Collection Focus: Don Reitz at RAM

Collection Focus: Don Reitz at RAM

(front cover) Figure 1 Don Reitz Large Lidded Jar, 1992 Wood-fired stoneware 24 3/8 x 12 inches diameter Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle

(front inside cover) Figure 2 Don Reitz Bag Form, 1986 Salt-glazed stoneware 30 x 17 x 11 inches Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle

(opposite) Figure 3 Don Reitz Untitled, ca. 1990 Color monotype 29 1/2 x 22 1/4 inches Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle

Collection Focus: Don Reitz at RAM

Contents 3 Collection Focus: Don Reitz at RAM Lena Vigna 10 L eatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Speak About Art Collecting with Bruce W. Pepich 15 The Don Reitz Archive at the Racine Art Museum

First Edition Copyright ©2023 Racine Art Museum All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Convention. Except for legitimate excerpts customary in review or scholarly publications, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval systems, without written permission of the publisher.

Published in the United States by the Racine Art Museum (RAM), 441 Main Street, Racine, WI 53403.

Proofreaders: Katherine Berggruen, Rachel Comande, Laura Grayson, Jean Mandli, Katelyn Mitchell, Bruce W. Pepich, Tyler Potter, and Lena Vigna, RAM Designer: Tyler Potter, RAM Marketing Department Printed in Waukesha, Wisconsin by The SCAN Group Collection Focus: Don Reitz at RAM is published on the occasion of the exhibition Collection Focus: Don Reitz, organized by the Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI, and on view from September 20, 2023 through February 3, 2024.

All photography by Jarvis Lawson, except where noted.

Racine Art Museum is grateful to the following sponsors: Platinum Sponsors The Estate of Karen Johnson Boyd David Charak Judith and David Flegel Fund Ron and Judith Isaacs Nicholas and Nancy Kurten Racine Community Foundation Windgate Foundation Diamond Sponsors City of Racine’s Grow Racine Grant Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation Ruffo Family Foundation Ruth Arts Foundation Gold Sponsors Anonymous Tom and Irene Creecy Richard and Patricia Ehlert Trio Foundation of St. Louis W.T. Walker Group, Inc. Wisconsin Arts Board

Silver Sponsors Anonymous A.C. Buhler Family Lucy G. Feller Ben and Dawn Flegel Jim Harris Sharon and Tom Harty Lise Iwon Johnson Financial Group Dorothy MacVicar Jan Serr and John Shannon Visit Racine County Bronze Sponsors Ellen and Joseph Albrecht Andis Foundation Susan Boland Virginia Buhler Bill and Debbie Keland Susan Manalli Jean and Alex Mandli, Jr. Cathy Stanghellini Georgiana Treivush

Collection Focus: Don Reitz at RAM

Don (Donald) Reitz (1929 – 2014) holds a special place in contemporary craft, particularly in ceramics. Not only did he reinvigorate salt- and wood-firing techniques, but he was also a truly beloved figure who inspired numerous artists and collectors.

Similar—and yet different—to Toshiko Takaezu, another legendary figure who impacted the course of ceramics in the twentieth century, there was no separating art and life for Reitz. While Takaezu seemed to orient the connection on day-to-day practices, Reitz related to the material in a way that it became an extension of his body and a reflection of profound personal circumstances. He appeared to live an adventurous life, loving nature at an early age and feeling connected to the earth (or “dirt”) from the first time he was out playing in it. Reitz’s energetic spirit is reflected in ceramic objects that have loopy handles, textural surfaces, and direct—or indirect—evidence of his hand.

This exhibition underscores RAM’s commitment to chronicling the career of Reitz, who spent 1962– 88 living and working in Wisconsin when he was actively teaching as faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

There were already a handful of works by Reitz in RAM’s collection when a recent major gift from Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle catapulted the number of his pieces to over 60. This gift established an archive for Reitz and pushed him into the top three most-collected artists working primarily in clay in the collection.

Making pots isn’t about making pots…You can’t let pots get in the way of making pots, like you can’t let fishing get in the way of going fishing. Making pots is about your self [sic] ; the way you think; the way your mind is; what has affected you all your life.1 — Don Reitz

Figure 4 Don Reitz Pierced Platter, 1961 Salt-glazed stoneware 1 3/4 x 18 inches diameter Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle

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In his interview with the Archives of American Art, Don Reitz directly stated “the natural world is my inspiration.” 2 For Reitz, it is the clay as earth— which he digs into to work it, touch it, and interact with it — that is most obviously his connection to nature. Yet he also talks about many hours spent outdoors as a child, living in the Canadian wilderness for a period, and being a salvage diver in the Navy (as well as a butcher).

