Mel Stark Painting to Auction

Earlier we had written a post about Mel Stark centered around his exhibition at Lehigh. Through Live Auctioneers, we learned that a painting of his is coming up for auction on January 22, 2022.  Winter Brook is an oil on canvas that is unsigned, but carries a statement from his daughter. The auctioneers estimate is $1700-$2200 from Florida's Broward Auction Gallery. 

Winter Brook by Mel Stark

Winter Brook by Mel Stark (unframed)

Interestingly, the catalog bio with the painting was quite enlightening. We share it here in its entirety as it provides a bit more insight into Mr. Stark as a person that goes beyond our initial post. 

BIOGRAPHY:

A leading figure in eastern Pennsylvania, Mel Stark was a plein-air painter and teacher who, with his good friend, Walter Baum, was devoted to enriching the cultural life of the Allentown area. He was also a key painter at the artists colony in Rockport, Massachusetts and in his later years, painted at Longboat Key Art Center in Florida. He taught at the Kline-Baum Art School, and Cedar Crest and Muhlenberg Colleges in Allentown, and was committed to the tradition of impressionist landscape painting. However, his reputation waned in the 1960s, when the public lost interest in impressionism and focused more on modernist movements. He was born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and earned a degree from Stroudsburg State College in Physical Education, but he had already started painting and subsequently abandoned Physical Education. He later studied art at the University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University, and the Philadelphia Museum School. Major influences on him were landscape painters Cullen Yates, Walter Baum, and Anthony Thieme. He studied privately with Yates in New York, and Yates encouraged Stark to go to Paris, which he did but hung around the cafes with artists rather than attending any academy. In 1926, he returned to Allentown and worked for several years as a physical education teacher, but then came into contact with Baum with whom he studied art and then ended up being a teacher at the Baum School of Art. He married Ann Gomery with whom he had two children, and they moved into a farmhouse in Zionsville near Allentown. In addition to having an art career, he was an active promoter of the Allentown Art Museum, which he served as both trustee and director.

Benton Spruance, Schilli Maier and Gerorge Harding Exhibit at Lehigh University Art Gallery

 

Quirk’s 1959 major exhibition at Lehigh included works by George Harding, Schilli Maier and Benton Spruance. Earlier we had written about Harding in a post about benefactor Philip Berman’s donation of a Harding painting. (See Harding Berman post here.) This post will focus on Benton Spruance.

Benton Spruance "The Artist as Model" Self Portrait Lithograph

Spruance was born in Philadelphia in 1904 and was educated in local schools.  He studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Graphic Sketch Club.

In both his junior and his senior year at the Academy, he won the William Emlen Cresson Travelling Scholarship, which enabled him to go to France in 1928.  In Paris he studied lithography at the studio of Jacques and Edmond Desjobert.  That same year, he married Winnifred Glover, a source of strength and inspiration throughout his life.

In the 1920’s and 1930’s, when Spruance was on the threshold of his career in art, the preferred medium in print making was etching.  Very small gemlike prints in very large cream colored mats were the fashion, and they appeared frequently on the walls of collectors. 

Benton Spruance, concentrated on lithographs and experimented to develop new techniques that pioneered the use of color.

His gifts as an artist were well-recognized.  His paintings were exhibited widely, and his prize winning prints were shown in New York and other cities.  He also received commissions to paint murals and to illustrate books.

Throughout his career he received many honors, including the Philadelphia Art Alliance Medal of Achievement, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1950, and election to membership in the National Academy of Design and in the American Institute of Architects. In 1959, he would be part of a three man show organized by Francis Quirk at Lehigh University that displayed 46 of his lithographs.

Arrangement for Drums 1941 by Benton Spruance

Memorial 1951 by Benton Spruance

Soliloquay 1941 by Benton Spruance

In 1965 he began a set of prints that are generally regarded as his most masterful works.  These are the twenty six lithographs based on his reading of Moby Dick.  The prints were exhibited for the very first time in 1968.

Spruance was an active participant in the Philadelphia arts community. He was a founder of the Philadelphia chapter of Artists Equity, which helped to give to the individual artist a strong voice in community affairs.  The city of Philadelphia is indebted to Spruance for much of its “public” art, the sculptures in open spaces and works in public buildings, for after his appointment to the Philadelphia Art Commission in 1953, he was instrumental in securing the approval by the city council of an ordinance requiring one percent of the cost of public buildings to be allocated for works of art.

