Look Both Ways: Art at the Crossroads of Abstraction and Representation by Woodmere Art Museum

ExhibitionBOTH or Catalogue Title LOOK WAYS Art at the Crossroads of Abstraction 15 words max and on Representation

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LOOK BOTH WAYS Art at the Crossroads of Abstraction and Representation

CONTENTS Foreword 2 Illustrated Works 4 Works in the Exhibition 164

February 13â&#x20AC;&#x201C;May 15, 2016

FOREWORD In recent years, Woodmere’s exhibitions

our collection that, on second viewing,

have explored Philadelphia’s figurative

are recognizable as landscapes, figurative

and realist traditions, examining both

works, or still lifes. We combine these

the influence of our city’s great art

with representational works that might

academies and the degree to which

seem to present an image of the world

artists were trained to provide the

as we recognize it, but then unravel

images for our city’s institutions or

before our eyes. On one hand, the result

for print media.

is playfully satisfying. On the other hand, the exhibition challenges assumptions

We have also explored Philadelphia’s

about how a story is told, or how formal

trajectory of modernist painting and

elements like color and line can be used

abstraction. Through the twentieth

to create meaning.

century, artists immersed themselves in avant-garde ideas—often inspired by

For Woodmere’s staff it has been a

trips to Paris or New York—and created a

pleasure to examine our collection with

culture of modernism that was distinct to

this double-edged focus. A team of

our city.

four worked like a well-oiled machine to make Look Both Ways and its catalogue

Needless to say, art rarely fits into

materialize in a seemingly effortless

neat patterns. Though we may try to

manner. Sally Larson, Deputy Director for

create categories of representation

Collections and Registrar; Rachel McCay,

and abstraction, many works of art are

Assistant Curator; Rick Ortwein, Deputy

impossible to fit into either framework.

Director for Exhibitions; and Hildy

Artists work in all different ways, or they

Tow, the Robert McNeil, Jr. Curator of

may choose to deliberately confound

Education have my unwavering admiration.

expectation. Look Both Ways presents the work of these artists. We built the

Look Both Ways is also primarily

exhibition by selecting abstract paintings,

an exhibition of recent acquisitions.

sculpture, drawings, and photographs in

Woodmere is grateful to the many artists 2

Inside Sumner’s Garden, 1996, by John Laub (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Bruce Kingsley and the Estate of John Laub, 2014)

and individuals whose generous gifts of

WILLIAM R. VALERIO, PHD

art help us refine and deepen the pursuit

The Patricia Van Burgh Allison

of our mission to tell the stories of

Director and CEO

Philadelphia’s artists. Thank you all.

ETHEL M. SCHNADER GALLERY With works of art that date from the

narrative arts have remained strong in

mid-1920s to today, Look Both Ways

Philadelphia throughout the twentieth

considers the reciprocal exchange

century. Simultaneously, modernist ideas

between realism and abstraction. The

were introduced by artists like Arthur

exhibition includes paintings, sculpture,

B. Carles, Earl Horter, and Leon Kelly.

drawings, and photographs by artists

Having traveled to Paris in the early

who embrace some level of abstraction

decades of the twentieth century, these

and at the same time represent

artists participated in the conversation

the appearances or tangibility of

of the European avant-garde. They

recognizable subjects.

subsequently encouraged their colleagues and students in Philadelphia

Different areas of strength in

to experiment with abstraction and new

Woodmereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collection are juxtaposed,

ideas that expressed the spirit of the

with Pennsylvania Impressionism and

modern age. The arts in Philadelphia

Philadelphiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mid-century painting

continue to evolve, and contemporary

grouped together with contemporary art.

artists demonstrate a freedom in

Throughout the exhibition, it is evident

shifting between numerous strategies of

that the figurative tradition and

abstraction and representation.

JOHN LAUB American, 1947–2005

Inside Sumner’s Garden is a place of

Inside Sumner’s Garden 1996 Oil on linen

Strokes of luscious color become leaves,

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Bruce Kingsley and the Estate of John Laub, 2014

on-site in scenic places like Fire Island,

grandeur and intimacy that demonstrates Laub’s lyrical approach to painting. flowers, reflections, water, sky, and a wooden path that winds through an earthly paradise. Laub often painted Woodstock, Martha’s Vineyard, and Mount Desert Island in Maine. He would then finish his work in the studio, referring to his drawings and photographs. Born in Philadelphia, Laub studied at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and the School of Visual Arts in New York. There he met the painter Fairfield Porter, who encouraged him to bridge the gap between representation and abstraction. His estate is represented by Fischbach Gallery in New York.

DOUGLAS WITMER American, born 1971

Two precisely placed horizontal bands of

How Soon Is Now? 2008 Black gesso and acrylic on canvas

Witmer’s deceptively simple painting

color—one vivid green, the other bright blue—float on a black-stained canvas. combines geometric forms, emphatic hues, and subtle manipulation of surface to suggest the struggle of earth and water pressing toward each other and competing for dominance.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2011

Witmer was raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He earned his BA from Goshen College and his MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He has lived and worked in Philadelphia since 1995.

MADELINE PECKENPAUGH American, born 1991

Peckenpaugh’s brushstrokes and incised

Neither Can I February 2014 Oil on canvas

paintings often have a balance between

Woodmere Art Museum: Woodmere Purchase Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annual Student Exhibition, 2014

I strive for a level of comfort, but there

lines create an agitated surface of frenetic energy. The artist explains, “My abstraction and representation. I want them to feel like a tangible, recognizable space, but also have notes of confusion. is a struggle to get through the painting before you can reach it.” Peckenpaugh received her BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her work has been exhibited at Gross McCleaf Gallery and Seraphin Gallery, both in Philadelphia.

ANDREA PACKARD American, born 1963

In both art and nature, I am drawn

Inheritance 2010 Mixed media on paper

discovery, and invite greater empathy.

to spaces that prompt heightened awareness, offer visual journeys of â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Andrea Packard Inheritance immerses viewers in thick, rich textures of different densities.

Woodmere Art Museum: Anonymous gift, 2011

Yarns, threads, carpeting, rug backings, pastels, and paper are combined to create unexpected associations: an incomplete quilt, a disassembled coat or sweater, a map, a topographical relief, or an agricultural landscape. The title and familiar intimacy of the materials evoke a sense of familial connections and history. A graduate of Swarthmore College and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Packard received an MFA in painting from American University in 1994. She is the director of the List Gallery at Swarthmore College.

BRUCE POLLOCK American, born 1951

manifests an intended purpose, implying

Teleos 1986 Enamel on fir plywood

Teleos is one of several enamel paintings

how patterns evolve in nature.

Pollock created on plywood during the 1980s in which he would attach shelves, frames, and other objects or cut and punch holes in the panels. Geometric

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2015

patterns, shapes, and symbols were painted with many layers of enamel paint and then sanded to excavate the images and colors embedded in earlier layers.

Pollock is inspired by his observations of the patterns of nature. Teleos is

Pollock studied art at the Cleveland

composed of networks of lines and

Institute of Art and received his MFA in

shapes that overlap and spread across

painting from Temple Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tyler

the artwork, pierced with holes at

School of Art. He has been teaching at

specific junctures. The yellow lines

Drexel University for twenty years and

and holes represent the zodiac, the

has been the studio head of painting

constellations that lie along the path of

there since 2003.

the sun as it moves across the sky every year. One unique white star is painted in

Other works by Pollock are also on view

the upper left. Spirals of red circles and

in this exhibition.

a web-like pattern of polygons create a sense of unending movement, suggesting the revolutions of the stars and planets around the sun. Pollock curves the edges of the plywood surface, intimating the roundness of the sky. The title, Teleos, is a Greek word meaning â&#x20AC;&#x153;completeâ&#x20AC;? or a journey toward completeness that

THOMAS CHIMES American, 1921–2009

Chimes enrolled in the Pennsylvania

Kabirion 1996 Oil on wood panel

in World War II when he joined the

Promised gift of Joseph and Pamela Yohlin

Students League in New York. After

Academy of the Fine Arts, but his studies were interrupted by US involvement Air Force. After the war, he studied philosophy at Columbia University and painting and sculpture at the Art moving back to Philadelphia in 1953, he received a fellowship from the National

In the 1980s, Chimes began a series of

Endowment for the Arts, which enabled

“white works,” characterized by their

him to develop his own, more personal

exclusive use of white and relief imagery

style. His career reflects a continuous

that incorporates mythology, maps,

reinvention and transformation.

constellations, and geometric forms.

Chimes’s work is in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Museum

A sense of eeriness pervades Kabirion, a

of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the

low relief surface with images of a man

Museum of Modern Art, New York; the

in a hat, the triangular symbol for “play,”

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC;

and a topographical coastline, likely

The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC;

Greece (the title of the work, Kabirion,

the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine

references a classical site in Greece, just

Arts, and many others.

west of Thebes). The imagery reflects Chimes’s interest in the provocative ideas of French poet and Surrealist playwright Alfred Jarry and his concept of “pataphysics” or “the science of imaginary solutions.” Chimes, like Jarry, posits an alternative universe made up entirely of exceptions, in which traditions are upended. 17

JOHN FOLINSBEE American, 1892â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1972

Slate Quarry, Bangor (a quarry near

Slate Quarry, Bangor 1929 Oil on canvas

gradations. Cool blue-gray forms

Long-term loan from the John F. Folinsbee Art Trust

center of the canvas. For Folinsbee, the

Allentown, Pennsylvania) is a dynamic geometric mass of subtle color intersect with angular thrusts of warmer brown planes. The curves of the draglines drape through space and across the quarry is a quintessentially machine-age subject because the stone of the quarry is used to construct American cities. Born in Buffalo, Folinsbee studied briefly at the Art Students League in New York and with several artists in Connecticut and Woodstock. He settled in New Hope, Pennsylvania, in 1916, and joined the group of artists generally known as the New Hope School or the Pennsylvania Impressionists. These included Edward Redfield, Daniel Garber, Robert Spencer, and William Lathrop. His work has been exhibited and collected widely throughout the country. In 1953, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, one of the highest honors an artist can receive.

