SELDOM SEEN
Works from the Collection of the Historical Society of Woodstock Selected by Susana Torruella Leval
September 13 — November 1, 2014
SELDOM SEEN
Works from the Collection of the the Historical Society of Woodstock Selected By Susana Torruella Leval
September 13 — November 1, 2014
2470 Route 212, Woodstock New York 12498 845-679-2388 • www.woodstockschoolofart.org • wsart@earthlink.net
FOREWORD The Woodstock School of Art gratefully acknowledges the support and assistance of the following individuals and organizations whose involvement has made Seldom Seen possible: Susana Torruella Leval, Deborah Heppner and Richard Heppner and the Historical Society of Woodstock, Dion Ogust, Katie Jellinghaus, Eric Angeloch, Elizabeth Broad, and Carol Davis, whose vision was the original inspiration for this exhibit.
This project is made possible in part through support from the County of Ulster’s Ulster County Cultural Services & Promotion Fund administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.
Funding made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
CURATOR’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Broad and Carol Davis from the Woodstock School of Art. Eric Angeloch’s expertise has been indispensable in the show’s design and installation, and I thank Mandara Calderon and Mizuyo Aburano for their assistance. Deborah Heppner from the Historical Society achieved the impossible in finding, classifying and displaying one hundred works for me to view and select from. My sincere gratitude to her and Richard Heppner for the important work they do, which keeps Woodstock’s historical memory alive. Thank you also to Jean White. Thanks to Ethan Breckenridge, newly-arrived artist in Woodstock, for good insights and conversation about the creative process. Finally, my gratitude to Tom Wolf, who first helped me see the importance of Woodstock’s art history.
The permanent collection of the Historical Society of Woodstock is a well-kept secret. Although individual works have been frequently seen and generously lent by the Historical Society, this exhibition is a first general look at the collection. My guiding principle—What the Artists Saw— was the singularity and variety of artists’ visions. Since 1903, they came and saw Woodstock as only artists can. Space limitations mandated hard choices. I chose to leave out three genres: abstraction, nudes and still life. I hope other iterations of Seldom Seen will plumb the collection further and do them justice. I look forward to those future shows, hoping the Historical Society’s collection will get the recognition it deserves, and no longer be a well-kept secret. I could not have done my curatorial work without the excellent help, advice, and companionship of Elizabeth
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WHAT THE ARTISTS SAW “They say that the coming of the artists will change see as artists do. The decision to become an artist is a compulWoodstock.” Thus did young Will Rose express the villagsion to share one’s vision, and the artist’s distinctive creativity ers’ worry in The Vanishing Village, his charming memoir of in solving problems results in works of art. Woodstock circa 1900. Old codgers gather daily around the An invitation from the Woodstock School of Art offered pot-bellied stove in his father’s general me the privilege to do what I love store. Their conversation invariably best—look at works of art. A review turns to “the rumor that the artists are of the fine collection of the Historical coming.” They were right to worry. Society of Woodstock, a well-kept The artists did change Woodstock. secret, proved a joyous experience, As early as 1903, the Byrdcliffe and resulted in this exhibition, Seldom colony attracted artists to Woodstock, Seen, which I hope will be the first of a drawn by the genteel, Utopian vision of series of revelations of that fascinating an arts and crafts center on a hilltop of collection. isolated beauty and healthful climate. I was struck by the intensity Three years later, the breakaway and beauty of the works I selected William Duke West Maverick Colony drew a larger, even for this exhibition, What the Artists more adventurous lot, of fiercely indeSaw. Artists traversed Woodstock’s Their conversation invariably surrounding landscape in all seasons, pendent spirit. That same year, 1906, the turns to “the rumor that the Art Students League of New York set up lovingly recording the gentle Catskills, a summer school in Woodstock. Under artists are coming.” They were lush meadows, winding streams, Birge Harrison’s direction it became roads named after neighright to worry. The artists did twisting well known as the School of Landscape bors, barns and farms now gone. They change Woodstock. Painting, and lured even larger numbers documented their beloved village of artists from New York City. When the with now-quaint views of the Dutch Woodstock Artists Association, (now WAAM), was founded Reformed Church, the post office, the Trading Post, Henry in 1920, The New York Times referred to it as “a place of Peper’s forge, the firehouse, the restaurant on the green, pilgrimage in the art world.” and the still-vital library fair. Their fun-loving side created So, those geezers were right. For over a century, artists a delightful bestiary—real pets, whimsical creatures, strange kept coming to Woodstock. They came in waves of writers, birds, and carefully observed farm beasts. Finally, the artists classical musicians, painters, actors, singers, sculptors, poets, looked closely at themselves. Intense self portraits reveal them printmakers, dancers, jazz musicians, draftsmen, folk singers, more keenly than any other genre. caricaturists, photographers, rock singers, installation artists, LANDSCAPE PAINTING video and filmmakers, performance and conceptual artists. Woodstock traces its landscape painting heritage to the midThey enriched life in Woodstock for all of us. The force of 19th century. Painters Thomas Cole and Frederic Church their vision has altered ours. pioneered plein air explorations in the Hudson Valley, creat Artists see differently. Most of us take in the world in ing a school of painting that combined visionary breadth and a tangle of physical, rational, and emotional perceptions. exactitude of observation. Birge Harrison and John Carlson, Artists perceive the world with heightened intensity—in subsequent directors of the School of Landscape Painting, unique, detailed, near-compulsive ways—their innate aptiproved rightful heirs to this plein air tradition, which, filtered tude reinforced by their training. Often it is not a choice to 3
Willow is a radiant, post Impressionist foil to Julia Leaycraft’s lushly painted Snowy Rock City Road. A few artists went down to paint the great Hudson River. Nan Mason saw it through Harrison’s tonalist prism; Doris Lee, with the studied charm of her eccentric vision.
