Jack Massey—Light & Dark
Jack Massey—Light & Dark December 15, 2016 – February 24, 2017 Reception: Thursday, December 15, 2016, 4:00-7:00 P.M. Gallery Talk: Saturday, February 11, 2017, 1:00-2:00 P.M. Assembly Presentation: Thursday, February 16, 2017, 10:00-11:00 A.M. Light & Dark exhibition series, curated by Todd Bartel Foreword and Essay © 2017 Todd Bartel All work represented in this catalog © Jack Massey Photography of Jack Massey's work by Todd Bartel, 2016 Scans of all collages by Alexandra Kahn CSW '16, digital removal of backgrounds by Todd Bartel, 2016 Edited by Eli Keehn Design and exhibition photos © 2017 Todd Bartel © Thompson Gallery, The Cambridge School of Weston Printed on demand by Lulu.com All rights reserved The Cambridge School of Weston 45 Georgian Road Weston, MA 02493 Cover: Jack Massey, C. Note, c. 1988, collage, distressed magazine pages, 9.125 x 8.75 inches
Thompson Gallery 2
Light & Dark
Charlie Nevad—Light & Dark, September 9 - November 30, 2016 Jack Massey—Light & Dark, December 15, 2016 - February 24, 2017 Aboudia—Light & Dark, March 28 - June 9, 2017 Gonçalo Mabunda—Light & Dark, March 28 - May 6, 2017 (Red Wall Gallery) Ethan Cohen—African Masks, March 28 - April 7, 2017 (Installation Space) Jack Massey—Light & Dark is the second exhibition in a series of three focusing on various interpretations of Light & Dark—naturalism, poetic allusion and hope. Light & Dark presents a select group of drawings, collages, assemblages, and a small-scale installation by Jack Massey (b. 1925, Pittsburgh, PA, professor emeritus, RISD). Light & Dark explores Massey’s interdisciplinary, poetically allusive and often whimsical work, which blends artistic genres including minimalism, abstraction, trompe l’oeil, objet trové and conceptual art. ABOUT THE THOMPSON GALLERY The Thompson Gallery is a teaching gallery at The Cambridge School of Weston dedicated to exploring single themes through three separate exhibitions, offering differing vantages on the selected topic. Named in honor of school trustee John Thompson and family, the Gallery promotes opportunities to experience contemporary art by local, national and international artists and periodically showcases the art of faculty, staff and alumni. The Gallery is located within the Garthwaite Center for Science and Art, The Cambridge School of Weston, 45 Georgian Road, Weston, MA 02493. M–F 9–4:30 p.m. and by appointment (school calendar applies). thompsongallery.csw.org ABOUT THE CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL OF WESTON The Cambridge School of Weston, located in a Boston suburb, is a progressive, coeducational, day and boarding school for grades 9 through 12 and post graduate. Established in 1886, the school is dedicated to fostering individual strengths and deep, meaningful relationships through a wide range of challenging courses and a variety of teaching styles. csw.org
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Foreword & Acknowledgments
Marcel Duchamp, 1913 Bicycle Wheel
Pablo Picasso, 1943 Bull's Head
I am interested in ideas, not merely in visual products. Marcel Duchamp
Sculpture is the art of intelligence. Pablo Picasso
I was particularly inspired by Massey’s P. P. Ruiz’s Bike, where the artist creates a highly sophisticated statement that references both Picasso’s sculpture Bull’s Head and Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel. He alters and reinvents a classic Peugeot bicycle (c. 1900) transforming this “found object” into an “intelligent sculpture.”1 Adrienne Der Marderosian
Jack is and has always been a person of wit and of creative good will— generous and flexible, not fixed. Like Ralph Waldo Emerson, who believed all artists should post the word ‘whimsy’ on their doorposts, Jack has always shown humor and a light touch.2 Mike Fink, Professor, RISD
The words of Adrienne Der Marderosian (Thompson Gallery artist, Kiss the Ground series) and the Picasso and Duchamp works to which she refers were inspired by her visit to see Jack Massey—Light & Dark. 6
Jack Massey, 1984, 2016 P. P. Ruiz's Bike
Watching a wave of astonishment wash over her face as she connected the exhibition didactic of Picasso’s Bull’s Head with Massey’s P. P. Ruiz’s Bike was, like the work she celebrates, an experience I will never forget. P. P. Ruiz’s Bike holds a unique place within the history of assisted readymades, which I hope will one day be explored and shown in a museum. Mike Fink’s wonderful comments about Massey’s wit, whimsy, good will and light touch were put into print by Liisa Silander, Editorial Director of RISD XYZ magazine. Together these insights offer a short but wonderful description of the man, his art and his spirit as a teacher. Jack Massey is a rare individual for his dedication to two demanding vocations, art making and teaching art, and it is my pleasure to have brought his work to The Cambridge School of Weston. When I founded the Thompson Gallery, now in its tenth year, I knew that I wanted to show several artists I have come to cherish over the years; one of these artists is Jack Massey. My only trouble was to figure out an appropriate theme through which to present his work. Jack Massey is an incredibly versatile artist and his art connects to just about everything, so what in particular to connect him to? Three years ago I invited the English
Ellsworth Kelly, 1957 Sculpture for a large Wall
John F. Peto, 1895 Letter Rack on Black Door
Department, the Math Department, and the History Department to make suggestions for a theme for the Thompson Gallery to curate. The students overwhelmingly voted for the English Department's suggestion to explore the topic of "light & dark," which in turn became the theme for this year's trio of exhibitions. When I first set out to select artists for the Light & Dark series, Jack Massey immediately came to mind as a possibility, but I was initially not sure about how his varied work might fit into this particular theme. I was intrigued by the idea of "bringing concepts out of the darkness and shedding light on them" as a framework for examining Massey's work. Before I invited Jack to participate in this exhibition series, I ran the idea by one of his students—long-time friend, fellow collage artist, and former Thompson Gallery artist Michael Oatman (Collage at 100 series). The instant I described my idea to explore Light & Dark from differing vantages— naturalism, conceptual art, and privilege were my original thoughts—Michael said: “Jack Massey’s art is all about light and dark!” When I pressed him to explain his enthusiasm, he pointed out: One of the things I learned from Jack Massey is that there is a lot of light in dark. Jack always pointed out that the stark differences between these
Painted Etruscan Tomb, c. 500 BCE Tarquinia, Italy
opposite ends are far less interesting than the more subtle tones between.3 Upon hearing that, I began to think a bit differently about connecting Jack's art to the theme; it wasn't only about the immaterial lightness of his concrete ideas and the material darkness of the forms he cobbles together, but also the stuff that occurs in between. The reveries, the memories, the connections, the allusions themselves—the experiencing of things lies at the heart of Jack Massey's art. The tones in between, then, are the processes, the thoughts and emotions that occur while making connections. For this reason, I provided two dozen laminated, color reproductions of the works of mostly well-known artists that Jack referenced in as many pieces on display in the exhibition. These reproductions, which I termed “unattributed connections” because they were devoid of titles and artist’s names, provided visitors to the gallery with the tools to make the same leaps of imagination and connections that Jack Massey himself made. Gallery viewers were, and catalog readers are, invited to make these connections by reading the titles of Jack’s work in the checklist booklets/catalog and otherwise cross-referencing them with his artwork. In this catalog, these “connections” line the top of the Foreword so readers can play the same game of connect the dots, although 7