ELAINE KURTZ American, 1928â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2003

Kurtzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heavily loaded surfaces were

Alluvial 2003 Sand, mica, and acrylic on vinyl-backed cotton, on canvas

mixing it with soil, gravel, sand, minerals,

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Jerome Kurtz, 2012

relating to or derived from alluvium,

produced on the floor of her studio, where she poured and brushed paint, and other materials. She created compositions that mirror the patterns of accretion and erosion visible in natural topographic formations by moving the canvases back and forth to disperse the built-up areas. The title, Alluvial, means which is a deposit of clay, silt, sand, and gravel left by flowing streams. Alluvial is as much an investigation of a sensual surface and as it is a gash or crevasse in the earth. Kurtz attended and later became an instructor at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts). Her work was exhibited at Locks Gallery in Philadelphia and other museums and galleries across the United States. She was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at Woodmere in 2012. She began using earth and natural minerals in her work in the late 1980s and early 1990s and had shipments of these natural materials sent to her studio from great distances.

DORIS STAFFEL American, 1921â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2013

Black marks and simplified shapes merge

Untitled 1942 Oil on canvas

while other marks rest below the surface,

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2011

the distance, creating a sense of shallow

in a thick amalgam of nature. Distinct elements seem to struggle for visibility creating an underlying layer. Staffel uses patches of color in a range of hues that appear to come forward and recede into space. The verticality and density of the forms suggest an impenetrable hilly landscape and a horizon line near the top of the painting. Born and raised in New York, Staffel studied under abstract expressionist Mark Rothko at the Manhattan Center Academy. In the early 1940s she moved to Philadelphia to study painting at Temple Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tyler School of Art. She was an inspiring educator at the University of the Arts for many years.

CATHERINE M. KUCH GALLERY

BRUCE POLLOCK American, born 1951

Through my work, I want to share the

Red Wing 1983 Fir plywood and enamel

and in the world around us, connecting

beauty and mystery I find in nature. The patterns I use in my work are within us us all together in the network of life. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Bruce Pollock After Pollock received his MFA from

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2015

Temple Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tyler School of Art, his work leaned toward sculpture. During this time, Pollock created several sculptural works inspired by a helix, a shape formed by a line that curves around and along a central line. In Red Wing, flat wooden shapes radiate outward as wings or the supporting sticks of a fan, elegantly balanced on a center axis. The form gracefully opens and expands. Pollock is the recipient of numerous grants and awards. His works are in numerous private, corporate, and public collections, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

BEN ROSE American, 1916–1980

Just as painters and sculptors have

(top)

who worked in Philadelphia and New

Andy Warhol c. 1976 Color coupler print

York and participated in the activities of

the ability to distort the appearance of reality, so can a photographer. Rose—

Andy Warhol’s New York studio called the Factory in the 1960s and 1970s— transformed the mechanisms of his camera to move laterally, vertically, or in

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Kathy and Peter Rose, 2013

a circular motion to capture overlapping images of his subjects in a single photograph. Warhol posed in Rose’s

(bottom)

studio for this appropriately quirky,

Negative Space 1966 Color coupler print

playful photograph. Rose attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts) in the late 1930s,

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2013

where he was a student of Alexey Brodovitch, the renowned photographer, designer, and instructor whose work is also on view in this exhibition. Rose introduced numerous mechanical and technological innovations in the fields of photography and graphic design. His work is in museum collections worldwide, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

LEON SITARCHUK American, 1922–1993

Sitarchuk’s elegant figure reclines. An

Channel Beams 1972 Painted steel

strength of modernity.

odalisque of steel, she represents the power of the machine age and the

Much of Sitarchuk’s work was intended for installation outdoors. His Pillar (c. 1978), another figurative abstraction,

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. B. Herbert Lee, 2016

is currently installed outside Woodmere’s front door. Channel Beams, with its sensual anodized blue surface, was intended for the indoors. The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Sitarchuk was born in Philadelphia. After attending Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, he served in the United States Army in World War II. On returning to Philadelphia, he dedicated himself to making sculpture and teaching. A beloved instructor for many decades, Sitarchuk taught at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts), the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Cheltenham Art Center, and Woodmere. His impact on the field of sculpture lives on through the many artists who think of him as a primary inspiration and mentor.

LEON KELLY American, 1901–1982

organized by the Surrealist avant-garde.

The Owl of Cáceres 1958 Graphite on paper

at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York.

On returning to Philadelphia, he enjoyed a successful career, showing his work He is considered an influential figure in American art for having championed the ideas of Surrealism.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Paul and Harriet Gratz, 2005

Kelly’s work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art,

In this haunting tableau, a young man

and the Museum of Modern Art, all in

looks yearningly across a table at an owl

New York; Yale University Art Gallery,

perched above a birdcage. He seems to

New Haven, Connecticut; Wadsworth

be asking the wise bird for the answer

Athenaeum, Hartford, Connecticut; the

to a deep, meaningful question. The owl

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,

is free of its cage, but the man may not

Philadelphia; and the Cantor Arts Center,

be free: bars on the window suggest

Stanford University, Palo Alto, California,

he is trapped in a world of existential

among others.

quandary. A cat who seems transfixed by his reflection in a mirror adds further mystery to the scene. Kelly was born in Philadelphia, the son of a tailor. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he became a student of Arthur B. Carles. Carles had lived in Paris, and he encouraged Kelly to do the same. Kelly lived in Paris in the 1920s and participated in several exhibitions 33

ALEX KANEVSKY American, born Russia 1963

layers. Eventually there are enough of

Interior with Meat 2006 Oil on canvas

do a good top layer. And then I have a

the ‘good holes’ and also, because of all the repeated attempts, I manage to painting that has enough intensity in every passage to satisfy me.” Kanevsky was born in Russia and studied

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2015

theoretical mathematics at Vilnius University in Lithuania before coming to the United States in the early 1980s. After

In preparation for painting Interior with

settling in Philadelphia, he began taking

Meat, Kanevsky made sketches in a

painting classes at the Pennsylvania

South Philadelphia meat locker. Upon

Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). A Pew

leaving one day, he noticed a photograph

Fellowship in the Arts in 1997 enabled

of Sylvester Stallone and learned that

Kanevsky to devote himself to painting

a famous scene in the film Rocky was

full time. He currently teaches at PAFA

shot in the same location. In May 2013,

and has exhibited his work throughout

Harper’s Magazine used a reproduction

the United States, Canada, Italy, the

of Interior with Meat on its cover for a

United Kingdom, and Ireland.

report on the meat packing industry. Slabs of hanging beef converge toward a mysterious white circle. Kanevsky’s process involves layers of paint and texture, inviting the viewer to look through surfaces and discover remnants of previous markings. The artist explains, “The layers are sort of like Swiss cheese— they have holes through which, in the right places, you can see the previous 35

BRUCE POLLOCK American, born 1951

Through observation of nature at all scales Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m aware that there is a geometric reality that unites the micro and macrocosms.

Fruitful Darkness 1997 Oil on canvas, mounted on wood panel

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Bruce Pollock Pollock is fascinated by the repetition of shapes that build complex patterns in nature. Clusters of circles in boiling water bubbles, the spirals of seashells, the

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2015

branching patterns of rivers, leaves and cellular systems in biology, become the building blocks for his paintings. Fruitful Darkness brings the viewer into a mesmerizing world of infinite replication and design. Red lines branch and intersect like veins in a leaf, with circles in fractal patterns that retain the same structure when repeated at varying scales. Here Pollock reveals the abstract qualities in nature. Circles of varying sizes move in and radiate out. Color contrasts of light and dark circles create movement and enhance spatial depth. Pollock has exhibited his abstract paintings and drawings throughout the United States and most recently at the Museum of the Central Academy of the Fine Arts in Beijing, China. He has had many solo exhibitions in New York; Chicago; Los Angeles; Shenzhen, China; and other locations. 37

BRIAN MEUNIER American, born 1954

Meunier is continuously inspired by

Squid 1982–83 Polychromed wood

wood and found objects to construct

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. B. Herbert Lee, 2016

as if they are people. Meunier often

the beauty of the animals and plants he encounters in this travels. He uses imagined, whimsical totems, and his strange creatures—usually painted a monochrome color—have personalities, works in clay. Meunier received a BFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an MFA from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. He has been a professor of art at Swarthmore College since 1979, and served as chair of the Art Department from 2001 to 2006. He has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, in addition to several faculty grants from Swarthmore College. He is also the author of two children’s books: Pipiolo and the Roof Dogs (2003) and Bravo, Tavo! (2007).

NEYSA GRASSI American, born 1951

Grassiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contemplative abstractions

Spirit Blue I 2005 Oil on linen

interested in the qualities of water, Grassi

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2014

carves, wipes, and cuts into her surface.

evoke water and clouds. The artist eludes definitive reference points. Continually mimics the effects of erosion and reveals a multilayered surface of marks. She applies paint in thick and thin layers and

Grassi, a recipient of a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, is a critic in the MFA program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She is represented by Locks Gallery in Philadelphia and recently had a solo exhibition, Neysa Grassi, at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts.