BESTIARY Artists’ lives, by definition, involve solitude and isolation. Pets alleviate both. So Susan Marsicano, Charles Rosen, and James Turnbull portray their dogs and cats Rolph Scarlett with intimate realism. Cows and horses get diametrically opposed treatment by two artists: Audrey Dick’s farm cows are sketched with scientific precision; Rolph Scarlett’s horses, inspired by Franz Marc, are caught in an expressionist blaze of color. Birds present equally varied depictions: Audubon-like detail from Susann Foster Brown; a somber memento mori from Tor Gudmundsen; and a haunting virtuoso drawing of an owl by Eduardo Chavez. In the world of illustration, Maud and Miska Petersham sketch a pair of naughty monkeys, while Ernest Fiene’s graceful deco oval encloses two dainty deer. Two frogs reveal their author’s esthetic predilections: Andree Ruellan’s, for academic French drawing; Tommy Beere’s, for Cubist structure. Finally, whimsy wins the day with monster caterpillars from Konrad Cramer, and a winsome Swamp Creature by Petra Cabot.
Zulma Steele
through a European sensibility, predominated until the 1920’s at the Art Students League’s summer school in the village. Zulma Parker Steele’s Overlook Mountain, the earliest work in the show, wraps the beloved mountain in an atmospheric haze worthy of her teacher Birge Harrison. The foreground, however, reveals touches of the vivid post-Impressionist color and brushwork she would adopt later. Other views of Overlook, Woodstock’s constant guardian, reveal the full range of the painters’ sensibilities: Anton Fischer’s and Robert Angeloch’s fine balance of genius loci and exact observation; William West’s numinous interpretation in the style of New Mexico modernism; Madeleine Wiltz’s tipped-up Cezannean perspective; and Carole Uehara’s mystical, romantic vision. Walter Goltz and Austin Mecklem chose to depict the verdant, sunny meadows that Woodstock was known for, while John Carlson focused closer on the beauty and strength of Spring Willows. Carl Lindin’s austere Old Farm seems to presage the ravages of the Depression. Many artists painted the roads they travelled daily. Marion Bullard’s charming, gentle curve in the road contrasts with Karl Fortess’s abrupt Cezannean twist on the Road to Shady. John Bentley’s Road to
Petra Cabot
SELF PORTRAITS
Proof of artists’ courageous need to touch base with themselves, self portraits hold up a mirror to their most constant, creative companion and source. Judson Smith’s and Kurt Sluizer’s fine, old-fashioned male self-portraits greet us, 4
directly confronting the easel and while Lynfield Ott took on a romantic holding implements of their trade. I posture outdoors. Paul Naylor’s impasconfess a preference for the next group toed, expressionist work transports us of self portraits, farther back in the to the passion and turmoil of the ‘70s. gallery, the artists I first met when I And Richard Segalman’s virtuoso techcame to Woodstock in 1970. What an nique throws all expectations up in the extraordinary generation, who lived and air with that radiant rose atop his straw worked by their rock-bottom values of hat. Hats off to the heroism of self independence and integrity. In their portraits! images, I recognize Jane Jones’ timeless elegance; Hannah Small’s fierce Reviewing the collection of the Richard Segalman intelligence; Eugene Ludins’ impish Historical Society of Woodstock made imagination; Karl Fortess’ legendary me fall in love with Woodstock again. Hats off to the heroism of grouchiness (though a softie when it Independence and collegiality have self-portraits! came to cats); and Manuel Bromberg’s dominated its artistic history—fierce personal power, vital to this day. I wish individuality, tempered with respect I had met the next group, and experienced, at the source, for fellow artists’ right to self-expression. The Maverick in Konrad Cramer’s multi-faceted skills; Julio de Diego’s all its manifestations, WAAM, the Art Students League, The strong sense of the surreal; James Woodstock School of Art and The Center for Photography Turnbull’s shy directness; Joseph were founded on the principle of “free and equal expresPollet’s suave elegance; and Harriet sion” (WAAM Constitution) for all artists: traditionalists and Tannin’s touching self-identificaprogressives; conservatives and radicals; tonalists, impressiontion with a Picassoid harlequin. ists, post-impressionists, and modernists; social realists and The contemporary self-portraits partisans of non-objective painting and abstraction; and, present a fascinating contrast later, an explosion of new genres and media. The variety of between the female and the male styles in this exhibition attests to this legacy. They correspond approaches. Female artists selectto artists’ particular ways of seeing, their individual personed a straightforward path to alities, unique private histories and conditions. I made no self-depictions. Sally Avery faces attempt to arrange them by style or school, but rejoiced in us with a direct, Matissean stare. the chaotic variety of the ways in which artists have looked, Harriet Tannin Carolyn Haeberlin seems to have and in turn make us look. just put down her brushes to face us in a candid, welcoming stance. Eva Van Rijn’s close-up of her pensive face matches —Susana Torruella Leval, Curator the beauty and delicacy of her technique. Male artists chose New York and Woodstock, Summer 2014 a more dramatic path. Sam Spanier picked a clown avatar, Susana Torruella Leval has been an art writer and curator of Puerto Rican, Latino and Latin American contemporary art in New York City since 1970. She was Director of El Museo del Barrio, from 1994 –2002, after serving there as Chief Curator, and named Director Emerita by its Board. Ms. Torruella Leval was Chair of the Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) in New York, and Vice President and President Elect of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD.) She has recently joined the editorial board of the International Center for Art of the Americas (ICAA) at The Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and has been named to the board of the IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) by President Obama.
