Sheldon Statewide 2020–21: Compact Rhythms

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Works in the Exhibition Josef Albers Bottrop, Germany 1888–New Haven, CT 1976 Variant MM Serigraph, 1968 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust, H-1360.1968

Sheldon Statewide is an annual exhibition and outreach program of Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska. As part of a land-grant research institution, Sheldon shares the university’s mission of extending its offerings across the state.

Since the program began in 1987, original artworks

Ben Benn Białystok, Poland 1884–New York, NY 1983 Still Life with Pineapple Oil on Masonite, 1947 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick S. Seacrest, N-514.1979

from Sheldon’s collection have been viewed by more than 363,000 people in twenty-five Nebraska communities.

Sheldon Statewide 2020–21 is supported by Farmers Mutual Insurance of Nebraska, Rhonda Seacrest, Nebraska Arts Council and Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and Sheldon Art Association.

Thelma Lorie Christenson Yankton, SD 1938–Kansas City, MO 1968 Landscape Oil on canvas, date unknown Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, gift of Lawrence Reger in memory of the artist, N-228.1970

For more information about Sheldon Statewide, visit sheldonartmuseum.org/statewide, or contact Jackie Spackman, assistant curator of engagement, at 402.472.2092 or jspackman@unl.edu.

Frederick Hammersley Salt Lake City, UT 1919–Albuquerque, NM 2009 And You Scratch Mine Oil on linen, 1972 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, purchased with the aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, N-544.1980

Grace Hartigan Newark, NJ 1922–Baltimore, MA 2008 Untitled and Untitled (both from Folder, Vol. 1, No. 1) Two screen prints from magazine, 1953 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, gift of Norman Geske, U-224–225.1954

Cover Sylvia Wald, Farmer's Antic (detail), 1955 Back Alfred Henry Maurer, Landscape (detail), 1925

Weldon Kees Beatrice, NE 1914–San Francisco, CA 1955 Untitled (Abstraction) Gouache on paper, 1946 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Kees, U-236.1957

Corita Kent Fort Dodge, IA 1918–Boston, MA 1986 About the Resurrection Color screen print, 1962 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust, H-1079.1966

Frank Lobdell Kansas City, MO 1921–Palo Alto, CA 2013 Kelso No. 42, 7.20.91 Color hard and soft ground etching with sugarlift aquatint, spitbite and burnishing, inked a la poupée, 1991 Sheldon Museum of Art, Sheldon Art Association, gift of the Frank Lobdell Trust, S-930.2014

Alfred Henry Maurer New York, NY 1868–New York, NY 1932 Landscape Oil on board, circa 1925 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, bequest of Bertha Schaefer, U-795.1971

Alfred Henry Maurer New York, NY 1868–New York, NY 1932 Father and Son Oil on canvas board, circa 1930 Double Portrait Oil on composition board, 1930 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, bequest of Bertha Schaefer, U-800.1971 and U-815.1971

Joan Mitchell Chicago, IL 1925–Paris, France 1992 Sunflowers III Color intaglio, 1972 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust, H-2136.1975

Seong Moy Guangzhou, China 1921–New York, NY 2013 The Mystic Virtue Color woodcut, 1951 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust, H-388.1955

Charles Whedon Rain Knoxville, TN 1911–New York, NY 1985 Figures with Masks (Berlin) Oil on canvas, 1933 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, bequest of the artist, U-3805.1985

Sylvia Wald Philadelphia, PA 1915–New York, NY 2011 Tundra Serigraph, 1950 Farmer's Antic Seven-color serigraph, 1955 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust, H-393.1955 and H-430.1956

