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1-22-1999 20th Century American Women Artists: Selections from the Permanent Collection at Dickinson College Anne C. Cabell Dickinson College

Adrienne M. Dietch Dickinson College

Lale Sylvia Ismen Dickinson College

Kerry Joyce Dickinson College

Kara R. Kuchemba Dickinson College

See next page for additional authors

Follow this and additional works at: http://scholar.dickinson.edu/student_work Part of the American Art and Architecture Commons, and the Fine Arts Commons

Recommended Citation Hirsh, Sharon, et al. 20th Century American Women Artists: Selections from the Permanent Collection at Dickinson College. Carlisle, Pa.: The rT out Gallery, Dickinson College, 1999.

This Exhibition Catalog is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship & Creative Works at Dickinson Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Scholarship & Creative Works By Year by an authorized administrator of Dickinson Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Anne C. Cabell, Adrienne M. Dietch, Lale Sylvia Ismen, Kerry Joyce, Kara R. Kuchemba, Krista Ann Mancini, Mattie E. McLaughlin, Patrick E. Smith, Tobey E. Sparrow, Heather L. Troutman, Sharon L. Hirsh, and Trout Gallery

This exhibition catalog is available at Dickinson Scholar: http://scholar.dickinson.edu/student_work/19

20TH• CENTURY AMERICAN WOMEN ARTISTS

SELECTIONS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION AT DICl

CURATED BY:

ANN E C. CAB E LL ADRIENNE M. DEITCH LALE SYLVIA ISMEN KERRY JOYCE KARA R. KUCH EMBA KRISTA ANN MANCINI MATTIE E. MCLAUGHLIN PATRICK E. SMITH TOBEY C. SPARROW HEATHER L. TROUTMAN

22 JANUARY - 20 FEBRUARY 1999

THE TROUT GALLERY EMIL R. WEISS CENTER FOR THE ARTS DICl

This exhibition and catalogue are the work of the members of the Art Historical Methods Seminar, a course designed as a survey of art history and theory and as an introduction to curatorial experience. The seminar members have selected, identified, documented, researched, and catalogued the works exhibited here. They also helped to plan the general appearance ef this catalogue as well as designed and assisted in the exhibition installation. In the process ef all this, ending in a flurry of editorial activity in mid-December and a last crescendo of reception planning, painting, hanging, lighting and labelling in January, we have been helped in every step along the way, and would here like to express our gratitude. Our thanks go first to the staff of the Waidner-Spahr Library, who helped us find our way through the wondeiful spaces of the new facility. Knowing that final manuscripts would be due right after Thanksgiving added to our sense of irony when we discovered that the art books would be the last section of shelving to be moved to the new quarters. It is perhaps for this reason that this particular group of cura• tors has a higher than average sense of adventure, not to say level of panic, when it comes to research. Our success would not have been possible without the help in particular ef our liaison Izabella Tomljanovich, who is as gifted a navigator through the new library space as she is in virtual spaces, as well as the interlibrary loan librarians, Tina Maresco and Sandra Garity. For those artists about whom very lit• tle was published, we are grateful to the many museum projessionals who were willing to track down difficult exhibition histories or even biographies for us. These include Charlotta Kotik of the Brooklyn Museum, Aurora Deshauteurs and Cheryl Leibold at the Pennsylvania Academy ef the Fine Arts, and Patty Jaconetta at the Carnegie Museum of Art. We also thank Eric Denker, who made his catalogue essay on Grace Albee, still in press, available to us in manuscript form; also Tyler Graphics Incorporated sent us documentation about the Frankenthaler print. In addition, some students were able to reach directly the artists or a member ef their family; these people were extremely helpful, and include Mary Barringer, Phyllis Cohen and Leslie Brown; to all, we feel extremely fortunate to have been afforded so much. ef their time and very useful information. We also thank the staff of The Trout Gallery. To the registrar Dwayne Franklin and his assistants Adam Granofsky, Todd Arsenault, and Jennifer Mickel, as well as to Sherron Biddle (assistant registrar) we offer our gratitude for the numerous gallery visits for selection and study of objects. We also know that our whole semester went smoothly due to the help ef Stephanie Keifer, who as usual worked double• time in her double duties as efface administrator to both the Fine Arts Department and The Trout Gallery. We gained valuable insight into education planning for museum exhibitions from our educators Martha Metz and Wendy Pires, and we know that they will help us to reach a much broader public through the Outreach programs, with the help ef assistants Mattie McLaughlin and Kirsten. Houghton. We thank Martha and Wendy especially for their incredible patience as we developed throughout the semester a real knack for arriving in. the gallery to check one more detail just as they were beginning classes or meetings there. Helping all of us in the myriad tasks of exhibition preparation were rn.y assistant Adrienne Deitch and our Gallery intern Krista Mancini. Finally, we thank Gallery attendants Skip Marcello and Ann Martin for their work which so often includes much more than "attending." For this beautiful catalogue we want to thank Kirn Nichols and Dottie Reed, publications directors who led us thoughtfully through class discussions and deliberations, and who lent us their excellent design skills in order to bring to fruition our ideas and desires. We thank Pierce Bounds for making the photographs ef the objects for publication and, in advance, Bob Cavenagh and the Media Center staff for creating a virtual version of this exhibition for our college web pages. In. addition, we thank my colleague in art history Melinda Schlitt for lending her expertise in helping us with lighting for the exhibition. Lastly, we proffer our continuing, heartfelt gratitude to the many donors who, over the last one hundred years, have provided us with the marvelous works by twentieth-century American women artists for the permanent collection. Three great friends of the Callery, whose donations are reflected in the current exhibition-Meyer P and Vivian Potarnkin, Paul Kanev, and Grace Linn-as well as one whose donations are not-Eric Denker-have been responsible for the significant gifting of work by women. artists; without their generosity in. this regard, we would not have been able to consider such an exhibition, let alone have had such a wondefull» difficult selection in order to accomplish it. In one case, the artist herself donated the work, and we are most grateful to Toshiko Takaezu for adding so significantly to our collection in this way. Finally, Paul Kanev offered a magnificent loan.for this exhibition, the stunning Tales of Gen.Ji V by Helen Frankenthaler, printed in 1998, as a promised gift to the gallery, previewed for the first time here. As adviser to the Seminar this year, I would like to end this note by congratulating the members of the class, whose enthusiasm and projessionalism are so evident in the quality of this exhibition and catalogue. I applaud in particular their cooperation with one another, with freely exchanged ideas, opinions, and information, and their working together on all aspects of the project. That at each step ef th.e process, one ef the members of the seminar seemed prepared to take th.e lead, accomplish extra work, and guide us to decisions was remark• able; th.at th.e group as a whole met on their own, to continue discussions and work, offers some indication of the degree of responsibility with which they approached this project. They have accomplished an impressive exhibition with intelligence and grace.

The members ef the Art Historical Methods Seminar, Sharon. L. Hirsh, adviser

©1999 The Trout Gallery, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania All rights reserved INTRODUCTION movement which garnered great support in America, especially in large cities such as her native Philadelphia. The twenty works exhibited here, all selections from Following her training under Thomas Eakins (who was, in the Dickinson College permanent collection, represent 1886, dismissed from the Academy for his untraditional the engaging diversity of interests and talents of American inclusion of women students in all facets of studio work, women artists in the twentieth century. Nowhere is the including drawing from the nude male model), Dillaye set versatility and vitality of this group of artists more clear out for Paris, and later returned to Philadelphia to play a than in the contrast between the oldest and the most major role in several of the artists' groups and exhibition recent work included here, which span a full ninety-nine societies there. Dillaye had taken full advantage of her years. The earliest work in the show, a small, precisely unusual upbringing (for a female), first in her aunt's sketched rendering of roof tops, was drawn by the now advanced Ogontz School for Young Girls, and later during little-known Blanche Dillaye, in the blend of careful obser• her tutelage under the outrageously egalitarian Eakins; she vation of nature and adherence to basic design principles epitomized the "new woman" who was both the rage and taught to her by Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania the fear of n1any at the turn of the century. Frankenthaler, Academy of the Fine Arts; she included the drawing in on the other hand, began her painting career in the early an exhibition there in 1899. The most recent work in this 1950s when "great women artists" were unheard of; yet she ·· exhibition-completed in 1998-is, by contrast, an ambi• was one of ni.any women who participated in the extensive tiously large and complex 48-color woodcut by the changes in painting, towards personal gesture, abstracted outspoken Abstract Expressionist Helen Frankenthaler, forms, and new techniques of painting itself (she worked for a long time with the canvas spread on the floor). Frankenthaler established a high profile reputa• tion in Manhattan and throughout the country long before the surge of feminist-inspired inroads into the art world of the 1960s. By the 1970s, and the rise of a new generation of young women artists seeking new equality in their profession, she was a singular model. Thus both Dillaye and Frankenthaler, so completely different in their choice of media, model, and mode of expression, were artists who were women "ahead of their time", and serve as excellent beginning-and-end examples. to this exhibition. In the ninety-nine years sepa•

.JU/J!i,,,~""""'"'"""''--"""-•"'°"" rating the examples of works by Figure 1 Winslow Horner, Art Students and Copyists in the Louvre Callery, Paris. wood engraving. Harper's women artists exhibited here, much Weekly (january 11, 1868). Special Collections, Dickinson College. happened in the history of women's rights. Anyone knowing this history, who developed her own sweeping gesture as the crucible focusing on the feminist movement of the 1970s and its of the form and the work itself, especially when accompa• aftermath in the 1980s, might assume a very different kind nied by layers of highly idiosyncratic colors. Between of artist-and art-to emerge in our later examples. In the pencil lines of Dillaye and the expansive forms of some respects this is true, since a few of the most recent Frankenthaler exists a chasm seemingly without any possi• examples in this exhibition-Faith Ringgold's The Surflower bility of connection or relation. Intriguingly, however, these Quilting Bee at Aries and Betty Saar's Self Portrait with Mystic two works also bracket not only the twentieth century but Sky, for example-are clearly self-conscious commentaries also two major feminist movements of modern times. on the artists' identity, in these particular cases, as African Dillaye began working during the advancement of the American women. On the other hand, however, it is suffragette movement of the late nineteenth century, a intriguing to note that, in many ways, the works by many 3 other women artists included in this exhibition-those place, a conquering-army air about her that would hardly artists who worked after the suffragette movement but seem to be justified by the canvas which she carries boldly long before the women's movement of the 1970s-had exposed to view with perhaps her maiden effort in land• nonetheless much to say about being an artist who scape on it."1 Dillaye's bemusement at seeing so many of happened to be a woman. Is it an accident, for example, her own kind in Paris speaks volumes about the changing that Helen Sieg] would work on images of inventive fantasy conditions of art education that influenced all of the for children's books when she herself was a mother of eight? women artists seen in this exhibition. Dillaye was witness• Or that Kyra Markham, working during the Depression to ing the sudden boom of women who sought art training provide positive views of a downtrodden society, would but who, at the end of the nineteenth century, were still choose to make her protagonist a woman begging for the victims of a long-standing stereotypical mentality coins? Or that Sarai Sherman, when using biblical stories that-even in their own peers-maintained that the female to illustrate contemporary issues would select the stirring, art student was and would always remain an amateur. The sexual story of the young bride in the Song of Solomon? identities and work of the famous women Renaissance The work of these artists is painters that we now know (for a good reminder of the fact that example, Sofonisba Anguissola, art is, despite all other valid Lavinia Fontana, Elisabetta Sirani, considerations, a personal expres• or Artemisia Gentileschi) were sion for the artist who makes it: completely unknown to nine• despite our postmodern tenden• teenth century art lovers. The few cies to place critical emphases on women who achieved acclaim in the work and the viewer, on psy• that century (for example the choanalytic investigation or on French woman Rosa Bonheur in deconstructive strategies, the fact painting or the American Harriet remains that these are works by Hosmer in sculpture) were not people, whose , identities are only considered the absolute closely bound to the works exceptions that they were, but themselves. Given this relation• were also subjected to subtle ship of the women artists to their suggestions that they were not, work, it is perhaps suitable to perhaps, truly "female" to have conclude this introduction with accomplished so much in a man's a consideration of the working domain.As Linda Nochlin has habits and creative ideas of the pointed out, in an article now artists represented here. recognized as instrumental in As it happened, Blanche establishing critical questioning Dillaye not only went to Paris in of the art historical canon in her younger years, but also sent Figure 2 Toshiko Takaezu giving a workshop demonstration, 1970, one key to this situation back to her native Philadelphia Dickinson College, 1983. by the late nineteenth century long, annotated reports of her was the training-or lack of it, experiences there. That her activities as well as reports were to be more precise-for women artists. As has elsewhere viewed as unusual at that time is evident in the fact that been established, the problem of women artists' inaccessi• her remarks were not only published by the Philadelphia bility to required training occurred already in the papers, but reprinted as well in the New York Times. In the Renaissance, when the development of illusionism based on August 23, 1894 edition of that paper, she (as regular mathematical and scientific perspectives coincided with the exhibitor in the New York Etching Club) was quoted as discontinuation of sending girls to public schools: in admitting that it was "amusing to come upon the streets of Renaissance Italy in particular, girls were limited to home this famous old town [Paris J on a morning and find their or convent education that undervalued mathematics and still, staid, almost deserted air disturbed by a new and awful science at precisely that time when a new pictorial vision creature known as the American art student." She imposed the need for just such principles to be mastered explained further that this phenomenon was predominant• by artists.? Nochlin established, furthermore, that such ly female, one who "[i]n low shoes and lank ankles, with a restrictions continued fairly unabated throughout most of palette as big as a barn door on her thumb, her sketching the nineteenth century, when "high art" that focused on traps swung over her shoulder or lugged under her illusionism and especially the nude figure were prized at arm, ... strides with long, masterly steps through the market precisely that time when most women were neither 4 trained in the scientific principles nor allowed to study Investigation of the lives and works of the nineteen other anatomy, especially by sketching from the live model." artists included in this exhibition, all Americans working in Thus the view adopted by Blanche Dillaye during her the twentieth century, has furthermore proven the degree early months in Paris was one that had been assumed by to which many later women followed the lead of artists most since the Renaissance; it was also the view of most in like Dillaye. These artists, almost all traditionally and America, who not only adopted the same gender-based university trained, were critically recognized throughout distinctions in society and art, but who were also aware of their career, and continuously worked as professional European continuations of those distinctions. When, in 1868, artists. Often, it is they who are now the teachers, holding the American Winslow Homer visited Paris and sent back faculty positions at universities or working with students in numerous pictures to be translated into illustrations for master-classes and workshops (Fig. 2). They are, therefore, Harper's Weekly, he included a view of Paris's most famous properly identified not as women artists but as artists who museum, notably showing Art Students and Copyists in the have significantly enriched our views and our visions of Louvre Gallery, Paris (Fig. 1). Here, the predominantly the twentieth century. It was the desire of the curators of female students are depicted as serious, yet engaged in this exhibition, having begun with the selection of that form of art learning that was not emphasizing direct American women artists of the twentieth century, to most observation, scientific knowledge, or even creative inven- forcefully emphasize not the conunon bonds of these , tion: Homer's women are working in the time-honored artists-although some may be present-but rather the tradition of learning from the masters, by diligently copying incredible diversity of media, skill, style and ideas that they their works. possess and present to us here. That our exhibition chronologically begins with Sharon L. Hirsh Blanche Dillaye is therefore instructive, since she herself soon after her stay in Paris, and no doubt emboldened by l"Current News of the Fine Arts," New York Times (August 23, 1894): 4. her experiences under the enlightened teaching ofThomas 2wornen were barred from the study of the nude model from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century; unfortunately, such study was considered in America as it was in Eakins, broke most of these gender expectations, continuing Europe to be the basis of solid training in most fine arts media. See Whitney Chadwick, to work as an earnest exhibitor in New York, playing a Wo111e111Art, and Society (London.Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1996), 7. 3Linda Nochlin, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?," Women, Art1 respected role in the artistic community of Philadelphia, and Power (New York: Harper and Row, 1988), 145-178. and never wavering in her self-identification as an artist.

