The Vanderpoel Museum

Just visited the Vanderpoel Art Museum yesterday - a unique institution tucked away across the hall from a swimming pool in the Ridge Park fieldhouse (Chicago Park District).

John H. Vanderpoel (1857 - 1911) was a popular drawing instructor at the Art Institute, and his book "The Human Figure: life drawing for artists" is still in print.

I have a copy of this book beside me as I write this, and I admit that I have a problem with art instructional books in general -- as they separate techniques from the specific feelings/visions/world views that require them - and, in this case, also separates the figure from its surrounding space. It just seems to be a recipe book for making acceptable but forgettable drawings.

But my worthless opinions aside -- this remains a popular and useful book for many people -- and I can understand why JHV's mid-career death at the age of 54 caused such a groundswell of response from his former students as well as his neighbors in the upscale community of Beverly.

So this museum is not just his work -- but the work of his students -- and of other 20th C. American painters working in the various genres of figure, portrait, and landscape painting -- as they were donated over the following 50 years or so by painters and collectors - and the gallery in the Ridge Park fieldhouse was remodeled to house the collection.

Above is Frank Benson's "Woman Reading" of 1936. Benson has no connection to either Vanderpoel or Chicago -- but the inclusion of this excellent painting by this major American artist shows something of the spirit of those involved, more than 20 years after JVP died.

(I also think it's the best painting here - with that glorious, spacious warmth and elegance that post Renaissance European painting can achieve)









Or -- maybe this John Christen Johansen (1876 1964) painting of a seamstress (1917)is the best -- it certainly is eyecatching. Johensen studied at the Art Institute, so I'm guessing that he donated this piece in tribute to his instructor -- and he had, by way, quite a career painting portraits in Europe and America. (He painted the portrait of Henry Clay Frick at the Frick collection in NYC)

Apparently, he was an early influence on Vaclav Vytlacil -- and a Tycoon Galleries wrote this about him:

John Christian Johansen, although little known today, was well regarded in his day. Born in Denmark, Johansen was brought to America as a child and encouraged to pursue his interest in art. He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and had the opportunity to study with Frank Duveneck. Later, in Paris, he studied with Benjamin Constant, and even enrolled in a class taught by James McNeill Whistler. In 1901, he returned to Chicago and taught briefly at the Art Institute, but soon found he could sustain a lucrative business painting portraits. So fundamental was portraiture in his life that he married another well-known portraitist, M. Jean MacLane, with whom he founded the National Foundation of Portrait Painters in 1912







Joseph Tomanek(1889-1974) "View from Studio Window" - 18th and Laflin looking east)

Or maybe this one is my favorite --- it's so saturated with the feeling of Chicago at night -- as it looks to someone who feels a little bit like a stranger -- kind of gaudy -- kind of cheap -- just a bit hellish. The internet reveals that Tomanek went West --- did some great California landscapes -- and was really good at girlie-cheesecake painting. But I like this gritty Chicago night the best.



George Frederick Buehr (1905-1983) "Chicago's back yard" was the son of the better known Carl Albert Buehr. There's not much now on the internet by him -- so the above is an important contribution to his reputation. (I hate ugly cities -- but I like good paintings of them)

This seems to present the typically ugly alley -- seen on bright, sunny Sunday morning -- by a person who maybe had a bit too much to drink on Saturday night.







John Grabach (1886-1981) steel rainbow

Another urban cityscape -- but in this case, that was this New Jersey painter's speciality.-- and he's making the city a bit more inviting.


J Theodore Johnson (1902-63) "Music and Mood",
I guess this is what's called "regionalist painting" --not that I can identify any specific region for it, unless it's a region defined by time - i.e. the thirties, when the world did not seem as wonderful a place as the people who lived through it.

Here's another example -- and I'm especially excited about this one since it's in my local post office !



As it turns out, his grandson is also an artist, and he tells me that the woman in the foreground was his grandfather's first wife, Mary, who also posed for Leon Kroll, who was then teaching at the Art Institute.