Popcorn Kernel
Harry Callahan, 1988 Georgia Mountains
in this printed format, I naturally provided the attributions. I am grateful to Michael Oatman for his enthusiasm and insight, which helped me to confirm my gravitation toward including Jack in this particular series, as well as for setting me on the right path to present his work. After thirty-plus years since being an unofficial student of Jack Massey’s—while I was never formally enrolled in one of his courses while studying at RISD, he routinely participated in critiques for my independent study with Alfred DeCredico—I still feel the joy of the lessons and experiences with my past mentor. I thank Jack Massey for his pedagogy, his guidance and for sharing his infectious enthusiasm for creativity and life in general. In many ways, this exhibition and this publication are my way of showing my gratitude for the gifts I received through his mentorship. To this day, I am still harvesting the fruits of Jack Massey’s pedagogy and artistry within my own classroom and studio practice. Jack is a master artist and a master teacher who found simple, compelling ways to encourage his students to work outside of convention and to see and hear possibility wherever it exists. His wisdom-filled quips always provided inspiration and direction; for example: 8
René Magritte, 1953 Golconda
Did you notice the back of that piece of paper [where the stains come through]? Maybe that is the real drawing? Rauschenberg used to apply a solvent to magazine articles and then rub the backs with the back end of a paint brush to transfer the images. Transfers might be interesting for you to look at. What about subtractive processes? How can you learn from nature? Erasure is also a mark. The trick is to figure out how to use what is available and to do that well. With collage, it is not what you take that is important, but where you bring it to. Look to the edges! There is so much possibility there! Upon hearing Jack’s commentary, his students were expected to “go off and make something!” And there was never a critique without each student receiving unexpected and novel direction. Sometimes Jack and Alfred would banter back and forth as if
Claude Monet, 1920-1926 Water Lilies (Nymphéas)
the students were not even in the room— that was when students really had to pay attention—musing on all things creative and thereby challenging their students with every story and connection that arose during their conversations and critiques. I will never forget the day they stopped looking at the art of their students, instead asking each other, "What if every artist in the world put the best work of art they made that year into a big bonfire?” “What would that say to the world?" They wanted us to trust that what we needed was inside each of us as creators, and that we should not overemphasize our own idolatry. I experienced a full year of insights like that, and I am still reeling from the experience. Indeed, the lessons I learned from Jack Massey (outside of the box thinking) and Alfred DeCredico (the power of abstraction) are ones I pass along to my own students. Jack taught me to “listen” and to “see,” my most cherished skills as an artist. The example of Jack’s art, too, taught me well and continues to unfold. During my freshman year, Jack created a sculptural installation for the 1982 Faculty Biennial that was so haunting I have described it to each and every one of my conceptual art and painting classes over the past thirty years. On the floor of the RISD Museum, between the entrance and exit of one of the
Pablo Picasso, 1943 Bull's Head
exhibit spaces, Jack arranged buckets, filled to the brim with glistening paint. They were spaced close together, but not so close that people couldn't walk among the buckets— actually, there was no other choice but to navigate the installation if you wanted to see the rest of the Faculty Biennial. With great care, visitors traversed the wondrous and immersive field of overfilled pails. But observant viewers could see that in actuality the buckets had deceptively painted lids—paint filled paper plates—coated with glistening polyurethane. There was a stir among my peers on the day of the 1984 Faculty Biennial opening, during my junior year. I heard friends and peers question: "Did you see Massey's piece?” “What's he thinking?” “He just put a rusty old bike on display!” “It's trash!” “Is that Art?" I went to the opening, and laughed with joy the moment I discovered his homage to Pablo Picasso’s Bull’s Head. I was well aware of the reference Jack was making; my mother took me to see MoMA’s 1980 Picasso Retrospective and I was familiar with the work he had paid homage to. Jack never gave away his connections, instead allowing others to make or not make their own. But if his students were astute, and somehow made the connections between his art and some other worldly thing—as I did when I pointed out to 9
Jack that “I looked up Picasso’s mother’s maiden name and understood the title of your work”— he would share a wonderful comment like: "nobody talks about the bike!" And tucked inside his comments were the germ seeds of ways of seeing the world that had potential for anyone who was diligent enough to take up his disguised invitations. Gifts like the above examples of art are what drove my ambition to assemble this show. When Jack first asked me what work I wanted to show, I replied without hesitation: "Your stunning homage to Claude Monet's Water Lily paintings and your assisted readymade homage to Picasso's Bull's Head, of course!” I shared that it was like “re-collecting my memories to share with my own students, but instead of telling them, I could show them instead.” Jack laughed, and agreed to show these pieces, but warned that we had to find a new bicycle because he had thrown the bike away years ago—“I didn’t have room to store it!” he said. Our initial attempts to find a suitable bike at junkyards and recycle stations yielded no fruit—none were rusty enough. Then, at nearly the eleventh hour, we were able to replace the original bike with an upgrade from overseas: an antique and extremely rusty Peugeot from the early 1900's. Moreover, the bike, like Duchamp and Picasso, made the trek across the Atlantic. It was costly, but well worth the expense of shipping. The provenance of the Peugeot is of interest, as it assists the mind to stretch the imagination. The “Vintage Bikes” store that shipped the Peugeot bike to the Thompson Gallery is located in Pau, France—a mere 271 miles from Barcelona, Spain, where Picasso attended the School of Fine Arts at age 13. It is possible, then, through an extraordinary set of exchanges, that this particular bike was actually 10