5 1 the upper-middle class and her weekly activities included JUDITH BROWN (1931-1992) horseback riding and the theater. Her love of theater helped her to get more involved in the arts, and her love of The Knight, 1963 horses provided her with favorite sculpture motifs. Brown Welded steel, 28 l/4 x 12 3/4 x 26 in. (71.7 x 32.4 x 66 cm.) Not signed majored in art at Sarah Lawrence College and studied Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Meyer P Potarnkin, 69.1.7 sculpture with Theodore Roszak, who was well known for Not previously exhibited his constructed pieces of molten forms in welded and Unpublished brazed metal, often violent or cataclysmic in theme. He was a major influence in Brown's life, and she had great Judith Brown's The Knight is made of welded steel from interest in his work in metals. After graduating from Sarah found objects, including the mechanical pieces used to form Lawrence College, Brown married and opened her first the knight and his horse. A primary motif is the gear, which studio, still under the tutelage ofTheodore Roszak. She is used for the knight's head and doubles as the base. later set up a studio in Reading, Vermont, at her mother's In The Knight, Brown uses objects of modern industry summer home. In 1978, she bought her own studio in to construct the horse, which was the traditional mode of Manhattan where she did some commissioned work. These transportation in pre-twentieth-century society. In 1892, included her "Carytids," steel rn.onumental sculptures which Henry Ford built the first automobile and founded Ford were commissioned by Pepsico in Purchase, N.Y., and a Motor Company, encouraging people to stop riding horses series of small sculptures for Tiffany's New York store and start driving cars. In the 1960s, the machines were at window. their peak; cars and other machinery parts were being mass Throughout Brown's life, it was important that she use produced, and ironically these machines were described as her artistic talent to earn her living. According to her family, having horsepower engines-referring to the first means of she would do almost anything to sell a piece: she would transportation. Created during the age of the automobile, it reduce the price of the work, adjust the payment plan the is not surprising that Brown's sculpture of a medieval figure buyer had agreed upon, and even break up pieces in a is welded from junkyard machinery. series. Brown also gave away her art as gifts for her friends. Brown's primary method of creating The Knight is weld• Brown wanted her works to be owned and enjoyed; by ing, which is the melting of metal using an electric current. making gifts and encouraging buyers, she assured that her The process requires intense focus since it can be extremely work is now all over the country in private and public dangerous due to the high voltage and poisonous gases and galleries as well as in individual homes. fuels given off by the heated metal. It is easy to see the Brown's The Knight reflects the industrial atmosphere places Brown solder-welded; connections on all of the that America was witnessing in the 1960s. By making this different pieces like the head, spear, and shield are obvious. sculpture from found machinery parts, she created a beau• The shield has metal drippings on it, which Brown created . tiful work of art from junk. Like Picasso and Roszak by melting the metal and letting it drip right onto the before her, Brown was able to create from cast-aside metal round form; this process is spontaneous, whereas the figure an enduring work of art. had to be carefully planned. Heather L. Troutman Brown uses found objects (scrap steel, shaped steel, and junkyard objects) to construct The Knight, and through this fused assemblage a new image is created. Brown's daughter, 1 All of the personal biographical information .in the essay is based on an interview Leslie, has said that her mother liked the idea of taking by phone with Leslie Brown, November 18, l998. found objects and making them into something that was 2Albert E. Elsen, Origi11s of Modern Scutptwe: Pioneers and Premises (New York: George Braziller, lnc., I 974), 75. entirely her own. This is untraditional sculpture, which 3 Andrew Carnduff Richie, Scnhnure of the Ti1;cntietli Century (New York: The does not insist upon the polished imitation of living forms, Museum of Modern Art, 1952), 232. or carry specific purposes like trophies of war, symbols of 41nscitutions that own her work include The Brooklyn Museum, The Museum of professions, or attributes of gods. Brown's work, like many Modern Art, and The Lewis Newman Gallery in California. other twentieth-century sculptures, follows neither the tra• ditions of finished figure nor carries a monumental function. As such, it follows the trend started by Pablo Picasso, who broke with traditional sculpture when he made a guitar out of sheet metal and cardboard in 1912. Brown grew up in New York City where she attended private school, and subsequently graduated from Georgeschool, a Quaker boarding institution. She was of

6

2 The negative space altered by these geometric shapes is HELEN GERARDIA (1903-1988) just as much an integral part of the composition as the objects themselves. The background color emphasizes the negative space and adds depth, softening the harsh outlines Lithograph, 21 3/ 4 x 17 in. (55.2 x 43.2 crn.); image: 17 7/8 x 14 in. (45.5 x 35.6 cm.) of the geometric shapes. The shapes should not be ignored Signed: l.r.: Helen Gerardia either: they are strong geometrics, made less rigid by a Gift of Peter Horn, 87.7.4 curvilinear half-ellipse. This softer shape makes the work Exhibited: 5th National Print Show (Silvermine Guild);Jewish Museum of more approachable and less threatening for the viewer. New York City; Museums in Spain Travel Show; Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, NY); Fayette Art Gerardia exhibited at some of the most well-known Museum (Fayette, AL); Georgia Museum (Athouse, GA); Lowe Gallery museums in the world, including the Metropolitan (University of Miami, FL). Museum of Art in New York City, to good critical recep• Unpublished tion. As one critic wrote, "Her themes are clearly expressed and show good arrangement .... "6 Yet another wrote of her Although Helen Gerardia was born in Russia, she came as being" ... an industrious artist, and hardly a day goes by to America under the wing of the Abstract Expressionist that one of her prints or paintings don't go on view or painter Hans Hoilinan; she was training with him at the win a prize in some corner of the country ... the results are time and attended his school from 1946-4 7.1 In addition, often visually exciting and pleasing in pattern.''7 she trained in numerous other schools and workshops, Helen Gerardia was an accomplished artist whose style mostly throughout the forties. She was accomplished in was consistently strong without becoming trite. She had a more than one media, and often her shows included both sense of what she wanted from her art as well, especially painting and lithographs. Another one of Helen Gerardia's from the arrangements of her compositions. Ascent exem• accomplishments was owning the Gerardia Workshop, plifies her understanding of all the formal elements which where she taught a wide variety of techniques in different is an integral part of creating a work of art. Perhaps Ascent media including etching, lithography, and painting.s achieved an ambition which Gerardia spoke about: "To be Gerardia became most ~ell-known for her works exe• the best artist I possibly can. To pursue my own vision cuted between 1952 and 1972.3 Some of her works were with confidence."8 said to be somewhat cubist; however, her style seemed to Kara R. Kuchernba change, with the addition of color, in 1959.4 Ascent, which is not dated, does contain bright color, and the assumption can be made that it was done around or after this time. '1 Erika Decree and Mnrijon Head, The Presence qf Picasso: His liifluence and inspiration Ascent is striking in composition, space, shape, and exh. cat. (Carlisle, PA:TheTrout Gallery, 1989), 8. color. It has a composition that is based on a diagonal 2co11tc111pomry Biosmphy: VVim1en (St. Clair Shores, Ml: Contemporary Biography throughout the entire picture plane. This strong diagonal, Press, 1984), 187. including all the objects against a dark background, runs 3occrce and Head (1989), 8. 4oecrce and Head ( 1989), 8. from the bottom right corner to the top left corner of the 5 Arts Magazine (April 1959): 63. Review of a show at the Bodley Gallery. lithograph. This is often considered to be a strong format 6 Arr Ne11'5 (April 1952): 59. Review of a show at the Art Center. for a composition; Gerardia, however, added some drama 7 Art News (March 1957): 56. of her own. The drama is created by the direction in which 8co11telflp~rary Biography: Wo111e11 ( 1984), 'I 88. the diagonal runs: right to left. It creates a conflict for western viewers by contradicting the manner in which they would normally read. However, this contradiction also creates a more forceful upward movement and therefore produces an accurate impression of the title, Ascent. Gerardia's use of color is also a unique quality of the lithograph in relation to her elaboration of positive and negative space. Her only use of color besides black and white is in the background which is a vibrant deep lavender. The lavender is an element which makes the composition even stronger. Her use of color, as described by a critic in 1959, " ... carries her most personal message and softens the public statement ... "5 It compels the viewer to concentrate more on the direction of the objects in the picture, but also allows for the negative space created by these geomet• ric shapes to stand out to the viewer. 8 9 3 positive approach in this print was clear to contemporary VICTORIA EBBELS HUTSON HUNTLEY reviewers. In a review for the Magazine of Art, the critic (1900-1971) F.A. Whiting summarized that "Mrs. Huntley in spite of her recognition of the brooding unrest and tragedy inherent Lower New York, 1934 in social problems of our day, is chiefly concerned with Lithograph, 16 5/8 x 13 3/8 in. (42.2 x 34 cm.); image: 13 5/8 x 10 1/8 in. (34.5 x 25.7 cm.); plate: 14 1/8 x lO 5/8 in. (35.8 x 26.9 cm.) making a universal statement of the permanent good of Signed: l.r.:Victoria Hutson 1934 living. Lower New York emphasizes this ongoing positivity Gift of Mrs. Grace Linn, 59. l.4 while trying not to focus on the negative social and eco• Exhibited: An. American View: From Country to the City (Carlisle, PA:The Trout nomic aspects of the time."2 At the tirn.e of this particular Gallery, 1988); Trials and Triumphs=American Prints from the 1930s and 1940s (Carlisle, PA:The Trout Gallery, 1991). print, Huntley was becoming known for her works and Published: Gina Labartino, AnArnerican View: Fro111 Country to the City exh. Whiting's article was emphasizing not only her abilities as a cat. (Carlisle, PA:The Trout Gallery, l 988), 16; Alison Meyer and Nancy muralist (after she won a commission in 1937), but also her Pergam, Trials and Triumphs: American Prints from the 1930s and 1940s exh. cat. (Carlisle, PA: The Trout Gallery, 1991), 26-27. potential as an artist. From Huntley's connection to New York and the dis• Born at the turn of the century,Victoria Ebbels Hutson tinctive aerial view, another hidden theme can be extracted. Huntley began life in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey and This alternative reading is beneficial to the fact that people, then proceeded to have an extremely lucrative career for a even if uneducated, would recognize this American scene female artist at that time. Although hers is not a household as a representation of New York at a time when the city name, Huntley has created many lithographs such as Lower may have been considered "a male space."The 18th century New York and was commissioned for murals as well. Rousseauian theory of men representing "culture, energy, As a lithographer, Huntley chose an unusual medium form and rn.ind" while countered with women corre• for a woman at that time to work in, requiring a complex sponding to "nature and the earth," was an interpretation studio with heavy materials and press. Even the stone used which was still accepted by many in society of the 1930s.3 for lithography is not easily maneuvered around, and as the With several skyscrapers and the solid geometrical and contemporary critic F.A. Whiting commented," [it] may vertical structures in the foreground, melded with the less have been her slight stature and delicate childhood that defined and blurred Statue of Liberty, surrounded by water, stirred her admiration for grand, vital forms." 1 there is perhaps a suggestion of this Rousseauian idea, and Spending a majority of her career in the city, Huntley Huntley's questioning of it. Put into this context, men are was familiar with the skyline and the cityscape it had to the aspects that rn.aintain and keep a city productive and offer. The overall geometry and cubistic precision are operational and are represented by the tall buildings and instantly appealing to the eye and present a New York that skyscrapers while women in nature have Ellis Island to is not being held back by the Great Depression that was portray their feminine domain. engulfing the nation at that time. Huntley presents an aerial In a gender-segregated field like the art world at that view that is interrupted with new style skyscrapers rising time, Victoria Huntley would have found herself separated up directly into the viewer's field of vision. This perspective from "male specific spaces" by barriers. The barrier seen forces the viewer to look past the buildings to the small here is from the understanding of aerial perspective. We monument in the background, recognizable as the Statue know she is not floating and therefore there must be either of Liberty. glass from a window she gazes out of, or a balcony. This As an American landscape, Lower New York shows a inclusion of a closed space that was considered socially view of the city from an unexpectedly high position, and acceptable established a conflict for those women who this poses a major question that is put forth by this print, wanted to gain access to public spaces beyond their socially• and that is basically because most scenes like this were defined sphere." Huntley's attempt of this escape is intriguing from a lower point of view. The answer leads back to the because she looks beyond her barrier into a denied world period in which Huntley was working. Focusing on the and indicates her presence rather successfully. Public visibili• hopelessness of the Depression was not her intention, and ty for women in the 1930s was more extant than it had instead she shows a New York that is booming with indus• been in the past, and many women artists worked in the try, a statue that evokes hope and freedom, and a city New Deal Art Programs, but the fact that so little is known whose architecture is changing with the times. Showing about these women artists of the twentieth century is the idea of the economy nearly destroyed by the Stock proof that this barrier still existed. Market Crash is not as important for her as showing the Lower New York is used as a device to portray the technology and industrial rise of the approaching Golden American landscape in an optimistic, positive way and to Age in the city. The elevated perspective chosen by the establish the idea of female and male spaces in the city. artist suggests this forward advance in society, and Huntley's Huntley's artistic ability brings the modern view to a crisp 10 and concise black and white study that frames the city in a l FA. Whiting Jr., "Victoria Hutson Huntley,'' Magazine ofA ri 31 (November 1938): 638. way that is unexpected. With the troubled times far below, 2 Whiting (1938), 638. Huntley creates a feeling of advancement and hopefulness 3 Rebecca Solnic, Visions ofA111erica: Landscape as Metoplior i11 tire Late Twentieth towards the future. Centnrv (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Jnc., 1994), IOI. 4 Kerry Joyce Griselda Pollock, Visions mid Differrnce: Fe111ii1is1111 Femininities and the Histories of Art (London: Routledge, 1988), 50-90. 11 positive illustration of society, and in particular, the city. BARBARA LATHAM (1896-1986) The overall appearance of the work is very dark, In the Park, c. 1937 suggesting a nighttirn.e scene. However, Latham used the Wood engraving, 11 7 /8 x 15 1/4 in. (30.2 x 38.7 cm.) technique of wood engraving, a technique that creates a Signed: Lr. .Barbara Latham very dark image which has no relation to the subject Gift of Mrs. Grace Linn, 51.l.62 matter. Therefore, this work can also be a view of daytime Exhibited: The Print Club of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA, 1937); An American park activity. The abandoned baby carriages, on one hand, View: From the Country to the City (Carlisle, PA:TheTrout Gallery, 1988). Published: Stephanie D'Alessandro, An American View: From the Country to the are questionable because there are no children nor parents City exh, cat. (Carlisle, PA:The Trout Gallery, 1988), 18-19. present. One explanation for this could be a pessimistic impression of society by the end of the Great Depression. The nineteenth century was a time of growth and Latham may be implying that times were so bad, parents urbanization in the United States. People flocked to major couldn't care for their children in the city so they aban• industrial cities seeking jobs and prosperity. With this rapid doned them in the natural landscape of the park. This is popularization of urban environments came the necessity only one reading of the work, however; the figure of the for city planned parks. Frederick Law Olmstead (architect street vendor in the center of the work may suggest an of Central Park) among others, looked at the benefits of alternative interpretation. city parks in Europe. Olmstead felt it was important to create This street vendor has a well-supplied wagon of food a place "designed to shut out the .urban environment" and she, herself, has the appearance of being fed and nour• providing "the elements of a rural setting that met the ished; therefore this image may indicate a shift to a more psychological and social needs of residents of the city."1 optimistic view of society. In addition, the abandoned baby One of the most significant arguments for city parks was carriages, which at first appear desolate, may in fact be just sanitation; it was noted in Europe by American travelers that the opposite: rather than these children being neglected, it parks were sanitary escapes from diseased and dirty city streets. is possible that they are simply at play out of the viewer's For the last two hundred.years, urban dwellers have sight. Americans, at the end of the 1930s, were finally able increasingly sought out parks as calming escapes from the to overcome the hardships of the Depression and their fast-paced city. Families congregated on clean grassy patches young children demonstrated this new hope. If at play, to relax and become closer to nature. However, these Latharn's unseen children are healthy, happy, and looking activities were greatly modified as a result of the Great towards a more positive future. Another indication of this Depression. Americans no longer had the luxury of employ• optimistic presence is the representation of the two figures ment accompanied by relaxing weekends in the park. in the back of the work sitting on a park bench, who Latham's work entitled In the Park creates an atypical because of their placement in the work, appear to be view of parks and city life in general. Latham was born in mothers or caretakers. In this case, they would be yet Walpole, Massachusetts; she attended Norwich Academy another clue implying a more flourishing society where and Norwich Art School as well as the Pratt Institute and people can again afford the finer things such as personal the Art Students League.? She married the painter Howard child care. Cook and settled in New Mexico after living in such places In the Park, at first glance, may appear dark and dreary. as France, Italy, and Africa. She was a well-recognized illus• However, another interpretation presents an argument for trator of children's books containing Western and South an alternative, optimistic view of urban society approaching American thernes.> In the Park is unlike Lathams book 1940. This park is not a destitute place but one of much illustrations, however, because it is a reflection of her own potential where there is an abundance of food, commerce, society rather than a fictitious story. and a suggestion of healthy and playful children eager for a American society changed drastically in the 1930s as a positive future. result of the Great Depression; art was no exception. The Adrienne Deitch introduction of New Deal Art Programs provided jobs for artists and public art to be seen by all. Programs such as the