Wenonah Day Bell (1890-1981)

I'm not sure why this painting was donated to the museum -- this Georgia painter was obviously not a student of JHV -- nor was she local -- she was just a good painter -- and I suppose there's a lot of us who like paintings of moody women.


And speaking of moody women, here's one "Esther Votaw" by Walter Gilman Page (1862-1934) - a Boston painter who made some very elegant portraits -- and had some legislative activity as follows:


"Walter Gilman Page, Chairman of the Massachusetts State Art Commission, has framed a bill for the creation of a federal Department of Fine Arts, which will be introduced in the next session of Congress by a Massachusetts representative. Agitation for such a Department is not new, and the American Federation of Arts and the American Association of Art Directors have recorded themselves in its favor. President Harding is said to be willing to consider the plan. The Department's duties, under the bill, would include oversight of the National Gallery of Art, including the Freer Gallery; close cooperation with the Commission of Fine Arts— the group of eminent artists who serve without compensation to advise and judge on construction of public buildings, monuments and other art matters; cultivation of international relations in the arts, and fostering of American artists' interests in foreign exhibitions; promotion of art education and improved taste, both among adults and in the schools."

A good idea ! -- at least, back in the time when art was something to be known rather than just whatever got sold.


And here's a painting by Mr. Vanderpoel himself,"The Perplexing Problem" -- kind of reminding me of Thomas Wilmer Dewing -- and the only painting of his in this gallery that I really liked (i.e. it seemed to have a reason for being -- other than academic display)


Edward Dufner (1871-1957) "Blue Shawl" -- No Chicago connection here -- he's from Buffalo, and he studied/worked in New York and Paris -- and painted like many of the Americans-in-France then who presented figures in sunny gardens --- in a life-style to which we would all like to become accustomed. His paintings must be popular today -- he's all over the internet.



Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939)"The Garden Path" -- who must be even more popular than Dufner -- since he recently had a show at the Terra Museum as well as the Hollis-Taggart Gallery -- but this is one strange painting ! The crossing paths break the illusion of space, and it sometimes feels like four paintings instead of one. Usually, his paintings don't present such a challenge, and as he said himself: "It is sunshine, flowers in sunshine; girls in sunshine; the nude in sunshine, which I have been principally interested in."

He grew up in Michigan and spent a year a the Art Institute -- where may well have had Vanderpoel as an instructor -- but ended up living permanently in France where "I can paint a nude in my garden or down by the fish pond and not be run out of town." --- a sentiment which I can well appreciate.


Moving from one of the best known -- to the least known --here is Claire P Wilmeth (1900-) who doesn't have a single hit on the internet.
But she obviously went to art school -- and doesn't seem any less professional than the rest. I wonder what what happened to her. Marriage ?

She may not have been one -- but she certainly knew how to paint a femme fatale.



Clyde J Singer (1908-1999) "Winter Portrait". Clyde is an Ohio boy who stayed put and probably played an important role in Butler Art Gallery -- as well as being someone to collect if one collects lively depictions of life in the 30's and 40's.

This is the flat, linear style that is especially appropriate for post-office murals -- and pudgy, well-padded figure that is especially appropriate for the cold, damp winters of northern Ohio.





Adolph Robert Schulz (1869-1963) "Thistles Field"

Not much is available about this Wisconsin landscapist -- except that judging by his dates, he may have been a JHV student.

There are many kinds of landscape that I like -- and even an ordinary field of weeds can be beautiful.

I love weeds ! -- the things that grow regardless (or often despite) anyone's concern for them.



Martinus Olaf Brauner (1860-1947) -- and there's hardly anything on the internet for this painter either. Was he an an amateur ? If so - he seems pretty serious about his work -- and I share his enjoyment of lonely places.

****************************************************************

Above are the paintings I liked most -- but I've also shown the ones done by former members of my art club, the Palette and Chisel.