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HISTORY’S JOURNEY In 1929, the Historical Society of Woodstock undertook “little different”—a fact that holds true even when it comes the mission of preserving Woodstock history. In addressing to the collections maintained by HSW. As a result, unlike the organization’s inaugural meeting, Martin Shütze, the most local societies, the Historical Society of Woodstock has society’s guiding spirit and first president, offered that “the collected and preserved a large collection of art work donated proper function of history is to support, strengthen and through the generosity of many local artists and by those who point out true progress by preserving the vital elements, understood the important link between our town’s past and the sense of the growing whole, and the permanent values the vital role art has played in establishing that record. slowly and laboriously created in the past.” At that time, While many have worked to build and maintain HSW’s almost three decades following art collection, it is important the establishment of the to single out Sam Klein for his Byrdcliffe colony, Shütze and efforts over the years. Many ...the ‘memory of that period and others within the Woodstock of the works in this exhibit, as those persons would soon be lost...’ community understood that well as a large number of works an important era in Woodstock unless efforts were undertaken to document maintained in the Historical history was passing and that Society’s permanent collection, and preserve its legacy. the “memory of that period exist today because of his and those persons would soon tireless efforts in obtaining the be lost in the rapid pace and works of Woodstock’s most confusion of the present” talented artists. Like Martin unless efforts were undertaken Shütze before him, Klein also to document and preserve its understood the need to insure legacy. The “period” Shütze that Woodstock’s artistic lineage was referring to were the was maintained and honored years of remarkable change in not only in the present but in Woodstock’s story, begun at the years ahead. the turn of a new century with The Historical Society the arrival of such individuals of Woodstock is honored as Ralph Whitehead, Hervey to share the works from White, Bolton Brown, Birge its collection through this Painting on the Village Green (Credit: HSW Archives) Harrison and the artists who unique collaboration with would follow. the Woodstock School of Art. Long at the center of honoring In the eighty-five years since that first meeting, the Woodstock’s creative legacy, the School of Art has been a vital element in insuring that the future of the art colony will be blessed Historical Society of Woodstock has endeavored to follow the with the yet unimagined works of future Woodstock artists. path set forth by Shütze and its early founders. Through the As a joint effort, Seldom Seen is also a reminder that the work written word and the building of its archives, the Historical required to maintain our town’s history is not only a continuous Society of Woodstock has continued to record, preserve and one but a shared responsibility as well. The many volunteers and make accessible the history of our community. For most dedicated individuals of the Historical Society of Woodstock historical societies, such efforts would mean the acquisition and the Woodstock School of Art who have labored to preserve and preservation of local records, genealogies, images and and present this “vital record” of our past are deserving of our assorted ephemera. But, as we all know, Woodstock is a 6
thanks and appreciation for their efforts. In many respects, their work symbolizes what is at the core of local history - collectively building and preserving an accurate record that connects a community across time and distance. Woodstock is a small town and yet our history is writ large with the contributions of those who would see life through a slightly different lens. It is also a history that has seen those views shaped by connections formed between newly arrived artists and those who drew life and livelihoods from the very landscape that would find its way onto a multitude of canvases over the years. As a result, it is a history that has transcended great change while remaining grounded in its original purpose; a history in which we understand that we are not separate from our past but are an integral part of a combining experience that becomes our community. Despite the Elements, Art Goes On (Credit: Deborah Allen Heppner)
—Richard Heppner, Woodstock Town Historian Woodstock, Summer 2014
1931 Meeting of the Historical Society of Woodstock (Credit: HSW Archives)
Richard Heppner has served as Woodstock Town Historian since 2001. In addition to numerous essays for local media, he is the author of ‘Remembering Woodstock’, ‘Women of the Catskills,’ and co-author of ‘Legendary Locals of Woodstock.’ Recently retired as Vice President of Academic Affairs at Orange County Community College, where he holds the ranks of Professor Emeritus, Heppner also serves on the boards of the Historical Society of Woodstock and the Woodstock Artists’ Cemetery.
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Walter Goltz (1875-1956) Woodstock Landscape c. 1925 Oil on board 8 x 10 From 1909 to 1922 Goltz served as John F. Carlson’s teaching assistant at the Art Students League’s summer school in Woodstock. He often helped with easel critiques in the field during landscape painting sessions.
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Zulma Parker Steele (1881-1979) Overlook Mountain 1914 Oil on canvas 24 x 30 First called to Byrdcliffe in 1903 as a furniture designer, Steele later studied painting with Birge Harrison. By 1910 she had developed a lively Post-Impressionist style. By way of painting, she chronicled the Ashokan Reservoir in all phases of its construction.
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William Duke West (dates unknown) Woodstock Landscape 1937 Gouache 9¾ x 14 Little is known about West as an artist. He managed prize fighters, including Al “Bummy” Davis, who came up from Brooklyn to train in Woodstock.
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Carole Uehara (b. 1941) Untitled (n.d.) Oil on board 9ž x 12Ÿ Uehara received a BFA degree from Pratt Institute in 1964. She has received many awards, including the Yasuo Kuniyoshi Award and the Sally Jacobs Award, both from the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum.
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Robert Angeloch (1922-2011) Willow 1969 Oil on canvas 16 x 20 Angeloch came to the second incarnation of the Art Students League in Woodstock on the GI Bill in 1948, where he studied with Arnold Blanch and later taught landscape painting. He cofounded the Woodstock School of Art in 1968. Angeloch incorporated and moved the WSA to its current site in 1981 and went on to inspire generations of artists. Angeloch became Dudley Summer’s son-in-law in 1956 and Eric Angeloch’s father in 1960.