Works Progress Administration and the Federal Art Project 1D:wid Schuyler, The New Urban Landscape (Baltimore and London:Johns Hopkins employed many. Although Latham may not have participated University Press. 1986), 27. in such programs, her work suggests an influence of this 2Bi:rtha E. Mahony, Louise P. U1ti111er, and Beulah Fo!msbee, lllnstratars ~/" Children': Books 1744-1945 (Boston: Horn Book Inc., '1970), 33·1 social context. 3srcphanic D'Alessandro. A11 A111eriam View: Frans the Co1111rry to the City exh. cat. In the Park is an ambivalent view of a city park. The (Carlisle, l'A:Thc Trout Gallery, '1988), 19. potentially ominous style and subject matter may be read as a negative view of city life in the 1930s. However, when considered more thoroughly, this image may be a quite

12 13 5 Placing the older woman in the center of the print KYRA MARKHAM (1891-1967) suggests several interpretations. Markham may have intended to represent fern.inist issues during the time. Since women's Penny, Lady?, 11/50 1936 role was limited to a life at home, they were restricted in Lithograph, 11 4/5 x 16 in. (30.0 x 40:6 cm) developing their interests, but also their sexuality. s It is Image: 9 3/4 x 12 3/4 in. (24.8 x 32.4 cm) Gift of Mrs. Grace Linn, 51.1.64 interesting that Markham chose to place the worn.an in the Signed: Lr.: Kyra Markham center, with the man slightly behind her: she goes against Watermark: 1.1.: GCM the social norm to heroicize the woman for her persistence. Exhibited: Trials and Triumphs: American Prints from the 1930s and 1940s (Carlisle, PA:TheTrout GalJery, 1991). The woman is hopeful and enthusiastic, as she extends her Published: Nancy Pergam,Iha/s and Tiiumphsi American Prints from the 1930s and hand and leaps out from where she is standing. 1940s exh. cat. (Carlisle, PA:The Trout Gallery, 1991), 15; The Chicago Since unemployment was high during the Depression, Sunday Times, 1939 (illus.); Kyra Markham: Graphic fMJrks ·1934_ ·1945 exh. cat. (Bronxville, NY: Sarah Lawrence College Art Gallery, 1977), 7, 11and14. many people were forced out into the streets to find finan• cial assistance.6 The couple in Penny, Lady? comes out from A symbol of Kyra Markham's generation, Penny, Lady' behind a cart to greet the viewer. The handle on the side shows a man and a woman begging for money. During the of the large box cart behind the woman indicates that it is Depression years, such scenes of poverty and homelessness a mechanical calliope, "a set of organ pipes controlled by a mechanical means, usually a barrel."7 The woman holds a were typical on the streets in the city. I As viewers, we have an interesting point of view on the scene: the older man tambourine in her right hand. A popular instrurn.ent since and woman look eagerly up at us as if we have just stum• the medieval times, the tambourine adds a happy and spir• bled upon this cityscape. Markham enlarges the woman's ited feeling to the setting. The woman's excited expression hand to enhance her projection towards us, and this spacial and local color act as our link to the on-going scene that disjunction is heightened by the awkward addition of three we the viewers have stumbled upon. By incorporating horse's hooves in the upper right corner of the work. Two instruments in the scene, Markham has transformed this children face the opposite direction, entertained by some scene of poverty into a scene of jovial city life. other event on the street. Although Markham has arranged There is little information about Markham; during the her figures in an unusual manner, she has managed to tie the time of the Depression she was, however, successful in portions of the scenes together, making it readable to the illustrating American scenes. People who do remember her viewer in a spatially dramatic manner. An American Scene describe her as "a large woman, dynam.ic, strong-willed, Painter of the thirties, Markham created art in reference to vigorous, hard-working, fascinating to watch and totally the unfortunate social conditions during the Depression. devoted to her work." She had a narrative style that survived The Depression years brought economic hardship and a in alm.ost all of her works. Even though the scenes were division of social class.s While some people were optimistic typical of American life, she added her own "fantasy to the for a better life in the future, other saw little hope for a · genre."8 recovery without solving the problems they had at the With a lithographic crayon, Markham has softened the overall image. This approach helped Markham to create time.3 In Markham's Penny, Lady?, she focuses on the figures depicting lower class society. The elevated point of view tonal values throughout her work. She uses the light to provides a sense of control over the couple. The viewer, mold, exaggerate, and at times obscure her figures and their trapped by the old woman's confrontation, represents hope features. Concerned with the struggling lower class, for recovery from her poverty-stricken lifestyle. Markham thus softens the typically harsh scene of poverty, During the Depression, the American family was living portraying these characters as victims of a society plagued on thirty dollars a week. Inadequate food and clothing, by the Depression. crowded housing, and a lack of proper health care were Markham's work has been exhibited in several institu• just some of the effects of a lower income.i Social stratifi• tions throughout New York and Pennsylvania, including cation was most evident during these years because people the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the National were forced to obtain money any way they could. Penny, Association ofWomen Painters and Sculptors, and the Lady? is a work which has abjectly described the division National Academy of Design.? In 1939, she completed of classes, since Markham has implied the upper social class works for the Works Progress Association at the World's by the position of the viewer. There was an unequal distri• Fair in New York. One of the purposes of this Fair was to bution of income in the thirties and forties which hurt the promote the American scene, whether they be country or working and lower classes. Markham has dressed the figures city scapes. Penny, Lady? provides Americans with a chance in tattered clothing, but gives these rags an amorphous to catch a glimpse of what city life was like in the thirties. quality. Shaped by her remarkable use of light, the clothes Tobey Sparrow appear rounded and soft. 14 1 Lee D. Witkin, Kym l\llarkha111,A111erica11 Fantasist (NewYork:The Witkin Gallery 6Merna Popper, Kym Marklia11J: Graphic IM>rks 1934-1945 exh. cat. (New York: Sarah lnc., ·1981), 3. Lawrence Art Gallery, 1977), 5. 2Joseph A. Kahl, The Jl111erica11 Class Str11ct11rc (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and 71\llwical h1s11w11e11ts qf the IM.nM illus. by the Diagram Group (New York: Fact~. on Winston, 1967), 108. File, 1976), 252. 3wickin (1981), 3. 8w1tkin (1981), 3. 4David B. Grusky, Social Stmificotion (San Francisco: Westview Press, 1994), 192. 9 A11Jerica11 Art Todov: New Yark World~ Fair, (Poughkeepsie.Apollo, 1987), 29. Scrusky (1994), 361. 15 6 the work is comprised of floating signs and symbols, some BETYE SAAR (B. 1926) extending out from the piece itself, suggesting a reference to her early assemblages. Most of the symbols chosen for Mystic Sky with Self Portrait, 1992 the work are found in multiple religious and spiritual con• Color silkscreen on pasted board, 20/100, 25 3/8 x 21 1/2 in. (64.5 x 54.6 cm.) texts. For instance, one of the objects is a triangle with an Signed: I.e.: Berye Saar 1992 eye in the center, a common icon that even appears on the Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Meyer P Potamkin, 1997.4 United States dollar bill. In early Christian iconography, Not previously exhibited Unpublished this image was a symbol of divine omnipresence or trinity+ The eye has been associated with the idea of light and I attempt to create an object that suggests spirituality without intellectual perspicacity, an image of spiritual expressivity. s pertaining to a specific religion. My goal is to show cultural differ• Finally, the triangle was also considered in ancient China to ences and universal similarities. be the sign for woman. Another universal image represented Betye Saar, 1995 by Saar is a heart. Ancient Egyptians believed the heart was the source for all knowledge. In the Bible, the heart is Mystic Sky with Self Portrait embodies a certain matura• described as the "inner person."6 Hinduism considers the tion achieved by an artist whose work and career is a heart as the seat of Atman, the counterpart in mortals of continuous journey of one woman's life reflected in her the absolute." Saar also illustrates a hand with emphasized art. Betye Saar was born in Los Angeles, and was educated lines relating to palmistry, astrology, and the role of the at the University of California, California State University, cosmos. According to the practice of palm reading, the lines and the American Film Institute. Saar has been involved on the hand, the life line, heart line, and health line tell with art all her life, but established herself as a professional much about a person. Saar's choice of the eye, heart and artist at the age of 34.1 hand may be as a window into her soul for viewers to see. Saar began working as an artist in the early 1960s, Many additional objects and symbols are visible in the when the civil rights movement was gaining momentum; work, relating to the role of all life within the universe. Saar, along with many others, used art as an instrument Saar, influenced by numerous beliefs, shows herself as part to explore racial and cultural issues raised at that time. of this cosmic world. Contrary to traditional self portraiture, Empowered by injustice, these artists "gave visual form to Saar's illustration is psychological rather than physical. This the growing gulf between the white American dream and idea of"coming into representation"S has become increas• the black American reality."2 ingly common in the post-Freudian twentieth century but Saar, inspired by Joseph Cornell, a 1930s American was developed earlier by such artists of the Symbolist and surrealist known for his constructed boxes of found objects, Expressionist periods. began assembling materials confronting issues of racism on Mystic Sky with Self Portrait is a representation of Betye many levels. She presented stereotypical derogatory images ·Saar on spiritual as well as creative levels. She refers to of African Americans like Uncle Tom,Jim Crow, and Little artists of the past by incorporating psychological rather Black Sambo in mixed media collages. These included the than physical concepts of self portraiture. She alludes to her well known Liberation of Aunt Jemima, which depicts the own artistic progression by using her earlier collage-like popular image of Aunt Jemima in a box with a broom in techniques. By further incorporating many universal symbols, her right hand and a revolver in her left. It is a powerful Saar engages the audience in her own cosmic experience. and angry commentary on the United States' treatment of Adrienne Deitch African Americans, especially women. Decades later, Saar's work has now become less political 1 and more private, even spiritual. Mystic Sky with Self Portrait Penny Dunford, Dictionary ~f Wcm1en A niscs (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia, 1989), 261. reflects this shift in subject matter and intentionality. For 2Whitney Chadwick, f-Vo111c11, Art, nHd Society (LoudonThames and Hudson, lnc., many years, Saar has possessed an interest in many religions 1996), 341. of the world, the occult, and astrology. "She studies, travels, 3Betye Saar, Brandywine Workshop, (lames Van Der Zee Gala, 1992), n.p .. 4Hans and collects ideas and icons from other cultures and Bierdelmnn», Dicuonerv of Sy111holis111 (New York: Facts on File, lnc., ·i 992), 354. incorporates all these things within her art."3 This work 5\:lierdelmann (1992), 122. exemplifies her fascination with mysticism and the occult 6Bierdelnunn (1992), 166. in relation to her own experiences, dreams, and feelings. 7Bierdelmann (I 992), 166. Saar's mature style is visible in the work as she demonstrates 8Marsha Meskirnmon, The Art ef Rejlecuon (New York: Columbia University Press, "1996),xi. life experience through the use of objects and symbols. In Mystic Sky with Self Portrait, Saar illustrates herself physically visible only in the lower right corner; the rest of 16 17 7 which required that everyone had to pass a literacy test FAITH RINGGOLD (B. 1930) before voting. 6 Nineteenth-century heroine Harriet Tubman raised money for clothing and schools for the poor; she is The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Aries, 1996 most well-known for her involvement with the Underground Nine-color lithograph, 22 112 x 30 in. (57.2 x 76.2 cm.) Railroad where she saved more than 3,000 slaves." Rosa Signed: l.r.: Faith Ringgold 1996 Inscribed: I.I.: 10/100 Parks is famous for her refusal to give up her seat on a Gift of the Dickinson Club ofWashington, 96.3 Montgomery bus, thus starting a 381 day boycott against Exhibited: Unraveling the Mask: Portraits oj'Iwentietb-Century Experience the Montgomery buses which resulted in the desegregation (Carlisle, PA: The Trout Gallery, 1997). Published: Christie Grams, Unraveling the Mask: Portraits ofTr.ve11tieth-Cent11ry of the city's transportation system.8 Mary McLead Bethune Experience exh. cat.(Carlisle, PA:The Trout Gallery, 1997), 40-41. founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial School for Negro Girls, and she organized and became President of Faith Ringgold's work reflects her identity as a twentieth• the National Council of Negro Women. 9 Finally, ending century African-American woman. Although she was the half-circle around the quilt is Ella Baker, a civil rights taught to copy Rembrandt, Cezanne, and other European advocate who worked with Martin Luther King.t? It is artists, she soon incorporated African-Am.erican culture into partially through these eight women's efforts that African• her works. She studied in many different countries and in Americans have the freedom they have today. 1991, while in Paris, began working on a series of quilts Faith Ringgold was born in Harlem, where her father which she later called the French ,collection.1 Ringgold's was a driver on a city sanitation truck and her mother was nine-color lithograph, seen here, was created as one of a a fashion designer. It was her mother who stimulated series of prints made after the quilts. In The Sun.flower Ringgold's love of fabric; however, both parents insisted that Quilting Bee at Aries, Ringgold uses a very simplified style; she graduate from college. She enrolled in the education the figures appear appliqued, as they would in a quilt. program. at the City College of New York because the lib• When Ringgold made each quilt, she wrote a story eral-arts program there was not open to women. 11 Ringgold directly on it to describe what was happening in the now is a professor at the University of California in San image. Her main character in all of these quilt stories was a Diego, as well as an artist, an author, a wife and a mother.12 woman named Willia Maria (an artist, model, and cafe Female African slaves have been credited with bringing owner living in France) who was created by Ringgold as quilt making into American culture. Quilting bees provided an "alter ego."The story behind this print is Willia Maria's an opportunity to socialize and get better acquainted with desire to become an artist and entertain these eight great one another, thus allowing the traditions of African• women in France with whom she shall travel around the American culture to continue. Ringgold acknowledges world holding quilting bees in sunflower fields. Since these her heritage and the heritage of these nine women by women are determined to change the world, they are using an actual quilt as her medium.13 significantly unimpressed with Vincent Van Gogh, who can Ringgold feels the need to shed light on who she is as be seen approaching the group from the right.2 These nine an African-Am.erican woman outside of the stereotypes, so women contrast with Van Gogh, who had gone to Arles in she tries to retell the stories of the African-American. In order to create an artistic revolution with other male The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Aries, Ringgold honors some artists; unlike the nine women who did achieve their goals, of the many women who helped bring about change in Van Gogh failed. Through this depiction Ringgold shows our nation's struggle for human rights, and inspires the that success is not limited to the white male. viewer to make something happen if they desire it enough. Willia Maria's eight female friends, depicted in the story Ringgold has said that she will never tell her students that quilt and this print, are all famous civil rights advocates. they will not make it as artists because "it doesn't matter Madam CJ Walker, known for manufacturing hair goods if a person has talent. All it takes is to really, really want it. and cosmetics, visited the White House in 1917 to present You can turn that no talent into talent."14 This motto a petition favoring federal anti-lynching legislation.3 reflects the determination and perseverance which is Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree) was an anti-slavery depicted in The Surifl.ower Quilting Bee at Aries. activist who became a speaker for abolitionism and women's Heather L. Troutman suffrage, petitioning Congress to give ex-slaves land in the "new west" .4 Ida Wells was editor and co-owner of a local black newspaper called "The Free Speech and Headlight." She helped establish the groundwork for the NAACP, the oldest civil rights organization in the country.5 Fannie Lou Hammer assisted in organizing a voter registration drive in Ruleville, Mississippi to challenge the unjust voting laws