These activities — and others he engaged in — contribute to a broad set of influences and interests, yet they were also “hands on” opportunities. Reitz remarked that, in youthful years, he had a tendency to touch things such as jars and columns, marveling at their structure and form. This inclination, from his perspective, suggests his mindset towards making long before he was formally training to be an artist.3 By all accounts, Reitz was a man with “big energy.”

In interviews, he shared that he was always looking for new challenges and strove to avoid being too comfortable. His work embodied this energy as it reflected his gestures and physicality, as well as his willingness to experiment. He manipulated the materials and he pushed time-tested techniques— such as salt firing—to new places. While he was thoughtful in process and appreciated his studio time, he was also self-consciously theatrical: “When I’m out in the public doing a workshop, I’m very outgoing and gregarious because I really am a show-off. I love theater.” 4 Elements of Reitz’s process and approach certainly draw parallels to contemporaries such as Toshiko Takaezu, Peter Voulkos, Ken Ferguson, and more, and his motivations seem personal— less about the state of the ceramics field and more about what he could do with a material he loved. Technically grounded and keenly aware of ceramics history, his concern was also directed towards how the material could be expressive and a connective tissue. (top) Figure 5 Don Reitz Lidded Jar, 1962 Salt-glazed stoneware 8 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches diameter Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle

(bottom) Figure 6 Don Reitz Lidded Jar, 1962 Salt-glazed stoneware 8 3/4 x 5 3/8 inches diameter Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle

(opposite) Figure 7 Don Reitz Platter from the Sara Series, 1984 –85 Slip-glazed earthenware 20 7/8 x 18 x 1 3/4 inches Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle

In the late 1950s, after obtaining his bachelor’s degree, Reitz taught art in public schools before attending Alfred University and pursuing his master’s degree. In addition to being a teacher, he started developing workshops that targeted the parents of the students in his classes. Reitz figured that if he could engage the parents in creativity, they would be more open to what their children were doing.

The desire to reach people directly—to build enthusiasm and encourage their making—seems to have fueled his lifelong interest in workshop instruction.5 Once he was at Alfred and focusing on ceramics fulltime, Reitz began to experiment more, especially with clays and unorthodox firing methods. His introduction to salt firing fueled his enthusiasm for visceral engagement that extended beyond manipulating the clay itself. He stated: “I will never forget the rush I felt when I threw my first handful of salt…This was one of the elements that had been missing—physical confrontation with the process, the drama, the mystery and magic.”6 Early works such as Pierced Platter from 1961 (fig 4) and Lidded Jar from 1962 (fig 5 and 6) reflect how Reitz was beginning to incorporate these newly discovered techniques. These works, rooted in functional forms, have surfaces that seem to percolate—at a minimum, they reflect some kind of dynamic process at work. Surfaces are not smooth and color is not evenly applied. The works simultaneously mark the presence of the artist as an individual making compositional and formal choices and a collaborator who happily engages in a process that includes elements of chance.

I wanted to embellish the surface, to enrich it, not to hide the clay, not to disguise the clay.

I love what the clay does because the clay, in fact, is me. It is my motion, my spirit, my energy, my mark, my signature’s all over it. 7 Reitz began his formal art training majoring in painting at Kutztown Teachers College in Pennsylvania.

His shift to clay capitalized on his love of “dirt” while still allowing him to consider pattern, color, and gesture. In addition to what he could achieve with certain firing techniques, he would utilize various other methods—including, at one point with the Sara Series, applying colored slips to create narrative imagery. While all of his work tracks his body movements and physical being, Reitz was at his most narrative with this body of work—created while he grappled with despair brought on by a serious truck accident, the death of his father, and the cancer diagnosis of a favorite niece, Sara. Correspondence with Sara offered relief and inspiration, and he embellished clay slabs prepared by his students with imagery from Sara as well as his own childhood (fig 7). Less physically demanding to produce, this work was still a response to his own corporality—when he could not throw or build as his energy often dictated, he modified his approach to suit what his body could accomplish at the time.