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Anton Otto Fischer (1882-1962) Overlook Mountain c. 1942 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 Having an illustrious and very successful career as an illustrator and marine painter, Fischer settled with his family in Woodstock on Glasco Turnpike in the early 1940’s.
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Austin Mecklem (1894-1951) Garrison Road, Shady 1932 Watercolor 12 x 13 Austin Mecklem was born in Colfax, Washington. In 1937 he was one of 12 artists chosen to paint for the WPA Alaska Project. He was married to artist Marianne Greer Appel. Living and working in Woodstock, his work was exhibited in such museums as the Corcoran Gallery of Art in D.C., the Whitney Museum of Art in NYC, and the Chicago Institute of Art.
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John F. Carlson (1874-1945) Spring Willows c. 1936 Oil on board 8 x 10 Carlson came to Woodstock in 1904 on scholarship to study with Birge Harrison at Byrdcliffe and returned in 1906 to the Art Students League’s newly-formed summer school in Woodstock. He became Harrison’s assistant in 1907 and succeeded Harrison as director at the Art Students League (New York) from 1911-1918. In 1922 he returned to Woodstock to establish the John F. Carlson School of Painting.
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John W. Bentley (1880-1951) Road to Willow (n.d.) Oil on board 8¼ x 10¼ Bentley studied with Birge Harrison and John Carlson at the Art Students League’s summer school in Woodstock and stayed to paint in Woodstock for the next forty years. He was the first person in Woodstock to own a taxi and used his savings to travel by freighter or steamer to the South Seas.
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Karl Fortess (1906-1993) Road to Shady (n.d.) Oil on canvas 16 x 24 Karl Fortess studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York. In addition to working as a WPA painter and administrator, Fortess taught at the Art Students League, Brooklyn Museum Art School and at Boston University. For many years he lived and painted in Woodstock. His work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Woodstock Artists Association, the Boston Art Museum and the Carnegie Institute.
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Marion Bullard (1878-1950) Untitled Landscape 1930’s Oil on board 8 x 10 Marion Bullard was born in Orange County, New York and arrived in Woodstock in 1911 to study at the Art Students League. In addition to being a painter, Bullard was a well-known writer and illustrator of children’s book. She loved Woodstock and was an active participant in community affairs.
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Carl Olaf Eric Lindin (1869-1942) Old Farm (n.d.) Oil on canvas 19½ x 23½ An early Byrdcliffe settler and painter, Lindin was one of five co-founders of the Woodstock Artists Association in 1920. As longstanding Chairman of the WAA, he often acted as mediator between the divergent factions of painters and went on to influence generations of artists. In 1934 Lindin was a co-founder of The Woodstock Memorial Society, now known as the Artists’ Cemetery.
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Madeleine Schiff Wiltz (1885-1966) Landscape 1957 Oil on board 11¼ x 17½ Married to artist Arnold Wiltz, Madeleine Schiff Wiltz arrived in Woodstock in 1923. She began painting late in life. After her husband’s death, she built a house in Woodstock based on a Quonset hut. Her home was brightly decorated with her own tiles.
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Julia Leaycraft (1885-1960) Snowy Road (Rock City Road) (n.d.) Oil on canvas 31 x 25½ Born in Saugerties, New York, Julia Searing Leaycraft studied at Vassar College and at the Woodstock School of Landscape Painting with Birge Harrison. Living and working in Woodstock, she was active as a painter, lithographer, teacher, writer and art critic.
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Nan Mason (1896-1962) Along the Hudson 1920 Oil on canvas 15ž x 19ž Painter and photographer Nan Mason was the daughter of silent film actor Dan Mason. She was an active member of the Woodstock Art Colony, though she spent her winters in Carmel, California. She was the life partner of Woodstock artist Wilna Hervey.
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Doris Lee (1905-1983) Reflections on Water (n.d.) Acrylic on board 19 x 25ž Lee came to paint in Woodstock in 1931, after studying with Arnold Blanch in San Francisco. She began a rich and varied artistic career and married Arnold Blanch in 1939.
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Clarence Bolton (1893-1962) Snowbound 1935 Lithograph 10 x 13 1/2 In 1917 Clarence Bolton arrived in Woodstock for a brief vacation and ended up living here for the rest of his life. He attended the Yale School of Art and also studied landscape painting with John Carlson. He began doing lithographs as a result of his involvement with the Works Progress Administration. He was one of the first members of the Woodstock Artists Association.
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Ethel Magafan (1916-1993) Mountain Tops (n.d.) Serigraph 11ž x 15½ Ethel Magafan and her twin Jenne grew up in Colorado, where they studied at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. At 22, Ethel became the youngest artist to receive a public mural commission from the Works Progress Administration. Both twins became widely-known muralists. They met Doris Lee and Arnold Blanch in California and were inspired to move to the art colony in Woodstock in 1945. Ethel met and married Bruce Currie. Her artwork became increasingly focused on horses and abstract landscapes.
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Rosella Hartman (1894-1984) Chickadees in the Snow 1928 Lithograph 14 x 10 Rosella Hartman was a painter, an etcher, and a lithographer. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Art Students League of NY. She arrived in Woodstock around 1923 and was married to local sculptor Ralph Paul Fiene. Her favorite subjects to paint were the wildlife of the Catskills. 26
Edmund Rolfe (1887-1917) Landscape (n.d.) Oil on board 7 x 9 Painter and craftsman, this Michigan born artist studied at the Chicago Art Institute, the Art Students League, and at the Corcoran Art Gallery. He was killed in an auto accident outside of Woodstock at the age of 39.