18 I Fai1/1 Ri11g~o/d:T/ie Las/ S1ory Q11ill, prod. and dir. Linda Freernand (Chicago, 1991), 9"13ethune, Mary McLcad," The Ne111 Encyclopedia Brira1111ica: Miocpeedia, 2 (1998), 176. videocassette. 1 O"Baker, Ella," 77ie New Encyclopedia Britannica: Micropaedia, 1 (1998), 435. 2Freemand (1991 ). 11 Wendy Slatkin, The Voices afWa111e11 ArrisJs (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1993), 3"Walker, Sarah Breedlove," The New Encytlopedia Britannica: Micropaedia, 15th edition, 318. 12 (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, lnc.. 1998), 464. 12Her works reside in the permanent collections of many museums including the 4"Walker, Sarah Breedlove," The New E11cyclopedia Britannica: Nlicropaedia, 12 (1998), 464. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum 5"Wells-13arnctt, Ida Bell," The New Eiicyclopcdia Britannica: Micropaedia, 12 (1998), 575. of Modern Art. She has received more than 75 awards, fellowships, and citations, t:\IVO National Endowments for the Arts Awards, and eleven honorary doctorates. 6"Hammer, Fannie Lou," The New Encvclopcdin Britannica: /\l!icropardini 5 (1998), 232. 13Sharon F. Patton, Ajifr1111-A111ericm1 Ari (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 67. 7"Tubnun, Harrier," 7Jie New E11cyclopedia Britannica: Miaopocdio, 12 (1998), 25. 14Freemand (1991). 8" Parks, Rosa," TJ1e New Enrvclopedio Britannica: Miaopoedia, 9 (1998), 161. 19 8 process. The boldness and subtlety as well as the distinctive PHYLLIS COHEN (B. 1939) quality of the work give it a crispness and solidity. The use of light and dark, simple geometric shapes, and the effect Bowl of Cherries on Lace Tablecloth Jl, 1979 of the different textures on a woodcut, all combine to Color woodcut, 24 1/8 x 35 5/8 in. (61.2 x 90.4 cm.); framed: 32 l/2 x 43 make this print visually interesting, especially with the 112 in. (82.6 x 110.5 cm.) Signed: l.r.: Phyllis Cohen main focus of the viewer directly on the cherries. Inscribed: I.I.: l/60 Fruit has regularly been considered a feminine form, Gift of Dr. Paul Kanev, 98.6.5 "and there is often a comparison between fruit and human Not previously exhibited Unpublished flesh, particularly female analogies."3 Sitting in a white bowl with no visible imperfections, the cherries take on a Simplicity is a word that describes Phyllis Cohen's shade of red that makes them look ripe and succulent. "A works and yet the artistic challenge of the woodcut print• bowl of fruit is said to belong to charity and can represent making method that she uses is anything but simplistic. a reward of virtuousness and can even symbolize heaven."4 Bowl of Cherries on Lace Tablecloth II is one example of an With these interpretations in mind, the forms that are image she can carve from a block of wood, although this recognized as cherries, are here a symbol of a woman's particular print was made using more than one block. Her work and not necessarily a sexual reference. While cherries use of multi-colors makes the entire process more compli• can be seen in iconographic ways, many of Cohen's works cated and results in a work that is more visually exciting are fruits that were available out of convenience more than than if it had been done in black and white. for symbolic reasons.> Born in Brooklyn, New York, Phyllis Cohen did not Phyllis Cohen's primary intention for this particular begin her artistic career as a woodcut printmaker, but as a print was a technical challenge: she cut away parts of the painter. As well as not finding her medium immediately, wood to create an embossed look, and to do this she she was not on an artistic path. at first either. In 1957- incorporated both of her woodcut methods, Along with when she attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New her complex carving process, the importance of Cohen's York-her major was, surprisingly, government. Her work colors cannot be neglected. The bold cherry-red and the in woodcuts began only in the mid-seventies, and since white lace are perfect for representing this idea of pulling then she has created a large body of prints including the the image out of the wood. "The tremendous appeal for one seen here. Cohen in working with this medium is in the combination Her method "adheres to a traditional technique but of the aesthetic and the craft inherent in woodcut print• pushes the boundaries of the medium; she works each area n1aking."6 Bowl of Cherries on Lace Tablecloth II complements of the block individually, carving each as a separate piece this idea of the artist's ability in hand-pulled forms and it is of a larger puzzle."1 This leads to a finished product which _a demonstration of the complexity and laborious process is a sharp and precise print with bold colors that are both that goes into a woodcut. sirn.ple in shape and intricate in their relationships. The Throughout her work, Cohen often used many objects artist herself best describes the two methods she uses: "after such as fruit and flowers to study and interpret in her creating an image, I cut the block creating, in effect, a jig• complex printmaking methods. Here, the pieces of Phyllis saw puzzle. Those individual pieces not left as flat surface Cohen's puzzle come together to form Bowl ef Cherries on areas are relief cut and/ or incised before they are inked, Lace Tablecloth II. reassembled, and printed on a press. There can be as few as Kerry Joyce five individual pieces and a single pass through the press, or as many as fifty pieces and five printings. Apart from the jigsaw technique, I sometimes use the Japanese method of l Nancy E. Green, T1u: Book mu{ the Block: Works by Phylfis Cohen exh. brochure printing: carving a single block per color."2 (Ithaca, NY: Herbert F.Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, 1997), I. 2Grccn (1997), 4. The print Bowl of Cherries on Lace Tablecloth II, is a 3Philip Thompson and Peter Davenport, The Dictionary q/ Crap/tic [111ages (New York: woodcut that includes basic images with a main focus on a St. Martin's Press, 1980), 107. bowl of red cherries. The bowl sits on what appears to be a 4Jamcs Hall, Diaiouarv of S11(1jee1s and Sy111bols ojAn (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1979), 52. white lace tablecloth that has been placed over a wooden Slntcrview, by phone, with Phyllis Cohen on December 7, ·1998. table, creating an interesting image. The wood of the table 6creen ( 1997), 4. seems to be the relief part of the woodcut but, the method that Cohen has used here is actually a process that has the tablecloth being the area that was cut away and the table as the area that was inked. Cohen's simplicity is seen in this print, despite the complicated method of the printmaking 20 - ~ • : .... - qi· ,, .·•. ~·-"- "'If I :(\ ...... ~ ...... ,. • _, ..... 11 ·~··~", •·111~· .. ,.; ... - .." ..... : • ~'"~ l : : . ., ~ -· ~ ,~ ~ • ~,, I ..... - '...... " ~ 4:; ". .. ,, ., .... "' "' :- " ." . ·-''" _...... -,, '• ...... _,4111.: .;.'" •••• ,,.; ,, ..... :.. -:, - · ·~ ,, ,, ... ._._.. ~·"· .. --...... ·-·· . -~; :.:..•• ...... ,,,,,, ·.=-:. :; - ·-· .,,..,...... ::- . .,.' - •t···-. •••• 11 .. •• ., p : :- .. tl I :. -.•..

...• .. -- ~ • ..~ ... - ...... ~ ... . = ;: ·. , ...... I ,, ., .,; - -.. "'~ ' • I ' .. .,·-~, ., I '; .., . :: ...,. ~··.; .; I = '-'·· .. = .. .,; - ' •.

