What Was He Thinking? JAN BALET: Watercolors & Lithographs December 1, 2017 - January 14, 2018 Adam and Eve, 1979, lithograph, 23 3/4” x 18” Jan Balet 1913 - 2009 ARTREACH GALLERY at First Congregational UCC 1126 SW Park Ave Portland, OR uccportland.org/artreach [email protected] JAN BALET: A Personal Reflection by Peter Balet During my childhood and teenage years, my father lived in Long Island, NY, and I upstate. But there were frequent visits. On one occasion, I remember my father flying over my house and dropping a ball before landing at the nearby airport where my mother and I picked him up. Little did I know at that time that my father was an emergent artist who illustrated advertisements for all the leading magazines, although by my teenage years I collected them. I was a child, delighted when he wrote and illustrated his first children’s book and I received in the mail Amos and the Moon with the inscription “To Peter from Daddy” -- and with a hand-drawn face on the inside cover. My father left the United States and returned to Europe in 1965. He quit the commercial world and began to devote himself to painting, lithography, and writing and illustrating children’s books. Communication with him continued via letters at Christmas and birthdays, but I did not see him again until after I married and raised a family; our children were grown before job constraints permitted overseas travel. However, whenever my father published another children’s book or produced a lithograph, I would receive a copy in the mail. Beginning in 1994, my wife Marie and I traveled to Switzerland to visit Jan every year. It was during this time that we were able to reconnect and we began to appreciate more fully his work as an artist. Whether sketching, authoring and illustrating children’s books, painting, or making lithographs, Jan Balet was insightful. Each piece showed his perception of what it means to be human: men and women--and children--with all of their foibles, but most of all with their enduring charm and zest for living. He created visual essays that celebrate his own fascination with human nature and feelings. At his death in 2009, I inherited much of his art. It was then that we started thinking about the larger significance of this collection. It suddenly became a part of our life and we began to explore possibilities of sharing it in this country where it has been little known. We wanted to have other art lovers know and appreciate Jan Balet’s creativity. In this spirit we commenced setting the stage for future artists and art lovers to explore the world of my father. We created a web site, janbalet.com, to expand interest in and knowledge of his works, to invite viewers into his world, to enable them to see his expansive body of work, to take pleasure in discovering his unique style, and to delight in his images. It was serendipity that our web site put us in touch with collectors of Jan Balet’s art. Because of our good fortune this exhibition has taken shape. An art Cat on a Wheelbarrow, nd. watercolor, 3” x 2” collector, Michael Paolercio, saw our newly launched web site and contacted us. He told us of his collection of lithographs. From the discussions that ensued, this exhibition developed. Paolercio’s collection highlights the wit and wisdom with which Jan Balet so deftly imbued his art; our collection of watercolors, many of which were studies for lithographs he subsequently created, makes evident his creative process. Now we are pleased with this collaboration that enables us to debut a very fine selection of Jan Balet’s art. It marks the 105th year of his birth. Untitled (horse rider). Watercolor, 3 1/4” x 5”. Untitled (tiger on ball). Watercolor, 3 1/4” x 5”. Trompeten solo (Trompet solo). Watercolor, 5 1/2” x 5 1/2”. “Jackson” – der fahrad clown (“Jackson” – the bicycle clown). Watercolor, 5 5/8” x 4 5/8”. Weihnachten im Venedig (Christmas in Venice). Watercolor, 5 7/8” x 5 3/8”. Geigensolo (Violin solo). Watercolor, 5 1/2” x 4 1/2” Narr im Trauer (Jester in Mourning). Watercolor, 6 1/8” x 5” Untitled (cat on wheelbarrow). Watercolor, 5” x 3 1/4”. Untitled (cat with chairs). Transfer on vellum, 7” x 6”. Untitled (cat family). watercolor, 3 3/8” x 2 3/4”. Untitled (cat under table). Watercolor, 3” x 2 3/8”. Untitled (cat straining). Watercolor, 3 1/2” x 2 3/4”. Untitled (cat group). Watercolor, 3 7/8” x 2 7/8”. Hamlet and Ophelia. Watercolor, 8 ½" x 6 ⅞". Hamlet