FRANK BRAMBLETT American, 1947–2015

violent racist attack by a group of white

Tête-à-Tête 1999 Mixed media, pigments, marble dust, and encaustic on panel

Although it is impossible to separate the

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2015

what these works are about. ‘About’ is

people.

imagery of Tête-à-Tête from its grounding in the horror of a specific history of racist violence, Bramblett always wanted viewers of his work to find meaning in the associations prompted by the visual forms. He explains, “People ask me a dangerous a word. I never know what a painting is ‘about’—before, during, or after completing a work. It simply has

Bramblett’s paintings often contain fruit

resonance for me. Viewers should just

or seed-like elements that symbolize

shelve that mental angst and spend time

growth and regeneration. Here, floating,

before any work. Art is not a map, but

organ-like forms populate the canvas

a prompt.”

and seem scraped, distressed, and charred. The term tête-à-tête refers to

A professor of art in the Painting,

a private conversation between two

Drawing, and Sculpture department at

people; Bramblett recounted to William

Temple University’s Tyler School of Art

Valerio, Woodmere’s director, that the

for almost forty years, Bramblett helped

imagery grew out of vivid memories of a

build the reputation and strength of that

disturbing conversation that had haunted

department. He enjoyed a distinguished

the artist throughout his life. Bramblett

career and inspired generations of artists.

was raised in rural Alabama, and as a teenager he met an African American man whose body was badly scarred; in their conversation, the man recounted how the disfigurement resulted from a 43

JAMIE ADAMS American, born 1961

The three graces represent charm,

The Pinkch 2002 Oil on linen

together from leg to leg, they are

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2012

figures are real. Bubbles float through

beauty, and creativity and they hold hands as if dancing a minuet. Melded connected calf to shin to a quizzical male figure who pinches the nearest figure. He appears to be testing whether the the composition, causing distortion and suggesting the transitory nature of beauty in this strange pink world. Adams was born and raised in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied at Carnegie Mellon University, obtaining a BFA in 1983. In 2000 he earned an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

BETTINA NELSON American, born 1989

This book by Nelson does not tell a

Untitled 2014 Paper, acrylic, and gouache on paper

life, with some pages relating to one

specific sequential story. Instead each page tells its own story from the artist’s another more than others. Collaged paper forms a recognizable subject while other pages consist of abstract shapes of brightly colored paper. Using a book format with a non-narrative structure

Promised gift of Karen Segal

and unrelated pages negates the more traditional understanding of a book as a collection of related chapters and pages. The artist explains, “For me, there is a strange freedom in working inside of books, and allowing myself to leave it as a whole book taught me a lot about the dynamic of working on many different pages, all near each other, but that cannot be seen all at the same time, only remembered. A momentum builds.” Nelson received her degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

JAMIE ADAMS American, born 1961

Adamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach to the figure is

Niagara Notebook 2013 Oil on linen

several cases, it is difficult to determine

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of James and Julie Alexandre, 2016

on the mannerist painters of sixteenth-

sardonic and strange. Figures have too many arms, legs, and feet, and in which hands belong to which figure. The enigmatic, tangled poses and the brilliant, hot colors suggest a meditation century Florence such as Jacopo Pontormo and Agnolo Bronzino. Niagara Notebook is part of Adamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s allegory, Niagara Series. The great waterfall is beautiful but dangerous, and the various figures who appear on its shores in the many paintings of the series represent archetypes of American culture who have survived an ordeal with the fall. The figure at right and left is the same Hollywood bombshell, but with blond and black hair. At center, a third figure in the composition gazes out at the viewer. She holds pen to book, as if her role is to record events.

STERLING SHAW American, born 1982

In Shaw’s painting, a woman wearing only

Grapes 2010 Acrylic on canvas

The flat expanse of the blue background

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2012

gaze? The artist explains, “With the title

a skirt looks off into the distance while bananas are suspended near her head. precludes a sense of space and deep perspective. Where is this woman? Is she standing or floating? What attracts her of the painting I wanted to call attention to the bananas indirectly, so I titled it after another fruit that comes in a bunch.” A Philadelphian, Shaw received a certificate in painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). His work was recently included in the exhibition As We See It: Selected Works from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. His work is included in the permanent collections of PAFA and Woodmere Art Museum.

ANNE MINICH American, born 1934

punctuate the corner and center-point

Boneboat 2013 Oil, bone, and rust metal shard on wood

rear of the boat, which, with its strong

edges of the frame and the sea is dark and ominous. A light figure stands on the erect mass, confronts a second, darker figure that stands on its own boat or body of land. The conversation here is between the two figures, each small in the context of their broader universe.

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase with funds provided by Robert E. and Frances Coulborn Kohler, 2016

For each of them, existence is sustained through decidedly unequal material means. Minich was born in Philadelphia. She

Minich has been engaged with her boat

attended the University of Miami in

series, an ongoing series of assemblages

Coral Gables and the Pennsylvania

with found objects, since 2010. These are

Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

symbolic works that are invested with

She lives and works in Philadelphia, and

a deep meditation on the forces that

her work has been shown broadly and

make up human existence. The boats are

included in numerous exhibitions that

alternately commanding and fragile, and

explore questions of gender difference

they serve as visual metaphors for the

and feminism.

powers that sustain or keep humanity afloat. The boats are phallic, and they represent the patriarchal forces that govern life across the planet. In Boneboat, the structure of the boat is an animal bone, perhaps a rib. Minich traced its irregular outline in order to carve a space that holds it in place on the wooden surface. Blood-red indentations 53

JOSHUA MARSH American, born 1973

Marshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paintings are based on

Mirror 2010 Oil on panel

palette, he works with silhouette,

observations of solid forms and nuances of fleeting light. Using a high-keyed depicting an artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easel that is reflected in an oval mirror. Reflection, object, and shadow interact in this poetical universe.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2011

Marsh lives and works in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He received his BFA from Washington University, in St. Louis, and his MFA from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He is represented by Jeff Bailey Gallery in New York.

SEYMOUR REMENICK American, 1923–1999

Brooding and expressionistic, this

Abstract Interior (Winter 1948) 1948 Oil on canvas

studying with German-born American

painting was completed when the artist was just twenty-five years old, while abstract expressionist painter Hans Hofmann. Using a repeating pattern of geometric shapes, Remenick paints an interior scene looking through a window out onto a building in Philadelphia. A

Promised gift of Philip Jamison

loosely painted chair and an artist’s palette are visible at the bottom right. Defying categorization, Remenick painted in both abstract and realist styles with subject matter that included landscape, still life, and the figure. Remenick was born in Detroit and raised in Philadelphia. He studied art at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (where he went on to teach from 1977 to 1996). His work is represented in public and private collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

SEAN HILDRETH American, born 1990

In Kitchen Decisions, the artist depicts

Kitchen Decisions 2015 Oil and acrylic on canvas

open. The composition is a complex

a crowded cabinet that appears to tilt forward as one of its doors swings combination of viewpoints: a gumball dispenser leans to the right while the toaster sits firmly on the cabinetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top.

Woodmere Art Museum: Woodmere Purchase Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annual Student Exhibition, 2015

Hildreth received his BFA from the State University of New York at Purchase, and obtained his MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2015.

ZOE STRAUSS American, born 1970

photographer and political activist

Detail I-95 (Mom Were OK) 2001–5 Color photocopier print

in 2000. For ten years, beginning in 2001,

who sees her work as a type of social intervention. She began photographing the artist exhibited her photographs under an elevated section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia. In 2006, her work was included in the Whitney Biennial and in 2008 she published her first book,

Woodmere Art Museum: Purchased with funds provided by the D. Robert Yarnall Photography Fund, 2006

America. The Philadelphia Museum of Art organized a mid-career retrospective of her work in 2012 titled, Zoe Strauss: Ten Years. Her work has also been

Verging on abstraction, a geometric

exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago;

pattern of lines make up the façade

the National Museum of Women in the

of this multilevel apartment building.

Arts, Washington, DC; the New Orleans

The beauty of the photograph’s

Museum of Art; and the Wexner Center

formal qualities belies its rather tragic

for the Arts, Columbus. She has shown

circumstance. The image was taken

internationally in Bogota, Brighton,

during Strauss’s time in Gulfport and

Copenhagen, Madrid, Prague, and Utrecht.

Biloxi, Mississippi, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In this series of photographs she captured the devastation caused to the landscape and the people of this area. Written on the outside of the building are the words “Mom Were OK.” Strauss describes her work as “an epic narrative about the beauty and struggle of everyday life.” She is a self-taught 61

GERTRUDE FISHER-FISHMAN American, 1916â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2013

In the 2000s, Fisher-Fishman began to

The Apartment Date unknown Acrylic on canvas

angles and entryways of an apartment

paint with broader, flat strokes of color to describe elegant geometries. In this exquisitely painted composition the are described in shades of black. Through her subtle suggestion of differing levels of light she quietly conveys an interior and exterior space.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2011

Fisher-Fishman lived and worked in Philadelphia throughout her career and had deep institutional relationships. She studied at the Barnes Foundation and participated in exhibitions across the city. Her work was featured in a 2012 three-person exhibition at Woodmere, Generations: Louise Fishman, Gertrude Fisher-Fishman, and Razel Kapustin.

DAVID BREWSTER American, born 1960

Brewster uses bold gesture, thick impasto,

Osborn Cabin through Post and Beam 2013 Oil on gator board

the outside. Exaggerated perspective

and strong line to create an interior architectural space that opens onto lines create a sense of powerful drama. Brewster embraces a French tradition in the arts called premier coup, meaning “all at once.” The paintings are executed in one swift pass, with the graphic urgency

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2013

of improvisational response. Brewster earned his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2012, he was commissioned to create a large series of paintings for the walls of Vance Hall at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; this series recounts the biography of the school’s founder Joseph Wharton (1826–1909), the American industrialist and co-founder of Bethlehem Steel.

ROBERT SPENCER American, 1879â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1931

Spencer captures the atmosphere of

Waterloo Row c. 1917â&#x20AC;&#x201C;18 Oil on canvas

with an even gray light covering every

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2011

faithfully depicting every detail. Using

a cloudy day at a busy construction site. The mood is somberly poetic inch of the canvas. A Pennsylvania Impressionist, Spencer rendered the sensation of his landscapes rather than Impressionistic techniques like the direct application of paint that can be seen in the short strokes of blue and white in the sky, the artist created forms that hover between legibility and illegibility, dissolving the boundaries separating representation from abstraction. Spencer was a member of the New Hope artist colony that included artists such as Daniel Garber and William L. Lathrop. His work is in the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Delaware Art Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others.

