Dox Thrash: Painted, Not Printed by villanovaartgallery

DOX THRASH

PAINTED, NOT PRINTED

Table of Contents Foreword

Introductory Essay: Why Philadelphia?

Preserving Cultural Heritage of Sharswood

Lockwood, Morbeck, Durand

Connell

Searching for Edna Thrash

Peering into the Shadows: Julius Bloch's Years at PAFA

Are You Against Lynching?

More than An Artist: Samuel Maitin and Society Hill

Another Look: Accessibility in Art Exhibits

The Art Gallery and Its Audience

McCrossan

Lannutti

Kolic

Snyder

Miner

Snyder

About Our Team Publications Victoria Durand Sophia Lockwood Gabriel Morbeck

Design Allessandra Albertin Kaitlyn Connell Hannah Bourne Isabella Kolic Elizabeth Miner

Outreach Anmartha Hinojosa Lena Lannutti Colin McCrossan Sarah Snyder

Audio Tour Featuring: Allessandra Albertini Edited by: Isabella Kolic

And Special Thanks to Dr. Whitney Martinko and Jennie Castillo!

Sophia Lockwood Gabriel Morbeck Victoria Durand

via Pixabay

Why Philadelphia? The City's Midcentury Art Scene in Historical Context Philadelphia has a long, storied history of visual art. The city was home to some of the first popular artists in America. 19th century painters Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassett and Charles Peale are widely celebrated, well-known characters of Philadelphia history. Their work is celebrated in local institutions like Second Bank of the United States Portrait Gallery and the eponymous Art Museum. Their reach has expanded beyond Philadelphia; they are staples of art history courses and full-fledged members of the New York/Paris centered artistic canon. In comparison, the Philadelphia art scene of the mid 20th century is somewhat underrated. Earl Horter, Samuel Maitin and Dox Thrash are

still remembered and beloved by artists and community members, but they often go overlooked in formal art history education. Their work is avant-garde, striking and exciting, so why does it so often go unrecognized outside of the local scene? Perhaps the best explanation is that the midcentury Philadelphia Art Scene was deeply, uniquely local. It is based in a social milieu that could only exist in this place, at this time; it is an outgrowth of the cultural pulse of the city in a way that connected with the local audience. It is the result of a complex series of events that began with the

2 establishment of some important cultural institutions well before some of these artists were even born. These institutions, like the Graphic Sketch Club, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and, later, the Works Progress Administration programs headquartered in the city, created opportunities for art education in communities that would have previously been impossible. Social spaces like the Pyramid Club let these locally educated artists network and create self-made shows that offered new opportunities. Patrons, particularly the distinguished collector Benjamin Bernstein helped fund these opportunities, as well as preserve the work for future generations. All of these factors converged to give artists the freedom to form a scene with a political identity and social makeup that stood out from the rest of the midcentury artistic landscape, but that freedom came as both a blessing and a curse for artists struggling to make a living. Still, the result was a supremely diverse thriving artistic community in Philadelphia. It may resonate with locals in a special way, but art lovers around the world can appreciate and learn from these artists. Despite being born in Georgia, Dox Thrash is as much a Philadelphia artist as Samuel Maitin, Paul Keene and other native Philadelphians. Thrash begins his short autobiography by stating that he was born in Griffin, Georgia on March 22 1892.[1] As he tells it,

he traveled across the country, seeking adventure and learning, until he landed in Philadelphia and stayed there for the rest of his life. He began his art education in Chicago, but that is just an aside compared to the significance he puts on his time in Philadelphia. There, he found community in the Graphic Sketch Club and a mentor in Earl Horter.[2] This likely contributed to the experimentation he undertook during these years, resulting in the creation of his signature carborundum mezzotint style.[3] Philadelphia shaped Thrash, in his work and in the person he would become. The groundwork for the artistic scene had been laid in previous decades by artists including Thrash’s very own mentor, Earl Horter. Despite being born in Germantown, Horter was much like Thrash in that he received his first formal art education out of state, in New York City. However, he returned to the city in 1917 and also stayed there for the remainder of his life. Horter exercised a great deal of influence over the burgeoning local art scene. He was a dedicated member of the Society of Illustrators and, more importantly, the Graphic Sketch Club. He was also, like Ben Bernstein, an influential collectorhe boasted an extensive art collection that included both local artists and international art. [4] Philadelphia's art scene was rarely a center of economic interest, so most of its main contributors taught

Earl Horter, On South Street art at one of the city's major institutions or took commercial art jobs to make ends meet. Those institutions were vital to defining and producing the Philadelphia art community. Horter worked at an advertising agency, and many of his contemporaries obtained private employment, but public funding through Works Progress Administration programs also played a major role in this community. [5] Thrash himself, Julius Bloch, Reginald Marsh and others all worked with the WPA to create art. The WPA not only funded their work, but brought artists together and furthered values of inclusion and diversity in the art world. The Philadelphia art scene consisted of many people who moved through the community with different motivations. Many of them were transplants who had found themselves in Philadelphia with a dream to authentically represent the people and space around them. While the context of mid-century Philadelphia is different than the 21st century, these artists navigated similar issues of wealth disparity, racism, and sexism that we can understand today. Their art and art spaces were a medium to explore and feel seen while defining their worlds.

Social activism was an important integration of the mid-century Philadelphia art scene, and the need to address these important issues was transformed in the art and collective movements. Paul Keene and Samuel Maitin had distinct experiences with this integration. When Keene first started taking lessons at the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, he was excluded from daytime classes because of his race. At night, he would arrive to make art, but also face exclusion. This also prevented him from receiving the same time, mentors, and resources as the other peers in his program. Discrimination met him in other advancements of his degree, but it was important for his methodology to continue to pursue advancements and opportunities in his career. Maitin did not shy away from politics in any setting. His passion for the political form branched from his own identity of being a Jewish man, and he often felt that it was duty to expose others to more “uncomfortable “topics. His own interest was driven by watching his father work to be well-read with resources around them like public radio and public libraries; surprisingly, the only cultural objects that he did not have access to were art.

