Beyond the Exhibition

Here is a photo of Gregory Gilbert (in front of “Beam in One’s Eye” by Jackie Tice) while he was in the Museum selecting awards as juror of the Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition.

I am often asked to compare this juried Exhibition from one year to the next and I find myself at a loss. Other people perceive a difference that I don’t, at first. My immediate thought is that the exhibitions really aren’t that dissimilar from year to year. Most have a parallel eclectic mix of works. However there is often a discernible unique flavor reflecting the juror’s sensibilities each year.  It takes time in the presence of the works of art for me to get a feel for what the judge was drawn to. Once I begin my attempts to organize the exhibition, particular visual qualities and thematic contents start to make themselves apparent. Understanding the choices and designing the exhibition takes a lot of standing and staring. Sometimes sitting in a corner and just looking from one to another, looking at a whole wall, looking at the room. Looking.

This year, I’d have to say, is quirky. Mr. Gilbert said among other things that he was “drawn to works that contain a kind of creative dichotomy within themselves… the visual means of creation is at odds with the formal structure or the signifying content of the piece. This quality reflects one of the more challenging purposes of the visual arts, which is to upset and complicate our perceptions and conceptual assumptions regarding the visual and social world. “

If you have seen the show, or plan to, tell us what you think by commenting on this blog. And don’t forget to add your vote for the People’s Choice award!

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Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition, exhibit design, Gregory Gilbert, juried exhibitions

Varaldo Cariani, Bowl of Zinnias, 1962

A new exhibition of still life paintings from the Swope Art Museum collection has opened at the Museum and is on view through August 20, 2010.  Still Life: Quiet Revelation features over twenty-five paintings from the late nineteenth-century to the present illustrating many different perspectives on the still life.  While some are pure still life paintings and represent inanimate natural objects or those from daily life, others feature details of still lifes as part of a larger composition.

Curator of Exhibitions and Programs Lisa Petrulis said, “The Swope has some stunning examples of still lifes on view in this small exhibition.”  She noted, “It was an anguishing task to narrow the list, but it was a pleasure to learn more about the history of the genre. I think visitors will find a satisfying variety of work and may even know one of the artists as several are from Terre Haute or nearby in Indiana.”

Still life images have been found in historical cultures as far back as ancient Egypt. In the Middle Ages, highly symbolic still lifes served the Christian religion as objects for contemplation and moral guidance.  However, in the study of western art, still life for-its-own-sake was not developed until the Renaissance era when it became a popular subject for artists and collectors.  Painters of still lifes struggled to be taken seriously in the art world and were considered second to those artists who created paintings with subjects drawn from history, mythology and the Bible.  But some painters, especially those in northern Europe, were able to find a lucrative still life market in the increasingly wealthy middle class patrons who required more intimate paintings for their homes.  It wasn’t until the early twentieth century that respected artists were allowed to escape painting epic historical and religious works and more freely pursue still lifes, pure landscapes and other subject.

Myra Schuetter, What a Fruitcake!, 1998

Local artists included in the exhibition are Louise B. Hansen, Fran Lattanzio and Barbara Bonness Weber.  Indiana artists included are Varaldo Cariani, William Crutchfield, Brad Fugate and Myra Schuetter.  Barton Stone Hays’ painting Tabletop Still Life makes its gallery debut as part of this exhibition.  Tabletop Still Life was acquired for the Swope Art Museum’s collection and Wabash Valley community through the Genevieve H., Mary E., and Deborah Lynn Cramer Memorial Fund and gift of Eckert & Ross Fine Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.  Hays was an important artist and educator in Indiana in the nineteenth century and provides a direct connection to other artists and work in the collection, including a still life painting by William Merritt Chase who was one of his students.  Even though it is smaller canvas at 22×31 inches, Hays’ Tabletop Still Life is one of the three largest canvases known to exist by the artist.

Visitors to the exhibition can take the opportunity to create their own still life from objects available in the gallery and then try their hand at drawing what they have arranged.  Visitors are also encouraged to send photographs or drawings of still lifes for inclusion on the Swope blog to info@swope.org with the subject line ‘still life blog.’  Petrulis said, “I hope visitors will take advantage of the hands-on activities to deepen their understanding of still life composition.”