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Ronau William Woiceske (1887-1953) Falling Snow 1930 Lithograph 13 x 10ž Woiceske designed and painted church windows in St. Louis, Missouri for twenty years before moving to Woodstock in 1924. In Woodstock he studied landscape painting with Birge Harrison and John Carlson. In 1928 he gave up painting to concentrate on etching. 28
Otto Bierhals (1879-1944) Henry Peper Forge 1925 Oil on board 12 x 15½ Born in 1879 in Bavaria, Bierhals lived the majority of his life in Tenafly, New Jersey and Woodstock. He was a painter, illustrator and painting instructor. He studied with Herman Grober in Munich, in Paris and in Italy, then in the U.S. at the National Academy of Design, Cooper Union and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Bierhals was an active member of the Woodstock Artists Association and the Allied American Artists in New York City.
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Earle Winslow (1884-1969) The Woodstock Firehouse (n.d.) Acrylic on board 26½ x 14 Earle Winslow was a painter and illustrator. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Art Students League with George Bellows and John Sloan. He arrived in Woodstock in 1919. In 1921 he created the comic strip Bingville Bugle. He was an instructor at Pratt Institute and at Visual Arts and Cartoon School. 30
Jo Cantine (1893-1987) The Trading Post (n.d.) Watercolor 11 x 18 Jo Cantine was celebrated for her realistic portraits and scenes of exotic locales as well as for her landscapes, figure drawings, and still lifes. She lived and worked in the Woodstock art colony. Her work was exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
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Florence B. Cramer (1884-1962) Knife and Fork Restaurant c.1940’s Oil on paper 12 x 17Ÿ Cramer studied at the Art Students League summer school in Woodstock under Birge Harrison beginning in 1906, with fellow students John Carlson, Grace Mott Johnson and Andrew Dasburg. She served as secretary for the League in 1906 and met her future husband Konrad Cramer in Munich. The couple settled in Woodstock in 1911.
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John Henry Striebel (1891-1969) Speicher House 1924 Oil on canvas 15 x 18 By age 14, John Striebel was a political cartoonist for the South Bend Daily News. He attended Notre Dame University. He arrived in Woodstock in 1924 and studied painting with Henry McFee and Andrew Dasberg. In 1929 he began drawing the newspaper comic strip Dixie Dugan, scripted by J.P. McEvoy, which ran from 1929 to 1966.
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Wilna Hervey (1894-1979) Woodstock Post Office 1945 Mixed media on board 6½ x 7¾ Wilna Hervey was a 6’2” silent film actress who is best known for her role of Katrinka in the film adaptation of the Toonertown Trolley cartoon. Arriving in Woodstock in 1923 with her partner Nan Mason, Wilna soon became an active participant in the art colony community. In the 1960’s, Hervey achieved much success as an enamel painter.
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Walter Steinhilber (1897-1983) Woodstock Village 1925 Lithograph 10½ x 17” Steinhilber, a well-known watercolorist, was born in New York City. He studied at the Art Students League with George Bridgman and John Sloan and at the League’s Woodstock summer school with George Bellows, Eugene Speicher and Leon Kroll in the 1920’s and 1930’s. During the summers in Woodstock, he painted and also acted in and produced plays and set designs for the Maverick Theater. His well-known interest in political activism developed from involvement with the Socialist Labor Party during the 1930’s.
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Ronnye Jai (b. 1943) Woodstock Green 2000 Oil on canvas 24 x 48 Ronnye Jai’s many shows have earned her numerous awards and have helped raise public awareness for worthwhile social and political causes. She has lived in Woodstock full time since 1994. Much of her art depicts local scenes and stories.
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David Huffine (1911-1973) Library Fair Cartoon 1948 Ink on paper 25 x 20 Cartoonist and illustrator Dave Huffine arrived in Woodstock in the early 1940’s. His work appeared in numerous magazines as well as in the Best Cartoons of the Year series. He also worked as an assistant to John Striebel. 37
Ernest Fiene (1894-1965) Untitled (n.d.) Lithograph 4ž x 6½ Fiene came to Woodstock with his brother Paul in 1924. He painted Precisionist landscapes and enjoyed critical recognition early in his career. Fiene moved to New York before the onset of World War II.
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Rolph Scarlett (1891-1984) Horses (n.d.) Crayon 10 x 13¾ Born in Canada, Rolph Scarlett was a painter, jeweler, and designer. In the 1920’s he had a successful career as a set designer in Hollywood and from 1939 to 1945 was the chief lecturer at the Museum of Non-Objective Art. He studied at the Art Students League with William Merritt Chase and John Sloan. He moved to Woodstock in the 1960’s where he remained for the rest of his life.
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Charles Rosen (1878-1950) Sleeping Dog (n.d.) Pencil 4 1/2 x 6 A second-generation member of the New Hope Impressionist School, Rosen grew disillusioned with academic impressionism. He came to Woodstock in 1918 to teach at the Art Students League summer school and became a permanent resident in 1920. With Andrew Dasburg and others he co-founded the Woodstock School of Painting in 1922, where he became best of friends with Eugene Speicher and George Bellows. During the 1930’s he was involved in WPA projects, creating art for public buildings in Saugerties and Kingston and painting murals for post offices in Beacon, Poughkeepsie and Palm Beach, Florida.