The passion for art and the access to resources that allowed for artist to practice were not always easy to navigate, but this inspired the creation of intentional spaces. In the late 1930s, many African American academics and artist combined realized that they would need to champion their own advancement. This bore a cultural, social club that allowed people to practice, display, and sell their art, and it would be known as the Pyramid Club. The club began to attract the company of the Academy and others who began to see the closeted potential in many of these artists. The primary champion of the Pyramid Club, Humbert Howard, worked to make sure that anyone who could be included was. He was considered an integrationist, and this brought a considerable amount of strife to the Pyramid Club community. With popularity and promise surrounding the club, many people fought for its exclusivity. Spaces for marginalized groups are important to the overall growth of communities, and many argued that integration went against the principles and mission of the club. This situation was a primary example of the continued conversations about how to handle activism and inclusion within the Philadelphian art spaces. The artist was not held hostage to the Pyramid club, a great few of them being instructors in the Academy, but it challenged the growth that had been made. There were questions of who truly benefitted in the process of integration and whether the progress of “worth” and “value” were always to be determined by those Academy.

As these critical conversations were being held, it was evident that outsiders saw worth in club and artist. Ben Bernstein, a moving company business owner, took a great interest in the Pyramid Club and the artists that created there. What began as a few paintings from notable artist like Bloch, Keene, and Reminick, grew into a full patronage of the arts and Black artists in Philadelphia. He felt for the artist that could not sell their art, and he felt strongly that every artist deserved to have their art displayed. His patronage contributary the integrity of the artist, and this was one of the greatest gifts he could give this community. The combination of Bernstein, the community spaces, and the artist are an example of hardship that came with cultivating and uplifting the midcentury Philadelphian art scene.

Shirley E. Gerson, Bust of Ben Bernstein

The significance of Philadelphia’s art scene’s identity becomes even more pronounced when placed in a broader economic context. Thrash, and the later generation of artists like Sam Maitin and Paul Keene, were able to make the art that they did precisely because of the level of institutional support they received. By the 1960s, the Philadelphia art scene was a hotbed of political and social activism, with many artists actively involved in movements against war, for workers’ and civil rights, and against racial injustice. The scene maintained this distinctive activist-oriented identity at the same time other modern art scenes across the country were being incorporated into consumer capitalism. Midcentury in New York, for instance, formed a crucial moment when “American capital woke up” to the “capacity to convert business power into social prestige. Modern art, previously clustered around art schools and a small set of interested patrons, was making its way “uptown” towards the centers of American financial power.[6] Artists, usually accustomed to being constantly vulnerable financially, suddenly found their craft subject to the “trivializing and cannibalistic” tendencies of wealthy customers. [7]

By the 1960s, the Philadelphia art scene was a hotbed of political and social activism.

4 Paul Keene also recognized the autonomy granted by being outside the commercial eye of the mainstream art world, saying that his work “dealt with who he was” and was “not a pretty picture” and so often was not appealing to galleries. When artists achieved a certain reputation, Keene said, their names “only represent money” and their art became secondary. [9] The scene’s relative insulation from commercializing trends was a vital ingredient in creating its unique

Samuel Maitin, Laird Army God Anitwar Poster

No such transformation happened in Philadelphia’s art scene, and that forms part of the reason that it remained under-recognized throughout the century. Their position outside the eye of the commercial art world created unique set of circumstances that opened space for art that carried a strong social and political message, and facilitated independent cultural exhibition spaces like the Pyramid Club or the Graphic Sketch Club at the Fleischer Art Memorial. For instance, Sam Maitin made prints that would not have looked out of place as part of a corporate graphics company, but his prints were instead displayed in civic spaces across the city. The Graphic Sketch Club, an eclectic institution housed in an old episcopal church that offered free classes to art students, was something that Maitin insists “could not have been dreamed of” in Chicago or New York. [8]

Maitin insisted the GSC's free classes "could not have been dreamed of" in Chicago or New York local identity, but it did not come without its downsides. Maitin was quick to not overidealize Philadelphia in the 1960s and 70s, reminding us that the eccentricity that allowed spaces like the Graphic Sketch Club to emerge also came with a “vicious and nasty” side of the city. [10] Part of the Pyramid Club’s success, of course, can be attributed to the discrimination that Black artists faced in other parts of the art world.

Dox Thrash, Landscape Sketch with River

5 Keene recalls how the Pyramid Club was the only place in the city that Black artists could exhibit, but that turned it into "the thing to do" in the city for Black and white artists alike. [11] The scene itself was not without its own exclusions, either. there is no evidence of the Graphic Sketch Club ever offering classes to women during this period. Artists were always under financial pressure, which is part of the reason that Ben Bernstein—who generously bought from artists with few other buyers— is remembered so well by the artists in our collection. Bernstein’s collections continue to have an impact to this day. Nearing his death, Benjamin Bernstein made an effort to distribute donations of his paintings to universities throughout the Philadelphia area. [12]

Villanova’s art collection would not exist in the form it does today without his contributions. Students at Villanova and several other schools have had an opportunity to connect to local art in an intimate way due to these collections. The Philadelphia art scene is far from dead. Today, PAFA still occupies their building at Broad Street. There, they continue to offer a varied slate of outreach programs, still focusing on youth art education. The Fleischer Art Memorial also continues its efforts, going so far as to offer tuition free classes for young people. Even the Painted Bride gallery still offers its inclusive gallery and performance spaces, albeit a few blocks North of its original location. Today, these institutions of yesterday build the art scene of tomorrow.