Spruance’s natural gifts as a teacher and administrator were signaled by awards, several honorary degrees, and appointments to administrative positions at various institutions of learning in the Philadelphia area.  Teaching, quite apart from its practical aspects, was to him an important function of the artist, and he brought to this profession a keen understanding of the learning process and a will to share his knowledge in as creative a manner as possible.

Along with his colleagues Jerome Kaplan and Samuel Maitin, he helped establish Prints in Progress, a program designed to bring printmaking directly to the young people of Philadelphia’s public schools through demonstrations in which they could participate.  Conceived by Walter L. Wolf, the program was then under the auspices of the Philadelphia Print Club.

Spruance died in December 1967.

A terrific web-site on Benton Spruance can be found here. 

Japanese Calligraphy Sensation Nankoku Hidai speaks at Lehigh Francis Quirk Sends Acknowledgement

Yet again, we are impressed by Francis Quirk’s record of bringing diverse and intriguing art forms to Lehigh University. On November 3, 1963  the very popular Japanese Calligrapher, Nankoku Hidai came to campus to lecture as part of an American Tour. 

Nankoku Hidai

Nankoku Hidai was born in 1912, as the second son of Tenrai and Shokiokun. After the death of Tenrai, he took over ‘Shogakuin’ (the Institute of Calligraphic Studies)　along with  management of Tenrai’s valuable collection of rubbings and ancient Chinese calligraphy books. At the same time, in Shogakuin Publications he continued to publish ancient Chinese books; promoting the spread of classical calligraphy.

Nanoku Hidai at work

In 1945, he wrote ‘Den-no-Variation’ (Lightning-Variation), the first avant-garde work that moved beyond traditional characters for the first time in the history of calligraphy. When it was exhibited the following year, it created a sensation in the calligraphy world.

During Nankoku's career he had fourteen one-man-shows around the world including Tokyo, New York and other art centers. His work is in many museums including MOMA and Yale University. He also lectured the history of calligraphy at more than 20 universities including Princeton, Oxford, Columbia and Lehigh. He died in1999 at the age of 87.

As part of the 1963 lecture tour, Nankoku visited Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with his talk starting at 8:00 p.m. The audience consisted of faculty members, students and art lovers. The lecture began with a question-and-answer session between the audience and Ned Ouyang from Mi Chou Gallery, along with Nankoku. The Mi Chou Gallery was America’s first gallery dedicated to Asian Art and it had hosted a one man show of Nankoku’s work.  After unexpected questions and shared misconceptions, an 8 mm film showed Japanese calligraphers at work (Sokyu Ueda, Yukei Tejima, Suiho Kuwahara, Yasushi Nishikawa, Tsuneko Kumagai, and others.) Nankoku had filmed them at work. This was followed by a slide show.

Nankoku Hidai performing a demonstration/lecture at Lehigh University

Nankoku explained the history of calligraphy in China and Japan. The lecture ended in two hours, but the enthusiastic audience remained for a dialog that ran until midnight.  Nankoku later  received a letter of thanks from Francis Quirk, chief professor of the Department of Fine Arts.

Three Fathers by Ninkoku Hidai

To put his work into context we have excerpted from a viewer’s comments on two of his works that were included in a 2018 exhibition at M+ in Hong Kong.

The impact of Hidai Nankoku’s two works lies in their deconstruction of Chinese characters, returning them to the vibrant beginnings of character formation and bringing back the concise and clear semiotic linkage between images and words. As stated in M+’s descriptions of the works, the artist deliberately uses the effects of the brush dragging on the surface to express his emotions (Work 63-12). On the one hand, this is in keeping with traditional calligraphy, but on the other, it visually restores a sense of childlike naiveté and simplicity. Meeting the viewers’ gaze, the four eyes in Work 12 can also be interpreted as the Chinese character ‘目’ (lit. ‘eye’). The form and meaning of this word become fluid through artistic manipulation. The artist returns to the way in which Chinese characters were originally formed through pictorial interpretation, similar to how European artists reset formalised artistic traditions in the Modernist movements in the early 20th century.

art by Nankoku Hidai

art by Nankoku Hidai

In 2012 a retrospective of his work was held at the Tokyo Gallery and BTAP 

Tokyo Gallery+BTAP  We excerpt from a contemporary write up here. 

This year marks the centennial of the birth of Nankoku Hidai (1912–99), the second son of Tenrai Hidai (1872–1939), said to be the father of contemporary calligraphy in Japan. After the death of his father in 1939, Nankoku took over the reins of the Shogakuin (Japan Society of Calligraphic Education). In 1945, he began producing avant-garde calligraphy pieces that explored the medium’s potential for abstract expression, subsequently continuing to cultivate his experimental tendencies. 