21 9 During this period in her life, Pierce worked primarily LEONA PIERCE (B. 1922) in woodcuts, and exhibited regularly in New York. In 1951 and 1953, she exhibited at Wehye Gallery, illustrating the Sunny Day, 1953 "child's world from. the child's point of view," and subjects Color woodblock, 15 3/4 x 20 in. (40 x 50.8 crn.); image: 13 1/2 x 18 in. that were mostly "children and children's games."5 (34.3 x 45.7 cm.) Signed: Lr.: Leona Pierce Children represented American society during the 1950s, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Meyer P Potamkin, 57.1.33 as some interpreted it to be a period of confidence and Not previously exhibited happiness. World War II had just ended, and the "Era of Unpublished Good Feelings" was taking place. The fifties were also a time when there was a tremendous increase in marriage, In the woodcut Sunny Dav, Leona Pierce presents a with a subsequent "baby boom": "between the years of scene in a nearly square format with two images of a boy 1948 and 1953 more babies were born than had been over and sun placed within the picture plane, primarily using the previous thirty years."6 The baby boom lasted for most the colors of red and black to enhance the contrast of fizure b of the fifties, forming a society that "revered the family in and ground. Pierce was especially known for her woodcuts an extraordinary degree,"? as well as her work in painting and other graphic arts. It seems that the boy in Sunny Day signifies these Born in Santa Barbara, California, and the daughter of feelings of assurance and optimism as well as the adoration two school teachers, Pierce attended Stripes College where America had towards children at this time, possibly she studied with Millard Sheets before going on to correlating to the feelings of Leona Pierce herself during Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. She further studied this phase in her life. at the Art Students League in New York City, where she Anne C. Cabell worked with Cameron Booth andYasuo Kuniyoshi. A major theme of Pierce's oeuvre is children and children at play, as pictured in Sunny Day The two images of the 1 F.P, "Exhibition at the Wehye Gallery,"!lrl News 61 (November 1962): 58. boy and sun are inked in black, while the background is 2S.P, "About Art and the Artists," The Nc111 York Ti111es (2 November '195'1): 21 layered in hues of purple, yellow, and red. Red, the domi• 3J;:unes Hn\1, Dictionorv ~f Subjeits and Syi11bols in Art (New York: Harper and Row, nant color of the background, contrasts substantially with 1974), 241. the black figures of the boy and sun, which appear to be 4Henry Dreyfuss, Sy111bolic So11rcebook, (New York: McGmv-Hill, 1972), 292. 5s.r receding into the background. This high contrast of colors, (1951),21 6Richard Layman. A111crica11 Dcrnrles '1950-1959 (Ann Arbor: Gale Research Inc., as well as Pierce's technique of cutting with the grain of 1994), 264. wood, allows side grain to show from the original wood• 7William L. O'Neill, A111erica11 1-l(Qlr (New York: Pree Press, 1986), 33. block, creating a "crayoned texture in the colors, and allotting to a decorative work of art, as well as a sense of realism of the material."1 Together, the boy and sun symbolically represent the emotion of happiness. The figure of the boy appears to be doing a cartwheel, an activity associated with the carefree and innocent attitudes of youth. As a critic of the time suggested, "Pierce focused her work on the subject of small children, playing and amusing themselves with delightful abandon."2 The image of the sun is seen as a provider of warmth and nourishment, which in many cultures are qualities associated with happiness. The combination of the particular colors of this work displays a positive message as well. The warm color red can 1 be associated with the color of blood, a symbol for life and birth; it is also linked to the concept of liberty and patrio• I tism, Christ, and warmth. The blend of yellow and purple with the red further indicates optimism and hope, as "yellow is a bright color associated with delight and felicity, and purple is a color associated with divine attributes."3 Black also has many positive aspects about it: "black is a symbol for might, dignity, and humility."4 Sunny Day thus expresses happiness and peace. 22 23 10 touches the edge of the canvas. The spacing of the phrase RUTH JACOBY (B. 1903) alternates, so that the justification volleys back and forth, from left to right. This method of spacing has two major again and again, n.d. effects. First, the positioning of the "a" and the "d" at the Acrylic on canvas, 40 1 /4 x 20 1 /4 in. (102.2 x 51.4 cm.) Not signed edge of the right or left side of the canvas causes the letters Gift of Mr. Roy Neuberger, 85.5.2 to act like barriers, giving the text a clear beginning or Exhibited: Treasure Chest (Carlisle, PA:TheTrout Gallery, 1986). end, making the painting horizontally closed and increasing Published: Kathryn Van Schaick, Treasure Chest exh. cat. (Carlisle, PA:The the verticality of the work. Second, the alternating of the Trout Gallery, 1986), 14. "a" and "d" implies movement in the work. Ruth Jacoby earned a Bachelor of Science from New Jacoby's painting negotiates spacing in another interesting York University and completed postgraduate studies at the way. Upon close inspection, an observer will notice that National Academy of Design. She married Charles Jacoby the "and" that is partially cut off at the top end of the in 1929, and the couple formed the interior design and canvas complements the severed "again" positioned at the decoration firm of Ruth and Charles Jacoby. Jacoby has very bottom of the canvas; the two halves could be matched received a number of prestigious awards and has exhibited together to complete the work. The fact that the "and" and her work in numerous museums and galleries;' she is a the "again" in again and again could match up, but don't, creates a duality in the work. The split spelling of the words member of the American Institute of Interior Desizbn ers and the National Association ofWonien Artists.? also suggests that the work continues, with the broken again and again is a two-dimensional, vertical canvas. The words again and again existing like a puzzle continuing on shapes in the painting, that is the letters that create the phrase forever. again and again, are repeated on the canvas without variation. This painting could be characterized as Minimal art The letters themselves are interesting; the shape of the letters because of its extreme simplicity. For the October 1965 cannot be characterized as geometric, vertical, horizontal, or issue of Art in America, art critic Barbara Rose wrote an curvilinear, and therefore are remarkably neutral. article entitled "ABC Art," in which she designated this Lines often suggest emotions, such as anger or calmness.> new art that sought to represent the "minimal."S In this painting, however, the line represents a lack of emo• Minimalism has the distinction of being the first art tion. Jacoby used stencils to create a smooth, thin, uniform movement of international significance to be completely line throughout the work, which contributes to the paint• engineered by American-born artists." Minimalism is ing's rigid style. There is no question that the line is flat primarily noted for reducing the role of the artist in the and linear; nowhere in the painting does it take on a execution of art, replacing this with purely formal consid• painterly appearance. Furthermore, the "a" in the middle of erations. Ad Reinhardt wrote in 1963 that, "The one the "again" lines up with the "a" in the "and" the entire object of fifty years of abstract art is to present art-as-art way down the painting. Although this line directs the and as nothing else, to make it into the one thing it is only, viewer's eye downward, the repetition of the elongated "d" separating and defining it more and more, making it purer in the word "and" also serves to counter-accentuate the and emptier."7 But for all its simplicity, Minimalist art is verticality of the painting. anything but simple. The bland colors utilized by the artist give the painting Viewing again and again as a whole involves combining an institutional look: the letters are all the same shade of all the formal elements of style (shape, line, color, pictorial gray, while the background is a darker gray, and the empty depth, and composition), which work together to create a space in the middle of the a's and g's is filled in white. The complex composition of intense meaning. Line and shape, white has a high value and high saturation, while the grays along with color, provide the illusion that the painting is a are more rn.uted with lower value and less color saturation. continuation. This illusion and the meaning of the repeated Jacoby has used these contrasting colors to create a subtle words "again" and "and" combine to produce a deliberately illusion of depth. This technique is not new; in his influential neutral composition that is an expression of repetition, nineteenth century treatise, The Principles of Harmony and monotony, and boredorn .. Jacoby's work borrows its form, Contrast of Colors, M.E. Chevreul discussed a neutral color the repetition of a commercial image or text, from Pop experiment for visual and depth contrast that bears a strik• Art. Combining this with Minimalism, the artist's represen• ing resemblance to the contrast of colors present in again tation of neutrality through repetition is strengthened. and again." Jacoby's painting is boring and should be read as such: it is Although the overall effect of the painting is extraordi• an attack on the post-war culture of middle-class America narily two-dimensional, the centering of the phrase again in the 1960s, that sought to reach a comfort level through and again creates some pictorial depth. In every other conformity, again and again. again and again, the "a" and "d" alternate as to which one Mattie E. M'T.aughlin 24 1 lncluding the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Academy of Design, SRobert Atkins, ARTSPEA K (New York: Abbeville Press, 1990), 99. Cleveland Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, and the Corcoran Gallery of 6 Artists such as Donald Judd, Tony Smith, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, and Dan Art. The A. N. Marquis Company, Who:~· kVho o.f Americt111 /1Vo111e11 (Nashville: Denson 1=Javi11 were influential in shaping Minimalism.Atkins (1990), 99. Printing Co., 1965), 583. 7 Ad Reinhardt, as cited by Jonathan Fineberg, Art Si11ce "1940, S1rategies of Bei11g 2Kathryn Van Schaick, Treasure Cucst exh. cat. (Carlisle, PA:The Trout Gallery, 1986), (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1995), 296. 14. 3Martin Kempt, The Scie11ce of Art (New Haven.Yale University Press, 1990), 318-319. 4chevreul actually details an experiment using precisely the same colors as again and agai11. Principles of Har111011y a11d Contrast of Colors t111d their applicario11 to the ans (West Chester: Schiffer Publishing, 1987), 67-68. 25 11 The artist Edwin Austin Abbey had been commissioned VIOLET OAKLEY (1874-1961) to paint the Senate Chamber and the Supreme Court Room at the Capitol, but died before he finished the Portrait Study (George Washington), 1922 project. Oakley was asked to complete it, and she continued Pencil on paper, 18 5/8 x 24 7/8 in. (47.2 x 63 2 cm.) the theme established in the Governor's Reception Room. Signed: l.r.:V Oakley 1914 Gift of Milton E. Flower, 1991.6 In the Senate Room, panel #16 depicts George Washington Not previously exhibited on horseback, while other soldiers march beside him in the Unpublished Troops of the Revolution, 1917-1927. Although Washington wears a hat and rides in uniform, the mural image closely Violet Oakley is most well-known for her mural resembles the Portrait of George Washington seen here. By the paintings at the State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. time of Oakley's mural, Washington had grown in stature However, it is important to recognize that Oakley holds a from a commander in chief of the Colonial forces to a unique place in American art, not only because of this national icon in the nineteenth century. In her book, The unusual commission, but also because of the spirit revealed Holy Experiment, Oakley incorporates a quote from. Hegel's throughout her work.1 Oakley was a rern.arkable woman Philosophy of History that describes the importance of whose art reflects her talent, her strong morals and her including historical figures in works of art and how their religious nature. spirit remains with us: "Spirit is Immortal, with it there is Oakley was born into a family who exposed her to the no past, no future, but an Essential NOW ... the grades arts at a young age; at thirteen, Oakley began her studies at which spirit seems to have left behind ... it still possesses .. .in the Art Students League in New York. Oakley subsequently the depths of its present."4 In a study of early depictions of studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Washington, historian Wendy Wick has noted that, "a great for a year at the Drexel Institute. At twenty-four, Oakley number of artists attempted to record Washington's features was given a major commission to design stained glass win• and to capture those qualities of dignity and leadership that dows for the Church of All Saines in New York City. impressed those who met him."5 In choosing to do a por• However, on July 21, 1902, Violet Oakley was awarded her trait ofWashington, Oakley had a great responsibility to most important commission, a mural to decorate the capture the leadership qualities of this established icon. Governor's Reception Room at the Capitol in Harrisburg. Charles Wilson Peale was the first artist to capture the The architect,John Huston, wanted the "State Capitol to characteristics ofWashington in portraiture in 1776. Since celebrate Pennsylvania's role in the world, and its humanized then, artists have focused less on the physiognomic details vision into a narrative that was comprehensible to everyone." ofWashington and more on the essential features which Since Oakley viewed her own work as a way to portray make him most recognizable.6 Oakley chose to show the international law and to convey political justice, Huston typical view ofWashington in profile, capturing his grand sought her to produce the largest commission given to a Roman nose, pursed lips, powdered hair pulled back from woman artist.? Oakley created an illustration ofWilliam his face, and intense stare. She did not need shading, or the Penn's view of liberty and freedom during the 1770s. The effects oflight to capture the image she wanted: the con• main theme for the murals was the founding of the colony tour lines which define his features were sufficient. of Pennsylvania, entitled The Founding of the State of Liberty Athough the drawing may have been executed as a cartoon Spiritual. Since Oakley was a devout Christian Scientist, for the mural, Oakley managed here to capture she eagerly researched William Penn and the Quaker Washington's iconic identification. philosophy. Instead of simply showing a single historical Oakley had much success in the mural paintings for event, she presented in her mural a combination of historical the State Capitol, and was offered several commissions figures and scenes of religious persecution in England. As until her death in 1961. She taught mural painting at the the panels continue on the wall of the Governor's Reception Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1913-1917 Room reading from left to right, Oakley introduced and became one of the Founders of the Philadelphia Art William Penn and his ideal New World. In 1929, Oakley Alliance.7 Her work has been an inspiration for young wrote a book, The Holy Experiment, which was a folio of female art students. By portraying such influential men as the work she had accorn.plished at the Capitol. Combining George Washington,Violet Oakley took on the challenge spiritual, social, and political history, her book was based on to depict an American icon, one still considered "the most the colonists who knew that, "amid the woods and hills of sought after portrait subject in the world."8 Pennsylvania, they could build a society more in accord Tobey Sparrow with the kingdom of Heaven than any the world had known."3 Oakley's objective was to elucidate an important theme that was not necessarily a look into the past, but rather a spark of light for the future. 26 / .- ... - /