Sources Cited 1: Thrash, Dox. Dox Thrash Autobiography. 1960. Accessed through Villanova University Interlibrary Loan. 2. Annex Galleries. “Earl Horter Biography”. Santa Rosa, California. Accessed online. 3. Brigham, Daniel. “Bridging Identities: Dox Thrash as African American and Artist”. Spring 1990. Smithsonian Studies in American Art. 4. Shoemaker, Innis Howe. Mad for Modernism: Earl Horter and His Collection. Exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1999. 5. Ittman, John. Dox Thrash: An African American Master Printmaker Rediscovered. Exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, October 27, 2001 - February 24, 2002. 6. Osborne, John. “The New York Art Scene in the 1960s,” in New York: City as Text, ed. Christopher Mulvey and John Simons (London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 1990), 70–88, 7. Osborne, John. “The New York Art Scene in the 1960s,” in New York: City as Text, ed. Christopher Mulvey and John Simons (London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 1990), 73. 8. Hunter, Ann. “Oral history interview with Samuel Maitin”, 1991 July 24. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 222. 9. Pacini, Marina. "Oral history interview with Paul Keene", 1990 Apr. 23. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 123 10. Maitin, "Oral history interview". 11. Keene, "Oral history interview". 12. Viljoen, Madeline. Benjamin Bernstein: A Memorial Exhibition. Spring 2005. La Salle University Art Museum.

Artists and Works in the Collection Dox Thrash (b. 1893 in Griffin, GA / d. 1965 in Philadelphia) Thrash was born in Georgia but left and went to Chicago as a young man to pursue a career as an artist. He took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago and enlisted in the military during World War I, before moving to Philadelphia in 1925. He would remain an important figure in the Philadelphia art scene throughout his life. In 1937, he found work with the Federal Arts Project, a New Deal program set up to support visual artists. There, under the mentorship of Earl Horter, he pioneered a new method of printmaking that he termed the “Opheliagraph” after his mother. Although best known for his printmaking, he also painted acrylic scenes like the landscapes we have in our collection. Like other artists in our collection, his work was exhibited at the Pyramid Club, helping to form a space that fostered creativity and artistic expression amid an art world that was frequently discriminatory towards Black artists.

Landscape Sketch with River ne common theme reflected across much of Thrash’s work is a canny sense of place. His autobiography defines the eras of his life largely in terms of the locales that he lived. It is no surprise then, that over the course of his career he produced many landscapes, both in carborundum mezzotint and in oil paintings like this one. Like his other landscapes, we do not know where specifically is depicted in this scene.

Artists and Works

Landscape Sketches Bernstein displayed a noted interest in Thrash’s landscapes, which are less famous than his prints and depictions of urban scenes but no less remarkable. One of Thrash’s more abstract oil paintings, this landscape features an impressionistic display that allows the viewer to barely make out a few features: some sort of path, a home, vegetation, and a clear sky on the horizon. Still, the painting conveys the emotions and atmospheres of a place that viewers can project their own experiences upon.

Artists and Works

Bouquet A 2019 Dox Thrash exhibition at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art was titled “The

Hopeful

Gaze.”

Looking

Bouquet it is easy to see why. The largest of the Thrash pieces on display today, Bouquet is a vibrant still life. Removing the brown paper covering the back yielded a delightful surprisea title and signature in Thrash’s own distinctive handwriting.

Again, we

see impressionist influence in the muddled but expressive lines of bright color. For a still life, the canvas has a surprising sense of motion; the petals of these flowers seem to explode outward, resembling a firework. This is not a vase of flowers, it is a Bouquet, calling

mind

anniversaries,

graduations, or birthdays.

Standing Horse Thrash’s figures bore his distinctive style even when he was painting animals rather than humans. Unlike some of the other works of Thrash we have in our collection, this one has been exhibited before, formerly displayed at the Painted Bride Studio on South Street in Philadelphia. The earthen-toned color palate he employs in this painting resembles many of the other social realist scenes Thrash was better known for.

FEATURED ESSAY

Kaitlyn Connell

Located in North Philadelphia, the neighborhood of Sharswood is considered one of the city’s most destitute communities with a disquieting 52.5% poverty rate, an 80% unemployment rate, and 36% of the neighborhoods residential buildings left vacant. [1] In recent years, neglected city maintenance, redevelopment, and gentrification has garnered attention for the neighborhood in the media. However, voices from the community urge us to remember the rich history and the legacies of past residents that breathed life into the neighborhood.[2] Sharswood as the center of an art movement in the early to mid-20th century dubbed the “Sharswood Renaissance”—a play on the African American cultural revival that took place in New York, the Harlem Renaissance. The Philadelphia neighborhood was (and is) home to the Dox Thrash House, Pearl Theater, the Pyramid Club, Girard College, and the Checker Club. These sites acted as hubs and social clubs for artists and jazz musicians who were the soul of North Philadelphia. Some of these buildings have been demolished while he cultural heritage of this neighborhood takes on vital importance and becomes the focus in upholding the community.