And this one, by Oskar Gross, "Grandma from the Smokies",is the one I liked most (while Oskar's other painting, of the people on a boat, may be the one I liked least)

Overall, I liked about 10% of the entire gallery -- which is how well most special exhibits appeal to me -- and this museum , while not large, may be among the largest and best public collections of American painting from this period -- with some thanks to the participation of people like these:





I.e. middle class, middle aged American women --- most of them probably well educated and under employed empty nesters -- with time on their hands to contribute to their community -- and probably some kind of art education -- where they were taught how to draw (by someone like John Vanderpoel) and how to make beautiful things.

Where are these women now ?

But the real credit for this collection goes to Vanderpoel's friend and neighbor, John A. Campbell, an advertising man who campaigned from 1916 to 1945 to get Vanderpoel's colleagues to donate paintings to a museum in his name.

A few more items came in during the 50's -- but basically the period of growth was over -- and in the 60's the board donated funds to help build a new facility on the campus of a local, elite private school, the Morgan Park Academy (some of them sat on the board of that institution as well)

The new building was owned by the Morgan Park Academy, but leased for 50 years to a new organization called the "Beverly Arts Center" -- which in turn, gave a 50 year lease to the Vanderpoel Art Association.

As the conclusion of that lease period was approaching, the Beverly Arts Center got the City of Chicago to donate a piece of land, and then raised the funds to build a new facility upon it --- but the Vanderpoel Art Museum was left back at the old building at the Morgan Park Academy -- which immediately asked the museum to leave.

So now -- the museum is in trouble.

It's back at the Ridge Park fieldhouse (which is basically a gym) -- and all the wealthy donors are gone. What's left are a few, dedicated die-hards -- and they need some help !




Here's how the collection looked 50 years ago -- which is about the same as it looks today -- except that most of the sculpture is gone (it's plaster -- it breaks -- and then it gets thrown out)



For a detailed discussion of its history, visit the archives of the "Chicago Reader" and search for "Vanderpoel".