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exhibition, Indiana artists, Lisa Petrulis, still life, Swope, Swope Collection, Terre Haute artists

The first thing I used to think of when I heard the word tempera was that powdered paint we used in elementary school.
Of course I didn’t know then that tempera (paint using a binder of protein such as egg or milk) can be traced back to ancient Egyptian culture, or that it was the predominant painting medium until roughly the 16th century when oil paint was introduced. (Leonardo DaVinci’s mural “The Last Supper” is tempera.) But what has caught my attention, as an employee of the Swope Art Museum, is the unusual number of tempera paintings dating from the 1930s and 40s. Visitors to the Swope can see three tempera paintings currently hanging in the 1930’s -40’s gallery by Thomas Hart Benton, Zoltan Sepeshy and Reginald Marsh. It turns out that that era in U.S. history saw a renewed interest in a number of artistic mediums and techniques including tempera.
American Scene Painters and Regionalists, in particular, seemed to take to the medium. Perhaps it was spurred on by the concurrent proliferation of public murals and an interest in the history of the mural form. Thomas Hart Benton, for instance, while a student in France, studied Renaissance paintings. Though oil had supplanted tempera as a favored medium, artists during the Renaissance continued to use tempera for large murals. While in France, Benton also crossed paths with the Mexican artist Diego Rivera who used the medium for his famous murals.
Zoltan Sepeshy was so enthusiastic about the medium that he even wrote an instructional book about it. The book, Tempera Painting (1946, Holme Press, NY,) is quite readable. Sepeshy serves up a good foundation of technical information with a dollop of humor. And for the do-it-yourself type, he included recipes for home made mediums.
A comparison of the paintings by Benton and Sepeshy reveals very different techniques and approaches. Sepeshy wrote that he never mixed white with his colors nor did he mix his colors together. Instead he exploited the translucency of the pure colors using a complicated web of what he terms vertical and horizontal layering. For vertical layering, for instance, a wide swath of translucent blue layered over a swath of red gives you purple. To layer horizontally, according to Sepeshy, the artist juxtaposes a line of blue next to a line of red and the eyes of the viewer mixes the purple–a similar technique to that of the French impressionists. As I look at Spring Flowers by Sepeshy, though, I do not see any impressionistic color juxtapositions, or as Sepeshy would say horizontal layering, what I see is the cross hatching but in analogous hues.
Sepeshy wrote that he used fifteen to twenty-five pure colors in a single painting. If there is white or light in a painting by Sepeshy it radiates from the bottom layer of white primer. To create this glowing effect presents quite a challenge of logistics; the artist must keep the white intact while modeling an image layer upon layer. Sepeshy says on page 16 of his book: “The objective must always be in sight in this tempera technique, and with each layer of color that the painter applies, he must know its function in relation to all subsequent layers. Mistakes cannot be covered with a brush stroke; they must be scraped off with steel wool down to the board itself. Even then, there is danger of marring the whiteness and smoothness of the board, so it is best just not to make mistakes.”
On page 46 Sepeshy comments on his technique to the would-be tempera painter: “Here is a warning. The road to which I point is a hard and tortuous one. Many good works in water color, or even oil, may be matters of minutes, or hours, or days. When you begin a tempera painting, you must be prepared to work on it for weeks. You must be prepared for days of planning, for numberless fine brush strokes, for patient attention to detail, for eye burning and seat callousing hour upon hour.”