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The term “cultural heritage” refers to the passing down of customs, places, objects, art, and values from generation to generation that include the built environment, natural environment, and artefacts.[4] Preservation and government agencies like the Dox Thrash House preservation group led by Maya Thomas and the Sharswood/Blumberg Choice Neighborhoods Transformation Plan are already taking steps to preserve the rich cultural heritage of Sharswood. It should be noted that, in a city like Philadelphia where gentrification of working-class and low-income communities is spreading like wildfire, the aim of preserving cultural heritage is change or reinvent a community. Instead, the objective is to restore the physical environment and to empower the members of the community with the history and traditions that preceded them. But what can this preservation of cultural heritage do to serve the existing community within the neighborhood? Studies have been conducted that link cultural preservation with poverty reduction and increasing social cohesion. According to Ambassador Danilovich from the Millennium Challenge Corporation—a U.S. Government foreign aid agency—preserving the artistic spirit and history of a place can spur economic growth and prosperity to the residents by creating jobs, generating tourism, and making the community members shareholders in the process.[5] Furthermore, cultural preservation can become a critical component of sustainable development. According to Shelterforce, a publication that covers neighborhood stabilization, it is time to “maintain the cultural identity of the places we are redeveloping.”[6] The purpose of these projects is not to level and rebuild these communities anew. Instead, historians, preservation groups, and city planners must work together to revitalize the memory of Sharswood. As efforts progress, the focus will widen from the scope of this work from sustaining cultural preservation to championing the next generation of community leaders, artists, and residents. Sources Cited [1] “Neighborhood Conditions.” Sharswood Blumberg. Philadelphia Housing Authority. Accessed April 20, 2022. http://www.sharswoodblumberg.com/neighborhoodconditions. [2] Burton, Jazmyn. “Time and Memory in Sharswood.” Community History and Futures Event. CommunityFuturisms. Accessed April 20, 2022. https://futureslab.community/blog/timememory-sharswood-community-histories-futures-event. [3] “Philadelphia Register.” Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, August 16, 2016. https://www.preservationalliance.com/designations-2/preservation-toolkit/philadelphiaregister/.

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[4] “What Is Cultural Heritage.” Culture in Development. Accessed April 20, 2022. http://www.cultureindevelopment.nl/Cultural_Heritage/What_is_Cultural_Heritage. [5] Danilovich, John J. “Cultural Preservation and Poverty Reduction.” Millennium Challenge Corporation, June 5, 2017. https://www.mcc.gov/news-and-events/speech/speech-030308culturalpreservationmorocco. [6] Gilligan, Johanna, and Johanna Gilliganhttp://homewise.orgJohanna Gilligan is the community development director at Homewise Inc. “Redevelopment That Preserves Cultural Heritage.” Shelterforce, January 13, 2020. https://shelterforce.org/2020/01/06/redevelopmentthat-preserves-cultural-heritage/#.

FEATURED ESSAY

Colin McCrossan One of our exhibit’s main themes is that we should ask new questions about Dox Thrash. Even though we may think we know about his art, career, and life, there is still more to learn about him. Historians should continue to research Dox Thrash but expand their scope to also look at the people around him – his family, friends, and neighbors. One of these people is Edna Thrash, Dox Thrash’s wife. She has received virtually no scholarly attention and historians should research her life. We know very little about Edna Thrash. Previous exhibits and publications about Dox Thrash tend to focus on his printmaking and time at the Philadelphia Fine Print Workshop. They do not include information about Edna, and there are also few historical records about her life which makes research difficult. Despite this dearth of information there is at least one historical source about her. Philadelphia’s main Black newspaper, the Philadelphia Tribune, wrote about her at least once, but only when she died. [1] On March 27, 1973, the Tribune included an obituary for Edna entitled “Mrs. Thrash Dies Here.”[2] The article noted that Edna died on March 22, 1973, at the age of 70 on what was also apparently Dox Thrash’s birthday.[3]

FEATURED ESSAY

The article includes many details about her life. Edna Thrash was born in North Carolina and had at least three nieces and a few cousins.[4] She worked for the Philadelphia city government for at least twenty-five years and retired in 1967, two years after her husband’s death.[5] The obituary also included information about Edna’s religious beliefs stating that she was a member of St. Simon Cyrenian Episcopal Church and a member of the church’s women’s group and music guild.[6] The Tribune did not describe the cause of Edna’s death, but did include information about a funeral service held for her at St. Simon Church. She was later buried in National Cemetery, Beverly, New Jersey.[7] To further research Edna Thrash, historians might look to census records, historic photographs, Philadelphia municipal records and other sources that could contain more information about her. Historians should also see people like Edna who were connected to Dox Thrash as important to study in their own right. Just who was Enda Thrash? What did she think about art? What was her life like? These questions and more can inspire us to continue this research. If there’s more to learn about Dox Thrash then there’s a whole lot more to learn about Edna.

Sources Cited [1] For more on the Philadelphia Tribune, see Franklin, V. P. ""VOICE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY: "THE PHILADELPHIA TRIBUNE, 1912–41." Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 51, no. 4 (1984): 261 and Gallon, Kim T. Pleasure in the News: African American Readership and Sexuality in the Black Press. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2020. [2]"Mrs. Thrash Dies Here.” Philadelphia Tribune, March 27, 1973, p. 29, accessed via ProQuest Historical Newspapers [3]"Mrs. Thrash Dies Here.” Philadelphia Tribune, March 27, 1973. [4]“Mrs. Thrash Dies Here.” Philadelphia Tribune, March 27, 1973. [5]“Mrs. Thrash Dies Here.” Philadelphia Tribune, March 27, 1973. [6]“Mrs. Thrash Dies Here.” [7]“Mrs. Thrash Dies Here.”