Both salt and wood firing magnify chemical processes of material interaction. With salt firing (or salt glazing), salt is introduced into a kiln during the firing. It reacts with materials in the clay, naturally glazing the work inside. Wood firing operates similarly in that ash from the wood interacts with the flame and the clay. There is a large degree of chance embedded in the techniques that appealed to Reitz. In addition, the techniques allow for surface enhancements as well as an emphasis on the clay itself. They connected the materials and firing processes to bodies— his body in particular. As he said, “I saw that the sodium revealed all my scars…” 8 5

In addition, the effects achievable through salt and wood firing—with uneven coloration and surface texture—echo the dramatic gesturing Reitz would employ in moving the clay around.

Whether throwing or building, he pushed and pulled the material in expressive ways, employing his whole body as a tool.

This direct link through gesture and method as modes of expression aligned him with contemporaries working with clay, as well as other media, and exploring content through process (fig 8).

Pieces by Reitz began showing up as gifts to RAM’s collection decades ago. Donated by Karen Johnson Boyd, the first work given hints at the artist’s legacy with—and reverence for—function.

Acknowledging functional and sculptural work simultaneously, this salt glazed vessel has a textured surface with a random speckled pattern, areas of earthy/natural color, a lid, and dramatic ribbonlike handles (fig 9). Like other artists pushing the boundaries of clay in the mid-twentieth century, the notion of function was a consideration for Reitz. However, unlike those who looked at utility as a concept that kept work from being treated as artistic, he did not shy away from making functional works as needed or desired. He stated, “Don’t be embarrassed about making functional pots if you’re an artist…If you’re making dishes, that’s another thing.” 9 A pitcher from the mid-1970s, emblazoned with dramatic “splashes” of color while the handle and wide lip suggest ease of use as a pouring vessel (fig 10), embodies the idea that functional could also be expressive.

Simultaneously, he would produce works that acknowledge yet challenge clay’s historical and global framework as a material associated with use. An untitled vessel from the 1970s resembles an Etruscan amphora with a body that swells in the middle and a well-proportioned foot.

However, Reitz has only vaguely alluded to utility

(above) Figure 8 Don Reitz Vessel, 1973 Salt-glazed stoneware 12 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches diameter Racine Art Museum, the Karen Johnson Boyd Collection (right) Figure 9 Don Reitz Covered Jar, 1975 Salt-glazed stoneware 12 1/2 x 11 x 10 5/8 inches Racine Art Museum, the Karen Johnson Boyd Collection

as he applied rather small appendages in the place of handles (fig 11). A series he called Tie Downs consisted of vessel forms with cords that seemed to constrain some aspect of the piece and lids that may, or may not, open (fig 12).

Playing with notions of container/contained— a theme he referenced regularly—this series also directly reflected Reitz’s personal circumstances as he created them while working through a divorce.

Reitz suggested that he could come and go from function depending on what he was interested in making at any given time—basically, more abstract thinking would lead to more abstract, less functional work. In his Archives of American Art interview, he talked about the forms of his output flowing from one to the next. As he would get in the studio and work with the material, new things would arise—either wholly new directions or reconsiderations of earlier interests or forms.

It might be tempting to see Reitz’s output as anti-intellectual as he does not seem to place too much emphasis on the academic side of where clay stood relative to the hierarchy of art-making materials. However, as noted above, he was thinking about its history, capacity to engage, technical capabilities, and potential to embody meaning.

Tea Stack Precursor (fig 13), produced in the mid-1970s, was one of several works that underscored Reitz’s reverence for the material as well as his willingness to play with new forms.

Comprised of a tall cylinder balanced on a rounded body, the “vessel” is accented with barely recognizable teapot elements in the shape of a spout and a handle. The title hints at how Reitz was acknowledging clay’s history with tea consumption as well as its contemporary manipulations in the hands of artists such as Peter Voulkos. A friend of Reitz and regarded

(top) Figure 10 Don Reitz Pitcher, ca. 1975 Salt-glazed stoneware 16 x 10 x 9 inches Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle (bottom) Figure 11 Don Reitz Vessel, ca. 1975 Salt-glazed stoneware 25 7/8 x 13 inches diameter Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle

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as one of contemporary clay’s strongest sculptural voices, Voulkos was creating work titled Stacks that played with the expressive, material potential of clay. Reitz worked on his own “stacks,” expanding sizes and emphasizing, by his own admission, the “abstract expressionist” possibilities of his thinking.10 At 39 inches, Tea Stack Precursor was a large scale for Reitz at the time, and it moved him further from the functional.