2020–21 Exhibition Tour Chadron State College September 2–29, 2020 Sponsored by the Chadron State College Galaxy Series Prairie Arts Center, North Platte October 2–28, 2020 Sponsored by NebraskaLand National Bank, Mike Jacobson, president and CEO, and the Art Study League of North Platte Museum of the High Plains, McCook October 30–November 30, 2020 Sponsored by the McCook Arts Council Grand Island Public Library January 6–February 1, 2021 Sponsored by the Grand Island Public Library Foundation Beatrice Public Library February 3–March 1, 2021 Sponsored by the Beatrice Public Library Foundation Cornerstone Bank, York March 3–29, 2021 Sponsored by Cornerstone Bank Gallery 92 West, Fremont March 31–April 26, 2021 Sponsored by the Fremont Area Art Association Stalder Gallery, Falls City Library and Arts Center April 28–May 24, 2021 Sponsored by the Richardson County Arts and Humanities Council

The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based upon any protected status.

Please see go.unl.edu/nondiscrimination.

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

The thirty-third annual Sheldon Statewide exhibition, Compact Rhythms, highlights artists who used abstraction to explore different ways of looking at the world around them. The seventeen works presented consider the many modes and styles of nonrepresentational art throughout the twentieth century, looking at instances where artists chose deliberately to work on a smaller scale.

Though they employed abstraction in a variety of ways, artists continued to engage with traditional subject matters, such as still life and landscape, while also exploring the more basic elements of shape, color and line. In early twentieth-century Paris, modern artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse simplified and manipulated real-world imagery by fracturing forms and space, as well as using bold, unrealistic color palettes. These new styles were propagated by teachers, influential collectors of European works, and artists, like Alfred Henry Maurer, who studied in Europe and brought this new visual vocabulary back to the United States, shaping the direction of American Art. After World War II, the focus of the art world shifted from Paris to New York through the successes of abstract expressionists, like Grace Hartigan and Joan Mitchell.

These artists took components of early twentieth-century art and added elements of spontaneity and improvisation, emphasizing the gesture and psyche of the artist.

This eventually led creators to produce non-objective canvases that do not refer to our physical world, exploiting their materials to spotlight the flatness of the canvas, the sweeping brushstrokes of paint, and the potential of color.

The small scale of the works on view here suggests a highly personalized and intimate viewing experience and allows the viewer to closely encounter the work, lingering over the surface and asking questions about the materials used and the forms depicted.

In doing so, Compact Rhythms highlights the pulses and geometries that this group of artists employed to formulate their own interpretation of abstract art.

Sheldon Statewide 2020-2021 is supported by Farmers Mutual Insurance of Nebraska, Rhonda Seacrest, Nebraska Arts Council and Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and Sheldon Art Association.

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

An influential teacher at institutions such as Black Mountain College and Yale University, Josef Albers was also one of the most significant proponents in the study of color perception and hard-edged geometric forms. Albers displays these interests in Variant MM, where he uses the precise shape of a square—for which the artist was best known—to investigate the interplay of colors. He was interested in how the boundaries between solid planes of color, like the oranges and browns in this print, could almost dissolve when viewed from a distance.

Josef Albers Bottrop, Germany 1888–New Haven, CT 1976 Variant MM Serigraph, 1968 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust, H-1360.1968

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Ben Benn, a Russian-born American still life and landscape painter, was known for embracing modern styles from Europe that abstracted forms by fracturing objects and using bold colors and outlines. In Still Life with Pineapple, Benn used the traditional subject matter of still life to experiment with abstraction, employing bright planes of colors and lines in a manner that calls attention to the flatness of the painting’s surface. The forms of the table, the pineapple, and the other fruits have also been simplified, fractured, and flattened, so they barely resemble their real-world counterparts.

Ben Benn Białystok, Poland 1884–New York, NY 1983 Still Life with Pineapple Oil on Masonite, 1947 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick S. Seacrest, N-514.1979

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

In Landscape, Thelma Lorie Christenson utilized large, irregular, and overlapping rectangular areas of organic color to suggest grassy patches of the earth, blocky architecture, horizon line, and sky. Even though she juxtaposed simple geometric forms next to one another, our experience of a landscape with its spatial recession, or three-dimensional depth, allows us to read the gray rectangle at left to be closer than the brown rectangles at center.

