Rumination Room

Quote of the Day:  Abstract Artist, Hans Hofmann:

Hans Hofmann believed that abstract art was a way to get at the important reality. He famously stated that “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”

 

Bio on artist “Oskar Gross” mentor/teacher to Joan Beringer Pripps:Oskar Gross || b. Vienna, Austria, 1871–d. Chicago, 1983

Oskar Gross was born in Vienna, Austria. His father, Rudolph Gross, was a prominent architect and engineer who wanted his son also to be an architect. Gross showed early talent in art rather than architecture, however, and enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He was successful at school and began a lucrative career as a portraitist, opening an expensive studio space in Vienna, though he was not able to maintain it. He was elected a full member of the Association of Viennese Painters and Sculptors, and worked as a cartoonist for a comic paper in Munich. In 1898, he won a mural competition for the Hungarian State Pavilion, which was being designed for the Paris Exposition of 1900. Using violet ink, he designed a motif of Hungarian peasants with horses, and the overseers liked it so much they redesigned other parts of their Pavilion to conform to his mural.

Impressed by this design, Chicago architect Daniel Burnham invited Gross to come to Chicago to decorate some of Burnham’s buildings. Although reluctant to leave Vienna, Gross made the trip to Chicago in 1903 at age 32 and decided to settle there. He was able to function better than most foreign visitors because his mother, who had lived in New York City for five years as a child, had taught him English. He was financially successful soon after his arrival, but Burnham—who had found him many commissions—died in 1911. And when department stores entered the building decoration trade, Gross was out of work.

Gross first exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1911 and began to associate more with painters rather than architects, developing a camaraderie and lifestyle similar to the one he had led in Vienna, where he had been associated with the Vienna Secession. He set up a studio in Chicago and devoted himself to figure and genre painting. During his time in Chicago, he belonged to the Arts Club, Cliff Dwellers, Chicago Painters and Sculptors, and the Palette and Chisel Club. He died there in 1983.

Although most of his portrait commissions were from members of the upper class, Gross was much more interested in working class subjects. For example, his small oil on board, Maxwell Street Market, painted in the 1920s, shows an old man arranging his wares amidst the busy street market glimpsed over his shoulder. Gross applied the oil paint with thick impasto to render the dark and heavy form of the vendor, who leans toward his female customer. She wears a head scarf but otherwise bears few distinguishing facial features. Gross’s interest in depicting the urban poor became especially relevant after the 1929 stock market crash.

Lisa Meyerowitz: References

Bulliet, C. J. “Artists of Chicago Past and Present: No. 59: Oskar Gross” Chicago Daily News, April 4, 1936. Gross, Oskar. Pamphlet file P02283. Ryerson Library. Art Institute of Chicago. Artist Image: Oskar Gross / believed to be a self-portrait. Prairie Styles.

 

 

Matt Zedler ruminates with thoughts taken from “Point and Line to Plane” (Wassily Kandinsky) on “Getting Real Value when Viewing Art”

( Wassily Kandinsky & Matt Zedler)

When viewing a painting, lets try not to look at the how ~ but moreover the “what” and the “why.” It’s not the endless dissection of a process in a works creation that will help give the viewer more value in viewing it ~ but moreover the genuine desire and real attempt to fully understand the works message. If you want to try and comprehend the message behind the work you need to try and look within the work (the what). As well, you will need to try to understand the driving passion of the creator (the artist) when making the piece (thus, the why).  Combined, these new vantage points will help give you the viewer more real meaning and value. Many of us still get too hung up in valuating work based on “the process.” This is even a genuine fault of artists when viewing the work of other artists. Let’s all go beyond this…and look for the “why” and the “what” next time, and get past the “how.” You will find yourself truly mesmerized by that very same gallery piece you quickly viewed and dismissed earlier.

“I refer to Abstract as the content that painting must express, that’s to say this invisible life that we are. In such a way that the Kandinskian equation, to which I have alluded to, can be written as follows : Interior = interiority = invisible = life = pathos = abstract“

“Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential.”

~ Wassily Kandinsky

 

 

Artist Reflection:  A European Family, Immersed in the Arts

I must start this brief commentary by saying that I was incredibly fortunate to be raised in an highly intelligent, thought provoking, and art-rich environment. I was surrounded from birth by an amazing array of classically and self trained artists, accomplished writers, poets and musicians. Immediate family, aunts, uncles, cousins and alike – being around such creative energy fueled my own personal fire for creation and expression. In my immediate family, my talented sisters each possess creative natures in both music and written word, and have always demonstrated their own artistic talents boldly and uniquely. My mother, a creative talent in her own right, worked for many years creating fine artwork of clay, mixed media, needlework, and more. Mom’s crowning glory through the years has always been her gifted green thumb. Planted with supreme precision to bloom (like a fireworks display) consecutively throughout Wisconsin’s brief growing season, her imaginative eye for color and spacial design were always well represented. Every year we awaited her visual masterpieces and were never disappointed.

My father, was a remarkable academic, and as well a highly trained writer and poet. He possessed, and displayed for us all daily, his extraordinary literary acumen. From little on, dad instilled an insatiable desire the written word in us all. Many indelible stories were told, planting the seeds of literary wonder while quoting verse from Emerson, Byron, Keats and many others. Among some of his oft heard quotations were the words from Oliver Wendell Holmes, reflecting on man’s remarkable and yet sometimes sorrowful earthly condition. One of those quotes I remember being; “A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve”.  Ergo, as you might have guessed, there was always time for philosophical discussions about the inevitable battle we all face. The battle between making a living in this world (mortal man), and making a life (spiritual man). 

I could not complete this brief history lesson without mentioning my great fondness and appreciation for a wonderful mentor and even better aunt, my aunt Joan. Although there are several fine artists nestled within our family tree worth mentioning, I must give one of the greatest mentions to my aunt Joan (i.e. Joan Beringer Pripps, of “Studio in the Woods” fame). My mothers eldest sister was a wonderful classically trained, lifetime artist by profession. She was one whose artistic abilities were truly unlimited.

Aunt Joanie was an elite level realist/impressionist portrait and landscape artist, – by any standard. She worked in oils and watercolors, but also worked her magic with oil and chalk pastels, graphite, ink & pencil – and that’s just the beginning. In all truth anything aunt Joanie touched turned to platinum. She handcrafted an extensive series (over 100) of superbly finished figurines. All modeled after some of the most famous women throughout history, including a special series devoted to the unsung heroines of Wisconsin. Joanie also a managed to create a beautiful array of needlepoint-needlecraft art (including clothing), handcrafted & hand painted pottery, and so much more. She was a “one of a kind” artist and equal the person. When we visited together I would always make careful note and study work. I always enjoyed the opportunity to discuss her passion and inspiration, processes and techniques. She was always candid and a great source of knowledge and inspiration when it came to the arts, and as well, – just a wonderful human being.

She possessed a zest and energy for life that few people have, or are even lucky enough to be in the company of. She left us a short while back, passing at age 94 in 2005. She passed while still prolific in the creation of her artwork at 94. I say humbly once again to you Aunt Joan, “Thank You”, for all that you gave this world, and all that you were to me. You will forever live on within the frames of your unique expressions that brighten the walls, and moreover hearts, wherever your work can be found. I’m without doubt that the heavens have become even yet that much more beautiful from your masterful touch.