It seemed to somewhat free him up in this thinking as he described, “I wanted to talk about purely abstract thoughts in my head, but yet was still using the vessel as a metaphor.” With later works, Reitz flowed (using his word again) back to a larger, sculptural form that reflected his engagement with the material without representing anything obvious.11 In the 1980s —after the physical trauma of his motor vehicle accident — Reitz shifted from narrative work to a limited color palette until he was introduced to Yukio Yamamoto, a ceramic artist in Arizona who encouraged artists to re-examine wood firing. Reitz found new challenges in wood firing, embracing the technique and traveling to different kilns across the country (fig 17).

Wisconsin played a big role in Reitz’s career, holding his attention for almost three decades when he was actively teaching as a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1962– 88.

His innovations and experimentations—and people’s desire to experience these—along with his love of connecting with people through art, encouraged frequent traveling for workshops across the country.

Wisconsin offered him space to set up kilns and to work in the kind of environment he loved—one that would keep him active and “making pots, running a farm, training horses, salt glazing, everything.” 12 Reitz’s term in the state coincided with that of other significant figures in art, such as Warrington Colescott, Verne Funk, Walter Hamady, Audrey Handler, Truman Lowe, Eleanor Moty, Frances Myers, and John Wilde.

When Reitz retired from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he moved to a ranch in Arizona where he built a studio. He maintained a dedicated creative practice that included an active schedule of teaching workshops.

The legacy of Reitz is more than just his work and his teaching. He not only shaped the direction of ceramics in the twentieth century but also committed property and artwork to help the Arizona State University establish an artist’s residency program— a move that could help direct the field for future generations.

Reitz has routinely been considered a trailblazer for contemporary ceramic practice and is represented in numerous public collections beyond RAM’s, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.; and the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, North Carolina.

(opposite) Figure 12 Don Reitz Tie Down, 1975 Salt-glazed stoneware and waxed cotton 20 x 16 1/2 inches diameter Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle (left) Figure 13 Don Reitz Tea Stack Precursor, ca. 1970 –75 Salt-glazed stoneware 39 x 15 inches diameter Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle in Honor of the Opening of RAM Photography: Michael Tropea

His career is marked with numerous awards and acknowledgments, including being named twice as one of the greatest living ceramic artists, operating as President of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), winning both a Wisconsin Governor’s Award and a Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award, being acknowledged with a citation of the Maori people of New Zealand for “distinguished leadership in the dispensing of knowledge to peoples,” and being awarded a Gold Medal from the American Craft Council.

There are art historical debates about how much people should connect an artist’s biography to their work.13 Perhaps the most useful approach is to consider the question on an individual basis. Reitz forthrightly connects his art—metaphorically if not actually—to his mind and body.

As someone who found a material that resonated with him on multiple levels —a material that could amplify his voice and reflect his corporal actions—Don Reitz used it to both absorb and reflect his energy.

Lena Vigna Curator of Exhibitions, Racine Art Museum 9

Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Speak About Art Collecting with Bruce W. Pepich

Bruce W. Pepich: The collection of 52 works by Don Reitz that you have donated to the Racine Art Museum (RAM) is one of a number of specific areas in contemporary craft that you have pursued. Can you identify what first drew you to collecting? How did you start and when? What is it about contemporary craft that intrigues you and continues to retain your interest?

Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle: First, we would like to thank you and the Racine Art Museum for all of your efforts to recognize and collect the works of many leading studio artists. We have always believed that without these works being in museums, this area of the arts and its dramatic growth and change in the last 100+ years would never be documented.

Second, to us, craftsmanship is an element of art. No one that is considered a great artist is not also a craftsman—creating works that are beautifully assembled so that the artistic message is enhanced. The twentieth-century creation of the craft field is a disservice to the artistry that is embodied in many of the works. A focus on the materials, the techniques of working with them, and, in some cases, the functionality of the works, led to a loss of stature for the artists who became labeled as craftsmen. In other words, it is all art if it is not functional. Even then, functional works can be both beautiful and artistic. So, when you ask about craft, we will be responding about art.

After all, RAM has a major collection of these works in the name of art.

Third, we did not consider ourselves collectors in the sense that the popular press uses the term. That usage envisions a wealthy individual, perhaps buying with professional advice, purchasing art at the highest price end of the market with a view toward the works ending up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art or MoMA in New York. We bought works to live with and enjoy every day because we were attracted to the pieces and not because they had public acclaim in the marketplace. We personally knew many of the artists whose work we acquired and felt their presence in our home.

