 Ralph Beaver Strassburger, Pennsylvania John T. Morris, July 8, 1897. Research German Pioneers (Morristown, Pa.: The Archives, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Pennsylvania German Society, 1934), Quoted in Jack L. Lindsey, "Selected vol. 3, pp. 132-133. Works by African-American Folk Artists: 9 Beatrice B. Garvan, The Pennsylvania A Recent Installation at the Philadelphia German Collection (Philadelphia: Philadel- Museum of Art," Folk Art, vol. 17(Winter Jr phia Museum of Art, 1982), p. 367. 1992/93), p. 63. 10 Ibid. 3 Mercer, op. cit., p. 424. Mercer and 11 Scott T Swank and others, Arts of the other early scholars used the spelling Pennsylvania Germans(New York: W.W. "fractur." Norton & Company for the Henry Francis 4 See Dick Cowen, "Folk artist's tracts du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1983), note bring $156,000 bid," The (Allentown) to Plate 34. Morning Call(February 8, 1992), pp. B3, 12 Corinne P Earnest and Russell D. B17; Dick Cowen, "High bid attributed to Earnest, Papersfor Birth Dayes: Guide to ....., frakturs' content," The Morning Call(Feb- the Fraktur Artists and Scriviners(Albu- tnt',„ft;,ntrI.,IvA I. I ruary 19, 1992), p. B4; Lita Solis-Cohen, querque: Russell D. Earnest Associates, -.1, ..._. -III — "A Folk Art Find," Maine Antiques Digest 1989), p. 344. I (April, 1992), p. 36-B. The auction took 13 Frederick S. Weiser and Howell J. place at Zettlemoyer's Auction Center in Heaney, The Pennsylvania German Fraktur Fogelsville, Pa. on February 6, 1992. The of The Free Library ofPhiladelphia opened sellers chose not to be identified. (Breinigsville, Pa.: The Pennsylvania 5 See William M. Fahnestock, "An Histor- German Society and The Free Library of pages
ical Sketch of Ephrata; together with a Philadelphia, 1976), vol. 1, pl. 57. half Concise Account of The Seventh Day Bap- 14 Beatrice B. Garvan and Charles E
tist Society of Pennsylvania," in Felix Hummel, The Pennsylvania Germans: A Both Reichmann and Eugene E. Doll, Ephrata Celebration of Their Arts 1683-1850 As Seen by Contemporaries (Allentown, (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of n.1.:o:1444,fr it Om 'de ead vs.1.1t m 119alto e• Ic or Pa.: The Pennsylvania German Folklore Art, 1982), p. 163, pl. 120, p. 171. Only Society, 1953), p. 168. Originally published one documented drawing by Rudy does in 1835, the article refers to the Fractur not have a religious theme. It is a charming schrifften at Ephrata Cloister: "large sheets portrait of General Washington, now in of elegant penmanship, or inkpaintings, — the collection of the Philadelphia Museum many of which are texts from the scrip- of Art. tures, done in very handsome manner, in 15 Don Yoder, ed., The Picture Bible of ornamented gothic letters..." Ludwig Denig: A Pennsylvania German 6 For a discussion of the origin and use of Emblem Book,(New York: Hudson Hills the term "fraktur," see Donald A. Shelley, Press in Association with the Museum of The Fraktur-Writings or Illuminated American Folk Art and the Pennsylvania Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Germans German Society, 1990).
DURS RUDY'S CHORAL BOON Title page Lehigh County, Pennsylvania 1814 1111 ' Ink on paper, leather bound 6 x 11" I 7.c isau. Lehigh County Historical Society
-Z5'7„1inr1rm rrrnicnn nrr6 . 1-a)inivtion rIf One of two hand-written music books by Rudy in the collection tz. flirt n n,ct irinm nowt, t417. rf rinnt 4.4,3 of The Lehigh County Historical Society. Rudy, a Lutheran, tuihrrt 16. • Tut,/ 14— 'lune (tfenuili a8111 served as organist of a church in N. Whitehall Township, Pa.
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