Artistsand andWorks Works Artists

14 3

Earl Horter b. 1880 in Philadelphia / d. 1960 in Philadelphia Earl Horter was a Germantown native and a mentor to Dox Thrash during his early years in Philadelphia. Thrash met Horter when he was taking classes at the Graphic Sketch Club. Horter was a self-taught artist and never received formal education, instead gaining prominence as a freelance or commercial printmaker before beginning to paint in the 1920s. His style was abstract, taking cues from modernist artists, Cubists like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, as well as older renaissance painters. However, unlike the modernists who influenced him, his work almost always stayed grounded in depicting the landscape of urban America. Horter was also a prominent collector in the city, interested in everything from modernism to African sculpture to Native American Art. His collection played a major role in introducing modernist ideas from Europe to Philadelphia’s art scene. Horter taught at what is now the University of the Arts, and at Temple University. While teaching, Horter met Dox Thrash, and they would begin a mentor-mentee relationship; Horter is often credited with introducing Thrash to printmaking.

On South Street This etching is one of the many pieces that Horter would create to depict the busyness and movement embedded in Horter's understanding of community in urban spaces, particularly Philadelphia. In On South Street, the figures of people walking on the street blend in with buildings in the background, generating a level of abstraction that reflects subtle influences of European modernism.

Artistsand andWorks Works Artists

15 3

Julius Thiengen Bloch b. 1888 in Kehl, Germany / d. 1966 in Philadelphia Known for his realistic, sympathetic depictions of the urban working classes, Julius Bloch’s life reflected the diverse backgrounds that made up the city’s art scene. He was born in Germany, but his family emigrated to North Philadelphia when he was just five years old. Bloch’s family was poor but was able to attend both the city’s premier art institutions, the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art and later the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA). Bloch’s austere upbringing left an influence on his artistic style, as he remained committed to social realism—the so-called “Ashcan School” of American art, coined to reflect the gritty images of urban life—even as many of his colleagues turned towards modernism. He exhibited at the Pyramid Club and maintained close ties with the city’s Black community throughout his life, who formed the subject of many of his paintings.

I Will Lift Up My Eyes Unto The Hills Black Philadelphians were the primary features of Bloch’s work because he felt most connected to this community and their cultural identity. I Will Lift Up My Eyes looks to feature culmination of unadulterated Blackness and the reverence of religion that existed within Black communities. Bloch often sought to give dignity back to this marginalized group, and he was met with both adoration and outcry. While people recognized the beauty of his lithographs, people often refused to display portraits of Black people. This led Bloch to being one of the first white artist to be featured in the Pyramid Club.

Artists and Works

Art Exhibition Bloch worked in a wide range of mediums, creating lithographs, etchings and paintings like this work. Art Exhibition is a somewhat atypical work for Bloch. He was largely concerned with subjects of social realism, but he also created a handful of scenes like this, depicting the everyday activities of bourgeois life. The women seen in this work and in his 1927 Bigger and Better Americans shop, carouse, and live lives of leisure in sharp contrast to the lives of the prisoners and refugees Bloch usually depicted. In this case, the bright colors, a departure from his usual moody lithographs, underscore the contrast.

Man at Open Window In the 1950s, Julius Thiengen Bloch enjoyed prominence as a social realist artist in Philadelphia. As one of the first recipients of Public Works of Art Project funding he worked prolifically. By this time he had exhibited work at the Whitney Museum of American Art and held a solo exhibition at the Philadelphia Pyramid Club. Man at Open Window is more typical of his style. It is a figurative work composed around a singular young black man, a theme reflected across many of his works.

Artists and Works

Man at Open Window, contd. Bloch created several variations on the man at the open window theme, all composed around the enigmatic expression on the face of the titular man. Oil on canvas, the design of these colorful works is reminiscent of classical era mosaics.

Head Study, Self Portrait Bloch’s Head Study is evocative of how the artist used lithography to create portraiture that called attention to human suffering. In the 1930s, lithographs became the artistic medium of choice for socially and politically conscious artists who wished to reach a wide, public audience. Lithography, a printmaking method using a design drawn onto a flat stone, was inexpensive and easily reproducible, which allowed artists to spread their work beyond the gallery walls and into printed media sources. Bloch learned lithography in the late 1920s from Philadelphia printer Theodore Cuno. Soon after, Bloch began using lithographs to make bold political statements on the violence, warfare, and racial injustices unfolding during his lifetime. Head Study is a self-portrait. However, it broadly resembles Bloch’s portrait, Refugee, which he created in 1939 following Hitler’s invasion of Poland. The haunting eyes of the gaunt, frowning man encouraged viewers to sympathize with victims of fascism abroad much as Prisoner asked viewers to confront the effects of racial terror in the United States.

FEATURED ESSAY

Julius Bloch's Years at PAFA

Lena Lannutti Julius Bloch once reflected in his journals that, “it’s my nature to literally as well as figuratively to peer into and attempt to penetrate shadows.”[1] His personal artistic style reflects this theme of his work, with his moody and atmospheric pieces like I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes Unto The Hills. Looking historically at trends in Philadelphia’s artistic tastes when Bloch studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) reveals how radical and unique Bloch’s artistic style was. Examining Bloch’s mentors, and trends in PAFA’s curriculum and exhibitions reveals how Bloch’s artistic style differed from the norm. Bloch’s teacher was Thomas Anshutz, a realist painter, who criticized Bloch for working in the dark corners of classrooms, inspiring Bloch’s quote above. At the time, Bloch took issue with his mentor, but eventually grew to respect Anshutz. [2] When Bloch was a student at PAFA in 1918, historian Patriaca Likos contextualizes that the institution was slowly moving away from the realism of men like Anshutz, and pieces with vibrant colors dominated ideas of art. [3] Bloch, still a young artist at the time trying to find his style, often exhibited still lifes of flowers at PAFA, a contrast to his later works filled with social