Picasso's. With Massey’s zeal for life and art, such leaps of the imagination are the rewards of making connections. Planning the show with Jack was both a delight and a challenge. Jack remains an active and prolific artist at 91 and there was a lot of work to choose from, much of which had never been exhibited before. While it was a thrill to see so much work and make so many hard choices, there were some challenges this show presented the both of us, such as, not having any digital photographs of the work, not knowing the dates of virtually all the work exhibited, and measuring and titling all of the unexhibited collages. When I pointed out to Jack that he rarely notes the date of anything he makes and that his work is difficult to pin down art historically because his work touches upon dozens of art historical genres, he pointed out in retort that: Artists are among the worlds greatest employers.4 Indeed! I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Jack's spouse, Susan Bellaire, who was always available via email and telephone to help me coordinate meetings with Jack and connecting him with all things digital. I would also like to thank Cesare DeCredico who loaned several works for the exhibition—noted below each respective description in the catalog. I am indebted to Alexandra Kahn, CSW ‘16 for her assistance with scanning collages and with the documentation of the sizes and material listings for the checklist of exhibited works. Here, I must interject in order to share another great story about Jack. Alexandra traveled with me to visit
Jack at his home studio in Barrington, RI in November of 2016, just a few weeks before the opening of Jack’s show, and the three of us spent an afternoon tending to the specifications of all his work in the upcoming exhibit. Neither she nor I will ever forget that Jack generated a title for each work on the spot, only pausing for a couple of moments before conjuring an appropriate namesake for each collage. I have never seen or heard of anything quite like that. Jack mastered the skills of looking and listening to the extent that he could title well over one hundred works in just a couple of hours time! Incredible! Alexandra, a strong artist in her own right, was essential to helping me document his work and organize the behind the scenes documentation. Without her help, I simply would not have been able to pull this show together.
3. Michael Oatman, in conversation with Todd Bartel, quoted on iPhone, December 3, 2016 4. Jack Massey, December 10, 2016 phone call conversation with Todd Bartel
Finally, I would also like to thank collagebased artist Maureen McCabe—a RISD student of Jack's from 1968—for agreeing to publish her letter to Jack (pages 180181), which I delivered to Jack after having received it. In her celebratory letter, McCabe described Jack as an "important teacher" because he "possessed the visual ability to teach us how to truly ‘see,’ not just make art—but make art that had some relationship to who we are." Jack's extraordinary gifts as an artist and a teacher have inspired generations of artists and it has been my honor and pleasure to share his work with the next generation of student creators. Todd Bartel Gallery Director ___________________
1. Adrienne Der Marderosian, email, March 2, 2017 2. Mike Fink, Seeing the Light, Liisa Silander ed., RISD XYZ, Spring/Summer, 2017, p. 52 11
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Jack Massey—Light & Dark
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Nothing is more useful to man than those arts which have no utility.1 Ovid, c. 17 CE One of the things I learned from Jack Massey is that there is a lot of light in dark. Jack always pointed out that the stark differences between these opposite ends are far less interesting than the more subtle tones between.2 Michael Oatman, former student of Jack Massey, 2016 My collages are only ideas for things much larger—things to cover walls. In fact all the things I’ve done I would like to see much larger. I am not interested in painting as it has been accepted for so long—to hang on walls of houses as pictures. To hell with pictures—they should be the wall— even better—on the outside wall—of large building. Or stood up outside as billboards or a kind of modern “icon.” We must make our art like the Egyptians, the Chinese, the African… with their relation to life. It should meet the eye—direct.3 Ellsworth Kelly, 1950 Poetry is not about what is on the page, but relates to something else. The thing you read on the page gets you there in a sense, bit by bit, pointing toward things not seen in front of you.4 Jack Massey, 2016 Jack Massey—Light & Dark is the second of three exhibitions to explore Light & Dark from different vantages. The theme for this year’s exhibition series was suggested by the Cambridge School of Weston’s English Department and voted into Thompson
Gallery itinerary by CSW students. Jack Massey—Light & Dark presents a select group of collages, drawings, objects as well as an example of one of his installation pieces. Spanning six decades between the oldest and newest works, Light & Dark is the largest retrospective of Jack Massey’s work mounted to date and includes many works exhibited for the first time. Whereas the first exhibition, Charlie Nevad—Light & Dark, explored traditional artistic trope of light and dark—chiaroscuro, naturalism—to ultimately reveal ideals of “oneness” and self-enlightenment, this second exhibition explores the poetic allusions of Jack Massey (b. 15) which illuminate the elusive nature of making connections between seemingly disparate things. Jack Massey was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He studied at the Albert C. Barnes Foundation (Merion, PA) and the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Massey served in the military during WWII and fought in the Battle of the Bulge (3rd army, 346th regiment), under General Patton’s leadership.5 After serving in the War, he attended art school and graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia—the oldest art school in the country. After graduating, Massey was awarded a Prix de Rome and spent three years at the American Academy in Rome, later returning as an artist-in-residence there. Massey’s experiences abroad have been a consistent source of reference, inspiration and reminiscence throughout his artistic and professional careers. In 2014, Massey was honored with the title Professor Emeritus at RISD, where he had been a senior faculty member since 1963. Massey is esteemed for his respect and encouragement of his students, his collaborative spirit, his contributions to 15
the Freshman Foundation program, his contributions for founding of the Carr Haus gallery and the rehabilitation of RISD’s once derelict Woods-Gerry Mansion—transforming it into RISD’s main exhibition space for student work—and, as an important founding faculty member of RISD’s European Honors Program in Rome, where he was the Chief Critic for several years. Massey’s work has been exhibited extensively in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, California, Florida and Rome. His work is included in many private and public collections including The RISD Museum of Art (Providence, RI), Carnegie Institute (Pittsburgh, PA), Philadelphia Museum of Art, (Pennsylvania, PA), Albright-Knox Gallery (Buffalo, NY), Westmoreland County Museum of Art, (Greensburg, PA), Colgate University (Hamilton, NY), Princeton University (Princeton, NJ), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) and the American Academy in Rome.