In contrast Benton’s use of tempera, in Threshing Wheat, is only as an under painting over which oil was used for the more detailed work on the surface. Benton’s colors have been mixed with white and the pallet is primarily opaque. The handling of the paint in Benton’s painting is quite different from Sepeshy’s combination of washes and cross hatches. His technique looks more like painting whereas Sepeshy’s looks a lot like drawing. Though Benton’s painting Threshing Wheat has many tiny brush strokes they seem more in the service of rendering detail and texture than in building up shapes or mixing colors. Yet on close inspection some passages of Threshing Wheat have more impressionistic or horizontal color juxtapositions (in miniature scale) than the Sepeshy painting Spring Flowers.
A few weeks ago Linda Witkowski, a conservator at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, came to the Swope to examine Benton’s painting Threshing Wheat. In 1954 the painting went on loan to an exhibition of Benton’s work. In preparation for the exhibition Benton decided to clean the yellowed varnish and ended up completing an extensive restoration job. This he told the Swope in a letter sent after his reparations. In fact he did not finish to his satisfaction and convinced the Museum to forward the painting at the close of the exhibition so that he could finish the job. His “cleaning” including fixing a couple of scratches or cracks which he noted in his next letter; Benton used both words, scratch and crack, and we only have his word on it, for there is no other condition report on file from the time. But the artist’s mend is clearly visible to anyone looking at the painting today.
In his report back to the Swope Benton wrote “Under strong side light and to close inspection the repaired cracked areas still show a little. I was afraid to sand too vigorously around these areas for fear of losing too much of the original sky to permit matching its color.” When I read “sanding” and “vigorously” I was shocked and wondered if that treatment had made the visible scars worse. Museum practices, and speed of communication, have changed quite a bit since 1954. Loan contracts and the general institutional conventions of today would have prevented him from touching the painting without permission from the Museum.
Benton ended his letter with this statement: “Fixing this picture has been a tricky business but I am glad you let me do it rather than some restorer who might not figure out how it was originally painted.” A message directly from Benton to Ms. Witkowski, joked Brian Whisenhunt the Swope’s Executive Director during the conservators visit. Regardless of Benton’s opinion, as Witkowski explained, current ethics and standards in the conservation field regarding touch-up over-painting is that all work must be reversible and the intent of the artist must be kept intact. With this in mind Ms. Witkowski is not inclined to touch the artists mend, which is in stable condition, though she is quite qualified to work on his painting. Witkowski is one of the conservators who worked on the restored Indiana History Murals by Benton now housed at Indiana University, Bloomington.
I do not know what “restorer” practices were in Benton’s time, but today conservators conduct extensive study and testing to figure out how a painting was constructed before they begin cleaning or repairs. There will always be unethical or ill-trained people who set up shop, however today a reputable conservator has training almost as extensive as an M.D. including studies in both the science of art materials and in art history.
In 1985 Threshing Wheat was treated for severe flaking in the bottom half but the scars from Benton’s repair were not touched for the same reasons Witkowski expressed. Benton was notoriously abrasive to and prejudiced against the Museum world; ironically if it weren’t for Linda Witkowski, and other Museum conservators, much of Benton’s work would not be around for us to admire.
In contrast the two Sepeshy tempera paintings, in the Swope collection, have had no serious conservation issues; perhaps this is a testament to the quality of advice Sepeshy gives in his book Tempera Painting.
Both paintings can be seen in the gallery “Looking Forward, Looking Back Art of the 1930s & 1940s” on the second floor of the Swope Art Museum.

