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On the hill
“American Scene” refers to artists who attempt to find what is “American” in life and art, often in opposition to European artistic tendencies such as abstraction. Antiques, Route 9-W plays with the viewer’s conceptions of art, and what might first be seen as the park of a classical Roman villa is soon recognized as the grounds of an antique store in the American countryside. Bouché’s one-time studio mate Alexander Brook (1898–1980) is the artist of a 1942 lithograph titled In the Studio, a gift from friends of the Rev. Richard L. Hillstrom ’38 in honor of his retirement from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. That print is the second work by Brook in the collection, and both will be shown in the exhibition with works by Brook’s one-time wife, artist Peggy Bacon (1895–1987). In the Studio is an image of Bacon at rest during a session of posing for her husband, who frequently used her as a model in his works. Other donations on view include The Offering, a 1934 lithograph by French-born artist Jean Charlot (1898–1979), donated by Gene and Ann (Komatz ’51) Basset; an undated drawing, Nude Woman, by SwedishAmerican artist Elof Wedin (1901–1983), donated by Gloria Kittleson in honor of the Rev. Richard L. Hillstrom; and a large watercolor titled Lone Bulb, 1988, by Catherine Davis Means ’74. Means, who has achieved a high level of recognition in her significant career as an artist, has been represented by the Gallery Henoch in New York, and the donation came from gallery director George Henoch Schechtman and his wife, Nancy Hicks. (Hicks’ brother George Hicks ’75, who helped arrange
the donation, is a member of the Gustavus board.) Dr. David and Kathryn (Rydland ’71) Gilbertson donated funds toward the purchase of artworks, among them the 1939 lithograph Midnight Alarm by Regionalist artist Grant Wood (1892–1942), also on view. The Gilbertsons, along with Hillstrom, were the donors of funds to purchase four hand-colored prints by Wood, as reported in the Summer 2005 issue of the Quarterly. The Gilbertsons have also promised as future gifts to the Museum two additional Wood lithographs, his first print, the 1937 Tree Planting Group, and his penultimate print, the 1941 December Afternoon. The Museum plans eventually to acquire examples of all nineteen of Wood’s prints. A recent purchase by the Museum, of Wood’s Sultry Night (1937), is part of this effort. This lithograph was printed in a much smaller edition than most of Wood’s prints. American Associated Artists (AAA), the group responsible for commissioning and distributing prints by Wood and many other artists of his era, often shipped artworks through the mail. Sultry Night, which depicts a nude farmer washing his tanned body with water from a trough, was deemed by the U. S. Postal Service to be obscene, and AAA was warned that the print could not legally be mailed, so the edition was curtailed. One of the works from the collection being highlighted in the exhibition is an ink and wash drawing by social artist and political cartoonist William Gropper (1897–1977), titled The Wanderer. The drawing, given to the Museum by Hillstrom in 2003, is the subject of another of
the Museum’s recurring FOCUS IN/ON exhibits, which engage the expertise of campus members across the curriculum in collaborative projects to consider a particular work from the collection in depth. Elizabeth Baer, professor of English, whose research and teaching focus on Holocaust and genocide studies (with special emphasis on gender and genocide) and memorialization and representation of the Holocaust, will co-author with the Museum director an extended didactic exhibition text for The Wanderer. Both Architecture of Silence and Highlights and Recent Acquisitions of the Hillstrom Museum of Art will be on view from September 11 through November 5, 2006, with an opening reception during the Nobel Conference on October 3, 2006, 6–8 p.m. G
Louis Bouché (1896–1969), Antiques, Route 9-W, 1961, oil on canvas, 26-1/4 x 22 inches, gift of the artist’s daughter, Jane Bouché Strong.
Donald Myers ’83 is director of the Hillstrom Museum of Art and an instructor in art history at the College.
Fall 2006
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