In 1959, Nankoku first traveled to the US, where he had the opportunity to exchange views with many contemporary artists. During this time, he devoted all his energies to promoting the art of calligraphy abroad, holding solo exhibitions in New York, San Francisco and Washington DC, He also gave lectures on the history of the medium at more than 20 universities, and gave other artists calligraphic instruction.

Because it is based on representational pictograms, calligraphy is an art that cannot be understood without knowledge of its painterly qualities and the historical genealogy related to its compositional principles and brushstroke techniques. As an institution devoted to Japanese contemporary art, Tokyo Gallery + BTAP wanted to stage an exhibition that would offer us the chance to trace the continuous, unbroken traditions associated with this history.

A number of calligraphic works by Nankoku’s wife, Shoha Hidai (1914–72), will also be on display. Inspired by the rhyme structure and musicality of contemporary Japanese poetry, which mixes kanji characters with kana writing, Shoha created a rich calligraphic universe suffused with a certain romance. 

art by Nankoku Hidai

art by Nankoku Hidai

art by Nankoku Hidai

Mario Cooper Watercolor Coming up for Auction- Wow!

Recently, we posted on Mario Cooper, who is best known for his work in advertising. We also highlighted his work in watercolors, which were exhibited at Lehigh under the aegis of Francis Quirk.  

This brief post is to highlight one of his watercolors of Venice, which is coming up for auction through Caza Sikes in Cincinnati. You can also see the watercolor through LiveAuctioneers.com by using this link. The LiveAuctioneer link allows magnified views so that one can appreciate the details and masterful techique.The painting will be in the September 8, 2021 auction. 

Watercolor of a building in Vencie by Mario Cooper

The relatively large painting is striking for many reasons. The cool blue palate is highly appealing. The subject of the building's facade with lit windows captures and holds the viewers attention. The use of watercolor including the shadows and reflections is a deft use of the medium. Cooper was very good. One can see why a technician like Quirk would have an affinity his work. 

Mario Cooper signature on watercolor painting of building in Venice

With a relatively modest estimate of $150, this is a great opportunity to obtain a first class painting by a name painter for your home, gallery or collection. If you have been to Venice with a loved one, aspire to go there, or simply want to give your child's appartment somoe class, this is a great opportunity. 

The True Story Behind Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" Painting

Scholars of the art world have spent uncounted man-years seeking the meaning and message from Edward Hopper's iconic painting "Nighthawks." Hopper was a well known smoker, but he also consumed many cups of coffee.  And coffee is the key to understanding Nighthawks true meaning.

Edward Hopper's Night Hawk's - An allegorical painting in which 'coffee' is the answer.

Hopper's Nighthawks is an homage to coffee. It shows coffee as the answer to the darkness in the surrounding world. 

When looking at the painting, the viewer's eye is drawn to the light of the diner and more importantly, the shining silver coffee urns. They are analogous to church tabernacles that hold holy scrolls or sacred relics.  But in this case, they hold the elixir of energy- coffee.  Hopper executed this as the country was heading into World War II. He knew there would be many late nights and that people would need to come together. And coffee would be a catalyst for that cohesion.

Now look at the server clad in white behind the counter who is the painting's focal point. He is hunched over as if he were bearing the weight of an angels wings. He is bathed in light  and his server hat is his halo. This is rightly so, as the server is delivering the answer to the lonely, bored and purposeless supplicants seeking fulfillment. He veritably glows and emanates purpose and activity. 

Note the door next to the urns. It represents a portal to the next chamber of life, a passage like the River Styx or the Pearly Gates of St. Peter. And to get to,  and through that key portal, one needs to pass the all important coffee urns.

Moving outward, the three characters at the counter are dark and lack vitality. We see the dark back of one, making the lonely figure all the more pathetic. And a couple together, but not really engaged. Are they waiting for coffee to add meaning to their lives? If they were truly excited to be with each other they would not be in a diner at this hour. Note that the woman has raven hair and is wearing a red dress. She and her partner are seeking something more than the typical pleasures of the night. That activity has left them tired, spent and empty; seeking something more... They are waiting for something transcendent- Coffee.

Finally, we look at the broader surroundings we see that the light comes from the diner. It stands like a beacon to the community; offering companionship, purpose and most importantly, hot water that has steeped ground coffee beans. The diner is the source of all light. It beckons. "Come to me. I will fulfill your spiritual needs. It is dark outside, but light here. I give you community. Drink of my goodness. My angel will serve you. Later, in the morning I will teem with people." This is a place of goodness, humanity, companionship and caffeine. 