ETHEL ASHTON American, 1896â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1975

Ashtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interpretation of the demolition

Demolition c. 1956 Monotype

and angular forms of the wrecked house.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Elaine D. and Bruce M. Ashton, 2013

suggested by the negative space of

of a house on the 2100 block of Walnut Street consists of the fractured planes Here Ashton created an integrated relationship between the fragments of the house and the space beyond, the blank paper. Ashton, a graduate of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art and Design), frequently showed her work in Philadelphia and beyond. For decades, she worked as the librarian and director of the alumni Fellowship program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

FRANCES GALANTE American, 1957â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2015

Galante employed a neutral color

Florist Street 1995 Oil on stretched linen

Street focuses on nuances of light and

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Thuan Bui, 2015

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

palette that created a subtle range of contrasts. Like most of her work, Florist subtleties of form. Galante received her BFA from Temple Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tyler School of Art and she also studied at the In addition to teaching at Woodmere, she taught at the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial and the Wayne Art Center.

STUART SHILS American, born 1954

Shilsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s painterly brushstrokes dissolve

Phil-Ellena and Quincy Streets, Mt. Airy 2008 Oil on linen

Philadelphia native, Shils lives in the Mount

the street sign, telephone pole, and the features of the large red house at left. A Airy neighborhood of the city, and has been painting en plein air for thirty years. He is a visiting critic at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2011

LARRY DAY American, 1921–1998

Born in Philadelphia, Day attended

Landscape c. 1955 Graphite on paper

in 1949 he made the acquaintance of

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Peter Paone, 2011

in Philadelphia and New York. In

Temple University’s Tyler School of Art under the GI Bill. After graduating John Ferren, Philip Guston, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, and Mercedes Matter and began to show his paintings 1953, Day was hired to teach at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art (now the University of the Arts), where

Although Day is best known for the

he remained an influential instructor for

figurative works he made from the 1960s

many decades.

through the 1990s, he enjoyed success as an abstract painter in the 1950s. For Day, abstraction was an examination of the elements that define two-dimensional representation: gesture, line, composition, and color. His interest in “paintings about paintings” did not cease when he turned to figurative representation; his exploration occurred through different interrogations of his ability to portray the world around him. In this drawing, line is applied in a gestural manner and simple markings outline a rocky landscape. This work was a study for a larger painting, Landscape for St. John of the Cross (1955). The primacy of line would remain constant throughout his career.

RON TARVER American, born 1957

Tarver captures the flow of rushing

Flow 2014 Archival inkjet print

quick, capturing a split-second of motion

water as it cascades around a rock in the Wissahickon. The cameraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lens is very that would not be seen by the human eye. Tarver received his BA in journalism and graphic arts from Northeastern State

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2015

University in Oklahoma. He worked as a staff photographer for the Philadelphia Inquirer for over thirty years. In 2012 he was the joint recipient of the Pulitzer Prize at the Philadelphia Inquirer for his work on a series documenting school violence in the Philadelphia public school system. He was also awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. He currently teaches at Swarthmore College.

BILL FREELAND American, 1929â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2009

Using wood and steel, Freeland

Nocturnus 2003 Steel and wood

Freeland studied with the influential

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Erik Freeland, 2011

the University of the Arts) in 1955. He

creates a powerful totem whose Latin title, Nocturnus, evokes the night. modernist Hans Hofmann in the 1950s and graduated from the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now worked as a painter in the early decades of his career before gradually shifting to three-dimensional wall constructions and freestanding sculpture. Farming tools, windmills, and boats served as inspiration for his work. In his later years, Freeland divided his time between Chester County, Pennsylvania, and County Mayo, Ireland. He taught at Moore College of Art and Design and was an important mentor to many artists.

DOROTHY J. DEL BUENO BALCONY GALLERY

ARTHUR B. CARLES American, 1882–1952

Carles was a deeply influential artist

Pheasant with Green Apple c. 1924 Oil on canvas

the United States. He was driven by the

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2011

1929 to 1931, he began to create his own

and an important conduit for bringing the ideas of European modernism to need to experiment and discover new ways of painting. After a profoundly influential period spent in France from manner of Cubist-like painting. Never fully rejecting representational subject matter, Carles used still lifes and models

The color of freshly cut wood, of dried

as springboards for compositions filled

blood, or the color of very clear stone—

with dynamic forms, planes of bold color,

or of sand—or of any immovable thing in

and swirling lines and textures.

nature should be used for the fixtures of Carles was born in Philadelphia and

the picture.

studied at the Pennsylvania Academy

—Arthur B. Carles

of the Fine Arts (PAFA) with Thomas A wild energy pervades this mysterious

Anshutz and William Merritt Chase,

and somewhat ominous representation

among others. He began teaching at

of a dead pheasant. Thick brushstrokes

PAFA in 1917, but was dismissed in

with saturated colors of deep red,

1925 for rebelling against the school’s

orange, yellow, and white describe the

conservative academic curriculum.

form and textures of the lifeless bird;

Carles went on to teach privately and

markings that describe bright orange

left a lasting impression on his students,

and red feathers cascade down into a

a number of whom are represented in

sweep of violet. The stark white curving

Woodmere’s collection. Carles lived on

form of a cloth or shroud contrasts with

Evergreen Avenue in Chestnut Hill from

the ambiguous space of the green apple

1932 to 1946.

and dark-toned background.

EARL HORTER American, 1880–1940

This painting demonstrates Horter’s deep

Abstract Still Life (“Still Life”) c. mid- to late 1930s Gouache on cardboard

while in Paris, he visited the studios of

knowledge of modern art, Cubism in particular. His knowledge came firsthand: Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. He bought works directly from the artists and assembled a remarkable collection of avant-garde French paintings. This composition is a forceful play of

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Philip Jamison and Family, 2012

recognizable forms and indeterminate shapes, marks, and Cubist planes of neutral colors that shift the point of view. Horter was a teacher in Philadelphia at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, the Graphic Sketch Club (now the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial), and the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts). As a painter, printmaker, commercial artist, teacher, and collector, Horter helped to introduce modern art to Philadelphia.

RAPHAEL SABATINI American, 1898–1985

elements for one of Philadelphia’s greatest

Two Figures Date unknown Oil on linen

Sabatini completed two monumental

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2014

and easy blending of organic and

Art Deco structures, the N. W. Ayer building on Washington Square. In 1929, figures for the exterior of the building. These gigantic architectural sculptures share with Two Figures a cool geometry machine-age form. Sabatini served as professor of painting

The figures in Sabatini’s composition

and sculpture at Temple University’s Tyler

merge seamlessly with forms of

School of Art from 1936 to 1966. He also

skyscrapers, clouds, and water. An Art–

served for many years as the president of

Deco stylization and elegant fracturing of

the Philadelphia Art Alliance.

forms characterize the work. Born to a family of Italian immigrants in Philadelphia, Sabatini studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Arthur B. Carles. Like Quita Brodhead, Morris Blackburn, and Leon Kelly, who were also Carles’s students, Sabatini was encouraged to go to Europe in order to immerse himself in avantgarde ideas in the arts. He lived and worked in Paris for most of the 1920s. Sabatini collaborated with fellow artist J. Wallace Kelly and architect Ralph Bencker on the design and sculptural

MORRIS BLACKBURN American, 1902–1979

Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial

Untitled [Playing Chess] Date unknown Oil on canvas

private and public collections, including

Promised gift of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

Museum, and many others. He was also

Art (now the University of the Arts) and PAFA. Blackburn’s work is in many the Philadelphia Museum of Art, PAFA, the Butler Institute of American Art (Youngstown, Ohio), Woodmere Art a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1952. In addition to his work as a painter, he is well known for his

Untiled [Playing Chess] demonstrates

accomplishments in printmaking.

Blackburn’s transition into abstraction. The figures, chessboard, and surrounding space are simplified into flat, sharpedged shapes that are arranged in broad, colorful patterns. Geometric planes punctuated by active black lines create shifting spatial relationships. Blackburn’s work became increasingly abstract when he started taking private classes with his former instructor Arthur B. Carles, whose absorption of European Modernism and its use of abstraction and expressive color had a great influence. Blackburn attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia from 1925 to 1929 where he first met Carles. He became a legendary teacher at the 89

DREW KOHLER American, born 1991

What might appear, at first glance, to

Spilling 2014 Oil on linen

hand to his face. An orange cloud rises

be an abstract composition coalesces to suggest a figure in profile that lifts a from his finger while a strange red mass surrounds his hand. The bright colors glow against the dark background.

Woodmere Art Museum: Woodmere Purchase Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annual Student Exhibition, 2014

Kohler received his BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2014.

QUITA BRODHEAD American, 1901–2002

at beautiful bouquets of flowers to

From a Peach Orchard 1954 Oil on board

paintings.

create what she referred to as “concrete launching points” for her abstract

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Brodhead attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1922 to 1925. She exhibited

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Bill Scott, 2011

her work nationally and internationally.

In From a Peach Orchard, Brodhead suggests the open landscape of an orchard and applies bright color against a sea of gray. Combining her painterly vocabulary of gestural lines, fragmented forms, and bright color, this painting demonstrates her abstract style. The fields of subtle grays expand amid high–keyed strokes of prismatic color that suggest the bursting life of a fertile orchard. Exemplifying the reciprocal relationship between abstraction and realism, Brodhead, at the end of her life in 2001, described herself as “an abstract or semiabstract painter.” With the qualifying term of “semi-abstract,” she acknowledged that throughout her career, she had set up still life arrangements, framed views of landscapes, hired models, and looked 93

SANFORD GREENBERG American, 1926–2011

Greenberg also participated in the

Untitled (Abstract) 1949 Oil on canvas

with Michael Ciliberti, Quita Brodhead,

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2014

engaged with the experimentation of

exhibitions and activities of Philadelphia’s groundbreaking “Group 55,” together and Doris Staffel. Founded in 1955, Group 55 was a group of Philadelphia painters dedicated to abstraction and Abstract Expressionism.