Thelma Lorie Christenson Yankton, SD 1938–Kansas City, MO 1968 Landscape Oil on canvas, date unknown Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, gift of Lawrence Reger in memory of the artist, N-228.1970

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Unlike the organic feeling of Thelma Lorie Christenson’s work, Frederick Hammersley’s And You Scratch Mine seems almost mechanical and demonstrates the geometric, hard-edged painting style for which he was famous. Using flat, precise rectangles of color, Hammersley’s work is not meant to call to mind any real-world imagery. Instead, it is completely nonobjective, focusing on the flatness of the paint on the canvas.

Whereas Christenson’s work feels organic and almost personal, Hammersley’s work feels quite impersonal, with no evidence of the hand of the artist.

Frederick Hammersley Salt Lake City, UT 1919–Albuquerque, NM 2009 And You Scratch Mine Oil on linen, 1972 Sheldon Museum of Art, Nebraska Art Association, purchased with the aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, N-544.1980

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Considered part of the second generation of abstract expressionist painters, Grace Hartigan created paintings and prints full of fluid and sweeping lines. She intended to draw attention to the materiality of paintings through these action-filled brushstrokes that recalled the gesture and movement of her process. Her brand of gestural abstraction became popular and widely accessible in the 1950s and 1960s, partially because of its dissemination through magazines and other publications.

These two works were produced for Folder, a magazine published between 1953 and 1956 that provided an outlet for poets and painters working in New York. In addition to these two screen prints in Sheldon’s collection, Hartigan made a third screen print for the same volume and also contributed two additional screen prints that appeared on the covers of the third and fourth issues.

Grace Hartigan Newark, NJ 1922–Baltimore, MA 2008 Untitled and Untitled (both from Folder, Vol. 1, No. 1) Two screen prints from magazine, 1953 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, gift of Norman Geske, U-224–225.1954

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Born in Beatrice and educated at the University of Nebraska, Weldon Kees, was a noted artist, but was also well known for his writing as a poet and as an art and literary critic in New York City. In fact, his paintings, such as this, were often judged against his written work.

In Untitled (Abstraction), one can imagine arms, legs, and eyes coming out of a slender base, but whether this figure looks more human or insect-like is hard to say—perhaps it is a hybrid where Kees was channeling Kafka in a nod to his own literary background.

Weldon Kees Beatrice, NE 1914–San Francisco, CA 1955 Untitled (Abstraction) Gouache on paper, 1946 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Kees, U-236.1957

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

A member of the religious order of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Corita Kent gained national fame in the 1960s for bold artwork filled with spiritual and social messages. Her visual musings on Christ’s Resurrection, this print is entirely abstract, as Kent experimented with the layering of color on the paper’s surface. How does the arrangement of colors recall the Resurrection? What about the lines? The shapes?

Kent also used screen printing, a technique adapted from sign making and commercial art, to ensure that her work, like Hartigan’s also on view in this exhibition, could be distributed extensively and reach a wide audience.

Corita Kent Fort Dodge, IA 1918–Boston, MA 1986 About the Resurrection Color screen print, 1962 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust, H-1079.1966

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Interlocking claw-like forms frame a window in Frank Lobdell’s Kelso No. 42, 7.20.91, where anthropomorphic shapes summon the feeling of figures moving across the surface of the work. The claw-like shapes repeat throughout the scene and seem to grasp out at the energy-filled lines that make up the background of the work. The black lines that sweep across the page, connecting and passing through forms, and the positioning of the spirals and dots animate the scene. The work feels almost alive and leads the viewer to question what story is unfolding before our eyes, inviting the viewer to create their own narrative about the work.