I know this scholarly insight has nothing to do with Francis Quirk, but the painting  needed this clarification. BTW- Francis Quirk frequently had coffee receptions at the Lehigh University Art Galleries.   

Mario Cooper Exhibits at Lehigh Did Francis Quirk and Cooper Know Each Other Years Before?

In February of 1968 Francis Quirk organized an exhibit of the works of Mario Cooper and Sidney Gross. This post will focus on Mario Cooper perhaps the most influential artist/illustrator we have seen without a Wikipedia page. Ironically, Cooper does have a Wikipedia page in German. 

Mario Cooper Self-Portrait National Academy of Design

Mario Cooper was born in Mexico City in 1905. His father was a Californian, his mother a native of Mexico. When Mario was nine, the Coopers moved to California where the boy received his education. He studied art at the Otis Art Institute, the Chouinard School, and at Columbia University under sculptor Oronzio Maldarelli. 

There are three aspects to this man's career: illustrator, educator and serious artist.

Illustrator

Mario is known as an illustrator. He plunged into the professional world via engraving house, art service, and advertising agencies. He became an expert letterer and layout man. He studied drawing in night classes wherever possible and copied the work of Dean Cornwell, Harvey Dunn and Pruett Carter. His professional break occurred in 1930 when Collier's magazine, a leading general interest publication, first accepted his work. Watson mentions that Cooper's preferred media were colored inks and watercolor. However, we have discovered at least one oil painting. 

He would go on to illustrate many pieces including books by Agatha Christie.

Mario Cooper 1944

Mario Cooper 1947

Mario Cooper 1941

Mario Cooper 1944

Mario Cooper 1956

For completion we are including an oil painting by Mario Cooper below. We were unable to find any examples of his sculpture. 

Oil Painting "Portrait of a Red-Headed Woman" by Mario Clark

Educator 

Cooper clearly enjoyed sharing the art of working with watercolors. He belonged to several organizations including the Society of Illustrators, the Allied Artists of America, the National Academy of Design, the American Watercolor Society, and the Audubon Society. 

He was president of the American Watercolor Society (AWS) from 1959 to 1986.

He published four watercolor painting books, Painting with Watercolor, Flower Painting in Water Color (1962), The Art of Drapery: Styles and Techniques for Artists (1984) and Watercolor by Design (1980) that can still be found in online bookstores and some libraries.

Cooper taught at the Pratt Institute and Columbia University. The internet is littered with former students who are now artists who benefited from his demanding attention. These include Polly Wood, Linda Crawford, Lou Marek, Zoe Mac, Pat Percy and a host of others. 

Serious Artist

Please do not take the title of this section as being pejorative to illustration art. Illustration art can be extremely good and is frequently better than academic or serious art.  I can wax eloquent on the merits of the works of Rockwell, Homer and many others. 

In his later years, Cooper used watercolors to paint landscape and other studies, such as those exhibited at Lehigh in 1968. In his review write-up in the Brown and White, Mike Jeppson described the displayed works as multitudes, monuments and wall effects. The wall effects were close ups of objects such as a lock on a gate. Lehigh would purchase "The Rock Laguna Beach" which was part of the exhibition. The other two classes of paintings are designed to be viewed from afar and may have included paintings like San Travaso below.

San Travaso by Mario Cooper

Venice by Mario Cooper

London by Mario Cooper

He also participate in the US Air Force's History of Aviation Program. In 1953 Cooper would paint for the US Air Force receiving the courtesy rank of Brigadier General and a plane with seven men to travel the world painting. His work from this period is largely in the Pentagon or national collections. Later in his career Cooper would develop a relationship with NASA and serve as one of the onsite artists painting the space program. 

"The Glittering Hours" 1969 watercolor of Apollo 11 by Mario Cooper

Cooper's painting "Battle Dress" is now in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum along with works by Norman Rockwell, Andrew Wyeth and Peter Hurd.

The Quirk-Cooper Relationship

We don't know the details of the relationship between Francis Quirk and Mario Cooper, but we suspect that there paths may have crossed due to several similarities. Both had worked as illustrators selling commercial works. Both had won Tiffany Fellowships. Both worked in East Coast academia.  But the artist depicted in the 1944 Cooper painting below seems to have a striking similarity to Francis Quirk as drawn in the pastel self-portrait at the bottom of the page. 