*************** Artists in the collection are listed as follows:



Abdy, Rowena Meeks
Achener, Maurice Victor
Ackerson, Floyd Garrison
Addams, Clifford Isaac
Ahl, Jr., Henry Curtis
Ahl, Henry Hammond
Allan, Julia M.
Amboy, Ike Koch
Anderson, Dorothy Visju
Anderson, Frank Hartley
Anderson, Martha Fort
Armin, Emil
Arms, John Taylor N.A.
Aubudon, John James
Avey, Martha
Babcock, Dean
Badger, Frances C.S.
Bailey, Henry Turner
Bain, Harriet F.
Baker, George Herbert
Baker, Margaret (JHV niece)
Baker, Martha Susan
Barnes, Ernest Harrison
Barnet, Will R.
Barse, George Randolph, Jr.
Barton, Macena Alberta
Baumann, Gustave
Beauley, William Jean
Bell, Wenonah Day
Benedict, Enella
Beneduce, Antimo
Beneker, Gerrit A.
Benson, Frank Weston
Berdanier, Paul Frederick,Jr.
Betts, Grace May (Gay)
Betts, Louis P.
Betts. Harold Harrington
Beye, H. C.
Bird, Sandra
Birren, Joseph Pierre
Blackstone, Harriet
Blanke, Marie Elsa
Blondheim, Adolphe Wiener
Boutwood, Charles Edward
Brackman, Robert
Bradshaw, George A.
Brannan, Sophie Marston
Brauner, Olaf Martinius
Bretsynder, Arno
Brewer, Nicholas Richard
Brod, Fritzi Schermer
Brooks, Alden Finney
Brown, Minnie Isabel [nee: Faragher] (Mrs. Douglas Edwin Brown)
Brown, Horace
Brown, Walter Francis
Browne, Charles Francis
Buchanan, Ella
Buchen, P.
Buck, Chas. Claude
Buck, Leslie Helen Binner
Buckley, Jeannette
Buehr, George Frederick
Buehr, Karl Albert
Burgdorff, Ferdinand
Burlingame, Sheila Ellsworth
Burnham, Anita Willets
Burr, George Elbert
Butler, Edward Burgess
Campbell, Blendon Reed
Cannon, Jennie Vennerstrom
Capps, Charles Merrick
Carson, Frank
Cassatt, Mary Stevenson
Casterton, Edna Nemoede
Champlin, Ada Belle
Chang Shu-Chi (Prof.) [Zhang Shuqi]
Chapel, Guy M.
Chase, Jessie Kalmbach
Cherry, Emma Richardson
Church, Charles Freeman
Cikovsky, Nicolai
Clark, C. William
Clarkson, Ralph Elmer
Cleaver, Alice
Clusmann, William
Clute, Walter Marshall
Coe, Ethel Louise
Colburn, Joseph Elliott, MD
Colby, George E.
Colby, Henry Bryant
Cole, Timothy
Conway, William John
Cook, Paul Rodda
Cooper, Anthony J. (Skupas)
Corwin, Charles Abel
Costigan, John Edward
Crane, Jefferson
Culade, Paul
Dabo, Leon
Dahlgreen, Charles William
Dalrymple, Fred
Dalrymple, Lucille Stevenson
Dalstrom, Gustaf O.
Danforth, S. Chester
Dasburg, Andrew Michael
D'Ascenzo, Nicola
Davidson, Ola McNeil
Davies, Arthur Bowen
Dawson-Watson, Dawson
Deachman (Kerr), Nelly
Dean, Helga Haugan
Deane, H(arold) Mallette
DeBeukelaer, Laura H.
Deines, E. Hubert
Detwiller, Frederick Knecht
Detwiller, Frederick K.
DeVoll, Frederick Usher
DeWolf, Wallace Leroy
Doolittle, Harold Lukens
Draves, John
Dreier, Katherine Sophie
Drew, Elbert Granville
Dudley, Frank Virgil
Dufner, Edward NA
Dunlap, Helena Adele M.
Dunn, Lena Simons
Edmiston, Alice Righter
Ellis, Orpha V.
Emerson, Edith
Emmet, Lydia Field
Ennis, George Pearse
Eppens, William Herman
Ericson, Erhard
Ertz, Edward Frederick
Evans, Jessie Benton
Evans, John William
Fabion, John
Fabri, Ralph SAE
Farnsworth, Helen Sawyer
Farnsworth, Jerry, NA
Fehrer, Oscar