Drawing in white paint over black, Greenberg depicts a strange, machinelike form. Curving shapes interact with grid-like lines. Gestural brushstrokes and brooding colors make for a dynamic impact in a minor key. After serving in the United States Army during World War II, Greenberg lived in Paris for two years, studying with Fernand Léger and absorbing the lessons of European modernism. On his return to Philadelphia, he attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts). At the height of Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s, Greenberg showed with leading artists of the movement such as Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Milton Resnick. 95

MICHAEL V. CILIBERTI American, born 1925

Cilibertiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s calligraphic markings are like

Untitled 1960 Gouache on paper

of his era, Abstract Expressionism was

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2016

same time seems like an impenetrable

the letters of a mysterious painterly alphabet. For Ciliberti and other painters a new mode of communication and gestural language. This composition has an open, energetic feel and at the figurative mass. Cilibertiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s abstraction gave way to his later work, which is inspired by nature. Ciliberti studied at the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial and later at the Barnes Foundation, followed by five years of study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He first started exhibiting his work with Group 55, an artist cooperative in Philadelphia made up of abstract artists such as Doris Staffel, Quita Brodhead, and Sanford Greenberg, whose works are also part of this exhibition. Group 55 showed their work in both Philadelphia and New York. Ciliberti has had several solo and group exhibitions across the city.

MORRIS BERD American, 1914–2007

After I saw the Amish country, my work

Winter Prunings 1955 Oil on canvas

from nature . . . I came to my current

became more open, simple, and abstract. All my earlier work was done directly work of small abstractions, quiet and ordered, puzzles, using images from my mind and memories instead of nature. —Morris Berd

Promised gift of Philip Jamison

Animated, interlocking shapes of cool blue, green, and purple fill the shallow space, creating a tightly organized puzzle inspired by fallen tree cuttings. Stylistically, Berd’s work ranges from realist landscapes—especially Lancaster County farm scenes—to abstractions based on childhood memories, games, and art history. Berd graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts), where he was a professor of painting from 1936 to the 1970s. He had over fifty solo exhibitions and his work is in the collections of the Barnes Foundation, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Franklin Institute, and the University of the Arts.

100

AMANDA BUSH American, born 1986

In Bush’s painting, zones of color create

Untitled 2012 Oil and acrylic on canvas

dominates the composition. The soft

Promised gift of Karen Segal

impenetrable darkness of a forest. Pairs

spatial ambiguities. An oblong black shape—perhaps a frozen black pond— green foreground slopes gently from left to right, contrasting with the saturated gray that could be an ominous sky or the of lines appear to anchor the black mass to the top and bottom of the canvas. Bush came to Philadelphia to attend the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she received her MFA. She now teaches at the University of Southern Mississippi.

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WARREN ROHRER American, 1927â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1995

In Ripe Landscape, although the

Ripe Landscape 1970 Oil on board

growth of the natural world.

elements are hard to identify, the fluorescent colors suggest the verdant

Born and raised in a Mennonite community in rural Pennsylvania, Rohrer continuously channeled the spirituality

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Harvey S. Shipley Miller in memory of Betty E. Miller, 2015

and inspiring beauty of rural life into his work. He graduated from Eastern Mennonite College and studied art during summers at Pennsylvania State University. He taught for twenty-five years at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts).

103

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BARBARA MIMNAUGH American, born 1937

to be the woman in purple, who strides

Umbrian Nights 2004 Oil on canvas

Mimnaugh attended the Philadelphia

forward with confidence.

Museum School of Art (now the University of the Arts), earning her BFA. Her work is in the collection of the Bryn Mawr College Library; the

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2007

Pennsylvania State Museum, Harrisburg; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; and Woodmere.

My abiding interest is the engagement of the human figure in the small events of life. I like to get on the edge, somewhere between real and imaginary, amusing and disturbing. My cast of characters is fictional, their actions open to the viewer’s interpretation. —Barbara Mimnaugh Here Mimnaugh’s fictitious characters consist of men and women out for a nighttime jaunt in the Italian region of Umbria. The canvas is like a dream about the beauty of Italy, with a man dressed in Renaissance costume, a nude woman who poses as if for a classical painting, an angel-like figure in the sky, a woman walking a dog, another woman draped in antique garb, a pair of lovers, and a man perched happily in a tree. The protagonist of the painting would seem 105

106

TOM JUDD American, born 1952

Magical and dreamlike, Juddâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s landscape

Voices 1984 Watercolor and graphite on paper

architectural structures. Nature, the sea,

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. B. Herbert Lee, 2016

the Philadelphia College of Art (now the

is full of color and voice. A seated figure in the landscape is surrounded by and the growing plants and trees would seem to overtake even the greatest towers man can construct. Judd received his BFA in painting from University of the Arts). His installation The Hermit Project (2005) was purchased by the West Collection at SEI Investments. In 2014 the artist had two solo exhibitions, Homeland at William Holman Gallery in New York and Manifest Destiny at Robischon Gallery in Denver.

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108

IRA â&#x20AC;&#x153;BOBâ&#x20AC;? BORN American, born 1924

Attracted to the abstraction that occurs

Ice Garden 2013 Inkjet print

forms into flat patterns and mysterious

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2016

great complexity of light that reflects,

when the lens of a camera interacts with nature, Born translates three-dimensional anthropomorphic gestures. Here he photographs the plants outside his home encrusted with melting ice, capturing a casts shadows, and interacts with the opaque and transparent forms. Born lives and works in Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania, and has shown his work regionally.

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CHARLES EDWARD HARRIGAN American, born 1981

For me, it’s in the play of symbols and

My View 2012 Oil on panel

My View is a self-portrait. Cast in a glow

ideas in the subject matter. —Charles Edward Harrigan

of light, a male figure gazes out a window at a fantastical landscape derived from Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch’s famous representation of the

Woodmere Art Museum: Woodmere Purchase Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annual Student Exhibition, 2012

Garden of Eden in his triptych, The Garden of Earthly Delights (1510). Harrigan paints with extraordinary precision, applying the same attention to detail in his depiction of himself—a contemporary individual wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans—and the imagined world of trees, birds, and tiny creatures. Harrigan graduated from the Delaware College of Art and Design in 2008 and from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2012.

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PAUL METRINKO American, born 1986

Metrinkoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s canvas depicts a city at night,

Self-Portrait (Reflection) 2011 Oil on panel

paints at his easel, and the shadowy

Promised gift of Bill Scott

the street below. The atmosphere of

with a self-portrait represented as a transparent reflection in glass. The artist reflected figure is interwoven with the lights of the apartment building across the street, the floor of the studio, and the painting is mysterious and all of the elements seem weightless and indistinct, floating in a distorted reflection. Metrinko received his certificate and BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His work was recently included in Woodmereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual juried exhibition. He lives and works in New York.

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NONA HERSHEY American, born 1946

What looks like an abstract pattern with

May 1981 1981 Aquatint

The dramatic cropping transforms the

dots and lines is actually a depiction of light coming through blinds and a curtain. mundane subject of a window into an unfamiliar repetition of shapes. Hersheyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work has been exhibited

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Patricia T. Carbine, 2014

nationally and internationally, and is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; the Free Library of Philadelphia; and the Cracow National Museum; among others.

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MICHAEL KOWBUZ Canadian, active Philadelphia, born 1966

Kowbuz is inspired by his immediate

Reflections 2 1994 India ink and white tempera on Fabriano cold press paper

to coalesce into a specific view of the

environment. In Reflections 2, he captures the blurred appearance of a nighttime reflection. The elements refuse city; the soft glow of lights sparkle in an indistinct cityscape. Originally from Ontario, Canada, Kowbuz obtained his MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Together with his wife, Tina Rocha, Kowbuz owns

Promised gift of Bill Scott

and operates Cerulean Arts Gallery and Studio in Philadelphia.

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EUGENE FELDMAN American, 1921–1975

Feldman attended the Philadelphia

Headlights on West River Drive 2 1963 Offset lithograph

was the founder of Falcon Press in

Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts). He Philadelphia and professor of fine arts at the University of Pennsylvania. He was dedicated to teaching and allowed students to experiment with his commercial printing press. He

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Rosina Feldman, 2008

shaped and influenced printmaking in Philadelphia by teaching print techniques and skills to countless young artists. He

What appears to be an abstract

was active in Philadelphia from the early

composition of irregular stripes is

1950s until his death in 1975.

actually a series of representations: Feldman found an overlook onto West River Drive and photographed the headlights of moving cars. The appearance is that of overlapping gestures, as if the lights have left a visible and lasting mark on the night. Feldman’s innovative experiments in photography in the context of offset lithography—the process used in almost all commercial printing—expanded the possibilities for printmaking. By manipulating visual images using commercial technology, Feldman pushed the boundaries of the medium.

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JESSIE DREW-BEAR American, born England, 1879â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1962

Drew-Bear conveys the excitement of

Fireworks, Monte Carlo c. 1954 Oil on canvas

environment. A florist, Drew-Bear often

fireworks in Monte Carlo. A large firework explodes at the center of the canvas, showering down over a landscape-like painted flowers. In this painting her firework could also be a dandelion whose seeds are about to be blown away.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the Drew-Bear Family, 2014

Born Jessie Henderson in England, Drew-Bear immigrated to Philadelphia in 1906. In 1910, she opened the London Flower Shop, a successful business at 18th and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia, which she owned for more than 40 years. In 1938, at the age of 59, DrewBear received a paint set as a Christmas gift from her daughter. With this gift and her wild imagination, Drew-Bear began a remarkable career as a self-taught artist that would include exhibitions at New York and Philadelphia galleries as well as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, and the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Her career included more than fifteen solo exhibitions, and her work is included in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, PAFA, and Woodmere.