5Wendy I R11la Evelyn Jackman, A111erica11 Arrs (New York: Rand McNally and Co., 1927), Wick, "George Washington: An American Icon-The 18th Century Graphic Portraits," 14 (4 November 1982): 89. 239. A111erica11Artjo11mnl 6Wick 2Catherine Connell Stryker, The Studios al Cogs/ea exh. cat. (Wilmingcon, DE: (1982), 89. Delaware Art Museum, 1976), 29. 7She received several awards in the thirties and forties including the Joseph Pennell 3Govcrnor and Mrs. To111 Ridge, Violet Oakley (Harrisburg: Capital Preservation Memorial Medal for distinguished work in the graphic arts from the Pennsylvania .. Committee, Spring 1996), n.p .. Academy of the Fine Arts, the Walter Lippincott prize for her portrait of Qui ta Woodward, and the Mary Smith prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arcs. 4violet Oakley, The /-loly Experiment: 011r J-leritage.fi-0111 Willia111 Pc1111 ·1644-1944 8Katherine (Philadelphia: Cogslea Studio Publications, 1950), 20, 21. Knox, The Stmrptes (New York: Kennedy Graphics, 1972), 67. 27 12 Dillaye's technique represents a transition between the BLANCHE DILLAYE (1851-1931) standardized mode of picturesque drawing, rooted in the eighteenth century, and the "rustic naturalism" first evinced A Sketch of Roof Tops, 1899 by Romantic painters like John Constable (1776-1837)_10 Pencil sketch, 7 118 x 9 7 /16 in. (18 x 23 cm.) A typical example of a proponent of the picturesque style Signed: LL: with snail monogram Gift of Mrs. Grace Linn, 51.1.22 of drawing is John C. Clark, writing in 1827: "Clearness Exhibited: The Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and simplicity are excellencies which, united to accuracy (Philadelphia, PA, 1899). constitute perfection in sketching."!' When analyzing Unpublished Dillaye's drawing, we see these qualities of accuracy and The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts dates back clearness from her use of linear and aerial perspective, and to 1805 as America's first formal art school. Thomas Eakins from the avoidance of excessive embellishment. began teaching there in 1876, consequently earning for the Clark's emphasis on aerial perspective is particularly Academy the reputation of "the most demanding and single• emblematic in Dillaye's rendering of the trees. Clark claims that, when " ... a few forms indicating the extremities of minded art school in America."1 Blanche Dillaye entered the Academy as a student; she studied painting under trees or bushes should be sketched with freedom, this may Thomas Eakins, from 1877 until 1882. She learned the be produced by avoiding small forms ... observing that the technique of etching from Stephan Parrish in Philadelphia line thus produced by the pencil should be of the broken and also traveled abroad from 1885-1887, when she studied or tremulous description, for the exclusion of stiff or formal painting further with Eduardo-Leon Garrido.? lines constitutes a charm in sketching.l'P But the charm in Dillaye was born in Syracuse, New York, but was sent Dillaye's sketch is also due to her use of line as a suggestion to study at the Ogontz School, founded by her aunt, "where rather than as a direct statement; this can be seen in the young women seeking an alternative to the traditional subtle tracing of the bricks of the houses in the foreground. finishing school could acquire a thorough acquaintance Instead of outlining each brick in the building, she supplies with literature, the arts, and science."3 After one year of only enough information for the viewer to associate the drawing instruction, she both began teaching at Ogontz rest of the implication with its meaning, that is, the idea of and followed the advanced studies program at the an entire brick or many bricks within the structure. This Pennsylvania Academy. Dillaye was a strong leader within flirtation with line is parallel to her own definition of line: the art community in Philadelphia: she was president of " .. .line is by its nature suggestive but not imitative, it deals the Philadelphia Water Color Club, founder of the with selection and omission, not with the elaboration and Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy, and served as one subtle tones. In all arts reserve is strength; selection presup• of its vice presidents, and was a founder and president of poses knowledge; and tact in omission is the refinement of The Plastic Club. 4 understanding." 13 Dillaye's hard work and dedication to her artistic career Krista Ann Mancini are further exemplified by her participation in many of the Salons in Paris, as well as in major expositions in the 1 As quoted in Gladys Engel Lang and Kurt Lang, Etched i11 Memovv: T/1c BHi/rlin~ and United States.5 As a symbol of her motto, taken from Snrviva! of Artistic Reputation (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990): 132. Shakespeare, "He goes but slowly, but he carries his house 2Phyllis Peet, A111erica11 Wo111e11 of the Etcl1i11g Revival exh. cat. (Atlanta, GA:The High on his head," she signed many drawings like A Sketch of Museum of Art, 1988), 54. Roof Tops, exhibited here, with a snail monogram.v 3LJng and Lang ('1990), 202. 4Biographic;1] information from Pliilndelpl1in Arr Aliinnie, Memoriat Exhibition of The subject matter and execution of A Sketch of Roof Watcrwlo'" ai1d Erchi11gs by Blanche Dillaye (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Art Alliance, 1932). Tops typifies her trained style, appreciated by Dillaye's con• 5Pcct (1988), 54. Thcsc include: Ohio Valley Centennial, 1888; 1893 Columbian in temporaries." As Gladys and Kurt Lang have summarized: Chicago, the Woman's Building and the Ladies' Parlor of the Pennsylvania Building; "Her early work was praised for its accurate drawing, good Cotton States ;111d International in Atlanta, ·1895; Pan-American at Buffalo, ·190·1; Exposition Universelle (Lonen, France), 1903; Louisiana Purchase in St. Louis, 1904; handling of light and shade and a fine discernment in National Conservation Exposition in Knoxville, 19'13; Panama-Pacific San Francisco, 19·1 S, choice of subject matter."8 A Sketch of RoofTops is an exam• ::111d Philadelphia's s~squi-CentcnniaJ, ·1926. ple of her trained eye for composition and specialization in 6LJng and Lang (1990), 202. 7 Previous research on Blanche Dillaye's works has proven the ease with which 111is• architectural views which she depicted throughout her takes can be made: with the n:::iming of titles. Here, I have concluded that what is listed as travels in the United States, England, Europe, and Canada." "House-Tops (u1.1spccificd medium)" in 771e A11111wl Exhibition Record of the Pennsylvania !lwdc111y of the F111e llrts, -1876- I 9'13, viii tor the year of 1899. is in fact A Sketch of Roof Although the site of Dillayes scene is unknown, she has 7bps. certainly captured the charming landscape of a village Slang and Lang (1990), 202_ extending over a hillside, and has probably positioned her• 9Jules Heller and Nancy G. Heller, Nonlt AJ11crica11 Wo111t~11 Artists ef the Twentieth Ce11t11ry (New York: Carland Publishing, '1995), 157. self in such a way that her view, when sketched on paper, lOsteph::in F. Eisenman, Nineteenth Ce11t11ryArt:A Critirnl History (New York.Thames is perfectly composed. Working within the landscape genre, and Hudson, l nc., 1994), 123. 28 ·····====------~-~--·

J

. -- 1'

11John C. Clark, A Series of Practical Instructions in Landscape Pai11ti11g i11 Wai:er Co/01m C01Jlaini11g direcuons jor sketcl1i11gjimn nature, and the aµplicarion cljperspcctive (London: S. & R. Bently, 1827), I 0. 12Clark (1827), 7.

13Blanche Dillaye, as quoted in Congress ofWomen, The Congress of Wowen 1-le/d i11

the Wo111au~~ B11ildi11g: VVorlrfis Co/1n11/Jia11 Exposition, Chicago1 U.S.A., "1893, With Pottmits, Biographies, and Addresses (Chicago and Philadelphia: S.I. 13ell & Co., 1894), 643. 29 13 engraving and her personal circumstances, saying, "it GRACE ARNOLD ALBEE (1890-1985) became a balance wheel and a distraction from some of life's worries."8 Printmaking provided Albee with a peaceful Peaceful Afternoon, n.d. pursuit. In the late 1930s, Albee chose to concentrate on Wood engraving, paper size: 8 x 9 1 /2 in. (20.3 x 24.2 cm.); rural scenes, such as the farmhouses and barns that sur• image 5 3/8 x 7 5/16 in. (13.7 x 18.5 cm.) Signed: l.r.: Grace Albee; on block: l.r.: G.AJbee rounded her during the forty year period that the Albee Inscribed: I.I.: artist's proof family lived in the countryside of eastern Pennsylvania.9 Watermark: Fidelity Union Skin Peaceful Afternoon is typical of Albee's production during Gift of Mrs. Grace Linn, 51.1.2 this period. Her work displays an attention to detail that Not previously exhibited Unpublished would have necessitated her full concentration and exten• sive time. Both the artist's practice of creating the print, Delicacy and attention to detail were two of Grace and the viewer's experience of looking at the print, can Albee's greatest artistic talents; both are evident in her be described as a peaceful escape. The artist and viewer, wood engraving Peaceful Afternoon. Although not dated, the through experiencing the print, depart from the reality of print had to have been completed prior to 1951, when war, city life, and stress, or whatever element of his or her The Trout Gallery acquired the work as a gift from Mrs. life that is a constant preoccupation. Grace Linn. Like a window, Albee's wood engraving invites Besides being particularly placid from a visual point of the viewer to move closer and to focus on the scene as if it view, Albee's work is also thematically self-consciously were a moment frozen in time. The majority of Albee's American. Her regionalist subject matter is interesting prints are illustrations of outdoor scenes, specifically when one considers the fact that her artistic career was American farmland and nature studies of the four seasons.' refined during WWII. Albee's prints reveal how at least one Peaceful Afternoon represents a glimpse of American farm American artist, and perhaps more importantly a mother life in autumn. In the foreground, on the left side of the with sons fighting in WWII, kept her calm, and invites us print and in front of large vessels for carrying water, Albee to join her, in a Peaceful Afternoon. includes a goat. Behind the vessels, there is a structure with Mattie E. McLaughlin shutters that appears to be a barn. The most prominent image in the print is a tree, dropping its leaves on the

ground, where a few chickens sit. The earth under the I For further examples, see Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division, goat, visible in the foreground, is dried up and barren. A!llerirnn Prints i11 the Libmry q( Cougrc:ss; rr ca;trfog qf the co/lectio11 (Baltimore: johns The title of the work, Peaceful Afternoon, provides one Hopkins Press, 1970), 3-4. 2Jull.!s Heller and Nancy G. Heller, eds., North A111erica11 IMn11c11 l!.f the Tioensicth with the time of day represented. This is an afternoon: it Cc11t11r)' (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995), 14. represents the process of slowing down and preparing for 3M:.rndk Fielding, Dirrionary 0JA111crirr111 paiutcr.\i sculptors, mu/ e11gra11crs (Poughkeepsie: night time. The goat is at rest and for the moment, the Apollo, c. 1986), 10. 4chris Pcrreys. Dicuonarv of'JM>111e11 Artisrs (Boston, MA: G.K. Hall and Co., '1985), 9. chores have been abandoned. The composition also appears 5Albert Reese,fl111erica11 Prize Pri11ts (ftlie 20th Cc11!11ry (NewYork:Amcrican Artists to represent the season of fall, which relates to the time of Group, 1949), 2.

day, since both signify the process of slowing down and the 6The Brooklyn Museum, 30111ars of A111erirr111 Pri11t111aki11~{! (Philadelphia: Flacon Press, 1977), 15. nearing of the end of a year or day. 7 Albert Reese ( 1949), 2. Grace Albee was born in Scituate, Rhode Island; she 8Albert Reese (1949), 2. studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, and, later, 9Eric Denker, Crace JI/bee: A111crirn11 Pri111111akcr (unpublished manuscript for exhibi• with Paul Bornet in Paris. The painter/printmaker is most tion catalogue, 1998, National Museum ofWomen in the Arts), 1 well-known for her black-and-white wood engravings,2 and her work is represented in prestigious art collections in the United States and abroad' In addition, Albee won numerous awards during her lifetime; she was the first woman to receive the Benjamin West Clinedinst Memorial Medal for lifetime achievements in the fine arts." Exhibitions that featured her work include American Prize Prints of the 20th century, 30 Years of American Printmaking, and the 20th National Print Exhibition.6 World War II had an effect on the art that Albee creat• ed: it was during this time, when her five sons were all serving in World War II, that her art flourished." The artist once commented on this connection between wood