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Susann Foster Brown (b. 1986) Blue Owl 1989 Etching 4 x 5 Born in Concord, New Hampshire, Brown graduated from Syracuse University School of Art with a BFA degree. Brown is a printmaker, fabric artist and quiltmaker who does freelance commission work in pen and ink. She has exhibited multimedia works extensively across the Northeast.
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Audrey Dick (1930-2004) Margo’s Cow 1989 Charcoal 19Ÿ x 25 Audrey Dick came to art later in life, studying with Harry Sternberg and Robert Beverly Hale at the Art Students League in New York City. Having moved permanently to Woodstock in 1977, she studied with Nick Buhalis at the Woodstock School of Art.
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F. Tor Gudmundsen (b. 1949) Requiem 1989 Serigraph 9 x 9Ÿ Gudmundsen came to the Woodstock area in the 1970’s to study painting at SUNY New Paltz. Inspired by the beauty of the Catskills, he stayed in the area teaching art at Saugerties High School. Gudmundsen became a painting instructor at the Woodstock School of Art in 2010.
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James Turnbull (1909-1976) Two Dogs and Two Cats (n.d.) Ink 10Ÿ x 14ž James Turnbull was a painter, illustrator and muralist. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in St. Louis and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He worked briefly for the WPA in an administrative capacity, but resigned his position as it left little time to paint. His choice of subjects for his work included farms and life in small towns. During WWII he was a correspondent for Life Magazine. After the war was over, he settled in Woodstock. 44
Susan Kamen Marsicano (b. 1941) Kyrie’s Cat Jimson (n.d.) Charcoal on paper 10½ x 20½ Marsicano studied at Cooper Union and received a Fulbright Fellowship to paint in Italy in 1964-65. She has been in multiple group and solo shows. Susan has several paintings in private collections of top dog show dogs with their owners/handlers.
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Petra Cabot (1907-2006) Swamp Creature (n.d.) Ink drawing 7ž x 10ž Cabot came to Woodstock in 1921 when she was 14 years old to study with Charles Rosen and Judson Smith. She bought a cottage in Woodstock with prize money from a design contest and continued to maintain a residence in Woodstock throughout her career. Cabot is known for having designed the Skotch Kooler insulated ice chest.
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Maud Fuller Petersham (1890-1971) and Miska Petersham (1888-1960) Two Monkeys (n.d.) Ink and watercolor 6ž x 10 Maud Fuller Petersham was born in Kingston, New York, the daughter of a Baptist minister. Miska Petersham was born in Hungary, the son of a carpenter and blacksmith. They met in New York City at the International Art Service and were soon married. The Petershams wrote and illustrated more than sixty books for children and collaborated on the illustrations for over one hundred children’s books written by other authors. They built their home in Woodstock in 1923.
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Eduardo Chavez (1917-1995) Bird of Prey 1986 Charcoal 29ž x 22½ One of the most prominent mural artists of the WPA, Eduardo Chavez won a Fulbright Scholarship to travel and paint in Italy. He was an instructor at the Art Students League and in 1968 joined Robert Angeloch, Franklin Alexander, Lon Clark, and Wallace O. Jerominek in founding the Woodstock School of Art.
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Konrad Cramer (1888-1963) Caterpillars 1952 Pen and ink with water color 12 x 9 Born in Germany, Cramer was influenced by the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. In Munich he met his future wife, the American painter Florence Ballin, and the couple settled in Woodstock. Cramer helped establish the Woodstock Artists Association, where he served as director. One of the most progressive-minded members of Woodstock’s art colony, he is considered an early pioneer of American modernism. 49
Andre Ruellan (1905-2006) Frog Drawing 1990 Conte crayon 9½ x 11½ Andre Ruellan studied at the Art Students League of NY. She studied and traveled throughout Europe. She arrived in Woodstock in 1929 and was married to artist John Taylor.
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Tommy Beere (1908-2002) Frog 1960 Oil on canvas 15 x 22 Beere studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and at the Art Students League. She and her husband, the artist Arthur Zaidenberg, lived full-time in Woodstock from 1950 until 1975. They collaborated on murals for the St. Moritz Hotel in New York and several other hotels in Miami, New Orleans, Plymouth and Atlantic City. In 1975 the Zaidenbergs left Woodstock to join the expatriate U.S. artistic community in San Miguel de Allende.
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Judson Smith (1880-1962) Self Portrait 1944 Oil on canvas 24 x 30 Born in Michigan, Judson Smith studied at the Detroit Art Academy and at the Art Students League of New York. He arrived in Woodstock with his family in 1922. He was the Director of the Woodstock School of Painting.
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Manuel Bromberg (b. 1917) Self Portrait (n.d.) Charcoal 11 x 8 Born in Centerville, Iowa, Bromberg graduated from the Cleveland School of Art. He was a mural painter for the WPA and later was an artist for the War Department. He married Jane Dow in 1941. Bromberg is Professor Emeritus of Art at SUNY New Paltz, where he taught for 25 years. He lives in Woodstock.
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Julio de Diego (1900-1979) Self Portrait (n.d.) Mixed media 20 x 16 De Diego left his family home at the age of 15. He apprenticed as a set painter at the Madrid Opera and served a few years of active service in the Spanish army. He traveled in Europe, studying in Rome and was in Paris in 1922, under the sway of Surrealism. Two years later he emigrated to the U.S., settling in Chicago, where he remained until the early 1940’s. In 1961 he moved to Woodstock, having visited for the first time in 1950. He left Woodstock for Sarasota, Florida, in 1967, where he died in 1979. 54
Sam Spanier (1925-2008) Self Portrait 1955 Oil stick on paper 13½ x 9¼ Spanier was born in New York City and later studied painting in Paris with Hans Hoffman. Although he identified himself as a painter, he was also a powerful force in Woodstock’s spiritual community, having founded the Matagiri Center in Mt. Tremper. The Woodstock Artists Association honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.