Light in the Dark The work of an artist is the result of collective memory, a search for individual identity, and a process of discovery.6 Diane Waldman, 1996 Massey also has a more playful side. In fact, many of…[his] pieces convey a sense of amused improvisation…7 Unknown Author, Providence Journal, 2002 One might well be inclined, today, to view the “artists’ world of ideas” as an anachronism— There no longer are any hegemonic “schools” dedicated 16
to formal, resolutions of specific art problems and issues…”8 John Stephan, 1972 “Reverence for the historical” is “a predominant theme” in Jack Massey’s work.9 Due to his myriad references to art history, the vast array of techniques he employs that mix, borrow, and blur the distinctions between art-historical –isms, and his tendency to meld traditionally flat methods of art with architectural possibilities, Massey’s work is easier to conceive as a part of the history of Modern Art on the whole then as emblematic of a particular genre or style. Massey does not, however, copy artistic genera; rather, he allows artistic possibility to arise in the work as it is being made, similarly to how jazz musicians allow musical rifts from other musicians and eras to wander in and out of a performance. Massey’s distressed paper collages, for instance, meander around and relate to Abstract Expressionist improvisational brushwork, mysterious Surrealistic spaces, the familiarity of Pop Art’s appropriation, the elegance of Minimalistic patterns and forms, and, the atmospheric Romanticism of painters such as J. M. W. Turner and James Abbot McNeil Whistler—which are all immediately evident even before viewers contemplate the artist’s primary poetic allusions, homages and direct references. For example, Massey specifically returns to particular works and artists: such as Ellsworth Kelly’s minimal structures, attitudes toward space, architecture and human scale; the advent of Duchamp’s readymades and idea-based art; and Picasso’s sculptural juxtapositions. Massey’s work has never been confined by any category of artistic production. He playfully ventures into any territory in order to bridge the gaps between things—that is the game
he plays and he invites his viewers to play too. Throughout his artistic career, the vehicle for Massey’s forays into the past and back to the present again has always been collage— the preeminent agent of connectivity, ever since Georges Braque’s and Pablo Picasso’s experiments with papier collé in 1912. Everything in Massey’s oeuvre is collage-based and mercurial, which gives his work a connective element between disparate projects. Massey pushes at many boundaries and artistic tropes in terms of the physicality of the work because he seeks opportunities for art to prompt wit and whimsy; he pushes to increase plasticity so that connectivity can be established in unlikely ways and places. As such, Massey “avoid[s] the sense of ‘craft’ in [his] collages.” As he notes in one of his many artist statements included in the back of this catalog, “I don’t think that quality relates to what I wish to convey.”10 The preeminent features of his work, then, are his ideas and musings, which are typically the most allusive aspect of his art: what isn’t there before his viewer’s eyes are the things his art has connected with and subsequently points toward. In our age of hyper-connectivity, anyone who is able to wield a smartphone or computer, with their built-in networks of anti-Socratic recollection software (Socrates was against the industry of writing and publishing books, fearing the eventual laziness of memory among the populace11)—people have grown accustomed to connecting with anything on their minds in a strictly digital way. Massey’s work offers an alternate potentiality. Well before the establishment of the Internet, Jack Massey developed a network of connections between artistic genera that would define
his studio practice into an interconnected universe. Accordingly, Massey aligns with Socratic skepticism while also being open to possibility. But he is careful, editorial and selective, often choosing to work with overlooked, quotidian, lost, and forgotten things. Massey never works with overused or clichéd imagery. What is obvious is often a decoy, a trap of distraction that both draws attention to itself and prevents other things from being noticed. Massey has made a career of avoiding the obvious, unless people are generally blind to seeing or finding something. His work reminds us of the importance of exercising the powers curiosity, recollection and connection. It is about finding frames of reference, and that aspect of his work is best understood though good-old-fashioned thoughtfulness. With few exceptions, the only works on display in Jack Massey—Light & Dark that are framed in the traditional sense are those loaned from private collections. Massey dislikes frames—“they are a problem” for him. He often paints over or builds on top of his frames, never uses a matte, and always selects a frame for his various works that has the thinnest sidewalls, minimizing the frame’s constricting enclosure. And when no frame at all is preferred, Massey uses “glass to serve as a frame over the collages placed on a wall.”12 Like Ellsworth Kelly, an artist he deeply admires and a longtime favorite inspiration, Massey wants to “make [art] part of the architecture of the environment.”13 The physical forms that house the artist’s work transform what are traditionally categorized as works of art on paper into art objects, treasure troves for the mind, objets trouvés. When we humans find things, when we make discoveries, our minds experience 17
sparks of enlightenment, inspiring shots of endorphins, lights in the darkness. Massey’s art is like an out-of-body synapse—a bridging between two parallel and previously unconnected things via the thoughts or experiences that connects them. The spark literally creates a bridge and forms the basis for new understanding, even when the things being referenced are nowhere in sight. Visual poetry. As the human mind works to understand, anything that is new, as long as it is useful, exercised, and repeated through reminiscence and the processes of memory, the brain responds by a process known as “myelination.” The Oxford English Dictionary defines myelin as “a mixture of proteins and phospholipids forming a whitish insulating sheath around many nerve fibers, increasing the speed at which impulses are conducted”14 and myelination is the formation of the protective coating around the actual connection. It is rather like the plastic insulation around telephone wires. The reward of using memories and making connections is the increased speed of thought, but more importantly, the protection and storage of ideas. Unless thoughts are repeated, they are doomed to stay in the dark.