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1930s and 40s, American Art History, american scene Painters, murals, museum practice, Painting conservation, Painting Technique, Regionalism, Tempera painting, Thomas Hart Benton, Zoltan Sepeshy

This year, as we transition to a purely digital entry process, I am pleased to report that the Museum received 255 submissions from 88 Wabash Area artists.  Our juror, Dr. Gregory Gilbert of Knox College, was tasked with paring that group down to 50 (or so) accepted works; a task he tackled with great enthusiasm!  Below is the list of accepted submissions.

List of Accepted Submissions for the 2010 Wabash Valley Juried Exhibition

Last Name, First Name, Entry, Title, Medium

Anderson, Deborah Ann, B, Take a Moment,  wood

Annarino, Dan,  A,  Brush with Fame, oil on canvas

Barton, Craig,  A, Glorious Morning in May, photograph

Bekkering, Karen, A, Three of Me, digital print

Bradfield, Rod, B, Front Range, acrylic

Bradfield, Rod, C, Landscape 1-09 St. Road 46, acrylic

Brady, Ruth A., B, Transformation IV, mixed media

Brough, Alyssa, B, Untitled #34, mixed media

Bruning, Peter, B, Landscape with Woman, oil on canvas

Burns, J. Hender, B, Preening, watercolor

Burton, Roxanne, C, Corona Borealis, sterling silver

Caldwell, Erin, A, Specimen, cut paper & color pencil & ink

Campbell, James, B, Syncretismi Cogitatio (Reconciling Diverse Thought), acrylic

Cheek, Edwin, A, Self Portrait, oil on paper & collage

Cunningham, David, B, Meditation, oil on panel

Cunningham, David, C, Dragon, ceramic

David, Tom, C, Lilith, oil on linen

Dees, Philip, C, Birth of a Winged Spirit, steel & paint

DenHouter, John, A, Pray Station, oil

Erickson, David, C, Intransigence, relief print

Gallion, Chad, C, Night Swim, oil on canvas

Garrison, Neil, C, Apollo Shuttlecock, screenprint

Gibson, Ken, B, Gooseberry Bush in Winter (Shakertown), photograph

Hedin, Ivona, C, City Riders, photograph

Herrold, Jennifer, C, Paint by Number Tragedy, mixed media

Hughes, Kristy, C, Girl’s Night In, intaglio

Israelson, Abbigail Knowlton, A, Strangled, watercolor, graphite

Julian, Colby, B, Hast Du Einen Vogel?, intaglio

Kellar, James Jordan, B, Child with Mother, photograph

Kolb, Kazhia , C, Still Life with Books II, oil on canvas

Laster, Michael, A, Visions Fugitive, video

Lattanzio, Fran, C, Cunningham Corner, silver gelatin print

Madeska, Ben, A, Tuna Steak, oil on canvas

May, Allyson, A, Cuneatus, clay

May, Allyson, C, Cimmerian, clay

McAleese, Andrew, A, Interferences, wood

Millard-Mendez, Rob, C, Phaeton Chair, wood & paint

Nafziger, AJ , C, Polyphemus (Self-Portrait), oil on canvas

Nichols-Pethick, Nancy , C, Ephemeroptera, oil on canvas

Nyendick, Petra, A, Orbs, mixed media

Quade, Robert, B, Blue Fire, woods, phone wire

Rehm-Mott, Denise, B, Nature’s Grace, intaglio

Reiser, Troy, A, Painted Woman, gouache on paper

Ries, Michael, A, The Badlands, digital photograph

Schartung, John, B, Intimo, oil on canvas

Schwab, Justin, A, Reminiscences, silver gelatin print

Sermersheim, Julia, C, Sargasso Sea, fiber, mixed media

Tice, Jackie, B, Beam in One’s Eye, oil on canvas

Tingley, Michael, B, Crane’s Farm, mixed media

Whorral, Bill, A, Gorgira, mixed media

Wilke, Christopher, A, Pantheon Reliquary, oak & maple

Woodcock, John, B, Commuter, photograph

Wootton, Beth, A, Storm Coming, photograph

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The 43rd Annual Student Art Exhibition, made possible by Old National Bank, runs from April 10 through May 15, 2010.  The public reception will be Saturday April 17 from 1 to 3 p.m. with the High school award presentation at 2 p.m.

It was May 1967 when the first Student Art Exhibition opened at the Swope. Howard E. Wooden, executive director of the Swope from 1966-75, felt that the perspectives of young talent revealed the health and cultural awareness of a community, as well as the success created when teachers encourage self-expression along with technical disciplines.

Mr. Wooden’s original vision is validated by today’s student submissions. This year’s student exhibition includes about 340 students from 33 elementary, middle and high schools. The High school section was judged by Bernard Hagedorn, Professor of Art, Vincennes University. Mr. Hagedorn selected 71 works of art from about 240 submissions and selected 30 for awards, which are listed below and on the Swope web site.