Pepich: During the time you assembled your collection, the craft field began to receive more serious attention in museums and the media.

Can you talk about this fertile time? Did you collect broadly or more specifically in media and time periods? Did anyone, in particular, help you in your collecting at any stage?

(right) Figure 14 Don Reitz Platter from the Sara Series, 1984 Slip-glazed earthenware 3 x 21 1/4 inches diameter Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle (opposite) Figure 15 Don Reitz Covered Jar, 1966 Salt-fired stoneware 18 1/2 × 14 1/2 inches The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection, museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund Photography: Thomas R. DuBrock, © The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Eagles: Our connection with art began soon after we were married in 1960. In fact, we bought our first piece together in May of that year at the Cleveland Museum of Art May Show, a juried marketplace for local artists. In the 1960s, we primarily bought functional works as we were equipping our kitchen and simply decorating our small apartments, and then, our first house.

In the 1960s, Lee studied ceramics at local schools and sold her work at local fairs. In 1972, we started a ceramic supply company in Maryland, Eagle Ceramics, that Lee built into a successful, multi-state business over the next 12 years. That resulted in us meeting most of the important ceramic artists of the period.

In the mid-1970s, the American Ceramic Society honored Don Reitz at their annual meeting. He brought several works with him.

We went to see his exhibition, ended up talking with him for hours, and acquired one of the works that is now in the permanent collection of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFA, Houston). We always consider this piece (fig 15) the first major sculptural work that we owned.

Eagle Ceramics partnered with the American Hand — a local Washington, D.C., gallery that was early in selling the works of ceramic artists— in several series of workshops and demonstrations. Called Making It in Clay, the guest artists who came from across the US and England would give a lecture and a hands-on demonstration at a local college, and brought works for a show and sale at the gallery. This exposed us to a wide variety of important artists and their works and gave us the chance to acquire our first of many pieces by such artists as Ralph Bacerra, Michael Cardew, David Leach, and Adrian Saxe.

More specifically to your question, early on we were focused on ceramics. As our exposure to the works of more and increasingly diverse artists—working in different media and widely varying styles and artistic concepts—grew, we’ve been fortunate to acquire works by too many artists in too many fields to name here.

A few examples that may illuminate this answer include Robert Arneson, Wendell Castle, Olga de Amaral, William Harper, Albert Paley, Ken Price, Therman Statom, Frank Stella, and Wayne Thiebaud.

Whenever we talk about specific people we interacted with, we are speaking of artists whom we respected and exchanged ideas and information with—which helped us form our own opinions. In that period, Ken Deavers and Ed Nash at the American Hand were people whom we worked with closely.

In the 1980s, we began a long involvement with the James Renwick Alliance, then the support group for the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Michael Monroe, then Curator-in-Charge of the Gallery, was someone whom we interacted with often. We have been fortunate to stay in touch with him for many years. Of course, we’ve been equally fortunate to have watched and been involved as you’ve built an exemplary collection of studio arts. We’ve had many memorable hours with you and your wife, Lisa Englander, sharing information on current happenings.

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(right) Figure 16 Don Reitz Platter, 1979 Slip-glazed stoneware 4 3/4 x 14 3/4 x 14 inches Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle (opposite) Figure 17 Don Reitz Industrial Park, 2008 Wood-fired stoneware 40 x 15 x 17 inches Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle

More recently, we’ve developed a close working relationship with Cindi Strauss, the Sara and Bill Morgan Curator of Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design and Assistant Director, Programming at the MFA, Houston.

She spent many hours with us as she chose the works in our home that would eventually be acquired by the museum. Her observations about the art and the artists have been both educational and inspirational as we look back over the evolution of the field.

A number of gallery owners, including Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio, Ed and Patricia Faber, Tom Hawk, Maureen Littleton, Frank Paluch, Franklin Parrasch, and Duane Reed are among many that have been generous with sharing their extensive knowledge.

Pepich: Your gift covers nearly 50 years in Don Reitz’s career. What was it about his work that appealed to you? Did you start out intending to collect him in-depth or did this develop over time? Did you collect multiple examples of other artists’ works?

