RISD Artists: Francis Quirk, Kara Walker and the Silhouette Art Form

Quirk Acquires Painting by Pennsylvania Impressionist Walter Baum for Lehigh University Art Galleries Collection

This post builds upon a recent post regarding some acquisitions under Quirk and focuses on Walter Emerson Baum. 

Baum School Publication featuring its Leader

According to an article in the Pocono Record on March 4, 1966, Francis Quirk announced the acquisition of three new works for the collection. 

Three new oil paintings had been added to Lehigh University’s permanent collection, announced Dr. Francis J. Quirk, head of the fine arts department.

The new acquisitions, which would be part of the Edward K. Driebe Collection, included “Studio Interior” by Walter E. Baum, “Courtship of the Snowy Owl” by Sterling Strauser and “Across the Hudson” by A. Mark Datz. Edward K. Driebe was a successful businessman who capitalized on the growing market for frozen vegetables and in 1997 became a member of the Frozen Food Hall of Fame joining Clarence Birdseye, Vernon Stouffer and Murray Lender.  

Thanks to the fine work of Mark and Rachel at the Lehigh University Art Galleries, we have the image of the acquired Baum work below. 

Walter Emerson Baum (American, 1884-1956), Studio Interior, mid 20th century, Oil on board, Gift of Edward K. and Mary R. Driebe, LUP 66 1004, Lehigh University Art Galleries

Walter Emerson Baum (December 14, 1884 – July 12, 1956) was an American impressionist painter and educator active in the Bucks and Lehigh County areas of Pennsylvania. In addition to being a prolific painter, Baum was founded of the Baum School of Art and the Allentown Art Museum.

Walter Baum in his studio.

Baum was born in Sellersville, Pennsylvania and is one of the few Pennsylvania impressionists from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Between 1904 and 1909, Baum studied with William B. T. Trego, taking lessons at Trego's home in North Wales, Pennsylvania, about 15 miles south of his native Sellersville. Trego was a well-respected painter who had studied under Thomas Eakins and at the Academy Julian in Paris. 

In 1905 and 1906 Baum attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia iwhere he studied with Thomas Pollock Anshutz, Hugh H. Breckenridge, William Merritt Chase, and Cecilia Beaux. (BTW- Cecilia Beaux was an amazing painter and the first woman to be on the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.)

While we have found no direct link with Francis Quirk, given that they both were involved with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Woodmere Museum, several other organizations, and were in close geographic proximity the two must have known each other. 

Faced with the responsibilities of a wife and four children, Marian, Ruth, Robert and Edgar, Baum took odd jobs to support his family. He worked in the family's barbershop, and worked as a photographer for The Poultry Item, a magazine which focused on chickens, ducks, and geese. He also wrote for the Sellersville, Pennsylvania-based newspaper, the Sellersville Herald, and was appointed its editor in 1921; he wrote columns for the paper until 1942. As his paintings became better known, from 1926 to 1956 he taught art classes at his home in Sellersville and at the local high school.

His students included John E. Berninger, Karl Buesgen, Joseph Gehringer, Walter Mattern, and Melville Stark. "The Baum Circle" refers to the artists either taught by, associated with, or directly influenced by Baum. In October 2006, the David E. Rodale Gallery at the Baum School of Art in Allentown, Pennsylvania held an exhibition celebrating the work of this group.

Baum also became involved in illustration. His first cover appeared in Curtis Publishing Company's Country Gentleman magazine in January 1931. Curtis Publishing is best known for the Saturday Evening Post and their long relationship with Norman Rockwell who painted many covers illustrations. In 1948, Baum provided illustrations and an introductory essay for the Selected Short Stories of Thomas Hardy (published by Rodale, Inc., Emmaus, Pennsylvania).  

Country Gentleman Cover by Walter Emerson Baum

Country Gentleman Cover by Walter Emerson Baum

Country Gentleman Cover by Walter Emerson Baum

In May 1933, Baum's first one-man show opened at the McClees Gallery in Philadelphia. He exhibited thirty-eight works completed between 1930-33 mostly landscapes. 

Baum also worked as an art critic and reviewer for the Philadelphia Evening and Sunday Bulletin, a position in which, as an artist himself, he was able to bring a unique perspective that became popular with readers. In this role, he was also able to promote local art and artists. During the Great Depression, a period during which artists found it extremely difficult to find work, his column was important in keeping the vibrant Philadelphia art community active and informed.