Mr. Hagedorn commented “Over the last twenty years I have been privileged to jury many high school shows across Southern and Central Indiana. This exhibition of high school work is one of the finest I have had the opportunity to witness.” The Swope is proud to continue to showcase the excellence of both the area’s young artists and the area’s art teachers and programs.

Director, Howard E. Wooden, and the Vigo County School Corporation began a collaboration that has since grown to include other area schools including some from Illinois. As part of the programming all of the fifth graders in Vigo County arrive for an intensive schedule of tours. Special thanks go to the Swope volunteer Docent corps for leading the tours during the months of April and May and to Terre Haute Savings Bank, which makes the tours possible.

The 43^rd Annual Student Exhibition, 2010 High School Award Winners:

• Best In Show, Katie Gaston, “Fashion Gone Green”, McLean High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Christine Ellis, instructor
• 1st Place 2-D Mixed Media, Ayla Walter, “Red Pepper Collage”, Terre Haute North Vigo High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Diane Songer instructor
• 2nd Place 2-D Mixed Media, Ayla Walter, “Gypsy Raccoon”, Terre Haute North Vigo High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Diane Songer instructor
• 3rd Place 2-D Mixed Media, Elaine Pitts,  “Destiny”, Terre Haute North Vigo High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Diane Songer instructor
• 1st Place Ceramic, Lindsey Reed, “Touched by Shape”, South Vermillion High School, Clinton, Indiana, Beth Hoke, instructor
• 2nd Place Ceramic,  Bailey Reinoehl, “Mini Me”, Terre Haute North Vigo High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Addie Simpson, instructor
• 3rd Place Ceramic,  Caitlin Pickens, “Europa”, South Vermillion High School, Clinton, Indiana, Beth Hoke, instructor
• 1st Place Drawing, Kayla Pepelea, “Reflection”, South Vermillion High School, Clinton, Indiana, Beth Hoke, instructor
• 2nd Place Drawing, Lacey Bledsoe, “Self-Portrait”, Terre Haute South Vigo High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Cheryl Maners, instructor
• 3rd Place Drawing,  Adrienne Strohm, “Destitute Wealth”, Marshall High School, Marshall, Illinois, Beth Meeker, instructor
• 1st Place Graphic Design, Jacie Endo, “Brantley”, Greencastle High School, Greencastle, Indiana, Robin A. Johnson, instructor
• 2nd Place Graphic Design, Rebecca Norlin, “Light Show”, Greencastle High School, Greencastle, Indiana, Robin A. Johnson, instructor
• 3rd Place Graphic Design, Chris Taylor, “Untitled”, Northview High School, Brazil, Indiana, Amy Taylor and Joni Southerland, instructors
• 1st Place Painting, Andrea John, “Wheels of Fun”, South Vermillion High School, Clinton, Indiana, Beth Hoke, instructor
• 2nd Place Painting, Andrea John, “Mom and Megan”, South Vermillion High School, Clinton, Indiana, Beth Hoke, instructor
• 3rd Place Painting, Olivia Brown, “Dealing with the Empty Space”, McLean High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Christine Ellis, instructor
• 1st Place Photography, Rebecca Norlin, “She Devil”, Greencastle High School, Greencastle, Indiana, Robin A. Johnson, instructor
• 2nd Place Photography, Shaley Weir, “Not Photoshop”, North Vermillion High School, Cayuga, Indiana, Charles T. Wagoner, instructor
• 3rd Place Photography, Shelby Porter, “Natural Forms”, North Vermillion High School, Cayuga, Indiana, Charles T. Wagoner, instructor
• 1st Place Printmaking, Ayla Walter, “Flashing Lights”, Terre Haute North Vigo High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Diane Songer instructor
• 2nd Place Printmaking, Emilee Bean, “Dolphins in Motion”, Terre Haute North Vigo High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Diane Songer instructor
• 3rd Place Printmaking, Ayla Walter, “The Grey Face”, Terre Haute North Vigo High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Diane Songer instructor
• 1st Place Sculpture, Bailey Reinoehl, “Foxy”, Terre Haute North Vigo High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Addie Simpson, instructor
• 2nd Place Sculpture, Nutchaya Thongthanee, “Into the New World”, Clay City High School, Clay City, Indiana, Brett Haviland, instructor
• 3rd Place Sculpture, Andrea John, “The Next Chapter”, South Vermillion High School, Clinton, Indiana, Beth Hoke, instructor
• 1st Place Textile, Chris Taylor, “Untitled”, Northview High School, Brazil, Indiana, Amy Taylor and Joni Southerland, instructors
• 2nd Place Textile, Sarah Thompson, “The Sly Fox”, Terre Haute North Vigo High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Diane Songer instructor
• 3rd Place Textile, Erica Klass, “Untitled”, Northview High School, Brazil, Indiana, Amy Taylor and Joni Southerland, instructors
• 1st Place Watercolor, Adrienne Strohm, “Untitled”, Marshall High School, Marshall, Illinois, Beth Meeker, instructor
• 2nd Place Watercolor, Stormi Baker, “Morning Dew”, South Vermillion High School, Clinton, Indiana, Beth Hoke, instructor