Making Connections “It is based on the ancient belief in art as the handmaiden to the intertwined worlds of reality and the spirit and on the early twentieth-century utopian ideal in art that stems from the deeply felt conviction that art can affect life.”15 Diane Waldman, 1996 It has often been said that art has no utility; 18
art is not like a fork or a pencil in the sense that it gets picked up like a tool and used in a practical sense. And yet art has inspired countless ideas and has instigated change throughout the millennia. The playful, connective, and positive spirit of Massey’s work activates and instigates. At 91 years of age, with all the giddiness of a schoolboy enthralled by what he is learning, Massey remains an active artist today and his work inspires much of the same in his viewers. Massey’s work reminds us in a very real sense that we are always in the dark until we connect with something, anything, so long as it is true and relevant. His work is ultimately an invitation to play—to make something useful of our thoughts if not ourselves or the physical things we construct. Readers are invited to locate and consider the images at the tops of the pages in the foreword of this catalog—images of famous things that Jack Massey connected with while producing many of works included in this catalog. Each of the selected images refers to a worldly thing that is not visible within the Massey’s art per se, but nevertheless relates to one or more works in Jack Massey—Light & Dark. They are included as aids for connection, to provide examples of Massey’s inspirations and musings, but viewers will have to do the actual linking on their own! Go ahead, bridge the gaps, make the connections and the leaps of imagination, and then, as Jack Massey would say, “go make something.” Todd Bartel Art Faculty Gallery Director, Curator Thompson Gallery
____________________ 1. Jack Massey archives: clipping with circled text, page from Forbes Magazine, September 2, 1991, p. 336 2. Michael Oatman, in conversation with Todd Bartel, quoted on iPhone, December 3, 2016 3. Ellsworth Kelly, letter to John Cage, September 4, 1950, reprinted in Diane Waldman, Ellsworth Kelly, Ellsworth Kelly: A Retrospective, Guggenheim Museum, 1996, Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY, 1996, p. 11. 4. Jack Massey, December 10, 2016 phone conversation with Todd Bartel. 5. Jack Massey, November 20, 2016 phone conversation with Todd Bartel. 6. Diane Waldman, Ellsworth Kelly, in Ellsworth Kelly: A Retrospective, Guggenheim Museum, 1996, Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY, 1996, p. 10. 7. Jack Massey archives: clipping, review of his exhibition, Providence Journal, author unknown, Recent Work: Collage and Drawings, Po Gallery, Providence, RI, 2002 8. Jack Massey Archives: xerographic reproduction of John Stephan’s introduction to an exhibition at Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, dated July, 11, 1962 9. Jack Massey archives: xerographic reproduction of the Introduction by Baruch Kirschenbaum to an exhibition at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Providence, RI, year unknown. 10. Jack Massey, artist’s statement, Distressing Paper, November, 2016 11. Note: see Plato, Dialogues of Plato, trans. B. Jowett M. A., Vol. 1, Random House, New York, NY, 1937, p. 278 12. Jack Massey, Frames statement, December, 2016 13. Waldman, p. 11. 14. New Oxford American Dictionary 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, 2005 15. Waldman, p. 11.
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Objets Trouvés
Jack Massey residence
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Listen, c. 2010 found card, ink, paper, push pin 2 x 3 inches 23
Picasso’s Bull’s Head, made from the bicycle's handlebars and seat, was a revelation to me when I first saw it. I’m still enamored with that piece. It’s a great transfer of values used explicitly to present something new. In using the bicycle without the handlebars and the seat, I was trying to express my thoughts about what the rest of the bicycle appeared to be. Was it still a bicycle, was it still related to Picasso’s Bull’s Head from 1943, or was it something else?
P. P. Ruiz’s Bike, 1984 & 2016 vintage Peugeot bicycle c. 1900, Pau, France, plinth 34.25 x 70 x 14 inches 24
I saw this old ratty looking bike and I thought of Picasso’s Bull’s Head coming from a bike, and I thought why not show the rest of the bike—nobody talks about it with the seat and the handlebars removed. So I thought that was important because in showing the bike that way, it should evoke thoughts of Picasso’s Bull’s Head. It transfers one’s thoughts to something that doesn’t presently exist before you. I like games like that. I suppose that I’ve played them now and then.
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Drawings
Popcorn Drawing, 1977 [horizontal lines] abraded Fabriano litho paper 27.75 x 20.25 x 1 inches [Collection of Cesare DeCredico] 28
Popcorn Drawing, 1977 [detail, horizontal lines] The Popcorn Drawings were a studio experiment that developed into a series that I exhibited while in residence at the American Academy in Rome in the 1980s. They were made with a piece of a wire coat hanger that I was playing with and that was bent around my middle finger. I dragged the wire piece across a piece of Fabriano soft litho paper. It acted as a plow, abusing the paper surface. 29
Popcorn Drawing, 1977 [two forms] abraded Fabriano litho paper 20.25 x 27.75 x 1 inches [On loan from the collection of Cesare DeCredico] 30
Popcorn Drawing, 1977 [detail, two forms]
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Drawing, 1978 graphite, spattered ink wash, cold rolled Whatman paper 24 x 36 inches [Collection of Cesare DeCredico] 32
Drawing, 1978 [detail]
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Drawing, c. 1970s [two rectangles] graphite, wax, silver coated German paper 27 x 39 inches [Collection of Cesare DeCredico] 34
Fortezza, c. 1970s graphite, wax, silver coated German paper 27.25 x 39.25 inches [Collection of Michael Oatman] 35
Homage to Harry Callahan, c. 1982 9 panels, black acrylic, color pencil, silver coated German paper each 18.125 x 18.125 inches 36
Homage to Harry Callahan, c. 1982 [detail]
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Collages
Two Moons, C. 1960 collage, distressed magazine pages 9 x 11.25 inches 40
Things Seen In Egypt, c. 1960s collage, distressed magazine pages, graphite 14.125 x 11 inches 41
Two People, c. 1960 collage, distressed magazine pages, sgraffito 10.125 x 8.75 inches 42
Pyramid with Protractor, c. 1960 collage, distressed magazine pages 9.875 x 10.375 inches 43
Roman Doors (Etrusci), c. 1965 - present No. 1 of 16 collages: distressed magazine pages, distressed sandpaper, wallpaper, pencil, tape, construction paper 7.625 x 6.25 inches 44
Roman Doors (Etrusci), c. 1965 - present No. 3 of 16 collages: distressed magazine pages, distressed sandpaper, wallpaper, pencil, tape, construction paper 8.125 x 6.75 inches 45