30

14 secondary colors of mostly blue and a darker pink, which SISTER MARY CORITA KENT (1918-1986) reminds the viewer of the color of red wine. Corita uses tonal-based modeling to create highlight and shadow within This Beginning of Miracles, 1953 the work; this emphasizes the effect of filtered light stream• Silkscreen, 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 crn.); image: 15 112 x 19 3/8 in. ing through the composition. This outcome can also be (39.4 x 49.3 cm.) Signed: l.r.: Sister Mary Corita attributed to the medium of the work, because in serigraphy Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Meyer P Potarnkin, 69.1.33 the lighter colors are applied first, gradually working up to Not previously exhibited darker ones.? Published: Jules Langsner, "Art News from Los Angeles,'' Art News (April 1953): 44. !GAS (The International Graphic Arts Society, Inc., 1953). The innovativeness of this print, typical of Corita's works as a whole, is significant also in its correlation to Sister Mary Carita was a woman of many accomplish• the modern way of thinking that was occurring in the ments throughout the span of her life, not only as a nun Catholic religion around the time Sister Corita was working. and educator at Immaculate Heart College, but also as an She and the other sisters of her convent specifically fought artist. Although she eventually left the Immaculate Heart to modernize the conventional image of the nun and community, while she was there her time was well spent.1 sisterhood by abandoning the traditional habit.t? Conflicts Carita was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa and at the age such as these with the institution of Catholicism are the of eighteen she joined the sisterhood of Immaculate Heart reasons why Sister Carita eventually left the convent, but College located in Los Angeles. She did not begin teaching they may have also unconsciously motivated her to strive within the community, as a professor of art, until she was to create a place for women of the fifties and sixties, more twenty-eight; she eventually earned a master's degree in art specifically women of the Catholic faith, in the arts. 11 history from the University of Southern California.? Later, This Beginning of Miracles illustrates one of the many she was appointed to the National Advisory Council on ways Carita did strive to create a reputation for a more Education Professions Developmen~ by President Johnson contemporary view of the sisterhood. By creating this in 1967 .3 Sister Mary Carita left the convent and the print as well as others in this abstract style, she emphasized Immaculate Heart College in 1968, and became known as her modernity, but also allowed her spirituality to be evi• Carita Kent.4 dent. Much of what Sister Mary Carita achieved in her life This Beginning of Miracles of 1953 is a perfect example and artistic career went against many traditional views on of the direct religious meaning of Carita's early works. The women's religious lives. As Whitney Chadwick has theme of this particular work was taken from the Bible, explained in her history of women artists: "Access to specifically the Wedding at Cana. s The significance of this education and the convent, the center of women's intellectual particular story was the miracle of Jesus turning water into and artistic life from the sixth to the sixteenth centuries, wine for the wedding guests to enjoy. The title of the work was often determined by noble birth .... Within the convent was adapted in its original form from the New Testament women had access to learning even though they were Book of St. John, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in prohibited from teaching by St. Paul's caution that 'a woman Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory."6 The signifi• must be a learner, listening quietly and with due submis• cance of this literary source is Carita's unconventionality in sion. I do not permit a woman to be a teacher, nor must 'a illustrating it. Although she is using a traditional biblical woman dom.ineer over a man; she should be quiet.' "S story, she modernizes it by creating an abstract work and Carita not only produced interesting and enlightening incorporating modern elern.ents such as a piece of architec• religious works of art during her career, but also exhibited, ture from the twentieth century? "Religion obviously taught, and eventually went on to operate a private gallery meant something to this woman, but it was not treated in of her own. By creating works like This Beginning of Miracles, any sentimental way. .. .It appealed to [one's] social sense."8 which emphasized a more modern side of religion and This Beginning of Miracles is a wonderful assemblage of a "appealed to the social sense" of her viewers, she may have variety of religious imagery. The first specific image the changed the way people often thought of religion and viewer will notice is Christ and the Virgin, at the top of religious women in the twentieth century. the composition and almost directly in the center of the Kara R. Kuchemba picture plane. This allows viewers to have a point from which to start, and move their way around the remainder of the intricate composition. Throughout, Carita empha• sizes certain shapes, mostly of goblets and other glassware, which convey the theme of the Wedding at Cana. The silkscreen is very colorful and gives the viewer a sense of looking at a stained glass window, with blended 32 1 Mary Bruno, "Portrait of an Artist," Newsweek (17 December 1984): 14. 7Miller (1953), n.p. 2 VV/w5 Vf/110 of A1nericai1 IV0111e11i Fourth edition, 1900-1907 (New Providence: 8Bruno (1984), 14.The DeCcrdova Museum mounted a retrospective of Carita's Marquis Who's Who, '1907), 247. works in 1980. 9Clifford 3"Johnson Appoints Educators to Panel," The Ne111 Y<1rk Tunes (24 September 1967): T Chieffo, Situ-Screen as a Fine Arr: A Handbook of Contesnporarv Silk-Screen 57. Pri>1ti11g (New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1967), 83-84. 4l3runo (1984), '14. lO"The Nun a Joyous Revolution," Newsweek (25 December 1967): 47. 11 5Arthur Miller, IGAS (International Graphic Arts Society, lnc., 1953), n.p .. Bruno (1984), '14. 12Whitney 6"The New Testament, Book of Saint John, 2:11," T11e Holy Bible (New York: Douay Chadwick, lt[/0111e11,Arr, and Soriety (NcwYork:Thames and Hudson, Bible House, 1941 ), 93. lnc., 1996), 44-45. 33 15 The series Song of Solomon consists of ten prints com• SARAI SHERMAN (B. 1922) bined as a portfolio; each etching corresponds to a specific verse of the songs. The prints were hand pulled and the Who is this that Looks forth like the Dawn, fair as the first ten sets were numbered in Rom.an numerals. The moon, bright as the sun, Trout Gallery owns set IX.8 Plate VIII from the Series The Song of Solomon, 1966 The biblical book Song of Solomon is a profession of Etching, paper size: 19 5/8 x 25 3/8 in. (49.8 x 64.5 cm.); image: 12 1/2 x 16 5/8 in. (31.8 x 42.2 cm.) passionate love between Solomon and his bride, the Signed: Lr.: Sarai Sherman, I.I.: 9/25 Shulamite. The color scheme and the two figures in plate Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Meyer P Potamkin, 69.1.31 eight all refer to the literary source and are combined in Exhibited: The Bible and Tioentieth-Centurv Artists (Carlisle, PA: The Trout the bride's figure. The etching is about the woman, and as Gallery, 1983-1984) Published: The Bible and Tiuentieth-Century Artists exh. cat. (Carlisle, PA:The such, everything in the picture refers to her. She both Trout Gallery, 1983), 9. dominates the etching's space with her physical presence and incorporates the various colors of the print into her The Song ef Solomon is an exarn.ple of Sarai Sherman's body. The sun, sky and gazelle represent elements that are use of Old Testament biblical stories to express contempo• directly related to her. rary issues. In this case, Sherman was commissioned to These visual connections correlate to comparative verses, make a series of etchings portraying a religious theme.1 It in particular that of 6:10. In this verse, rn.aidens, queens and is interesting that she chose the book Song of Solomon concubines praise Solomon's bride by saying: "Who is this because it is a very sexual story and is rarely illustrated. The that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as work was made during the early fern.inist movement of the the sun."These images correspond to the glowing sun, the 1960s and those issues may have influenced her choice of blue layers of night color, and the white area lit by the rising subject. The Shulamite, who came from Shulem in Issachar, sun. After the imagery of the dawn, the woman is compared was outspoken, especially about her sexuality.2 Admitting to the moon, which in the etching, is represented by her to the Israelite women that she was 'black and desirable, she blue head floating in the night sky. Her head is in the proclaimed, "I am black and beautiful, 0 daughters of realm of night and is round like the moon's shape. Jerusalem ... Do not gaze at me because I am dark." (1: 5) The gazelle is compared to both the Shulamite and to This type of behavior and confidence, considered audacity Solomon. In verse 8:14, the bride says to her lover: "Make by western society before the feminist movement, would haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag," also have been improper in the patriarchal Jewish society and then in the verse 2:9, she equates him with the animal, in which the Shulamite lived. She did not adhere to society's saying, "My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag."The rules and is therefore a logical choice of subject matter for stag is commonly used as a sexual sym.bol, and here the a woman artist in the 1960s. gazelle is also used as such, presumably for the male lover. Sherman obtained her degrees at the Tyler School of In addition, although female comparisons to a gazelle Fine Arts and the University of Iowa. She won numerous might have ern.phasized the animal's elegance, thereby soft• awards, including the Fulbright Grant in Painting which ening it and "feminizing" it, the terms in which the bride sent her to Italy from 1952 through 1954.3 Sherman never and the gazelle are described in the verse are strikingly, followed any movement, always forging her own artistic overtly sexual: "Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a path." Instead, she engaged in a "search to find a 'reality' in gazelle." (7:3) Thus the gazelle in Sherman's etching could the problems of contemporary man."5 Embracing problem• both represent Solomon as her counterpart and lover, as atic issues in her works, she explored contemporary well as the bride herself. The latter interpretation is further humanity's alienation "from nature, his fellowman, and supported by the fact that other images and pictorial himself," as a consequence of the fast pace of progressive elements are based on verses that refer exclusively to her. society> Although Sherman is concerned with social issues, The dawn represents the awakening passionate love, the she is not a social realist with a political agenda or ideology; corninbz into womanhood, and the next phase of the her appeal is to broader fundaments of humanity. Recurring Shularnites life as a rn.arried queen in a foreign court. She Sherman themes include alienated society, conflict, fatality, is no longer a chaste child; she is ready to leave her home and archaic worlds: she often worked with classical myths and her virginity behind for the role of a wife, mother, and and biblical stories to portray contemporary concerns.7 In lover. It is a powerful moment that is explored in this work the series Song of Solomon, Sherman used a biblical source of art: the gazelle and the rising sun are symbols of the to explore the intricacies of passionate love, a universal woman's dawning sexuality. human issue. The eighth plate, seen here, examines one This eighth plate is a good example of the sensitive aspect of love by focusing on the transition to womanhood issues that Sherman communicates. The way that various and the blossoming of sexuality. elements of the etching are incorporated into the 34 /r~. ' ·I

Shulamite's figure and her identity translates Sherman's 3Borrow (1983), 3. topical interests into poignant visual language. 4Marcello Venturoli and Edward Bryant, Sarai Slier111a11 exh. cat. (Rome, Italy: Galleria Lale Sylvia lsmen Penelope, 1963), 7. 5Mario Penelope and Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Sarai Shen11a11 exh cat. (Florence Italy: Nuodevizioni Enricho Vallechi, 1983), 30-3'1 6venturoli and Bryant ('I 963), 7. 7Penelope and Ragghianti (1983), 31 1 Randi Borrow, The Bible and Ti/Je11tietl1-Ce11t11ry Artists exn. cat. (Carlisle, PA:The Trout Gallery, 1983), 3. 8Borrow (1983), 3. 2Burton Stevenson, '171e Howe Book cif Bible Q11olario11s (New York: Harpers & Brothers Publishers, '1949), 398. 35 16 colors seen in the aurora borealis are red, blue, and violet, HELEN SIEGL (B. 1924) similar to the colors displayed in Aurora. In Aurora, the background colors of blue, purple, and turquoise recede Aurora, n.d. into the background as the warm color, red, projects boldly Woodcut, 9 7 /8 x 7 718 in. (25.1 x 20.1 cm.); image: 7 718 x 5 in. from the image. The bottom of the print is cast in a dark (20.1x12.7 cm.) Signed: 1.r.: Helen Sieg! green and grey, showing the city visited by this nighttime Gift of Sellers Collection, 88.16.56 display of lights, and focusing the attention of the viewer Not previously exhibited on the high saturation of the complementary color, red. Unpublished Siegl's use of color and composition draws the viewer to the center figure: a mystical animal upon which a small Daughter of Leopold and Amelia Hapsburger, Helen Siegl spent her childhood studying at the Academie for human figure rides. Together, the image of the animal and human figure Angewandtekunst in Vienna, Austria. Following her gradu• adds an exotic and illusionistic element to Siegl's work ation in 1947, she had a variety of jobs as a designer, book Aurora. Like the aurora borealis, the images in Aurora fill illustrator, and graphic artist. In 1953, she moved to A.rn.erica one's m.ind with thoughts of mysticism and wonder. to join her husband Theodor, who was the conservation Many cultures have come up with various myths and and technical adviser to the Pennsylvania Academy of the legends about the aurora borealis, thus producing fairy Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In America, tales, a common interest of children. Siegl continued her artistic career, making relief prints Sieg] shares this interest of fairy tales, and the subject from wood, linoleum, and plaster blocks. Siegl invented she chose in depicts a theme related to her work as and developed the plaster block technique which was used Aurora an illustrator for children's books. Siegl's interest in children as a "substitute for woodblock prints during wartime when was inherently natural in relation to her life; she and her materials were hard to come by."1 Eventually her work husband had seven boys and one girl. As the viewer sees in became better known, and was handled by art galleries Aurora, there are fictional and creative components in the throughout the country. Then, as Siegl explained, "I was work, and "when working with children, an artist can asked to illustrate specific manuscripts with woodblock work freely and imaginatively."5 prints," many of which appear in children's books such as Mother Goose: Twelve Rhymes on. Broadsides, Aesop's Fables, In Aurora, through composition, subject, and color, Siegl has created a single focus point on the mystical animal and William Cole's The Birds and the Beasts Were There: image, allowing for her to express her "personal magic."6 Animal Poems. 2 These illustrations depict many of the same This work is more than just a way for Siegl to illustrate her characteristics evident in Siegl's work Aurora. cleverness and artistic freedom, however; it is also a work Aurora is a colored woodcut that was probably com• for her audience, who are welcomed into this fantasy land pleted sometime after 1953, around the time Siegl began making woodblock prints as illustrations.Woodcuts became of Aurora. Anne C. Cabell a mid-twentieth-century trend when its major attraction became the "natural beauty of its grain."3 Aurora is identi• fied as a woodcut by the horizontal lines that indicate the 1"Plastcr13lock Prints of Helen Sicgl,"A111erim11 Artis/ 19 (September 1955): 42. grains of wood. It appears as if Siegl has used two blocks 2 So111c//1i11g Abo111 the A ut!ior, 34 (Detroit: Gale Research, 1984), 25. of wood, as shown by the white gap within the colored 3Ua1nbi;:r Gascoigne, I-low 10 Jrle111ify Prints (NcwYork:Thames and Hudson, Inc., picture plane. 1986), 5. Siegl's style and choice of medium are appropiate to the 4Candace Savage, ;J11rom (New York: Greysrone Books, 1994), 4. 5Hclen general them.es of her works: children, animals, and religious Siegt, as quoted by joanna i::oster and Lee Kingman, lllnstmtors cf Cbiktrens Books (Boston: Horn Book, 1968), xiv. events. Her style is natural, exhibited by the pattern of her 6Foster and Kingman ( l 968), xiv. images and choice of media in the work. The medium depicts basic genuine characteristics by which each figure is cut with the grain of the wood, simplifying their form. The town is reduced to geometric forms while the center figure displays a series of linear lines harmonious to the natural grain effect produced by woodcuts. The colors are bright and attractive, expressing feelings of joy and optimism. Siegl's choice of color and title can be directly linked to the astronomical term aurora borealis. For centuries the aurora borealis has been described as "curtains of colorful lights displayed throughout the night sky."4 Some common 36 37 17 In 1961, at the urging of several artist friends, HELEN FRANKENTHALER (B. 1928) Frankenthaler reluctantly went to work in a New York workshop called Universal Limited Art Editions. There Tales of Genji V, 1998 she began to experiment with printmaking. Initially, 48-color woodcut, stencil on rustTGL handmade paper, 42 x 47 in. (106.7 x Frankenthaler found printmaking's fragmented procedures 119.4 cm.) Signed: l.r.: 34/36 Frankenthaler disorienting; a painter at heart, she sought to make prints Chop mark: interlocking geometrics (Tyler Graphics, Ltd.) painterly+ But Frankenthaler was soon inspired to explore Promised Gift of Dr. Paul Kanev the new medium's versatility. She first and foremost considers Not previously exhibited Published: Kenneth Tyler, Notes on Tales of Cenji brochure (Mt. Kisco, NY: herself a painter, but the language and process of printmaking Tyler Graphics, 1998). intrigues her; here the ukiyo-e style of Japanese printmak• ing is apparent in her strong calligraphic gesture and line. An 11th century Japanese court lady called Murasaki Frankenthaler's art is about space via line, texture and Shikibu is credited with writing the world's first novel especially color. In this print, sweeping lines create the called The Tales of Genji. The story, about the passionate effect of a Zen painting with the illusion that the color meanderings of an emperor's son in Heian,Japan, has continues indefinitely. inspired artists since its conception. Prankenthaler's approach to printmaking is a ritual of Helen Frankenthaler's brand new series of prints are trial, with constant adding, changing and deleting: "I want highly influenced by the tale as well as the Japanese tradi• to draw my own images, mix my own colors, approve of tional printmaking processes which have historically told registration marks, select paper-all the considerations and the Tales of Genji. Frankenthaler's series of six prints reconsiderations. Assuming that those who work in the required 90 wood blocks, 231 colors and three years to workshop are artists at what they do, I can then entrust the complete. To begin, Frankenthaler painted on wood panels actual duplicating process to other hands that possess• as models for the prints. Then she and her team of printers hopefully-their kind of magic. Sharing and participating hand made a thick, absorbent, colored cotton paper. The to the end."5 artist sought pieces of wood with grains that struck her With Tales of Cenji V, Frankenthaler has taken her aesthetically; these pieces of wood were then inked and printmaking to a new level. The colors are rich and layered. printed on special paper to study the grains.1 The effect of each of the 48 blocks used for this print can Frankenthaler had studied in the mid-1940s with be seen in the diaphanous layers of color, reminiscent of Rufino Tamayo at the Dalton School in New York. In 1950, her breakthrough paintings of the 1950s. There is a she met the critic Clement Greenburg, who did much to remarkable sense of the artist's touch in the print, a quality promote her career; she made her presence known in the that is rarely accomplished in woodcuts. Here, Frankenthaler art world at the age of 24, when her painting entitled has achieved her 30-year goal of creating a print which Mountains and Sea marked her as a pioneer of her generation. captures the essence of painting through the process of At that time, she was closely associated with the Abstract relief printmaking. Expressionists. In 1958 she became permanently associated Patrick E. Smith with the school when she married the painter Robert Motherwell. Her first one-artist show came in 1959 at the

Andre Emmerich Gallery in New York.s ·1lJackson Pollock, Frankenthaler pioneered new Art, and Harper & Row, Publishers, 1982), 85. SHelen Prankeurhaler, "The Romance of Learning a New Medium For An Artist," techniques in abstract painting: instead of the traditional The Pri111 Collector" Newsletter ( 1977): 67. brush and easel she laid raw, unsized canvas and paper on the floor of her studio and poured pigment onto the surface, eliminating the Expressionist painterly brushstroke. A propensity toward experimentation was also revealed in Frankenthaler's frequent incorporation of plaster, sand and other materials in her paintings. The effect that the new materials had on her paintings was the development of monumental, serene images with multiple diaphanous layers of color.'