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JESSE FRIEDMAN American, born 1991

Whereas Jessie Drew-Bearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s firework

Baby Dandelion 2014 Oil on panel

flower, Baby Dandelion, conveys the

Promised gift of Karen Segal

a personal game of free association.

echoes the delicate shape of a dandelion, Friedmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s small painting of the same exploding energy of a firework. Friedman describes his working process as a stream-of-consciousness journey,

Friedman obtained his certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Recently his work was included in the group exhibition Sow Your Rows at Gross McCleaf Gallery and has been shown at Cerulean Arts Gallery and Studio, both in Philadelphia.

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KATIE BALDWIN American, born 1971

Baldwin is a bookbinder and printmaker.

Fireworks at the Canal 2012 Color woodcut

editions by hand. She says her process

Promised gift of Bill Scott

at the Canal, bursts of yellow and white

She creates complex images using multiple woodblocks, printing her is “a physical reminder of limitations, while serving as a direct response to the tactile act of making things.” In Fireworks fireworks fill the night sky. The viewer looks up at the sky but down on an enigmatic coiled shape, a road perhaps, a circle-shaped docks that floats in water. Baldwin received her BFA from Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, and her MFA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia. She has had a solo exhibition of her work at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington. She was recently an artist in residence at the Women’s Studio Workshop in Kingston, New York. Baldwin’s work is included in the collection of the University of the Arts, the Print and Picture Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Seattle Arts Commission Small Works Permanent Collections.

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MAGDA VITALE American, born 1939

Vitaleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s abstraction alludes to a

Before the Storm 2000 Oil on paper

and pattern, the composition is a tense

landscape and the growing energy of an oncoming storm. Full of rich color counterpoint of organic and rectilinear shapes with a sensual application of paint and playfully stylized forms.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2011

Vitale earned her BFA from Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia and received a fellowship from the Ballinglen Arts Foundation to study at Ballycastle, County Mayo, Ireland. She has shown her work nationally and internationally, and recently had a solo exhibition at the Knauer Gallery of West Chester University. She is represented by Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia.

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LESA CHITTENDEN LIM American, born 1958

Rather than recording an exact external

Threesome-State I 2011 Three-plate etching and pastel

calmness, serenity, movement, awe,

reality, I express the inner sensations caused by my visual perceptions: desolation to name a few. The more I look, the more I believe that our surroundings are an allegory of life. I paint ‘portraits’ of trees, with their families, lovers, and friends.

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, with funds provided by the Perkins Center for the Arts Purchase Prize, 2012

—Lesa Chittenden Lim Lim often works on-site, seeking locations that provoke strong feelings. She created Threesome-State I using an etching process in which she made impressions on three different metal plates that were inked and printed together as one image. Each plate is printed with a different color, creating a spectral composition that layers and blends the cool, muted blues and grays of the foreground and the deeper blues and greens of the background. Lim studied engineering and business at the University of Michigan and worked in business for several years. She went on to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). Currently, she teaches at PAFA and Woodmere.

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WARREN ROHRER American, 1927–1995

The paintings are meant to be read

Orchard Date unknown Pastel on paper

of the verbal or the interference of the

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Harvey S. Shipley Miller in memory of Betty E. Miller, 2015

them to be the equivalent to handing you

without reference, as purely visual, experienced directly, without the noise written. I’ve meant to make paintings that are as basic as a potato and as persuasive as an orchard in bloom. I want something I’ve taken from my pocket, saying, ‘This is it.’ —Warren Rohrer This painting evokes the landscape with tree-like forms emerging out of a fluid expanse of color. Orchard appears like a misty plain with a mysterious, almost elegiac atmosphere, suggesting an orchard in winter.

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WILLIAM RITTASE American, 1887–1968

A cloud of steam envelopes the gears

[Streamliner, Reading Railroad] 1930s Gelatin silver print

trains emerged called streamliners.

of a powerful train as it moves along the tracks. In the early 1930s sleek passenger The Reading Railroad primarily moved coal up and down the east coast but it did have one popular streamliner: the Crusader. Like other streamliners, the Crusader offered unsurpassed luxury,

Woodmere Art Museum: Purchased with funds provided by the D. Robert Yarnall Photography Fund, 2006

and Rittase’s point of view from below conveys its monumentality and beauty. Rittase was an engineer before embarking on a career in professional photography. He was an industrial photographer who depicted the manufacturing process. He also worked for the Philadelphia advertising agency N. W. Ayer and was one of Fortune magazine’s most frequently published photographers.

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JESSE FRIEDMAN American, born 1991

Perhaps best articulating the thesis of the

Questionable Reality (Freight Elevator) 2011 Oil on paper

on view in this exhibition. Without the

exhibition, Friedmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s title Questionable Reality could describe many of the works latter part of the title, Freight Elevator, this square within a square would only vaguely evoke something recognizable. His direct reference to the source of his imagery enables the viewer to see the

Promised gift of Bill Scott

simplicity of the machine. Focus dissolves as the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye moves from the center to the periphery of the painting.

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JOHN E. DOWELL American, born 1941

Swirling lines and small marks suspended

Saskia’s Dream 1981 Lithograph

through his art. For him, music, visual

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Ann E. and Don W. McPhail, 2013

A talented pianist, Dowell projected

in space articulate Dowell’s belief in the unifying structure of human expression art, and dance have an underlying structure that enables the presentation, contemplation, and resolution of ideas. Saskia’s Dream and other prints like it onto a screen and, accompanied by a group of musicians, improvised music inspired by the abstract markings. Dowell received his BFA in printmaking from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and his MFA in printmaking from the University of Washington, Seattle. He is a professor emeritus of printmaking at Tyler School of Art. His photographs and printed work have been shown nationally and internationally.

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ALEXEY BRODOVITCH American, born Russia, 1898–1971

Brodovitch’s book Ballet (1945)

Septiéme Symphonie, from Ballet 1935–37 (negative), 1950s–early 1960s (print) Gelatin silver print

Brodovitch worked with Ballet Russes

consists of manipulated, semi-abstract photographs of dancers in the Russian ballet company, the Ballet Russes. founder and director Sergei Diaghilev as a set painter in Paris in the 1920s. The softly out-of-focus dancer appears to move across the stage in this single image. Brodovitch’s work is an expression of the lyrical movement of ballet itself.

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2015

Born in Russia, Brodovitch was a renowned photographer, graphic designer, and instructor. He came to the United States from Paris in 1930 to start a department of advertising at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) at the invitation of John Jenks, board vice president of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Around 1933 he started his influential Design Laboratory classes, which Brodovitch described in a prospectus as an “organization for studying new materials, new ideas, devices of the past in order to establish new devices for the future […].” He was the art director at Harper’s Bazaar from 1934 to 1958 and a pioneer of the integration of photography and graphic design. 139

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EVAN FUGAZZI American, born 1980

I embrace sincerity and insight. I strive to

I Was Going to Say 2014 Oil on canvas

way of passionately communicating with

use that which we see to communicate the invisible and intangible. Painting is my the world around me. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Evan Fugazzi Rich color applied in a broad, translucent,

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2015

and gestural manner give this painting a tactile sensuousness. The yellow frame creates a feeling of looking through a window that reveals a world of space, shape, and color. Fugazziâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s abstract canvases are informed by the competing considerations of direct visual observation from life, from memory, and the dialogue that happens within the painting itself. Fugazzi is from Lexington, Kentucky. He received his MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and has drawing and painting certificates from the Florence Academy of Art, Italy, and Gothenburg, Sweden. He received his BA in architecture from the University of Notre Dame.

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PATRICK ARNOLD American, born 1950

Arnold depicts a garden on the street

Leverington Garden c. 1990 Oil on canvas paper

Philadelphia. Trees, flowers, grass, and

where he lived on Leverington Avenue in the Roxborough neighborhood of shrubs nearly cover the canvas, casting rich shadows that make bright colors gleam and architectural forms obscure.

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2013

Arnold attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and he taught painting and drawing at institutions across Philadelphia.

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KEN KEWLEY American, born 1953

It is all about having a passion for color.

Houses with Gardens on Edge of Town 2011 Acrylic on panels

to direct the eye around the painting

This passion gives one an unlimited vocabulary. Color is used to create steps parallel to the vision of the artist. Along the way, like a songwriter, rhyming words that do not really rhyme, we invent color relationships to get at the surprising juxtapositions that are found in nature. It is

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Stuart Shils, 2011

a way of staying excited, staying in love. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Ken Kewley Kewley has created a small, complex, delightful voyage into a world of texture, shape, and color. Crisp strokes of pure color, delicately patterned lines, and distinct interlocking shapes inform and respond to one another like performers in a play. Kewley received his BA from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He recently served on the faculty at the Jerusalem Studio School (now the JSS Civita Summer Art School and Residency in Italy).

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SAMUEL MAITIN American, 1928–2004

Inspired by a painting completed by

Reflections on a Painting by a Little Girl 1960 Etching, aquatint, and engraving

multiple printmaking techniques. Here he

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 1994

After graduating from Simon Gratz

Maitin’s young niece, this complex print incorporates four colors and uses combines biomorphic forms, including a banana, with simplified lines that suggest a still life arranged on a table. However, the use of scale and the expanse of pink add to the ambiguity of the space.

High School, Maitin won a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts). He developed a unique artistic language over the course of his successful career. He loved vivid color and once said, “My eyes see intense color—it’s all I see.” Maitin served on Woodmere’s Board of Trustees; a muchloved, generous figure, he was known as the mayor of the arts in Philadelphia.

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AUBREY LEVINTHAL American, born 1986

Levinthal depicts a group of bananas;

One’s Getting Old 2013 Oil on panel

spots. Levinthal’s painterly compositions

Promised gift of Karen Segal

and gradually turn away, forcing myself

her title, One’s Getting Old, calls out the piece of fruit in the foreground with black are rarely a faithful representation of her environment. As the artist explains, “I begin with figure and still life motifs to look into the painting (color, form, and composition) and whatever else it may need. I find this creates a good tension to work in, right between observing, remembering, and inventing.” Levinthal received her BA from Penn State in 2008 and her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in 2011. Her work has been exhibited at PAFA, Woodmere, Rebekah Templeton Contemporary Art, University City Arts League, Abington Art Center, and Main Line Art Center. She recently had a solo exhibition of her work, Spaghetti for Breakfast, at Gross McCleaf Gallery.