The Eagles: We find Don’s work strong, dynamic, and artistically satisfying, and his craftsmanship is exemplary. His expertise in taking advantage of the firing process to produce exceptional art is unique. He was an expert in kiln design and construction, and he was generous with his time when asked to work with schools and individual artists in building kilns with an emphasis on the traditional Japanese designs.

Once we decide that we admire the work of an artist, we sometimes become compulsive about wanting to have a picture of their career by having works they did in different styles and periods. This rarely happens with forethought but evolves over time.

Don’s work is probably the best example of this compulsion of ours

taking place. From works from his graduate show at Alfred to several from the last decade of his life, we’ve had examples of most of the ways in which he worked. Other artists in our collection for which this has been true to some extent include Robert Arneson, Earl Pardon, Adrian Saxe, and Peter Voulkos.

Pepich: Did you learn about Reitz’s work primarily from him or were there also other sources of information that helped you? Did your thoughts change as you lived with his pieces and did your relationship with him affect the way you collected his work over time? Was there a particular period or subject matter that most appealed to you?

The Eagles: Don did a workshop at the school where Lee was studying ceramics in the late 1960s.

Then, we met Don in the mid-1970s and obtained the covered jar we showed you earlier (fig 15).

It flowed from there. We stayed in touch with him and spoke regularly. He told us about what he was making and doing and acquisitions just happened. There was not a plan that we followed.

Looking back over the entirety of his career, the period that stands out is when he was salt firing his work. He was able to paint on the surfaces using oxides and prepared colors and the salt deposits worked with the colors to produce abstract paintings on his sculpture.

Pepich: A majority of your collection is now at the MFA, Houston. Can you explain the importance to you of having your collection in the public realm?

The Eagles: Museums make works of art available that would otherwise remain out of sight in a private owner’s hands. Keeping the work away from the public is, in particular, a disservice to the artists. In our case, since we knew many of them, we felt that we owed it to them to see that their art ended up in a museum, while the decision was still ours to make. Aside from that, it is really rewarding to watch museumgoers look at the work and talk about it in ways that we would not. It is also satisfying to know that we had the gift of being involved in helping future generations learn about the art and artists of this period.

Pepich: Reitz was at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for almost three decades.

Was this a consideration when you selected RAM for the gift of this archive?

The Eagles: Yes, that and the trust that we have in your stewardship of art.

Pepich: People are frequently interested in the dynamic that occurs when a couple collects artworks together. What is your decision-making process like?

The Eagles: We have mostly bought things when both of us were enthusiastic.

We’re very impulsive and usually rely on our first sighting of the work. If we don’t feel an urgency to buy, then we rarely reconsider.

Pepich: Your Reitz pieces include graphics.

Do you otherwise collect beyond craft into two-dimensional artworks? Are you still living with objects and do you continue to acquire new pieces? If so, what kinds of work interest you today?

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The Eagles: Shelves and pedestals aren’t the only places to display art.

Walls need art, too. When we’re interested in an artist’s sculptural works, we also try to acquire paintings and drawings. This gives us a more comprehensive view of the artist and provides more insight into their inspirations. Besides Don, we’ve had drawings and paintings by Rudy Autio, Robert Arneson, and Peter Voulkos to name others.

We also have acquired works by artists who aren’t known for working in ceramics. These include Washington artists Gene Davis, Tom Downing, and Sam Gilliam; and others including Robert Kushner, Ed Ruscha, Frank Stella, Wayne Thiebaud, and William Wiley.

Our home still has art displayed but we’ve mostly stopped acquiring.

We do still get the urge and, on occasion, give in to it. Most recently, we bought an iconic work by David Gilhooly, Frog Breakfast, a pitcher by Michael Cardew, and a covered dish by his student in Nigeria, Ladi Kwali.

The pieces resonate with us, and we feel like living with them.

Figure 18 Don Reitz Untitled, ca. 1990 Color monotype 29 1/2 x 22 1/4 inches Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle

Don Reitz’s work has been part of RAM’s contemporary craft collection since 1992, when Karen Johnson Boyd donated a covered jar made in 1975.

The recent arrival of a major gift of nearly 50 examples of the artist’s works donated by Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle has dramatically increased the artist’s documentation at RAM while adding to his visibility in the US museum field.