Roman Doors (Etrusci), c. 1965 - present No. 4 of 16 collages: distressed magazine pages, distressed sandpaper, wallpaper, pencil, tape, construction paper 7.25 x 5.875 inches 46
Roman Doors (Etrusci), c. 1965 - present No. 5 of 16 collages: distressed magazine pages, distressed sandpaper, wallpaper, pencil, tape, construction paper 6 x 6.25 inches 47
Roman Doors (Etrusci), c. 1965 - present No. 8 of 16 collages: distressed magazine pages, distressed sandpaper, wallpaper, pencil, tape, construction paper 7.625 x 6.5 inches 48
Roman Doors (Etrusci), c. 1965 - present No. 9 of 16 collages: distressed magazine pages, distressed sandpaper, wallpaper, pencil, tape, construction paper 6.5 x 6.25 inches 49
Roman Doors (Etrusci), c. 1965 - present No. 10 of 16 collages: distressed magazine pages, distressed sandpaper, wallpaper, pencil, tape, construction paper, cracked-ink prepared paper from Todd Bartel's studio 7.25 x 7.25 inches 50
Roman Doors (Etrusci), c. 1965 - present No. 12 of 16 collages: distressed magazine pages, distressed sandpaper, wallpaper, pencil, tape, construction paper, cracked-ink prepared paper from Todd Bartel's studio 7.125 x 6.625 inches 51
Roman Doors (Etrusci), c. 1965 - present No. 15 of 16 collages: distressed magazine pages, distressed sandpaper, wallpaper, pencil, tape, construction paper 7.75 x 6.5 inches 52
Roman Doors (Etrusci), c. 1965 -present No. 16 of 16 collages: distressed magazine pages, distressed sandpaper, wallpaper, pencil, tape, construction paper 5.75 x 5 inches 53
Untitled, 1967 (Campo Series), [chevrons] collage, paper, plastic 14.5 x 13 x 1.25 inches [Collection of Cesare DeCredico] 54
Campo Series, 1969 collage, magazine cuttings 16 x 13 x 1.25 inches [Collection of Cesare DeCredico] 55
Collage for the Island Heights Painter—J. F. P., c. 1972 collage, acrylic, paper, stamp, hand-painted frame 8 x 12.5 inches 56
Collage for the Island Heights Painter—J. F. P., c. 1972 [detail] John Frederick Peto’s works are in the Pennsylvania Academy permanent collection. I would see them often there when I was a student. I was interested in the constructions that used unfamiliar painting materials such as ribbons, tapes, scraps of paper. 57
Three Out of Four, 1970s distressed paper, waterproof packing paper with tar, silver coated German paper 27.25 x 39.25 inches 58
Inverted Pyramid, c. 1970s silver coated German paper 27.25 x 39.25 inches 59
Terra Incognita as Seen form San Romano # 4, c. 1972 flooring paper, distressed magazine pages, vintage computer paper 27.25 x 27.25 inches 60
Four Parts, c. 1980 collage, acrylic, paper 6.5 x 6.625 inches 61
Untitled—Roman Wall Painting, c. 1980 collage, distressed magazine pages 14.25 x 11.25 inches. 62
Series for Milton #19, 1984 cut glass, pinstripe tape, acrylic, paper, hole-punch paper, 15th century Italian paper 9.875 x 12 x 1 inches [Collection of Cesare DeCredico] 63
C. Note, c. 1988 collage, distressed magazine pages 9.125 x 8.75 inches 64
Homage to Cornell, 1995 collage, distressed magazine pages 10.75 x 10.375 inches 65
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Homage to Ellsworth Kelly, 1995 collage, distressed magazine pages, sgraffito 11 x 18.75 inches 67
Homage to Joseph Beuys, 1995 collage, distressed magazine pages, book page 9.875 x 10 inches 68
Pachyderm, 1995 collage, distressed magazine pages 10 x 11.25 inches 69
Absent Without Leave, 1995 collage, distressed magazine pages 18.25 x 10.75 inches 70
Now and Then, 1995 collage, distressed magazine pages, ink 16.75 x 10.25 inches 71
Two, 1995 collage, distressed magazine pages 13.5 x 10.5 inches 72
Two More, 1995 collage, distressed magazine pages 12.5 x 10.25 inches 73
Sundays 9 P.M., 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages 11.125 x 7.5 inches 74
The Two Angles, 1998, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, sgraffito, 13 x 10.25 inches. 10.375 x 13.125 inches 75
98, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages 10.375 x 13.125 inches 76
Ghost, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages 10.25 x 12.75 inches 77
A Chair, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, sgraffito 8.25 x 10.75 inches 78
What Is This?, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, game card, paper towel with paint 12.25 x 10.75 inches 79
Alphabet Soup, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, press type 10.25 x 12.5 inches 80
Make the Most of Your Visit, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, press type, graphite, sgraffito 10 x 10 inches 81
Do You Ever Buy Any Art, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, press type 10.875 x 9.375 inches 82
Wait A Little Longer, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, press type 11 x 13.5 inches 83
Some People on the Pond, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, 10.25 x 13 inches 84
C the Birdie, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages 11.875 x 9.5 inches 85
Oasis, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages 13 x 10 inches 86
Kelly, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, poster clipping 11.25 x 11.5 inches 87
Homage to Magritte, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, poster paper 10 x 6 inches 88
The Lovely Couple, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages 11 x 12.5 inches 89
For Harvey, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages 9.5 x 14 inches 90
X, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages 8.75 x 6.875 inches 91
Peek-a-boo, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, graphite 10.875 x 11.75 inches 92
The Swimmer, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages 10.25 x 13.25 inches 93
The Bridge, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages 9.75 x 14.25 inches 94
Unknown, 2007 collage, distressed magazine pages, magazine clipping 14.375 x 10.75 inches 95
Looking at You, 2010 15th century Italian paper, hole-punch paper, watercolor paper 11.125 x 13.125 x 1 inches 96
Signals, c. 2010 [second of three sets] series of 16 collages: tempera, acrylic, paper, construction paper each 6.375 x 6.375 inches Before the wireless, ships at sea would communicate with semaphore signals using handheld flags of varied colors. The Signals collages, for me, relate to that Naval history. 97
Signals, c. 2010 [second of three sets] series of 16 collages: tempera, acrylic, paper, construction paper each 6.375 x 6.375 inches 98
Signals, c. 2010 [second of three sets] series of 16 collages (12 shown): tempera, acrylic, paper, construction paper each roughly 5 x 5 inches 99
Icarus Fell, Damn, He Fell!, c. 2011 collage, distressed paper, cut and torn paper 17 x 13 inches 100
Some time ago, I found a 1911 U. S. Army illustrated handbook. Using elements from this book, and thinking about the tragedies inflicted by guns on innocent people of all ages, I combined these elements with a delicate, tender, illustrated baby book. John F. Kennedy’s statement “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” became “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do to it.” I started this series after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, in response to gun violence in America.
Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You But What You Can Do To It, 2012 [par 41, 44.] series of 4 collages: distressed paper, 1911 U. S. Army illustrated handbook pages 15.5 x 7 inches 101
Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You But What You Can Do To It, 2012 [par 44.] series of 4 collages: distressed paper, 1911 U. S. Army illustrated handbook pages 10 x 10 inches 102
Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You But What You Can Do To It, 2012 [par 104.] series of 4 collages: distressed paper, 1911 U. S. Army illustrated handbook pages 15 x 10.75 inches 103
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Assemblages
Harlequin, c. 1962 Italian hat-maker’s mannequin, folding toy ruler, T-pins 17.5 x 11.5 x 7.5 inches 106
Self-Portrait, 2014 toy block, clay angel, tin box, wire 8.5 x 12 x 4.5 inches 107
Grids, 2004 [orange] acrylic, Bass, Balsa 12.5 x 12.5 inches 108
Grids, 2004 [green, red] acrylic, Bass, Balsa 12.5 x 12.5 inches 109
Grids, 2004 [diamond] acrylic, Bass, Balsa 14 x 14 inches 110
Sketch for 12’ RISD Museum Roof Proposal, 2004 acrylic, dowels, paper, foam board 12 x 12 x 12 inches 111
Incarcerated Angel, c. 1990s, 2014 acrylic, balsa wood, 15th century Italian paper, distressed papers 14 x 14 x 1.5 inches 112
Incarcerated Angel, c. 1990s, 2014 [detail]
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Installation
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Homage to Claude Monet—Giverny (Nympheas), 1982 tin buckets, paper plates, plaster, acrylic, epoxy each 5.25 x 7.5 x 7.5 inches 116
Homage to Claude Monet—Giverny (Nympheas), 1982 [detail]
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Homage to Claude Monet—Giverny (Nympheas), 1982 [detail]
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Homage to Claude Monet—Giverny (Nympheas), 1982 [detail]
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Exhibition Installation
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Artist's Statements
Jack Massey archives, artist's statement, November, 2016
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The work of an artist includes in all his/her images that which he/she chooses to leave aside—much as an athlete implies by his/her performance—all the trial, sweat and practice enabling the goal to be achieved. Jack Massey, November 2016
Some Notes on Color There are many ways to engage color. Artists, over the centuries, have approached color in their own ways—not with systems or rigid formulas, but with their own means. Many have written about color; it remains a mystery. The best of them accept the challenge with energy, and by experimenting in their own ways may achieve something that they find acceptable at times—but the mystery of color remains for us to perceive and wonder, as it should be. We are a constantly changing set of experiences. What we saw yesterday is not what we see today or tomorrow—color is a part of all this. Do you think that the painting that you experienced yesterday looks the same today? Nothing is static! Jack Massey, November 2016
Frames Frames are always a problem for me. Albert Einstein is alleged to have said, “Keep everything simple, but not too simple.” With this advice in mind, I sometimes don’t use frames at all. I allow the glass to serve as a frame over the collages placed on a wall. I know this is an impermanent solution, but things do move on. Jack Massey, December 2016
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Distressing Paper Water soluble brush cleaner distresses and transforms the photos on the pages, which I tear from magazines—often National Geographic, but also many others. I work with the imagery I find remaining, which is often drastically transformed. The solvent works very quickly on the images on the pages, which requires blotting and washing with water as necessary to stop the action, as every second counts. I lose, of course, many pages and I work with the ones I have left from this procedure—the pages are torn from the magazines and the edges become important in the collage assembly. It is always a surprise to find what occurs as they are continued and shifted about. I work with more than one collage at a time—what occurs then is a shifting back and forth, turning, and overlapping. A playful visual transformation begins to appear, and some kind of “statement” grows and tells me, “that’s it.” The “it” can be very simple—complexity does not make good things for me. I believe that the elements that I find in this process deserve a gentle handling. I try to get them to relate in the final results. However, in my work ethic, nothing is ever finished, and you can’t always get what you want. To find what appears usable to me is a fun and a very rewarding process. I work a number of works at a time and transfer elements from one to another. The pages and their photos are transformed into new images. Everything can be changed, and keeping the various combinations changing over some days allows for new imagery. I avoid the sense of “craft” in my collages. I don’t think that quality relates to what I wish to convey – which is, in part, the pressure of “hands at work.” A thought of mine concerning poetry is that it is not just about what you see on the page. It can take you beyond that. Jack Massey, November 2016
Craft It is difficult for me to speak about “craft.” It means different things to different people. Personally, I enjoy the processes of making different tools to do things to materials that they weren’t intended or normally designed to do. This practice, for me, becomes an adventure—of trial and error—bringing on unexpected results that I then evaluate and use or not. My use of them changes as this process goes on to make something not seen or experienced before. And so the agenda keeps changing as does the craft managing this. Words don’t explain for me what happens, and I consider nothing ever finished. How it is what it is what it is. Jack Massey, December 2016
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Some Thoughts that Amuse Making collage is more fun than picking your nose! You can go further too. And both works are your very own. What to do with your creations is the challenge. Knowing that there will be more makes one feel happy and accomplished; one also knows that there is the anticipation for experiencing more, and that each will have a different imagery and reward for the new accomplishments visually presented. However, nobody really gives a darn—to reference Franz Kline’s statement about painting— but each time is a new start on a new adventure not knowing the results to be revealed. Both of these creative efforts are best not taught, but are non-structured as happenings, and this ensures that the results cannot be predictable. So did Picasso pick his nose? And if he did, what happened to the “harvest”? Perhaps the Kahnweiler archives can tell us! There is new work to be done here! One would think that Picasso would be very interested in the plasticity of the nose materials and the ability to transform it into another surprising entity. I would think that he couldn’t help himself. Jack Massey, November 2016
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Biography & Key Documents
Resume