FEATURED ESSAY

commentary and shadowy hues of grey and black. At the same time as institutions like PAFA began shifting the tastes in Philadelphia’s art scene, Bloch turned to other local institutions like the Barnes Collection (now the Barnes Foundation) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Likos reveals Bloch grew disillusioned with the collection’s proprietor, Dr. Barnes, but made lifelong friends at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in the form of curator Henri Marceu. Likos adds that, “with the Museum it was possible for Bloch to be in daily contact with the art of the past at a time when he felt alienated from the art of the present.” [4] Picture for a moment Bloch as a young man gazing upwards at portraits of the Renaissance, trying to find his own artistic identity when the tastemakers of the art world seem disinterested in his monochromatic pieces. Before Bloch found his calling for activism and his artistic style, he was simply a student of the arts. The pieces featured in Dox Thrash: Painted, Not Printed reflect his signature style and social commentary that became crucial to his work after his studies at PAFA. Without key connections to Philadelphia’s art scene in his early career, between mentors, curators and other artists he would not have reached that pinnacle of success and notoriety as he did in the mid-twentieth century. Sources Cited [1] Patricia Likos, “Julius Bloch: Portrait of an Artist,” Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin Volume 79, Number 339 (1983): 5. [2] Likos, “Portrait of an Artist,” 5. [3] Likos, “Portrait of an Artist,” 5. [4] Likos, “Portrait of an Artist,” 5.

Artistsand andWorks Works Artists

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Reginald Marsh b. 1889 in Paris, France / d. 1954 in Vermont One of the country’s most famous social realist artists, Marsh was best known for his vivid, impressionistic depictions of American urban life. Born in Paris to American parents, Marsh spent most of his life in New York. Like others in our collection, he spent time studying art in Europe, where he became acquainted with both Renaissance artists and contemporary modernists. He spent a few years teaching at the Moore College of Art in Philadelphia in the 1940s.

Are You Against Lynching? This piece, also known as “This is her first lynching,” was first published in the New Yorker in 1934. The pastel on watercolor piece offers an insight on the psychological and community effects of lynching. Marsh’s work usually reflected urban socializations and human interactions. His art was often described as informal and comedic, but this artwork spoke about the greater obstacles that existed within the United States. Marsh chooses not to show the victim to allow the viewer to think more deeply about the spectacle of the event and its participants. From the New Yorker to An Art Commentary on Lynching exhibit to the Connelly Center, Are You Against Lynching? creates a conversation about what inspires connections that cultivate a community.

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Reginald Marsh. Credit: Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Isabella Kolic

All we knew was the lithograph was in Hughes House. On a chilly February afternoon, we reached the house on the West Campus. It stood behind a fence surrounded by a sparse lawn, appearing like any other house in the area. We were told that this house was filled top to bottom with artwork, and that all the pieces we were looking for must be inside. We entered the house through the kitchen. I watched my steps as we commented to each other on the sheer enormity of the space, how strange it was to see what looked like a typical residence hidden on our campus, and even stranger to see it occupied by sewing machines, intricately embroidered garments, African sculptures, even handmade puppets. Paintings lined stairways, walls—even the bathtubs were full. It was a eureka moment when Dox Thrash’s missing painting Bouquet was found, placed on the ground as if it wanted to be seen and included. Located a few shelves from its designated spot, I laid my eyes on Are You Against Lynching?, a lithograph by Reginald Marsh advertising an anti-lynching meeting in Philadelphia. I handled it with care and reveled in being able to touch what would become an artifact in an exhibit I had

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a hand in creating, appreciating a closeness I had never reached with an untouchable artwork in an exhibit. The poster features an image of a young girl standing on an adult’s shoulders looking over a crowd clearly enthralled with what was occurring before them. “Her first lynching” is written under the image in tiny lettering, a distasteful uttering that suggests it will not be her last. I imagine what this white painter was thinking as he created this image. Were other artists or activists involved in dreaming it up? Had he witnessed a similar young girl watching a lynching like an everyday spectacle? Had he simply aimed to remind potential activists that lynching was a problem in their own communities treated as a piece of entertainment, passed through the generations? Are You Against Lynching roped me in just as it had served to draw Philadelphians to this meeting. It suggested the kind of community I learned was present among Black and white artists in Philadelphia, particularly keyed into the racism, violence, and exclusion faced by Black Philadelphians. It brought together art and activism, all while it brought me closer to the important project I was able to participate in. It more than served its purpose.

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Seymour Remenick b. 1923 in Detroit, MI / d. 1999 in Philadelphia Remenick shares a familiar biography with several of the artists on view today. Born in Detroit, he came to Philadelphia to obtain an art education and later to teach at PAFA. He is said to have been fond of more traditional painting styles and was particularly devoted to producing landscapes, but brought a more modern twist to them with his realism. He was also acquainted with Benjamin Bernstein, producing a portrait of the collector.

City View from Belmont Hills, War Memorial in Distance Seymour Remenick was a landscape artist in the 1940s who spent most of his time creating cityscapes of notable landmarks around the city of Philadelphia. From his watercolors and drawings, the viewer can understand the application of detail that comes from spending intentional time paying attention to smaller details of the city. This piece may depict the "All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors" memorial, which was moved from Fairmount Park in 1994 to its current location on Logan Square.

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Samuel Maitin b. 1928 in Philadelphia, / d. 2004 in Philadelphia A fixture of the city’s art scene in the midcentury, Maitin was born in North Philadelphia to a Jewish immigrant family from Russia. His parents were active in the European labor movement before coming to the United States, where they started a grocer in the city. Maitin attended the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art, now the University of the Arts. Like his parents, he was a committed political activist, involved in movements against war, for workers’ and civil rights, and racial justice. His most famous project was with the Society Hill Movement where he protested the displacement of African American and Eastern European families from their homes.