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Karl Fortess (1906-1993) Self Portrait (n.d.) Oil on canvas 12 x 9 Karl Fortess studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York. In addition to working as a WPA painter and administrator, Fortess taught at the Art Students League, Brooklyn Museum Art School and at Boston University. For many years he lived and painted in Woodstock. His work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Woodstock Artists Association, the Boston Art Museum and the Carnegie Institute. 56
Eugene Ludins (1904-1996) Self Portrait (n.d.) Pencil 8 x 6 Painter Eugene Ludins was born in Ukraine, moving as an infant to the U.S. He studied at the Arts Students League of New York. He arrived in Woodstock in the 1930’s where he lived and worked in the Maverick Colony. He was married to sculptor Hannah Small.
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James Turnbull (1909-1976) Self Portrait (n.d.) Ink 12½ x 10 James Turnbull was a painter, illustrator and muralist. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in St. Louis and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He worked briefly for the WPA in an administrative capacity, but quit his position because it took time away from his painting. His choice of subjects for his work included farms and life in small towns. During WWII he was a correspondent for Life Magazine. After the war was over, he settled in Woodstock. 58
Paul Naylor (b. 1941) Self Portrait 1976 Oil on board 25½ x 24 Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Naylor was studying art in Colorado when he decided to move to New York to become a painter. He lived and worked in Woodstock beginning in the late 1960’s and was an integral part of the art community. Naylor later decided to move to the Midwest. 59
Jane Jones (1907-2001) Self Portrait (n.d.) Oil on canvas 25Âź x 21Âź Born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Jones studied at the Art Students League in New York, where she developed her lifelong interest in portraiture. She spent summers in Woodstock, finally settling there in 1931, the same year she married Wendell Jones, whom she had met at the League. She was a Life Member of the Woodstock Artists Association.
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Eva van Rijn (b. 1936) Self Portrait (n.d.) Oil on canvas 17 x 15 Raised in Woodstock, van Rijn studied with the Brokenshaws and with instructors at the Woodstock School of Art, including Franklin Alexander, Elizabeth Mowry and Hong Nian Zhang. She served on the Board of Trustees at the Woodstock Artists Association and is presently Vice President of the Board of Directors at the Woodstock School of Art. She is a noted painter of wildlife. 61
Sally Michel Avery (1902-2003) Self Portrait 1988 Pencil 10Âź x 8Âź Sally Michel Avery studied painting at the Art Students League in New York. She married artist Milton Avery. For many years she was the primary support for her family, working as an illustrator for many publications. Her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery and the Wadsworth Atheneum, among others. 62
Carolyn Haeberlin (1913-2000) Self Portrait 1964 Oil on canvas 15 x 18 Haeberlin attended the Art Institute of Chicago and graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. She studied at the Art Students League in New York and received a master’s degree from the University of Chicago. She moved to Woodstock in 1945 with her husband Reginald Wilson. Her favorite subjects included images from nature and her children.
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Kurt Sluizer (1911-1988) Self Portrait (n.d.) Oil on canvas 28 x 22 Born in the Netherlands, Kurt Sluizer and his wife Esther left Holland in 1936 to escape the Holocaust. They lived first in Pueblo, Colorado, then moved to Woodstock, where he was a member of the Woodstock Artists Association. His wife was a weaver and a nurse. They bought the 19th century home of Bolton Brown in Zena, where Sluizer lived for the rest of his life.
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Konrad Cramer (1888-1963) Self Portrait 1925 Ink 11Ÿ x 7 Born in Germany, Cramer was influenced by the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. In Munich he met his future wife, the American painter Florence Ballin, and the couple settled in Woodstock. Cramer helped establish the Woodstock Artists Association, where he served as director. One of the most progressive-minded members of Woodstock’s art colony, he is considered an early pioneer of American modernism. 65
Harriet Tannin (1929-2009) Self Portrait (n.d.) Oil on canvas 17Âź x 12 Tannin studied with a number of Woodstock artists, including her mentor Rolph Scarlett. She moved to Bearsville in 1986 to immerse herself in the Woodstock art community. She is known for her non-objective oil paintings and is considered the first woman artist in the US to work in the unique medium of weaving modern art photography. 66
Hannah Small (1903-1992) Self Portrait (n.d.) Pencil 13½ x 10 Sculptor Hannah Small worked in the tradition of direct carving from local materials started at the Maverick Colony by John Flanagan. She is best known for her sculptures of female figures, children, and animals. She was married first to artist Austin Mecklem and then to artist Eugene Ludins whom she met in 1932 when they both preformed at the Maverick Theater. They remained married, working and living in Woodstock, until the end of her life. 67
Lynfield Ott (1928-1998) Self Portrait c. 1950’s Oil on canvas 18 x 20 Ott began his study of art in 1945 at the Rhode Island School of Design. He also studied with Yasuo Kuniyoshi at the Art Students League in New York City and in Woodstock. Ott settled in Woodstock in 1954 and was a founder of the Zena Coop Gallery. Leaving Woodstock in 1966, he moved his studio to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
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Richard Segalman (b. 1934) Self Portrait (n.d.) Pastel 14 x 16 Born in Coney Island, Segalman began his career in the early 1960’s, working with watercolors and oils. Monotypes have gradually become his main form of expression. Segalman is represented in several major collections and has had many solo and group exhibitions throughout the country. He is an instructor at the Woodstock School of Art. 69
Joseph Pollet (1897-1979) Self-Portrait (n.d.) Chalk 12 x 9½ Joseph Pollet was born in Germany. After coming to the US, he studied at the Art Students League with John Sloan and Robert Henri. He arrived in Woodstock in 1918. His work was exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery, the Chicago Art Institute, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. During a serious fire in 1973 at his studio in NYC, most of his papers and many of his paintings were destroyed. He is best known for his realistic rural landscapes. 70
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY New York, Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, October 2000 – January 2001. Tom Wolf, Curator, Angela Gaffney-Smith, Assistant Curator. Essays by TomWolf, Angela Gaffney-Smith, Polly Kline, and Diane Godfrey.Woodstock New York: WAAM, 2000.