Other Participating High Schools and Instructors:

• Booker T. Washington High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Vicki Walsh, instructor
• Terre Haute Christian Educators, Terre Haute, Indiana, Mary G. Mayhew, instructor
• Terre Haute South Vigo High School, Terre Haute, Indiana, Rod Bradfield instructor
• Terre Haute West Vigo High School, West Terre Haute, Indiana, Sara Laughlin, instructor

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exhibition, student, terre haute

In March of 2009, the Swope Art Museum and Terre Haute community lost an ardent supporter and tireless cultural advocate, Marilyn Wheeler Pendergast.  Among her numerous awards, accomplishments and affiliations, Mrs. Pendergast was the President of the Swope’s Board of Managers for thirty years, leading the volunteer board established by the will of Sheldon Swope that had provided for the creation of the Museum upon his death in 1929.  She saw the Swope through numerous exhibitions, programs and acquisitions; was head of the organization during its expansion and renovation in the late 1990s; and worked with five of the ten executive directors who have led the Swope since it opened in 1942.

The Swope’s Board of Managers and Board of Overseers established an ad hoc committee to recommend a memorial that would honor the historic tenure of Mrs. Pendergast.  This committee was led by Mrs. Barbara Vogel, who also serves as the chair of the Swope’s Collection Committee, and made three recommendations to the Boards: that the Swope’s Annual Spring Dinner & Auction be renamed to honor Mrs. Pendergast as it was her favorite event hosted by the Swope; that an award named for her be given to an outstanding volunteer or supporter of the Swope to recognize the amazing contributions made to the organization; and that a space within the Swope be named as a memorial to her contribution to the institution because of her great interest in art and the Swope’s collection.

Both the Boards approved the recommendation of the committee and have renamed the Swope’s Spring Dinner and Silent Auction the Marilyn Pendergast Spring Dinner and made arrangement for a space dedicated to new work acquired by the Museum to be called the Marilyn Wheeler Pendergast New Acquisition Gallery.  Likewise, the Boards have also approved an annual award to be given at the dinner that will recognize, according to the criteria established by the ad hoc committee, “an individual, group, foundation or organization that has generously contributed years of commitment, dedicated services or financial resources instrumental to the success of the Swope Art Museum.”

After nominations were entertained, a committee decided the inaugural recipient of the Marilyn Wheeler Pendergast for Outstanding Dedication would be given to the Alliance of the Swope Art Museum.  The Alliance is an auxiliary group of the Swope that has supported the Museum in a multitude of ways since its creation in 1951.  This group holds educational programs, raises money for the Swope, contributes volunteer hours, gives tours to area children and guests of the Museum, makes hors d’oeuvres and desserts for Swope events, entertains the community, donates scholarships for the Summer Youth Art Program and sponsors the top award of the annual Wabash Valley Juried Exhibition.  The work of this group is made up of the many contributions of individuals and the Swope and its Boards presents this recognition to the Alliance and its members for all they have done for the Museum through almost sixty years of service.