and Ophelia. Lithograph, XVIII/XXXX, 8 ¾" x 7 ¼". Leda and Mr. Swan. Watercolor, 8 ½" x 6 ⅞". Leda and Mr. Swan. Lithograph, XX/XXXX, 8 ¾" x 7 ¼". Romeo and Julia. Watercolor, 8 ½" x 6 ⅞". Jan Balet with Accordion in Studio Romeo and Juliet. Lithograph, XIII/XXXX, 8 ¾" x 7 ¼". Collection: Anonymous Abélard & Héloïse. Lithograph , XVII/XXX, 8 ¾" x 7 ¼". Godot und der Heilige Geister (Godot and the Holy Ghosts). Acrylic on board, 13 ⅜" x 17 ⅜" TIME in the Art of Jan Balet Untitled (bicycle beside lovers). Watercolor, 2 3/4” x 3 1/2”. Untitled (bicycle in city). Watercolor, 2 34” x 3 1/2”. Time is a child building a sand-castle by the sea; and that child is the whole majesty of man’s power in the world. The Team. Watercolor, 2 3/4” x 3 1/2”. -- Herakleitos (540 - 480 BCE) Geflügelte worte (Winged Words). Watercolor, 2 3/4” x 3 1/2”. Jan Balet’s birth and education were German: his first career and Untitled (bicycle against wall). Watercolor, 2 3/4” x 3 1/2”. major contribution to the world of advertisement were in America. But his Die “God bless America” Wolke (The “God Bless America” Cloud). final forty years belonged to Europe - Germany, France and Switzerland. A Watercolor, 3” x 3 1/2”. reflection on his life is to realize how important time was to him personally and to his last years dedicated to creating art. Küstenwache uniform (Coast Guard Uniform). Watercolor, 3” x 3 1/2”. The first years of his life were full of private experiences that gave him the opportunity to develop careful attention to childhood observations Untitled (sheet of 12 drawings). Pen & Ink on paper, 8” x 11 3/4”. and adventures. His difficulties with an authoritarian education system gave Untitled (boy with hoop). Watercolor, 3 1/2” x 4 3/8”. him skills sufficient to sneak out of Hitler’s army in a timely manner and to begin life in America. The late 1930s through the 1960s were years of very Dimanche a Pont-sur-Seine (Sunday at the Bridge on the Seine). active work in New York City, where he rose quickly to the highest level of Watercolor, 3” x 3 1/2”. his field in the magazine world. But then time came for a shift in life; he left the high power work Temps perdu (Time wasted). Watercolor, 2 5/8” x 3 3/8”. world of the big city to return to Germany, where in 1967 he literally started his life anew as an artist. Perhaps he felt a need to refocus on the Urzeit (Primeval Times). Drawing, 3 1/2” x 2 7/8”. observations of his childhood and to the mode of creative expression that had Time on Your Hand. Drawing, 3 1/2” x 2 7/8”. shaped his mind throughout his early adult years. He proved himself worthy of the challenge. Untitled (love is blind). Watercolor, 3 1/2” x 2 3/4”. A mark of this personal genesis is Balet’s lithograph of Adam and Eve standing on either side of the Tree of Knowledge (see cover). Eve, Traum jagd (Dream Hunting). Watercolor, 3 1/8” x 3 1/2”. whose name means “life,” removes the fruit and reveals a clock, our great Gesetzlich geschützt (Legally Protected). Watercolor, 2 3/8” x 3 3/8”. measurement of time. The usual interpretation of this biblical story expounds upon sexuality and human ethical responsibility. Balet, however, chooses the Godot. (nude with arms raised). Watercolor, 3” x 3 1/2”. story to emphasize his interest in time, capturing a moment as if to acknowledge life as the durable arena in which decisions are made. Untitled (birds in flight). Watercolor, 2 7/8” x 3 3/8”. Jan Balet’s focus on time Godot (clothed). Watercolor, 3” x 3 1/2”. encompasses a wide spectrum of life decisions. The variety of personal Warten auf Godot (Waiting for Godot). Watercolor, 3 1/8” x 3 1/2”. relationships is one of them: family life, Godot (rein). Watercolor, 3 1/8” x 3 1/2”. marriage, sexual encounters, aloneness and togetherness. He depicts moments Untitled (KANE). Watercolor, 5” x 3 1/4”. from each of these with a spirit of good will, humor, and an invitation to Untitled (trapeze). Watercolor, 5” z 3 1/4”. discussion. Untitled (bicycle on wire). Watercolor, 3 1/4” x 5”. Balet also plays with a notion of time being consumed, as in Beckett’s Hochseil (High Wire). Watercolor, 2 1/2” x 3 1/2”. play, Waiting for Godot. Balet comments Godot and the Holy Ghosts on this play’s reference to time with his own Untitled (lion tamer). Watercolor, 3 1/4” x 5”. painting Godot and the Holy Ghosts. Here Godot stands waiting with his hands Pain (Bread), 1986. Lithograph, 2/300, 19 ½" x 23 ⅜".