Evers, Alf. Woodstock: History of an American Town. Woodstock: Overlook Press, 1987. Kline, Polly. The Art Students League in Woodstock: A Short History for the Woodstock School of Art. Woodstock: The Woodstock School of Art, Inc., 1987.
Woodstock: An American Art Colony, 1902-77. Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY, January 23 – March 4, 1977. Poughkeepsie, New York: Hamilton Reproductions, 1977. Essays by Peter Morrin and Karal Ann Marling.
Kline, Polly. A Single Purpose: The Study of Art. The History of the Woodstock School of Art. Woodstock: The Woodstock School of Art, Inc., 1999. Rose, Will. The Vanishing Village. New York: The Citadel Press, 1963.
Wolf, Tom. Woodstock’s Art Heritage: The Permanent Collection of the Woodstock Artists Association. Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 1987.
Smith, Anita M. Woodstock: History and Hearsay. Woodstock: WoodstockArts, 2001 (original publication 1959).
Wolf, Tom. “Byrdcliffe’s History,” in Byrdcliffe An American Arts and Crafts Colony. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University. Ithaca, New York. Cornell University Press, 2004.
Steiner, Raymond J. The Art Students League of New York: A History. Saugerties, New York: CSS Publications, Inc., 1994.
Wolf, Tom and William B. Rhoads. The Maverick: Hervey White’s Colony of the Arts. Catalog for exhibition by the same name, Woodstock, New York: Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, August, 2006 – January 2007. Curated by Josephine Bloodgood and Tom Wolf. Woodstock, NY: WAAM, 2006.
The Art of the Artist: Theories and Techniques of Art by the Artists Themselves. Compiled by Arthur Zaidenberg. New York: Crown Publishers, 1951. The Founders of the Woodstock Artists Association. Catalog for exhibition of the same name, Woodstock, 71
INDEX OF ARTISTS LUDINS, Eugene............................................................ 57 MAGAFAN, Ethel........................................................... 25 MARSICANO, Susan Kamen.......................................... 45 MASON, Nan................................................................. 22 MECKLEM, Austin......................................................... 14 NAYLOR, Paul................................................................ 59 OTT, Lynfield.................................................................. 68 PETERSHAM, Maud Fuller and Miska........................... 47 POLLET, Joseph.............................................................. 70 ROLFE, Edmund............................................................. 27 JAI, Ronnye..................................................................... 36 ROSEN, Charles.............................................................. 40 RUELLEN, Andre........................................................... 50 SCARLETT, Rolph.......................................................... 39 SEGALMAN, Richard................................................. 5, 69 SLUIZER, Kurt............................................................... 64 SMALL, Hannah............................................................. 67 SMITH, Judson............................................................... 52 SPANIER, Sam................................................................ 55 STEELE, Zulma Parker ..................................................... 9 STEINHILBER, Walter............................................. 35, 71 STRIEBEL, John Henry.................................................. 33 TANNIN, Harriet............................................................ 66 TURNBULL, James.................................................. 44, 58 UEHARA, Carole............................................................ 11 VAN RIJN, Eva............................................................... 61 WEST, William Duke...................................................... 10 WILTZ, Madeleine Schiff................................................ 20 WINSLOW, Earle............................................................ 30 WOICESKE, Ronau William.......................................... 28
ANGELOCH, Robert...................................................... 12 AVERY, Sally Michel........................................................ 62 BEERE, Tommy............................................................... 51 BENTLEY, John W.......................................................... 16 BIERHALS, Otto............................................................ 29 BOLTON, Clarence......................................................... 24 BROMBERG, Manuel..................................................... 53 BROWN, Susann Foster.................................................. 41 BULLARD, Marion......................................................... 18 CABOT, Petra.................................................................. 42 CANTINE, Jo................................................................. 31 CARLSON, John F.......................................................... 15 CHAVEZ, Eduardo......................................................... 48 CRAMER, Konrad.................................................... 49, 65 CRAMER, Florence B..................................................... 32 DE DIEGO, Julio............................................................ 54 DICK, Audrey................................................................. 42 FIENE, Ernest................................................................. 38 FISCHER, Anton Otto.................................................... 13 FORTESS, Karl......................................................... 17, 56 GOLTZ, Walter................................................................. 8 GUDMUNDSEN, F. Tor................................................ 43 HAEBERLIN, Carolyn.................................................... 63 HARTMAN, Rosella........................................................ 26 HERVEY, Wilna.............................................................. 34 HUFFINE, David............................................................ 37 JONES, Jane.................................................................... 58 LEAYCRAFT, Julia.......................................................... 21 LEE, Doris....................................................................... 23 LINDIN, Carl Olaf Eric.................................................. 19
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Julia Leaycraft (1885-1960) Snowy Road (Rock City Road) (n.d.) Oil on canvas 31 x 25½
Cover: Marion Bullard (1878-1950) Untitled Landscape c. 1930’s. Oil on board 8 x 10