Laird Army God Antiwar Poster In interviews, Maitin speaks emotionally on how his immigrant background helped instill in him a sense of social justice that is reflected in works like this Laird Army God poster. This chaotic, moody piece stands out in Maitin’s usual colorful work, fitting its grim subject matter. Here, Maitin’s signature chaotic composition embodies the chaos of war. Its cryptic title is a reference to the former US Secretary of Defense, Melvin Laird, who is quoted on the work. Presumably, the name is a reference to Laird’s deep involvement in the Vietnam War.

Artists and Works

Artists Equity Triennial Maitin’s art was often closely tied to his work as an activist. This piece was a promotion Triennial recurring

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Artist’s Equity group. Maitin described the group as a sort of “artists union” that fought to protect the rights of artists. He was an active member in the 70s and even testified on their behalf in a court case that wanted to win printmakers stronger protections from fraudulent fabrications.

Whatever Magic You Expect From Dreams The stylized doves led to this series of works becoming known as Maitin’s “peace posters,” but he insists that works like this one were renditions of poetry. The line included here, “Whatever magic you expect from dreams is heavy on the air,” was penned by poet John Ciardi, whom Maitin collaborated with throughout his career. Maitin’s abstract, vibrant posters like these would have adorned hospitals, schools, community centers, and other public spaces throughout Philadelphia.

Artists and Works

La Fanciulla de West As detailed in his 1991 interview with Ann Hunter for the Archives of American Art, Maitin was a lifelong learner and voracious reader. Fittingly, his painting La Fanciulla del West borrows its name from a 1910 opera by Giacomo Puccini which chronicles the illfated love between Saloon runner Minie and outlaw Dick Johnson. Looking at his body of work it is easy to see why this Western Opera, with its themes of passion and romance against the backdrop of a rapidly modernizing country appealed to Maitin. La Fanciulla del West employs some of his signature techniques- bold geometric shapes in a bright, almost expressionist, color paletteto depict an eroticized, primal vision of the female body.

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Street Scene on Pine Street, 1957. Credit: Preserving Society Hill

Sarah Snyder

In 1961 Samuel Maitin bought a home with his wife at 704 Pine Street in Society Hill, a neighborhood consisting of mostly African American and Eastern European immigrant families. The house was not in livable condition because the previous family was evicted four years prior. The Redevelopment Authority, charged with improving the area, raised the rent to purposefully force old families out, and move new, wealthier families in. As a child of a Jewish immigrant family himself, Maitin was motivated to step in and prevent others from losing their homes. With his wife and his brother, an architect, they worked to restore homes, shops, and community parks by washing the outside of buildings, installing new floors, applying new paint, delivering new dirt, and picking up trash. They even encouraged the Redevelopment Authority to donate fresh plants and trees to the park. The Preserving Society Hill Movement was set in motion.

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Inspired by the restoration project, Maitin painted many abstracts and images to represent their work. He painted one abstract of the items found in the homes that previous families left behind, including shoes, dolls, eggshells, papers, and more. It was an old Irish tradition to place a shoe of every family member under the floorboards of the house. By including this symbolism and inspiration in his abstract, Maitin gave tribute to the evicted families and immigrants effected by the Redevelopment Authority. Testimony of the families who Maitin did help, are found on the Preserving Society Hill Movement website. In January of 2022, Maitin’s wife Lilyan displayed his art in their home on Pine Street in Society Hill, to remember his dedication to the people of Philadelphia.

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Paul F. Keene (b. 1924 in Philadelphia / d. 2009 in Philadelphia) Paul Keene was born in Philadelphia in 1924 and spent nearly his entire career living and working in North Philadelphia. His parents worked as undertakers, which was groundbreaking at the time as mother was the first woman in the profession in Pennsylvania. He started painting when he attended free classes at the Graphic Sketch Club, where he was the only Black students in his class, and went on to attend the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He served in the Air Force in World War II, where he used the GI Bill to study at the Académie Julian in Paris. Later, he would teach at the Centre d’Art in Haiti. Both experiences would leave a major influence on his artistic style. Keene was an early exhibitor at the Pyramid Club, where he befriended its founder Humbert Howard. Keene’s work was always figurative, a style he described as “Abstract Realist.” His paintings often incorporated religious or literary themes, but he was best known for his depictions of Black life in the city during the midcentury.

La Cogida y la Muerte This work was part of a series of charcoal paintings he made during the 1960s inspired by Spanish Poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Keene thought the grayscale color choice brought out a stark contrast in the figures, creating “shadows within shadows” and “forms within darks”. The title, . The Goring and the Death), comes La Cogida y la Muerte (likely translated as from the first stanza of Lorca’s “Llanto por (Lament for) Ignacio Sánchez Mejías,” which was written after a friend of Lorca’s was killed in a bullfight. Keene’s parents made little effort to shield him from their work as undertakers, so he was in his words, “closely associated with death all my life.” He was intrigued by the Spanish preoccupation for death, which drew him to Lorca’s poetry in the first place. Bullfighting was fascinating to Keene, and he compared it to a ballet that had the “mysticism” of death hanging over it.

Artists and Works

Symphony in Blue Keene's depictions of African Americans, culture, religion, and modernism have spoken to numerous generations of artist that have followed him. Like Symphony in Blue, Keene’s depictions of jazz and music seeked to emulate a movement that he witnessed within his own life and the city of Philadelphia. Keene is most wellknown for his use of acrylic paints and vibrant colors, along with his use of griding. His goal of Symphony and other pieces was to create and re-establish icons of vibrancy of life that lived in Philadelphia versus what was often portrayed in media.