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CHARLES BURWELL American, born 1955

During the mid-1980s, Burwell was

Untitled 1986 Oil pastel and crayon on paper

history. Untitled is an arrangement of

interested in using forms derived from biology, archeology, and natural natural forms and motifs that resemble a biological chart or diagram. His application of oil pastel creates a heavy build-up of a rich, impasto-like surface marked with a variety of lines, scribbles,

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. B. Herbert Lee, 2016

and shapes that are scratched into or on top of layers of color. Overlapping geometric shapes interact with drawn images of a pear, fish, small pyramid, and graphic markings that permeate the work with energy and curiosity. Burwell studied at Temple Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tyler School of Art and received his MFA from Yale University. He has taught at Tyler, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Dartmouth College. His work is in many collections, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and Woodmere. He is a recipient of Pew Fellowships and an Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation grant.

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CINDI R. ETTINGER American, born 1956

Traditionally, in the intaglio printing

Fall II 2014 Intaglio on plaster

water in the paper absorbs ink, making

process, wet paper is pressed into an incised and inked printing plate. The for a unique image. With Fall II, Ettinger prints onto an ovalshaped plaster surface, experimenting

Promised gift of Bill Scott

with the manner in which the dry plaster is stained and marked by the ink. Ettinger earned her degree from the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts). After graduating, she worked for two years in a New York print shop and then returned to Philadelphia in 1982 to found the C. R. Ettinger Studio, where she is the master printer.

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DANIELLE DIMSTON American, born 1957

Without any hint of a context or setting,

Untitled Hut in Reverse 2009 Etching in relief

sea creatures or diaphanous parachutes.

Dimston’s complementary huts—white on black and black on white—float like The mysterious forms are exceedingly delicate, hovering between legibility and illegibility. Dimston lives in New York and works as a

Untitled Hut 2009 Etching

printmaker in Philadelphia. Her work was recently included in group exhibitions at Cerulean Arts Gallery and Studio and C. R. Ettinger Studio, both in Philadelphia.

Promised gift of Bill Scott

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JILL BONOVITZ American, born 1940

If unraveling is the process of finding

Raveling 2004 Etching

describe the process of becoming

resolution, then its opposite, raveling— the title of Bonovitz’s etching—must intertwined or gaining in complexity. A single continuous line swirls to suggest the forms of two masses.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Patricia T. Carbine, 2014

Bonovitz is best known as a ceramicist, but she also makes wire sculpture in which she seeks to capture the mysterious edges of the sorts of forms she sculpts in clay. This etching captures the sense of lightness that characterizes the artist’s wire sculpture. Bonovitz attended Moore College of Art and Design and received her BS from Columbia University. Her work is shown nationally and internationally, and is included in numerous museum collections.

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LAUREN GARVEY American, born 1987

Garveyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s swirling gestures of thick,

In the Folds 2013 Oil on birch panel

distance confers a monumentality and

oily paint coalesce into a large knot. The suggestion of landscape in the symbolic quality. Garvey obtained her BFA in painting from Arcadia University in Glenside,

Promised gift of Karen Segal

Pennsylvania, and shows her work at Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia.

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SAMANTHA DYLAN MITCHELL American, born 1986

Mitchell’s etchings, woodcuts, and

Ball Cycle 1 2013 Etching

illustrates every strand in a large, tangled

drawings demonstrate an obsession with detail and an appetite for intricate patterning. Here she meticulously mass of yarn or string. The artist explains, “The consistent tension between order and chaos is inherent in anything formed through an organic process. It creates

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2015

a kind of stability that is ceaselessly in motion, a fabric that weaves the two together into an imperfect pattern that is simultaneously volatile and pensive.” Mitchell graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio, in 2008. She received her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, graduating in 2012. She is an editor for Title Magazine and an arts educator at the Center for Creative Works, a studio for adults with developmental disabilities. She recently had a solo exhibition, In Grain: Prints by Samantha Mitchell, at the Brodsky Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kelly Writer’s House, Philadelphia.

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MIA ROSENTHAL American, born 1977

gathered together to make a whole. I

Sample-Sized Box of Rice Krispies 2009 Ink on Mylar

to understand, process and organize

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2012

of Design in 1999. She obtained her

use drawing as a way to slow down and carefully study the world around me— information and turn thoughts into a visual object.” Rosenthal received her BFA in illustration from the Parsons School MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2008. She has been included in numerous solo and group

What looks like a loose accumulation of

exhibitions across the United States.

shapes is actually a precisely rendered

She is represented by Gallery Joe in

trail of cereal. Rosenthal’s drawings

Philadelphia. Her work is included in the

engage viewers with a seeming infinity

collection of the Arkansas Arts Center,

of twisting and turning forms. Here the

Little Rock; the Pennsylvania Academy of

artist drew the entire contents of a box

the Fine Arts; the Philadelphia Museum

of Rice Krispies, laying them out one by

of Art; and Woodmere.

one in a sinuous strand of precise oblong forms. Of her work, Rosenthal explains, “The question I am most often asked about my work is ‘How long did this take to make?’ The true answer is ‘a little bit every day.’ Each drawing I make is built from an accumulation of marks. The process of building, adding, and layering marks, feels like an authentic way to make a drawing. It is like making a thing using atoms or cells or bits, small pieces

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CARLO RUSSO American, born 1976

Russo’s painting is a tromp l’oeil conceit,

Yarns in Orange and Blue 2009 Oil on linen

can replicate the colors of paint chips,

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2013

twists and textures of skeins of wool.

a painting that literally “tricks the eye.” The artist’s virtuosity is such that he and depict them as squares of paper pinned to a plaster wall. He is equally comfortable representing the complex

Known primarily for his still life paintings, Russo also makes landscape and figurative works. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His work has been exhibited widely, including the F.A.N. Gallery in Philadelphia, where he has had five solo exhibitions.

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LANNY BERGNER American, born 1952

I love the natural world and am constantly

Untitled 1983 Charcoal aluminum screen

with my fears, quirks, and joys, results in

inspired by its beauty and infinite varieties of form. This, in combination works that celebrate the wonder of it all. — Lanny Bergner Bergner makes sculptures out of

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Jack and Helen Bershad, 2003

common but nontraditional materials that he purchases in hardware stores: industrial aluminum screening, copper wire, silicone, and mono-filament. He uses the manual processes of coiling, fraying, twisting, wrapping, gluing, and knotting to create works like Untitled that appear to have “grown into being” as selfgenerated entities that suggest organic forms, while also eluding identification. Bergner received his MFA from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, built a successful career in Philadelphia, and currently resides in Seattle. His work is in numerous museum collections, including the Seattle Art Museum; Museum of Art and Design, New York; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts; and the Central Museum of Textile, Łódź, Poland.

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WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION JAMIE ADAMS

MORRIS BERD

IRA “BOB” BORN

American, born 1961

American, 1914–2007

American, born 1924

The Pinkch, 2002

Winter Prunings, 1955

Ice Garden, 2013

Oil on linen, 58 1/2 x 75 1/2 in.

Oil on canvas, 16 x 22 in.

Inkjet print, 10 x 7 3/4 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2012

Promised gift of Philip Jamison

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2016

Niagara Notebook, 2013

LANNY BERGNER

Oil on linen, 72 x 62 in.

American, born 1952

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of James and Julie Alexandre, 2016

Untitled, 1983

PATRICK ARNOLD

American, born 1950 Leverington Garden, c. 1990 Oil on canvas paper, 18 x 18 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2013 ETHEL ASHTON

American, 1896–1975 Demolition, c. 1956

Charcoal aluminum screen, 72 x 30 x 30 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Jack and Helen Bershad, 2003

FRANK BRAMBLETT

American, 1947–2015 Tête-à-Tête, 1999 Mixed media, pigments, marble dust, and encaustic on panel, 90 x 72 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2015

MORRIS BLACKBURN

American, 1902–1979 Untitled [Playing Chess], date unknown

DAVID BREWSTER

American, born 1960

Oil on canvas, 24 1/8 x 30 1/8 in.

Osborn Cabin through Post and Beam, 2013

Promised gift of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

Oil on gator board, 35 x 70 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2013

JILL BONOVITZ

QUITA BRODHEAD

American, born 1940

American, 1901–2002

Raveling, 2004

From a Peach Orchard, 1954

Etching, 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 in.

Oil on board, 20 x 24 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Patricia T. Carbine, 2014

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Bill Scott, 2011

Monotype, 16 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Elaine D. and Bruce M. Ashton, 2013 KATIE BALDWIN

American, born 1971 Fireworks at the Canal, 2012 Color woodcut, 22 x 14 7/8 in. Promised gift of Bill Scott

168

ALEXEY BRODOVITCH

THOMAS CHIMES

JOHN E. DOWELL

American, born Russia, 1898–1971

American, 1921–2009

American, born 1941

Septiéme Symphonie, from Ballet, 1935–37 (negative), 1950s–early 1960s (print)

Kabirion, 1996

Saskia’s Dream, 1981

Oil on wood panel, 14 5/8 x 23 7/8

Lithograph, 24 x 13 in.

Promised gift of Joseph and Pamela Yohlin

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Ann E. and Don W. McPhail, 2013

Gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2015

MICHAEL V. CILIBERTI

American, born 1925 CHARLES BURWELL

American, born 1955 Untitled, 1986 Oil pastel and crayon on paper, 26 x 26 1/2 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. B. Herbert Lee, 2016

Untitled, 1960 Gouache on paper, 20 1/2 x 27 3/8 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2016 LARRY DAY

AMANDA BUSH

Graphite on paper, 9 x 11 in.

American, born 1986

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Peter Paone, 2011

Oil and acrylic on canvas, 8 x 9 in.

DANIELLE DIMSTON

Promised gift of Karen Segal

American, born 1957 Untitled Hut, 2009

ARTHUR B. CARLES

Etching, 15 x 11 1/4 in.