Jack Massey b. 1925, Pittsburgh, PA Education Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), Philadelphia Albert C. Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh (evenings) Employment Professor, Division of Foundation Studies, Rhode Island School of Design, 1963-2014 Honors Prix de Rome-American Academy in Rome Fellowship Artist-in Residence-American Academy in Rome Scheidt Fellowship (PAFA) Cresson Fellowship (PAFA) Professor Emeritus, Rhode Island School of Design 2014 Prizes Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute Purchase Award Leisser Alumni Prize of Assoc. Artists of Pittsburgh Special Prize (PAFA) Fellowship Exhibition Awards Progressive Architecture Magazine Design Award (architect/artist collaboration in residential design) Exhibitions (multiple exhibitions at same location indicated) Selected Solo Exhibitions Thompson Gallery, Weston, MA Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design Reynolds Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA Lenore Gray Gallery, Providence, RI Virginia Lynch Gallery, Tiverton, RI 172
Selected Solo Exhibitions (continued): La Galleria dell’ Occhio, New York, NY Woods-Gerry Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (2) Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Greensburg, PA (2) Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT Arts Center, Catanzaro, Italy American Academy in Rome, Italy Art Unlimited Gallery, Providence, RI (2) Colgate University, Hamilton, NY USIA Gallery, Naples, Italy Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA Phillips Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (2) Pittsburgh Playhouse, Pittsburgh, PA Chazan Gallery, Wheeler School, Providence, RI Po Gallery, Providence, RI (3) Selected Group Exhibitions Rhode Island School of Design Faculty Show, Providence, RI (numerous) Rhode Island School of Design Museum, “Take a Seat”, Providence, RI Rhode Island Artists Exhibition, Pawtucket, RI Newport Art Association, Newport, RI American Academy in Rome, Italy (5) Royal Palm Gallery, Palm Beach, FL Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY (3) Attleboro Museum of Art, Attleboro, MA DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA Tyler School of Art, Rome, Italy Skidmore College, Saratoga, NY Commune di Udine, Italy Newark Art Museum, Newark, NJ Colgate University, Hamilton, NY Providence Art Club, Providence, RI (2) Princeton University Museum, Princeton, NJ Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA Galleria George Lester, Rome, Italy Galleria Appunto, Rome, Italy The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA (2) Chazan Gallery, Wheeler School, Providence RI Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI (3) Selected Public and Private Collections Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, PA 173
Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Greensburg, PA Colgate University, Hamilton, NY Princeton University, Princeton, NJ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA FRIAM Commune di Udine, Italy Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery, Washington, DC! American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy Professor Philip Morrison, Cambridge, MA Mrs. Patrick Kelleher, Princeton, NJ Dr. D. J. Janson, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Leon Anthony Arkus, Pittsburgh, PA Dr. & Mrs. Henri A. Millon, Washington, DC Professor Alfred Moir, Pasadena, CA Dr. Carol Lewine, New York, NY Dr. Giovanni Carendente, Rome, Italy Mr. & Mrs. Alan Symonds, Providence, RI Mr. & Mrs. Pat Conroy, San Francisco, CA Mr. & Mrs. Richard Callner, Albany, NY The Family of Lombard Gasbarro, Providence, RI Mr. Louis Sauer, Australia Mr. & Mrs. Milton Rothman, Philadelphia, PA Mr. & Mrs. Aldo Casanova, Clairmont, CA Mr. & Mrs. Dmitri Hadzi, Cambridge, MA Mr. Gerald Howes, Vero Beach, FL Honorable & Mrs. Bruce Selya, Providence, RI Prof. & Mrs. John D’Arms, Ann Arbor, MI Signora Charis De Bosis, Rome, Italy Dr. Paul Chew, Greensburg, PA. James Winokur, Greensburg, PA. Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan Seely, Providence, RI George Morrison, St. Paul, MN Marilyn Einhorn, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Gilbert Franklin, Wellfleet, MA. George Wilson, Ann Arbor, MI Mr. & Mrs. John Sapinsley, Providence, RI Mr.& Mrs. John Eaton, Bloomington, IN Mr. & Mrs. William O. Smith, Seattle, WA Mr. & Mrs. Jack Zajac, Santa Cruz, CA Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Bosworth, Seattle, WA Michiko Hirayama, Rome, Italy Alvin Stallman, Providence, RI Virginia Lynch, Tiverton, RI Mr. & Mrs. David Aldrich, Providence, RI 174
Dr. & Mrs. Bush-Brown, Stoney Brook, NY Mrs. Bayard Ewing, Providence, RI Prof. William Jordy, East Providence, RI Mr. & Mrs. David Sellin, Washington, D.C. Mr. & Mrs. John MacFadyen, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. William Block, Pittsburgh, PA Selected Corporate Collections Sage Manufacturing Co., Inc. Providence, RI R.I. Hospital Trust Bank, Providence, RI Davol Corporation, Providence, RI Quaker Fabric Corporation, Fall River, MA Nabisco Corp., East Hanover, NJ Winsor Associates, Providence, RI Colgate Hoyt Co., Milton, MA. Halpern Corp., New York, NY First National Bank, Boston, MA Shadyside Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA Jones & Laughlin Corp., Pittsburgh, PA Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, MI Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
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Jack Massey archives, clipping, review of his exhibition, A Playful Side, Providence Journal, author unknown, Recent Work: Collage and Drawings Po Gallery, Providence, RI, 2002 176
Jack Massey Archives, xerographic reproduction of John Stephan’s introduction to an exhibition at Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, dated July, 11, 1962 177
Baruch Kirschenbaum, Department of History, Rhode Island School of Design, Introduction for an exhibition at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Providence, RI, year unknown, page 1 178
Kirschenbaumm, page 2
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Maureen McCabe, January 11, 2017 Letter sent to Jack Massey via the Thompson Gallery, page 1 180
Maureen McCabe, January 11, 2017 Letter sent to Jack Massey via the Thompson Gallery, page 2 181
Gate, c. 1980 enamel, 1/4 inch laser cut steel 144 x 72 inches permanent installation at Woods Gerry Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI 182
untitled, date sculpture using parts of prior assembly approximately 84 x 54 inches 183
Four Moons, (working title temporary assembly), 116 Chestnut Street, Providence, RI, c. 1983 exhibited at West Moreland County Museum of Art, Greensberg, PA
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Four Moons assembly
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Lobby Installation, proposed office building lobby installation, Providence, RI 1984 acrylic, anodized aluminum 216 x 264 inches 186
Commission for Pile Fabric Corporation, President's Office, 1985 Fall River, MA acrylic, wood, clothing tags, wire, hardware, antique dingy 114 x 114 x 144 inches 187
Jack Massey, standing with 4 Moons assembly, studio at 116 Chestnut, Providence, RI, c. 1983
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Jack Massey, studio at 116 Chestnut, Providence, RI, c. 1984
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