Frank Lobdell Kansas City, MO 1921–Palo Alto, CA 2013 Kelso No. 42, 7.20.91 Color hard and soft ground etching with sugarlift aquatint, spitbite and burnishing, inked a la poupée, 1991 Sheldon Museum of Art, Sheldon Art Association, gift of the Frank Lobdell Trust, S-930.2014

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Even though Alfred Henry Maurer drew inspiration from his surroundings in Landscape, he simplified the trees, grass, and rolling hills into flat forms articulated only by energetic brushstrokes. He also moved away from using naturalistic colors by employing shades of peaches and reds that did not correspond to reality. These alterations of the natural world were the result of Maurer’s knowledge of the period’s most cuttingedge developments in art, as championed by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse in Paris.

Alfred Henry Maurer New York, NY 1868–New York, NY 1932 Landscape Oil on board, circa 1925 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, bequest of Bertha Schaefer, U-795.1971

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

At the end of his career, Maurer began creating abstract depictions of heads with elongated necks, as in the two paintings on view here. These works demonstrate Maurer’s continued experimentation with the geometric, simplified forms and give insight into Maurer’s different styles of abstraction. In Double Portrait, Maurer presents faceted forms, with the bodies and background seeming to have been built by disparate shapes and colors, making them feel both flattened and fractured. In Father and Son Maurer reduces the forms and background to geometric shapes in flat, bold colors. Although elements still suggest human figures—the eyes on the side of the heads, the necks—it is difficult to discern who these figures are. Who is the father and who is the son?

Alfred Henry Maurer New York, NY 1868–New York, NY 1932 Father and Son Oil on canvas board, circa 1930 Double Portrait Oil on composition board, 1930 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, bequest of Bertha Schaefer, U-800.1971 and U-815.1971

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Filled with expressive gestures, Sunflowers III seems more chaotic than the abstract expressionist work of Grace Hartigan, also included in this exhibition. Although the title suggests floral forms, they are lost in the energetic, frenzied lines spilled throughout the page. While today she is considered a leader among abstract expressionist artists, Joan Mitchell, along with Grace Hartigan and Helen Frankenthaler, was often overlooked and excluded from the spotlight achieved by their male counterparts.

Joan Mitchell Chicago, IL 1925–Paris, France 1992 Sunflowers III Color intaglio, 1972 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust, H-2136.1975

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Like other artists in this exhibition, Seong Moy also worked in an abstract expressionist style, using gestural lines and dynamic forms that evoked the movements of the artist. The Mystic Virtue seems more purposeful and reserved in style, however, compared to works by artists like Grace Hartigan and Joan Mitchell. The woodcut technique, which involves the cutting away of the woodblock’s surface with knives or chisels, gives this mix of lines and geometric shapes a less fluid, more precise feel, than Mitchell’s etching, where the image was drawn directly on a prepared copper plate.

Seong Moy Guangzhou, China 1921–New York, NY 2013 The Mystic Virtue Color woodcut, 1951 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust, H-388.1955

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Charles Whedon Rain abstracted a lively performance in Figures with Masks (Berlin). Spotlighting two figures dancing on a stage with a curtain that has been drawn open to the right, Rain captured the show’s dynamism even though the figures and the masks on their faces have been reduced to slender lines and dots. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Rain grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he likely would have seen the exhibitions organized by the Nebraska Art Association in the early twentieth century. It is one of the reasons why Rain left a large number of his paintings as a bequest to Sheldon Museum of Art, which now holds the largest group of the artist’s paintings.

Charles Whedon Rain Knoxville, TN 1911–New York, NY 1985 Figures with Masks (Berlin) Oil on canvas, 1933 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, bequest of the artist, U-3805.1985

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Although Sylvia Wald worked chiefly as a painter and sculptor, she became interested in the experimental possibilities of screen printing in the 1950s when it was still a technique mostly used for commercial purposes. She recognized how silkscreen colors could be layered on top of one another to create prints with textural effects and dimension, thus pioneering its application to fine art years before Andy Warhol popularized its use.