Ferguson, Lillian Gertrude Prest
Fleck, Joseph Amadeus
Fletcher, Calvin
Forsyth, William J.
Foy, Frances-see Dalstrom
Franzen, August NA
Freer, Cora Fredericka
Freer, Frederick Warren
French, Alice Helm
Mrs. Wm.M.R.French
French, Daniel Chester
Frieseke, Frederick Carl
Fromkes, Maurice
Gadsen, Charles C.
Ganiere, George Etienne
Gerard, Paula
Getowski, William L.
Glaman, Eugenie Fish
Gonzales, Boyer
Grabach, John R.
Grant, Frederic Milton
Griffith, Julia Sulzer
Griffith, Louis Oscar
Groom, Emily Parker
Gross, Oskar
Gross, Oskar
Grover, LeVita H.
Grover, Oliver Dennett
Guerin, Jules
Gugler, Frida
Hall, George Henry
Hall, Thomas
Hallberg, Charles Edward
Hallenbeck, George
Hammond, Edith Hazel
Haney, James Parton
Harper, Marian Lyall Dunlap
Harrison, Lowell Birge NA
Hart, "Pop" Geo. Overbury
Hartrath, Lucie
Hazard, Arthur Merton
Hazen, Bessie Ella
Heintzelman, Arthur Wm.
Heitland, Wilmot Emerton
Hennings, Ernest Martin
Hering, Harry
Hetherington, Mildred Lyon
Heuermann, Magda
Hibbard, Elisabeth Haseltine
Hibbard, Frederick Cleveland
Higgins, Eugene
Hitchcock, George
Hitz, Warren
Holm, Victor S.
Holmes, Ralph William
Holsman, Elizabeth Tuttle
Hookum, Eleanor King
Horst, L.
Hotchkiss, Edna Boies
Hoyer, Thorvald H.Arnst
Hubbell, Henry Salem
Huntley, Samantha Littlefield
Hyde, Helen
Immaculata, Sis.Mary, CSC (Anna Marie DuChene)
Ingerle, Rudolph Frank
Ingersoll, Emma Hess (Mrs. Daniel Winthrop Ingersoll)
Injalbert, Jean-Antoine (Fr.)
Ipsen, Ernest Ludwig
Irvine, Wilson Henry
Iskantor
Jaques, Bertha E.
Johansen, Anders D.
Johansen, John Christen
Johnson, Clarence Raymond
Johnson, J. Theodore
Johnston, Ruben LeGrand
Jones, Isabelle Carpenter
Kaltenbach-Reims, Lucille
Kappel, Philip
Kat, William
Kauffman, Camille Andrene
Keener, Anna Elizabeth (Wilton)
Kellner, Charles Harry
Kerr, Blanche Weyburn
Ketchams, Roy Anderson
Kibby, Ilah Marian
King-Hookum See Hookum
Kinney, Troy
Kirmse, Marguerite
Klepper, Frank L.
Knopf, Nellie Augusta
Koessler, Jessie Horton
Krehbiel, Albert Henry
Kreutzberg, Marguerite G
Kronberg, Louis
Lacey, Jessie Pixley
Lamb, F. Mortimer
Lamb, Matt
Lankes, Julius J.
Larson, Fred Thomas
Lauritz, Paul
Lazard, Alice Abraham
Lehman, Irving George
Leith-Ross, Harry
LeRiche, Henri
Levy, Beatrice S.
Leyendecker, Joseph C.
Lindin, Carl Olof Eric
Logan, Robert Fulton
Loomis, Manchus Carlton
Lowell, Orson Byron
Lucioni, Luigi
Lutz, Dan (Danial S.)
Lynch, Anna
MacLane - see McLane
MacLaughlan, Donald Shaw
MacNeil, Hermon Atkins
Madiol, Adrien Jean
Manoir, Irving Kraut (Ph.D.)
Manuel, Margaret
Marr, Carl von
Marzola, Leo Aurelio
Matthews, Anna Lou (Loo) (Mrs. Bedore)
McCracken, James
McKee, Clare Alva
McLain, Anton
McLane-Johansen, Myrtle Jean
McMillen, Mildred
McMurtry, Edward A.
Meltsner, Paul R.
Menzler-Peyton, Bertha S.
Meridith, Isaac Watt
Meridith, I. Watt
Merritt, Ingeborg Johnson
Miller,Helen Adele Lerch
Millet, Jean Francois
Mountford, Julia Ann
Murphy, Hermann Dudley
Myrick, M(ary) Elizabeth
Newman, Anna Mary
Nicholls, Rhoda Holmes
Nisbet, Robert H. NA
Nolf, John Thomas
