Ch. 1 - The Cleveland School of Art

The Cleveland School of Art

“All this first year at the school I had a feeling of guilt for enjoying it so much. It seemed that we did not work hard enough. Perhaps it was a puritan conscience due to my Yankee upbringing; and even the praise of my teachers did not do away with this.”

1 Lady in Blue

c. 1910 Watercolor on paper Signed verso 17 x 12 inches “In water color there is a much greater latitude of effect possible than in many other processes.”

One of the classes that Wilcox took at the Cleveland School of Art was in cast drawing taught by F. C. Gottwald. He was required to faithfully render with consistent technique, the plaster casts of the most accomplished sculptures from history. Wilcox’s drawing of Michelangelo’s Dying Slave demonstrates his ability to meet the demands of such a strict course.

2 Study of Sculpture - Michelangelo’s Dying Slave,

c. 1906-10 Graphite on paper Signed lower right 24 x 14.5 inches

3 Drawing for the Spring Fantasy at the Cleveland School of Art

c. 1907 Graphite on paper 15.75 x 10.5 inches

4 Angel with Violin inspired by Leonardo da Vinci

c. 1906 Watercolor on paper 17 x 9.25 inches

Drawn from another plaster cast at the Cleveland School of Art, The Wrestlers is a dynamic Roman marble sculpture after a lost Greek original of the third century BCE. It currently resides in the Uffizi collection in Florence, Italy. Later when Wilcox was a teacher, he recalled that there was a “destruction of casts at the School. All the lesser casts were used to ballast a new parking space... Thus, cast drawing was put to an end.”

5 Study of Sculpture - The Wrestlers

c. 1906-10 Graphite on paper 18.5 x 24 inches

6 Reading

c. 1908-10 Watercolor on paper 12 x 17.5 inches

7 Nude in Darkness

c. 1908 White conté crayon on black paper 20 x 11 inches

“Gottwald also conducted the same sketch class that was held on Wilson Avenue in which students took turns at posing in various costumes.This was good technical practice.”

8 Japanese Lantern

c. 1910 Watercolor on paper 22 x 16 inches 31.5 x 25.5 inches, as framed

9 Self-Portrait in Colonial Costume

c. 1908 Oil on board 21.75 x 17 inches

Photograph of Wilcox (far right) and Cleveland School of Art students dressed in colonial costume.

Wilcox was also adept in capturing a person’s essence, as is seen in examples from his life drawing courses. One notable model was Antonio Corsi. An Italian-born artist’s model and silent-film actor, Corsi was a celebrity in the first part of the twentieth century, posing frequently for John Singer Sargent, Edward Burne-Jones, and Frederic Leighton. Wilcox easily captures Corsi’s celebrated “exotic” features and brooding expressions in both pencil and watercolor. Wilcox stated “Corsi developed in the classes a record high for esprit-de-corps, which has never since then been duplicated.”

10 Drawing of Antonio Corsi

1908 Charcoal on paper Signed and dated lower right 17 x 11.25 inches

11 Antonio Corsi as a Monk at his Desk

c. 1908-10 Watercolor on paper 21 x 13.5 inches

“Gottwald gave me a good criticism on this and then took me outside very tactfully and told me he would kick me downstairs if I ever again brought watercolors in his classes.”

“In my own case my father dreamed up a cartoonist’s career for me although he wanted me to acquire a scientific education as a backlog. He sought out every opportunity to show off my ability to his friends and gave me confidence in my one gift standing in good stead after his early death… Thus an art career appeared to be the only course open to me at the age of seventeen, yet I had no real comprehension of its difficulties, purposes or meaning as a public service.”

12 Businessman Illustration

c. 1908 Watercolor on paper 10.25 x 11 inches

“It is not that the commercial attitude is wrong from any human standpoint, but that the more one paints, the less inclined he is to confuse styles and structural facts. I do not try, as some of my old teachers did, to preach against commercialism; but point out to my students the need to know the truth before trying to cope with the confusing problems of such composition.”

13 Teapot Still Life

c. 1908-10 Watercolor on paper 11.75 x 15 inches

14 Keller’s Watercolor Class

1908 Watercolor on paper 11 x 18 inches “The outstanding experiences of the second year of art school, from my own point of view, were attending Keller’s watercolor class and studying design with Louis Rohrheimer.”

15 Potted Palm Tree

c. 1908 Watercolor on paper 12.5 x 10 inches

Upon Wilcox’s return from his first trip to Europe, he was offered a variety of professional opportunities, which were presented after the success of selling some of his works completed abroad. In 1913, only three years after his graduation, he began teaching at the

16 Cover Illustration for Collier’s The National Weekly

c. 1910 Watercolor on paper 21.25 x 15.5 inches

Cleveland School of Art. His remarkable tenure lasted 44 years, earning him the title, “The Dean of Cleveland School Painters.” He taught illustration, figure drawing, anatomy, and later, etching, lithography, and printmaking. Among many of his students to become wellknown artists were Charles Burchfield, Paul Travis, and Clarence Carter.

17 Eagle Point Hotel

c. 1910 Watercolor on board Monogram lower right 26.25 x 17 inches

Many of Wilcox’s classmates left after their second year at the Cleveland School of Art, believing they had gained enough skill to break in to the field of illustration. Most of them began attending the school with the intention of becoming illustrators or cartoonists. Though Wilcox’s father encouraged

18 The Water Jug

c. 1908 Watercolor on paper 21.75 x 15 inches

his artistic path in hopes of a lucrative cartoonist career, it does not seem that this was ever Wilcox’s goal. In fact, when his classmates left to pursue illustration, Wilcox considered their decision to be rash, for he was only beginning to pierce the skin of all artistic professional opportunities available.

19 Casual Man Illustration

c. 1908-10 Watercolor on paper Initialed center right 24.5 x 19 inches