The Don Reitz Archive at Racine Art Museum

This archival contribution is not the first time the Eagles have presented artworks to RAM’s collection. More than twenty years ago, the Eagles donated three Reitz works in honor of RAM’s founding—Broccoli Bowl, 1965 (fig 20); Form #3 from the Trophy Vessel Series, 1974; and Tea Stack Precursor, ca. 1975 (fig 13)— and two of these were included in RAM’s inaugural exhibition. These pieces have been in multiple RAM exhibitions since its inception, and the museum loaned two to Don Reitz: Clay, Fire, Salt, and Wood, a retrospective organized by the Chazen Museum of Art (then the Elvehjem Museum of Art) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2004.

The Eagles collected Reitz across every stage of his career, acquiring both his functional and sculptural works alongside works on paper.

RAM has four monotypes whose imagery links to his ceramics from the same period. In addition to the Eagles, RAM has also received Reitz works from Karen Johnson Boyd, Bacia Edelman, Warrington Colescott and Frances Myers, and Barbara Waldman.

RAM’s holdings of over 65 pieces by Reitz begin in 1961 and continue through 2008. The museum has different versions of the same kinds of functional objects— tea bowls, pitchers, platters, covered jars, and casseroles. By exhibiting these works together for comparison, RAM can document Reitz’s approach to using different construction methods and glazing techniques throughout his studio practice. The artist valued functional ceramics as much as their sculptural counterparts, and the prominence of these works in this archive demonstrate his belief.

Respected for his 30-year career as a member of the University of Wisconsin–Madison art faculty, Reitz is historically important to Wisconsin and its arts community. It is appropriate that RAM houses this archive in the state where Reitz made much of this work.

The museum looks forward to including these pieces in its ongoing ceramics exhibitions and presenting Reitz’s work within the context of national and international art movements to encourage greater understanding and appreciation on the part of the public. RAM is grateful to the donors who have made this archive possible and especially to the Eagles for their generosity and thoughtfulness.

Figure 19 Don Reitz Four Casseroles, ca. 1980 Salt-glazed stoneware A: 8 1/2 x 15 x 12 inches B: 7 x 10 1/2 inches diameter C: 6 1/2 x 10 inches diameter D: 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 10 inches Racine Art Museum, the Karen Johnson Boyd Collection

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Endnotes 1

Don Reitz, “News & Retrospect: Don Reitz,” Ceramics Monthly, December 1981, vol. 29, no. 20, 71.

2

Oral history interview with Don Reitz, June 6 –7, 2006, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-don-reitz-13546, accessed May 5, 2023.

3

Ibid.

4

Don Reitz quoted in “Interview with Don Reitz: A Teaching Legacy,” by Jody Clowes, Don Reitz: Clay, Fire Salt, and Wood. Wisconsin: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 2004, 45.

5

Oral history interview with Don Reitz, June 6 –7, 2006, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

6

Don Reitz, “Art Out of Need,” Ceramics Monthly, February 1991, vol. 39 no 2, 50.

7

Don Reitz quoted in catalogue entries, Don Reitz: Clay, Fire Salt, and Wood.

Wisconsin: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 2004, p 56.

8

Oral history interview with Don Reitz, June 6 –7, 2006, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

9

Don Reitz quoted in “Passion, Discipline, and Keeping the Fire in Mind,” by Jody Clowes, Don Reitz: Clay, Fire Salt, and Wood. Wisconsin: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 2004, 12.

10 Oral history interview with Don Reitz, June 6 –7, 2006, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

11 Ibid.

12 Don Reitz, “Art Out of Need,” Ceramics Monthly, February 1991, vol. 39 no 2, 50.

13 A necdotal evidence suggests that Reitz’s “larger than life” persona and overall approach—especially paired with his friendship with similar personalities like Peter Voulkos—might have encouraged critics to let it sometimes outshine his technique. Questions about ego, self-centeredness, and other dynamics abound. The “machismo” assigned to these artists—many of whom were photographed shirtless and in action— parallels that associated with Abstract Expressionist macho personalities such as Jackson Pollock. It is with the advantage of history that this can be looked at through new lenses and in ways that can be insightful while also acknowledging that Reitz truly seems to have loved the material and was capable of passing along this earnestness.

Figure 20 Don Reitz Broccoli Bowl, 1965 Salt-glazed stoneware 8 1/2 x 15 x 13 3/4 inches Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle in Honor of the Opening of RAM

16

Figure 21 Don Reitz Sweetheart Plate, ca. 1980 Salt-glazed stoneware 3 3/4 x 13 1/4 x 11 1/4 inches Racine Art Museum, Gift of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle

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