Sylvia Wald Philadelphia, PA 1915–New York, NY 2011 Tundra Serigraph, 1950 Farmer's Antic Seven-color serigraph, 1955 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust, H-393.1955 and H-430.1956

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Relevant Terms Abstract Art

Screenprint

Abstract art is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead uses shapes, colors, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect. Strictly speaking, the word abstract means to separate or withdraw something from something else.

The term can be applied to art that is based on object, figure or landscape, where forms have been simplified or schematized. It is also applied to art that uses forms, such as geometric shapes or gestural marks, which have no source at all in an external visual reality.

A variety of stencil printing, using a screen made from fabric (silk or synthetic) stretched tightly over a frame.

The non-printing areas on the fabric are blocked out by a stencil. This can be created by painting on glue or lacquer, by applying adhesive film or paper, or painting a lightsensitive resist onto the screen which is then developed as a photograph (photo-screenprint). Ink or paint is then forced through the (non-blocked areas of) open fabric with a rubber blade, known as a squeegee, onto the paper.

www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/abstract-art Abstract Expressionism The dominant artistic movement in the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s, Abstract Expressionism marked New York City’s influence as the center of the Western art world.

The associated artists developed greatly varying stylistic approaches, but they shared a commitment to an abstract art that powerfully expresses personal convictions and profound human values. They championed bold, gestural abstraction in all mediums, particularly large painted canvases. www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/abstractexpressionism Examples of Abstract Expressionism from this exhibition:

• Grace Hartigan, Untitled and Untitled, both from Folder, Vol.1, No. 1, 1953

• Joan Mitchel, Sunflowers III, 1972

www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/screenprint Examples of screenprints from this exhibition:

• Grace Hartigan, Untitled and Untitled, both from Folder, Vol.1, No. 1, 1953

• Corita Kent, About the Resurrection, 1962

• Sylvia Wald, Tundra, 1950

• Sylvia Wald, Farmer’s Antic, 1955 Woodcut The oldest form of printmaking, woodcut is a relief process in which knives and other tools are used to carve a design into the surface of a wooden block. The raised areas that remain after the block has been cut are inked and printed, while the recessed areas that are cut away do not retain ink, and will remain blank in the final print. www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorialdepartments/drawings-and-prints/materials-andtechniques/printmaking/woodcut Example of woodcut from this exhibition:

Hard-edge Painting An approach to abstract painting that became widespread in the 1960s and is characterized by areas of flat color with sharp, clear (or “hard”) edges. Hard-edge paintings are made up of monochromatic fields of clean-edged color that reinforces the flatness of the picture surface. www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/h/hard-edge-painting Example of Hard-edge painting from this exhibition:

• Frederick Hammersly, And You Scratch Mine, 1972

• Seong Moy, The Mystic Virtue, 1951

Compact Rhythms Sheldon Statewide Exhibition 2020 – 21

Helpful Websites The beginnings of abstraction/what is abstraction

Technique and process

• The Case for Abstraction

www.youtube.com/watch?v=96hl5J47c3k

• Printmaking

www.khanacademy.org/humanities/specialtopics-art-history/creating-conserving/printmaking/v/momaprintmaking-01

• I Could Do That

www.youtube.com/watch?v=67EKAIY43kg

• School of Paris

www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/scpa/hd_scpa.htm

• What is Modern Art?

www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/ what-is-modern-art

• Woodcut

www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorialdepartments/drawings-and-prints/materials-and-techniques/ printmaking/woodcut

Abstract Expressionism

• Abstract Expressionism

www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd_abex.htm

• Women of Abstract Expressionism

www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/08/hownew-yorks-postwar-female-painters-battled-for-recognition

For more resources and ideas on incorporating Compact Rhythms into your tour or class contact Jackie Spackman, assistant curator of engagement at jspackman@unl.edu.