Mario Cooper work from 1944 seems to capture Francis Quirk

Francis J. Quirk  Self-portrait in pastel  Undated

A Family of Francis Quirk Paintings Emerges in Florida- Who are these Philadelphians?

A collector in Florida obtained a family of portraits executed by Francis Quirk. The series consists of a daughter (and given the striking family resemblance) her mother and father. 

Daughter                               Mother

Father

The 'daughter painting' was executed in 1945 when Quirk was 38 years old and teaching at Ogontz College outside of Philadelphia. The parental portraits were executed three years later and are dated September of 1948.

Looking first at the daughter's portrait. She is wearing a fine evening dress with a jeweled pin. The pin is a circle with an arrow passing through it and it appears to have small pearls along its surface with a platinum backing. 

The subject is elegantly posed for a three quarter view portrait sitting in a high backed Chippendale chair. Beside her is a small figure of a young girl holding either a bird landing on her arm or a flowerpot. We suspect that the figure held some relevance to the sitter.

Quirk frequently worked in plants or other objects beside his portrait subjects as he did in the portraits of the Summer Pastor, Lady in Turquoise and Edgar Lee Masters. The sitter is well groomed with lipstick and well-coiffed hair.

 

From the label we know that the painting was framed in Philadelphia, so it is logical to assume that the painting was executed nearby. It may have been the daughter of a prominent family or even a student at Ogontz. On annual basis Quirk would create an image of one of the students as a prize. Other possible lifetime landmark events include commemorating a sweet sixteen,  debutante ball, or graduation. Since she is not flashing a ring, the idea of this being an engagement or wedding portrait can be set aside.  Quirk usually included jewelry in his portraits as you can see the rings on her mother and father in the portraits below.  

Francis Quirk signature

The first and most striking element of the mother's portrait is the striking resemblance to her daughter.  At first, blush one might think that she is sitting in the same chair, however in this case, the chair back is much lower. Interestingly, the background for this painting is a bland blue and there are no other knick-knacks or plants in the painting. Her portrait faces left with her left hand resting on the chair's arm. 

Portrait of Philadelphia Mother by Francis Quirk

Francis Quirk Signature

The final painting is the father who sits in the same chair as the mother with a similar austere blue background. His facial portrait is almost straight on, however his body is facing slightly to his right. Given that the frames are identical, in situ, this painting may have hung on the same wall as his wife's positioned so that they are facing each other in familial harmony. (Of course if there were times of family strife, the opposite effect could be achieved by juxtaposing the works)

Portrait of a gentleman father by Francis Quirk

Quirk captured his signet ring in detail. 

Close up of ring on portrait by Francis J. Quirk

Signature by Francis J. Quirk on portrait of an unknown gentleman. 

The big mystery is the identity of these people. Like the elegant lady in turquoise their identities are currently unknown.  If you recognize this family please let us know. They probably lived in the Philadelphia area or New Jersey during World War II and later they or a descendant may have  moved to Florida. Any help giving them names would be appreciated!

These works may be available for purchase. If you have an interest, email us and we can connect you with the owner. 

Francis Quirk Painting comes to light in New Jersey

We were recently contacted by a woman who inherited a painting by Francis Quirk from a New Jersey relative, and it raises a host of questions. The painting depicts three people at a table perhaps playing some sort of game. There is a fourth person whose face is shrouded in the background.

Painting by Francis Quirk

The painting has no signature on the front but is clearly marked on the back as a Francis Quirk painting from 1946. This brings up a whole host of questions. Who are these sitters? What are they doing? What is going on with the enigmatic character standing in the back? Why did he paint this scene? Can we infer something from his not signing the front?

Painting by Francis Quirk

The painting appears to be depicting a moment in time when there is activity around a table. The right-hand character appears to be placing a chip or coin. The middle person may be dressed as a woman in a yellow blouse with white lace collar but may actually be a man. (If she truly is a woman and a relative of a reader of this blog, please accept our apologies.) The person in yellow is looking apprehensively to the right at something outside the frame. 

Close up of Painting by Francis Quirk

The left-hand character is painted in profile and sitting stoically. The sitters are clearly portrayed, but almost have a cartoonish edge to them as if their features were being exaggerated for dramatic effect. And then we have the mysterious person in the rear; bundled up to hide their face with a hat pulled down low. Is that a person in disguise? Or is it an animal such as a large dog. The background consists of barren trees, a possible beach and then water. The execution of the scene and the lack of a front signature may indicate that this was an illustration. What do you think? The palate does appear to be similar to some other Quirk works.

The owner is selling the painting and if you are interested, we can make an introduction.