The Marilyn Pendergast Spring Dinner will be held at 5 p.m. on May 2, 2010 at the Country Club of Terre Haute.  The Swope will present the Marilyn Wheeler Pendergast Award for Outstanding Dedication to the Alliance of the Swope Art Museum at that time.  The Award will be accepted on behalf of the Alliance by its current president, Mrs. Roberta Marietta.  Tickets, which are $65 per person including a $25 tax-deductible contribution, or an invitation to the dinner can be obtained by calling (812) 238-1676.

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award

Art 101 blog attributed to Blakelock
I was all set to talk about the romantic landscape and the dubious use of bitumen with paint by artists of the 19th century. But this painting has another fascinating story related to its attribution. Have you ever wondered why a work of art is listed as “attributed to” rather than “by” a particular artist? It takes a bit of detective work to verify the authenticity of a work.

In the case of Indian Encampment, c. 1890, oil on canvas, attributed to Ralph Blakelock, the authenticity was not questioned until 1969. And then, apparently, the questioning was ignored or discounted until 1999 when the Swope, under the curatorship of Laurette McCarthy, changed the listing from by Ralph Blakelock to attributed to Ralph Blakelock.

In 1969 the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, (I know, confusing isn’t it) conducted an extensive study of the work of Blakelock. They were able to amass the loans of nearly two hundred paintings and drawings ascribed to the artist. Over eight days in July, 1969, an assembly of scholars, conservators, collectors and dealers examined the works. The unique opportunity to observe so many works together allowed a comparison of works with unquestionable attribution to those of less sure heritage. In the course of examination Indian Encampment was photographed under ultraviolet light, infra-red light and x-ray (I cannot imagine the expense of such an extensive examination of that many works of art).

Now you must understand that the work is a typical subject for Blakelock, a night scene and an Indian camp. And the provenance seems in order- going all the way back to the artist. However, though the work is signed, it turns out he was a popular artist to forge. Below are the findings of the study of number 67 on the University of Nebraska Blakelock Inventory:

First the works were classified into groups labeled one through four.
One: works with completely documented history of ownership (provenance). This group provided the technical and stylistic criteria for comparisons.
Two: Works with features that compare favorably with group One but which have incomplete histories.
Three: incomplete or missing histories and with characteristics partially in accord, partially divergent from the comparison group.
Four: without histories and characteristics not in agreement with the comparison group.

From a letter to the Swope dated 1998, from Norman Geske, former curator of the Sheldon Gallery, Nebraska:
“Actually the painting was assigned to Category III of the Inventory’s classification system, which indicates that it attribution to Blakelock is “questionable”. In reviewing the file photographs made at the time it would appear to me that this classification is still valid. While the subject, composition and , to some degree, the handling are plausible, there are “questionable” elements – the scale of the tepee and the manner of its execution are quite unlikely, the rendering of the tree forms are generalized to the point that they have no organic structure. One of the photographs, taken with infra-red light, reveals an extremely casual procedure.

The provenance which you provide was not given us at the time of the examination in 1971.[the exam took place in 1969, however reports were not completed until 1971] It is persuasive but not necessarily conclusive. My judgment is, finally, based on qualitative considerations. The painting does not represent the artist at his best, nor even his average best.”

That said, it is an interesting little painting. If you have the chance to come by the Swope you will find it hanging in the The Mary Fendrich Hulman Gallery, Art of the American West, under a small painting attributed to Albert Bierstadt.

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attribution, authenticity, Indian Encampment, Ralph Blakelock

It’s been an exciting week, and the results are finally in!  This year’s juror, Mr. Bernard Hagedorn, selected 71 works to be included in the 43rd Annual Student Art Exhibition at the Swope.  Selected entries, and awards given, may be found below the cut.  This list is sorted by category, with awards appearing at the beginning of each category.

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Once again the Swope Art Museum is proudly hosting the Annual Student Exhibition.  An institution in itself, this exhibition has been recurring for forty-three years! That’s longer than any of the exhibiting students and most of the art teachers have been alive. And although the exhibition has been going on for so very long, we always get questions about how the works of art are chosen for this exhibition.  Well, I’ll explain…

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