Nordberg, Carl Albert
Nuyttens, Josef Pierre
Oberhardt, William
Oehmke, Julia DelNagro
Orr, Louis
Page, Marie Danforth
Page, Walter Gilman
Palmer, Pauline Lennards
Parker, Clifford
Parrish, Maxfield
Parrish, Stephen
Patterson, Ambrose
Patton, Katherine
Pearson, Ralph M.
Pelikan, Alfred George
Perard, Victor Seman
Pescheret, Leon R.
Peyraud, Elizabeth Krysher (Mrs. Frank Chas.)
Peyraud, Frank Charles
Peyton-see: Menzler-Peyton
Phoenix, Frank P.
Pierce, Charles Franklin
Pietz, Adam
Pitz, Henry Clarence
Plaschke, Paul A.
Plath, Karl T.
Plowman, George Taylor Sr.
Pohl, Hugo David
Polasek, Albin
Ponsen, Tunis
Pougialis, Constantine
Price, Sophia Phelps
Quinlan, Will J.
Quinn, Marcus Lucius
Ransom, Fletcher Charles
Ravlin, Grace
Reed, Earl Howard
Reed, Ernest
Reichmann, Josephine L.
Reynard, Grant Tyson
Reynolds, Sir Joshua
Rice, Nan
Rice, William Seltzer
Richard, Jacob
Riddell, Annette Irwin
Riesenberg, Sidney H.
Ringius, Carl
Ritchie, Frank G.
Robbins, John Williams
Rodman, Sam P.
Rosenthal, Albert
Ross, Torey
Royal Worcester
St.-Gaudens, Annetta J.
Sandzen, Sven Birger
Sarka, Charles Nicolas
Sauermann, Gerhardt H.
Sawyer, Helen Alton (Mrs. Jerry Farnsworth see #185)
Sawyer, Philip Ayer
Sawyer, Wells M.
Schaldach, William Joseph
Schilling - See Shilling
Schmidt, Albert Herman
Schmidt, Otto
Schneider, Otto J.
Schulz - See Shulz
Schutz, Anton (Joseph Fredrich) ME
Schumann, Paul Richard
Scott, Katherine H.
Sessler, Stanley Sascha
Seward, Coy Avon
Shaw - see Miller
Sheets, Nan Jane
Shilling, Alexander
Shulz, Adolph Robert
Simmerling, John Jr.
Simmerling, Jack
Sindelaer, Charles J.
Singer, Clyde J.
Smit, Derk
Smith, Alice Ravnel Huger
Smith, Francis Drexel
Smith, Frank Vining
Sparks, Will
Spears, Ethel
Spelman, John Adams
Stearns, Fred
Steele, Theodore Clement
Sterner, Albert
Stevenson, Florence Ezzell
Stoltenberg, Hans John
Sturges, Dwight C.
Sturges, Lee
Svendsen, Charles C.
Swann, James
Swift, Ivan
Taft, Lorado
Taka, Rikio (or Ritjio)
Tallmadge, Thomas Eddy
Taubes, Frederic
Telling, Elisabeth
Temple, Isabel
Titcomb, Mary Bradish
Tomanek, Joseph
Tyler, Carolyn Dow
Valerio, Silvio B.
Van der Velde, Hanny
Van Duzee, Kate Keith
van Pappelendam, Laura
Vanderpoel, John H.
Vanderpoel, Matilda
Volay, Peter
von Marr (SEE MARR)
Wachtel, Marion Kavanaugh
Wack, Henry Wellington
Wadsworth, Francis Russell
Waite, Emily Burling
Walker, Harold E.
Walker, Nellie Verne
Walter, Christian J.
Walters, Emile
Warshawsky, Abel George (Abraham or Abel)
Watson, Dudley Crafts
Waugh, Frederick Judd
Wedderspoon, Richard Gibson
Weinberg, Mrs. Emilie Sievert
Wellwood, W. Jr.
Wendt, Julia M. Bracken-
Wendt, William
Wengenroth, Stow
Wetmore, Mary Minerva
Whaley, Edna Reed
Wheeler, Clifton A.
Whistler, James Abbott McNeill
White, Walter Chas. Louis
Whitmore, Rob't Huston
Wiberg, Voss
Williams, Charles Sneed
Williams, Edward K.
Wilmeth, Claire P.
Wirtshafter, Ethel
Witters, Nell
Woiceske, Ronau William
Wolcott, Katherine
Wood, Grant
Woodward, Stanley W.
Yens, Karl (Julius Heinrich) aka Jens
Young, Ellsworth
Zorn, Anders