American, 1882–1952

Promised gift of Bill Scott

Pheasant with Green Apple, c. 1924 Oil on canvas, 22 x 18 3/8 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2011

American, born England, 1879–1962 Fireworks, Monte Carlo, c. 1954 Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the Drew-Bear Family, 2014

American, 1921–1998 Landscape, c. 1955

Untitled, 2012

JESSIE DREW-BEAR

Untitled Hut in Reverse, 2009 Etching in relief, 15 x 11 1/4 in.

CINDI R. ETTINGER

American, born 1956 Fall II, 2014 Intaglio on plaster, 13 x 11 in. Promised gift of Bill Scott EUGENE FELDMAN

American, 1921–1975 Headlights on West River Drive 2, 1963 Offset lithograph, 23 x 35 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Rosina Feldman, 2008

Promised gift of Bill Scott GERTRUDE FISHER-FISHMAN

American, 1916–2013 The Apartment, date unknown Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2011

169

JOHN FOLINSBEE

LAUREN GARVEY

SEAN HILDRETH

American, 1892–1972

American, born 1987

American, born 1990

Slate Quarry, Bangor, 1929

In the Folds, 2013

Kitchen Decisions, 2015

Oil on canvas, 32 x 40 in.

Oil on birch panel, 11 1/2 x 10 5/8 in.

Oil and acrylic on canvas, 72 x 44 in.

Promised gift of Karen Segal

Woodmere Art Museum: Woodmere Purchase Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annual Student Exhibition, 2015

Long-term loan from the John F. Folinsbee Art Trust BILL FREELAND

NEYSA GRASSI

American, 1929–2009

American, born 1951

Nocturnus, 2003

Spirit Blue I, 2005

Steel, wood, 72 x 18 x 18 1/2 in.

Oil on linen, 24 1/2 x 22 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Erik Freeland, 2011

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2014

EARL HORTER

American, 1880–1940 Abstract Still Life (“Still Life”), c. mid- to late 1930s

JESSE FRIEDMAN

SANFORD GREENBERG

American, born 1991

American, 1926–2011

Questionable Reality (Freight Elevator), 2011

Untitled (Abstract), 1949

Oil on paper, 17 x 18 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2014

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Philip Jamison and Family, 2012

CHARLES EDWARD HARRIGAN

TOM JUDD

Promised gift of Bill Scott Baby Dandelion, 2014 Oil on panel, 7 x 7 in. Promised gift of Karen Segal

Oil on canvas, 28 x 34 in.

American, born 1981 My View, 2012

EVAN FUGAZZI

Oil on panel, 26 x 16 in.

American, born 1980

Woodmere Art Museum: Woodmere Purchase Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annual Student Exhibition, 2012

I Was Going to Say, 2014 Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2015

Gouache on cardboard, 12 1/8 x 18 3/8 in.

American, born 1952 Voices, 1984 Watercolor and graphite on paper, 20 1/2 x 25 3/8 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. B. Herbert Lee, 2016 ALEX KANEVSKY

American, born Russia 1963 FRANCES GALANTE

American, 1957–2015 Florist Street, 1995 Oil on stretched linen, 14 x 12 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Thuan Bui, 2015

NONA HERSHEY

American, born 1946 May 1981, 1981 Aquatint, 25 1/4 x 19 3/8 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Patricia T. Carbine, 2014

170

Interior with Meat, 2006 Oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2015

LEON KELLY

ELAINE KURTZ

SAMUEL MAITIN

American, 1901–1982

American, 1928–2003

American, 1928–2004

The Owl of Cáceres, 1958

Alluvial, 2003

Graphite on paper, 66 x 88 3/4 in.

Sand, mica, and acrylic on vinyl-backed cotton, on canvas, 44 x 32 in.

Reflections on a Painting by a Little Girl, 1960

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Paul and Harriet Gratz, 2005

Etching, aquatint, and engraving, 11 3/4 x 24 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Jerome Kurtz, 2012

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 1994

KEN KEWLEY

JOHN LAUB

JOSHUA MARSH

American, born 1953

American, 1947–2005

American, born 1973

Houses with Gardens on Edge of Town, 2011

Inside Sumner’s Garden, 1996

Mirror, 2010

Acrylic on panels (triptych), 36 x 72 in.

Oil on linen, 68 x 72 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2011

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Stuart Shils, 2011

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Bruce Kingsley and the Estate of John Laub, 2014

DREW KOHLER

AUBREY LEVINTHAL

American, born 1991

American, born 1986

Spilling, 2014

One’s Getting Old, 2013

Oil on linen, 14 x 17 in.

Oil on panel, 8 x 10 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Woodmere Purchase Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annual Student Exhibition, 2014

Promised gift of Karen Segal

MICHAEL KOWBUZ

Canadian, active Philadelphia, born 1966 Reflections 2, 1994 India ink and white tempera on Fabriano cold press paper, 11 x 7 1/2 in.

Oil on panel, 35 x 30 in.

PAUL METRINKO

American, born 1986 Self-Portrait (Reflection), 2011 Oil on panel, 28 1/4 x 24 3/4 in. Promised gift of Bill Scott BRIAN MEUNIER

LESA CHITTENDEN LIM

American, born 1958 Threesome-State I, 2011 Three-plate etching and pastel, 8 x 10 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, with funds provided by the Perkins Center for the Arts Purchase Prize, 2012

American, born 1954 Squid, 1982–83 Polychromed wood, 88 1/2 x 11 3/4 x 9 1/2 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. B. Herbert Lee, 2016 BARBARA MIMNAUGH

American, born 1937 Umbrian Nights, 2004

Promised gift of Bill Scott

Oil on canvas, 34 x 42 1/8 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2007

171

ANNE MINICH

MADELINE PECKENPAUGH

WILLIAM RITTASE

American, born 1934

American, born 1991

American, 1887–1968

Boneboat, 2013

Neither Can I, February 2014

Oil, bone, and rust metal shard on wood, 10 7/8 x 20 7/8 in.

Oil on canvas, 62 x 64 in.

[Streamliner, Reading Railroad], 1930s

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase with funds provided by Robert E. and Frances Coulborn Kohler, 2016

Woodmere Art Museum: Woodmere Purchase Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annual Student Exhibition, 2014

Gelatin silver print, 7 3/4 x 9 1/2 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Purchased with funds provided by the D. Robert Yarnall Photography Fund, 2006

BRUCE POLLOCK SAMANTHA DYLAN MITCHELL

American, born 1986 Ball Cycle 1, 2013 Etching, 15 x 15 inches Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2015 BETTINA NELSON

American, born 1989

American, born 1951 Red Wing, 1983

American, 1927–1995

Fir plywood and enamel, 47 x 21 x 8 in.

Ripe Landscape, 1970 Oil on board, 10 x 11 3/4 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2015 Teleos, 1986

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Harvey S. Shipley Miller in memory of Betty E. Miller, 2015

Enamel on fir plywood, 47 x 79 in.

Orchard, date unknown

Untitled, 2014

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2015

Paper, acrylic, and gouache on paper, 12 x 8 7/8 in.

Fruitful Darkness, 1997

Promised gift of Karen Segal ANDREA PACKARD

American, born 1963 Inheritance, 2010 Mixed media on paper, 54 5/8 x 53 3/4 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Anonymous gift, 2011

WARREN ROHRER

Pastel on paper, 8 1/2 x 9 9/16 in.

Oil on canvas, mounted on wood panel, 54 x 47 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Harvey S. Shipley Miller in memory of Betty E. Miller, 2015

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2015

BEN ROSE

American, 1916–1980 SEYMOUR REMENICK

Negative Space, 1966

American, 1923–1999

Color coupler print, 10 15/16 x 13 15/16 in.

Abstract Interior (Winter 1948), 1948 Oil on canvas, 47 x 29 in. Promised gift of Philip Jamison

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2013 Andy Warhol, c. 1976 Color coupler print, 9 15/16 x 7 7/8 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Kathy and Peter Rose, 2013

172

MIA ROSENTHAL

LEON SITARCHUK

RON TARVER

American, born 1977

American, 1922–1993

American, born 1957

Sample-Sized Box of Rice Krispies, 2009

Channel Beams, 1972

Flow, 2014

Painted steel, 24 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 21 1/2 in.

Archival inkjet print, 10 5/8 x 16 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. B. Herbert Lee, 2016

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2015

Ink on Mylar, 16 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2012 CARLO RUSSO

MAGDA VITALE

American, born 1976

ROBERT SPENCER

Yarns in Orange and Blue, 2009

American, 1879–1931 Waterloo Row, c. 1917–18

Oil on linen, 23 x 28 in.

Oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2013

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2011

RAPHAEL SABATINI

DORIS STAFFEL

American, 1898–1985

American, 1921–2013

Two Figures, date unknown

Untitled, 1942

Oil on linen, 22 x 18 in.

Oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in.

Black gesso and acrylic on canvas, 44 x 54 in.

Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2014

Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2011

STERLING SHAW

ZOE STRAUSS

American, born 1982

American, born 1970

Grapes, 2010

Detail I-95 (Mom Were OK), 2001–5

American, born 1939 Before the Storm, 2000 Oil on paper, 22 x 30 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2011 DOUGLAS WITMER

Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 2012 STUART SHILS

American, born 1954 Phil-Ellena and Quincy Streets, Mt. Airy, 2008

Color photocopier print, 9 1/2 x 6 5/16 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Purchased with funds provided by the D. Robert Yarnall Photography Fund, 2006

Oil on linen, 14 x 17 in. Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2011

173

American, born 1971 How Soon Is Now?, 2008

Woodmere Art Museum receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

ÂŠ 2016 Woodmere Art Museum. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher. Photography by Rick Echelmeyer unless otherwise noted. Catalogue designed by Barb Barnett and edited by Gretchen Dykstra.

Support provided in part by The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

Front cover: Fruitful Darkness, 1977, by Bruce Pollock (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the artist, 2015)

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