38 (c) copyright Helen Prankenthaler/Tylcr Graphics Ltd., 1998

39 18 of the work is marked with short strokes resembling cross• MARY BARRINGER (B. 1950) hatching. Within these marks are residues of brown slip. Barringer wiped the pot after glazing it so that the natural Baby Jar, 1982 clay shows and the glaze is left only in the incised texture. Ceramic, 4 3/4 x 7 1/4 x 6 1/8 in. (12.1 x 184 x 15.5 cm.) She made the glaze function as a part of the texture, and Signed: on bottom: Barringer Purchased by The Trout Gallery, 87.33a, b thus as part of the pot. The glaze of the Baby Jar is not Not previously exhibited separate from the formal identity of the clay pot; instead, Unpublished the glaze and the form complement each other. The Baby Jar's form is closed because its walls reach Baby Jar belongs to an untitled series ranging from 20 around the pot, leaving only a small opening on top, which to 30 pots. These pieces are hand-sized and curve under is covered with a separate lid. The work's form is strong yet themselves, exploring the way that the pots meet the irregular. Although Baby Jar is related to functional ceramics ground. These works do not stand the way that traditional in that it is a vessel, the pot's main purpose is aesthetic: it pots do; rather they roll and are rounded on the bottom, reads like sculpture, inviting the viewer to walk around and giving the pots great depth but also personality. For the view it from different angles, as its formal identity changes series, Barringer was inspired by pre-Columbian sculpture with each view. When viewed from different angles, the such as the West Mexican, Guatemalan, and Helisco figures. pot reveals various shapes. From one side, the shape looks These small sculptures are often seated and have either as if it is comprised of conical points of equal emphasis and both legs extended or just one, with the other limb curled a perfectly curved back side. But when the pot is turned, beneath the figure. one of the points appears more dominant, pulling the pot The title Baby Jar reflects the pot's identity as a jar but into a tear-drop shape. The lid echoes this form and points it is also a reference to seated Guatemalan dolls.' Baby Jar's in the same direction. two horizontal points resemble the limbs of the Guatemalan The pot as a whole is important because of the attention dolls in that they protrude from the rounded base of the that Barringer gave to even the obscure parts like the bottom. jar-like legs. Baby Jar's base is curved so that it is very deep The underside was textured, glazed and incised just as and seems as if it would rock if pushed, the two points carefully as more visible areas. Barringer emphasized cer• extend from a cushion-like shape, which makes the jar tain aspects of the form by drawing two lines on the piece: have an exciting relation to the ground, meeting it but one is a large arch that is inscribed on the bottom, tracing avoiding a heavy im.pact. The potential to roll also suggests the pot's curve, and the other line starts from the pointed movement in a way that a heavy, flat base would not. side of the lid and extends down to the end of the domi• Barringer obtained her B.A. at Bennington College in nant point. The second line draws attention to the direction 1962, then studied at the Pratt Institute from 1968 to 1969; of the· form which moves towards the point. The two lines in 1971 she worked as an apprentice to Michael Frimkess.2 emphasize the different forms that play in the pot, but at Barringer then established the Park Street Potters, which the same time they also emphasize the pot's integrity. was a studio as well as a shop. Her works are well-received, In 1985, Barringer exhibited coil-built stoneware especially in the New England area, where she is most well vessels at the M.S. Gallery in Hartford. The Baby Jar is known. She has taught extensively and has served as a visit• consistent with the style of these works: it is coil-built and ing artist at museurn.s and universities.3 also has had the same surface and slip treatment. These pots Barrinzer was a student in the 1960s and, as such, was b were rubbed with dry Connecticut river-bank clay instead taught in what she calls "the Leach and Cardew-soaked of being glazed. After bisquing, the pots were sometimes system,"4 referring to these two artists' division between a brushed with a slip which was also made from river clay. preoccupation with the clay form versus an emphasis on The slip was then sponged and sprayed off with a Gerstley glaze, the transformation of m.inerals. For many years borate wash, and fired to achieve a brown or grey earth-tone.6 Barringer felt that she lost control over the pot once it was Baby Jar is a beautiful work with a strong form and submitted to the kiln. She started experimenting with glaze interesting glaze; it is a good example of how Barringer techniques in the 1970s and 1980s and discovered that she places em.phasis on process in every stage of_the pot's . could stay involved by working with various grounds and making. Baby Jar is still a functional pot, yet it works like slips, building them up towards a final product: "slips are sculpture. It is at once a single object and form, but is also both the material and conceptual 'missing' link between a three-dimensional object with various shapes workmg clay and glaze."The interactive process is very important to with it. The use of elements from pre-Columbian sculpture her and she feels that slips experiment with, and essentially cives the a shape and personality that are unique. 0 Baby Jar allow for changes until the object enters the kiln.> Lale Sylvia Ismen Baby Jar reveals this interest in process. The entire body

40 l Interview, by phone, with Mary Barringer, on November 24, 1998. 2Mary Barringer, Curatorial files in The Trout Gallery (1987). 3Barringer it987). 4Mary Barringer, "Is Glaze Dead? Fourteen Ceramic Artists Give their Opinion on the Subject," Studio Potter (December 1995): 24. SBarringer (1995), 24. 6"EmergingTalcnc," Ceramics J\llo11t'1ly (March '1985): 77. 41 19 As early as 1954, Takaezu was creating closed forms TOSHIKO TAKAEZU (B. 1929) ranging widely in size and pigmentation. The title of this object, Closed Form, suggests something inside, and living; Closed Form, 1983 indeed the object is so round that one can sense a pressure Stoneware, 9 3/8 in. diameter (23.9 cm.) from the inside as if it were breathing. The implication of Signed: on bottom: 83 TT Gift of the Artist, 83.11 these qualities is that this is a representation of a vegetable Exhibited: Toshiko Talzaezu: Ceramics, Textiles, and Bronzes:An Exhibition in newly picked from a garden, which the artist has acknowl• Celebration of the Dickinson College Arts Award Presentation (Carlisle, PA:The edged as a major influence.> The significance of agriculture, Trout Gallery, 1983); Homage to Alumni and Friends: Recent Gifts to Dickinson College's Fine Arts Collection (Carlisle, PA: The Trout Gallery, the planting and harvesting of crops, is personal to the 1983); Ceramics from the Permanent Collection (Carlisle PA: The Trout artist yet universal in importance. Gallery, 1991); A Decade of GirJing: The Trout Gallery, 1983-1993 (Carlisle, There is a centuries-old tradition of celebrating the PA:TheTrout Gallery, 1993). Published: David Robertson, Homage to Alumni and Friends exh. cat. (Carlisle, harvest.> Takaezu's own Japanese heritage celebrates the PA:The Trout Gallery, 1983), 4; David Robertson, A Decade of Giving exh. New Year with a festival of agricultural renewal, and the cat. (Carlisle, PA:The Trout Gallery, 1993), 46. honoring of time as cyclical." The glazing on Takaezu's form is a simple contrast between light and dark which This stoneware is a perfect example of what Toshiko can also be related to the seasons. Dark days are experi• Takaezu is best known for making: closed forms. Her break enced in the winter months, and the bright days are in the from the creation of utilitarian vessels culminated in the summer. The vegetable form ofTakaezu's object is a proud 1950s, allowing for a solely aesthetic appreciation of her symbol of her harvest, accumulated for the sustainment of work.! "These forms-sensuous and bulbous, with only a the winter months ahead. pinhole for an opening-have become some ofToshiko's This reading of the harvest in Takaezu's work is related most symbolic works ... The poetic outside evokes the mys• to another suggestion inherent in Closed Form: the concept tery of the inside, an aspect Toshiko considers an important of the Goddess. The Goddess has been connected to nature element of these works. Their dark interiors remain a secret from as early as Paleolithic times, embodying a myth that space."2 Indeed, most ofTakaezu's closed forms contain a teaches all life is interrelated and sacred. 8 The earth has secret inside, a small ceramic bead that creates sound when always been referenced with the Goddess, such as The the object is moved. "Not only does the chiming suggest Great Earth Mother Gaia (meaning 'earth'), who was and recall the interior of the vessel, from which the viewer believed to have created the universe.9 Understanding the has been excluded, but more importantly it plants a seed of concept of the Earth Mother/Goddess in relation to potential connection between viewer and artist, for the act Takaezu's work produces even greater significance to its of creation can be continued long after the artist's hand has iconology. Not only is the vessel created from clay, a prod• abandoned the object."3 The idea that the vessel continues uct of the earth, but its spherical shape further reverberates to "live" on its own, separate from the artist, can be further to the cyclical nature and interconnectedness of life, which enhanced by an iconographic reading of the form and sur• is concurrent to the mythological definition of the goddess. face of the object, which mingle harmoniously, together In the video Portrait of an Artist, Takaezu states that she producing an aesthetic, integral entity. The glazing has been feels an interrelatedness to all life, and in relation to the poured over the piece and fired in a kiln, taking advantage production of her work:" ... You feel it [the overwhelming of the natural effects of the chemical reactions that take beauty of nature], it gets in you, and it comes out in your place. The outcome is random designs which suggest a nat• work." r o The experience of nature for Takaezu is not an ural landscape. The colors are dark and warm at the same end in itself but a process involving inner transformation time: a sandy beige of the vessel, and a dark brown which which bezinb s with the artist and continues in the viewer. runs along the bottom and embraces the bulging sides. This The tactile quality of the glaze, the roundness of the form combination suggests a beach and rocky mountains or and the incorporation of sound all evoke an interaction earthly dunes, a reminder of the Hawaiian landscape in with the piece on the part of the viewer. Barry Targon, which Takaezu grew up. writing for American Craft, has stated that "For an artist's Takaezu was born in Pepeeko, Hawaii, to Japanese achievern.ent to reach across time and the shifting attitudes, immigrant parents who labored on a sugar plantation. conventions and tastes of varying societies and cultures, it She grew up with limited financial resources, in a family must touch what we as human beings share and what does of eleven children. This atmosphere, combined with the not change. Such work must re 1 ease arc h etypa 1 energies. . "11 strong work ethic instilled by her parents and her culture, In Takaezu's Closed Form, these energies are universally is where Takaezu developed her creative and independent understood in terms of mass, volume and shape which are attributes." Among her many awards, she received the all signifiers to the cyclical nature of all life forces. Dickinson College Arts Award in 1983. Krista Ann Mancini

42 1Sharon E. Lee, "The Art of'Ioshiko Takaeau," Toshiko Taleaezu : Fo11r Decades exh. S"The main theme of the Goddess symbolism is the mystery of birth and death and car. (Monrclair, NJ:The Montclair Art Museum, 1987), 15. the renewal of life, not only human but all life on earth and indeed in the whole cosmos. 2Lee (1987), l 1 Symbols and images cluster around the parthenogeneric (self-generating) Goddess and her basic functions as Giver of Life, Wielder of Death, and, not less importantly, as 3"Toshiko Takaezu," Bulletin 87 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fall '1991): 12-13. Regeneratrix, and around the Earth Mother, the Fertility Goddess young and old, rising 4Patsy Sumie Sakai, Early Japanese /111wigmnts in Hawaii (Honolulu: Kisaku, lnc., and dying with plant life." Marija Gimbatas, The Lang11age ef the Goddess (San Francisco: 1993), ·116. Harper and Row Publisher, 1989), xix.

Ssusan Wallner and Nila Aronow, Toshiko Talmezu: Portrait cf (l!I Artist (Trenton: 9Janet and Stewart Ferrar, The Wi1cl1es' Goddess: The Fe111ini11e Principle of Divinity NJN Video, 1993), videocassette. (Custer: Phoenix Publishing Company, 1994), 222. 6Jack Santino, Alf Around tlu: Year: Holidays anti Celebmtions i11 A111erica11 Life (Chicago: 10wallner and Aronow (1993). University of Illinois Press, 1994), 142-143. 11Barry Targon, "Toshiko Takaezu: Outer Quiet, Inner Force," A111erica11 Cmft 51 7Jteiko Mochinaga and Barbara B. Stephan; essays by Enbutsu Sumiko and Jan (February-March ·1991 ): 33. Reader, Spirit and Svmbot.Tbe joponese New Year (Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of the Arts, 1994), 88. 43

The Trout Gallery receives. a portion of its general operating support from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, a federal agency serving the public by strengthening museums and libraries. In addition, the Gallery is supported •by The Helen E. Trout Memorial Fund and the Ruth Trout Endowment. Funding for special projects is provided by the Henry D. Clarke,Jr. Foundation for the Arts.

This catalogue was generously underwritten by the Ruth Trout Endowment.