Artists and Works

Still Life In this piece, Paul F. Keene portrays traditional subject matter through a contemporary lens. An astute viewer can make out the form of a bowl of fruit, a plant and a pitcher through the layers of Cubist inspired abstraction. The colors here are exuberant. While the objects are inert, the colors and brush strokes give it a sense of explosion off of the canvas. Keene seemed to have enjoyed this style, as he produced several of these still life paintings in quick succession during 1950.

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Louis B. Sloan b. 1932 in Philadelphia / d. 2008 in Philadelphia Louis Sloan was a fixture of the Philadelphia art scene. He was best known for open-air landscape paintings, but he also often painted realistic scenes of urban Philadelphia. His father was a mechanic, and his family struggled during the Depression. When he was a young man, Julius Bloch took an interest in his art and suggested that he attend the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA). Sloan would maintain a close relationship with PAFA throughout his life, eventually becoming the first Black professor at the school and teaching there for more than thirty years. He was also known to exhibit at the Pyramid Club.

West Chester Landscape This piece, depicting a country road outside West Chester, exemplifies Sloan’s distinctive style that incorporated vibrant colors and meticulously painted sunlight reflecting through the trees. Sloan’s work was driven by a desire to capture, in his words, the “glorious light that glows” in natural landscapes. Like Thrash, Sloan was a skilled landscape painter and took great pride in the genre, which according to his former student Barkley Hendricks, was a fact that often was overlooked by gallery curators during the 1970s wanted to see Black artists making “Black art.” Still, he cultivated deep roots in Philadelphia and was remembered as a kind, passionate teacher of art to generations of students in the city.

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Joe McGarvey Portrait of Ben Bernstein Bernstein’s close friendship with numerous artists across the region is captured in personal notes written on many of the pieces in our collection. This painting was made directly for Bernstein by Joe McGarvey, an industrial designer and painter who attended the University of the Arts (then the Philadelphia College of Art). On the backside of it is a note McGarvey wrote, reading “For Ben, a message that words could not portray”, signed and dated February 13, 1970.

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Accessibility in Art Exhibits

Elizabeth Miner It is not often that I find myself going to art exhibits. My lack of visitations stems not from disinterest; I love visual culture and understanding how artists employed their medium to express themselves, their situations, and how they viewed the world. I find myself hesitating to go to these exhibits and galleries in general because of lacking options regarding accessibility. As a visually impaired individual, I often prefer and sometimes rely on audio tours and alt text descriptions of images to fully and independently experience an exhibit. In creating Dox Thrash: Painted, Not Printed, I wanted to make accessibility one of the central tenants in preparing this exhibit. While it may not be perfectly executed or done to the fullest extent possible, creating an accessible art exhibit was seen through to the end. I am incredibly grateful to Dr. Whitney Martinko and the whole of Villanova University’s Spring 2022 Public History Practicum for supporting this endeavor and working with me to accomplish the goal of making an art exhibit accessible to visitors with varying abilities. It started with offering an audio tour, an easy way for visitors to get the text presented on the various panels across the gallery. This would assist various visitors, whether or not they are disabled. As a class , we agreed we would make

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available.

drawing in visitors who

otherwise might turn away from the exhibit because of the visual nature of the material. Advertising the options upfront allows for independence; no one needs to ask if the option is available and how they go about getting it. They can come in on their own time and enjoy themselves. This idea grew into providing alt text with the audio tour, a short but detailed description of each piece of artwork, noting its colors, textures, what is depicted, and any other critical details. This option allows for a deeper connection to the art, even if a visitor cannot see it. It provides users with independence as they do not have to ask for information on every piece, gaining the visual information the text uses to build its narrative. I am thrilled we could accomplish this in the short time we had to plan for and get the exhibit off the ground. While I know there is much more we could have done provided we had the time and resources, I know we have a strong start, and I am thrilled to have been a part of it. I hope that this sparks an interest, not only in the work of Dox Thrash and the other twentieth-century artists we feature but that it creates a stronger push in making history in all its forms more accessible to an eager and diverse audience.

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Sarah Snyder The Villanova University Art Gallery makes visual arts a vital aspect of campus life for students and the public to enjoy. While the gallery is open for public visitors, the exhibits mostly serve a student and family audience, especially during commencement weekend. For this reason, our class created visual media and interactive activities geared toward the engagement of this specific audience. In addition to the artwork, the exhibit displays photographs of artists and places in Philadelphia, and a large symbolic mural to catch the attention of visitors. Visitors can also use the mural for a photo opportunity to save or post to social media detailing their experience at the gallery. A television screen also displays a rotating Power Point presentation that provides background information on the artwork and images displayed. To further promote engagement, visitors have an opportunity to share what the Philadelphia area means to them after learning about what it meant to 20th century artists. This helps visitors to relate to the exhibit on a personal level and connect their experiences with people that previously lived in the area. Making connections like this stimulates the memory, increasing the ability to

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remember what you see and learn. Visitor engagement is at its highest when people can connect their own interests to exhibit content and when information relates to their own experiences. This also provides opportunity for visitors to share personal beliefs with curators and visitors on a Philadelphia inspiration wall, hung at the end of the exhibit. In larger exhibits, where younger audiences are present, additional engagement strategies are added. One way to expand Painted, Not Printed to a children’s audience, is to create a hands-on activity that involves a reward for participation. Children often learn best through experiences that provide an incentive because it increases their willingness and motivation to learn. In the gallery, they would answer questions by reading the labels or finding a painting based on a provided clue. If they answered the question correctly and found the right painting, they receive an exhibit postcard to write their name on and post on a collaborative exhibit wall for others to see. An activity like this also helps young audiences to see the exhibit from a different perspective. They become emerged in a specific task, rather than feeling overwhelmed by all the information present.