City (Allentown)  by Walter Emerson Baum

Winter Creek by Walter Emerson Baum

Road Across the Creek  1926    Walter Emerson Baum

Tamaqua  Walter Emerson Baum

In reviewing the works of Baum, he used a bright palate, and two types of paintings were most common. The first being the flowing river in which the viewer's eye tends to travel up the stream. In the works he executed for Country Gentlemen, he rewarded the viewer for following the journey with a structure at the end. 

The second is the collection of buildings in a semi-urban setting. These are not city paintings, but more small-town paintings with urban elements. They reflect the towns and cities of the Lehigh Valley. They have an endearing quality. In these he substitutes a road for the river and the viewer's eye follows it into the painting. 

Paraphrasing a review from a gallery who actively deals in his works. He had an unusually strong work ethic not all of his many paintings are representative of his potential greatness. When looking at his oeuvre, it is not uncommon to see several similar views of fair quality and then come upon a fine execution of the same scene. Great painters did not always paint great paintings. This same comment could be made of Pablo Picasso who frequently did not even complete his canvases and Claude Monet, who was cranking out a water lily painting per week in his later days. He put out a stunning 250 of them! There also is a cloud around Baum’s work by less knowledgeable collectors regarding forgeries and paintings finished and signed by the artist’s son.

It is worth noting that technically, he could be a very good painter. And his fine works are truly so. 

Ridge Valley Churches by Walter Emerson Baum

Allentown Art Museum

The Allentown Art Gallery was organized by Baum and opened in Allentown's Hunsicker School on March 17, 1934. With seventy canvases by local Pennsylvania impressionist artists on display, the gallery attracted major attention from the local and regional art communities. During the Great Depression, Baum was able to grow the collection through the Public Works of Art Project and through acquisitions and gifts. In June 1936, the City of Allentown granted the museum a permanent home in a Federal-style house located in the Rose Garden in Allentown's Cedar Park. The museum's first curator was local artist and former student John E. Berninger.

Baum's lasting name provides three lessons for the nascent artist seeking fame and immortality.

1. Be prolific- There has to be a significant amount of your work in the marketplace for you to develop a following and an aftermarket. If your work only rarely comes to auction, then it is hard to maintain personal brand awareness. Perhaps Warhol did this best by having employees turn out a silkscreen image multiple times in a variety of colors. Contemporary artist Alex Katz seems to have images in almost every museum.

2. Be involved- Baum was involved in the art community participating in the creation of the Bucks County Traveling Art Program, the Baum School, and the Allentown Art Museum. He also kept his name in the press. 

3. Start by developing your talent- then find your style.  Looking at Baum's early work's one can see technical skill. After nailing that he found his niche. The early works of Picasso at the Museum in Barcelona show mastery of the brush. We all know what he did later. 

Francis Quirk Leads Lehigh in Purchase of A. Mark Datz Painting "Across the Hudson"

According to an article in the Pocono Record on March 4, 1966, Francis Quirk announced the acquisition of three new works for the collection. 

Three new oil paintings had been added to Lehigh University’s permanent collection, announced Dr. Francis J. Quirk, head of the fine arts department.

The new acquisitions, which would be part of the Edward K. Driebe Collection, included “Studio Interior” by Walter E. Baum, “Courtship of the Snowy Owl” by Sterling Strauser and “Across the Hudson” by A. Mark Datz. Edward K. Driebe was a successful businessman who capitalized on the growing market for frozen vegetables and in 1997 became a member of the Frozen Food Hall of Fame joining Clarence Birdseye, Vernon Stouffer and Murray Lender. 

*****Since the initial posting of this article the responsive team at Lehigh University Art Galleries graciously found images of all three works. Naturally, it is a delight to have them and we will include the Baum image on our next post.***** 

Mark A. Datz (American, born Russia, 1889-1969), Across the Hudson, 1938, Oil on canvas, Gift of Edward K. and Mary R. Driebe, LUP 66 1002, Lehigh University Art Galleries

This post focuses on A. Mark Datz an expressionist artist of modest success who is largely forgotten.  His AskART biography is very brief. 

Abraham Mark Datz was a Russian Jew who came to the United States in 1903 to settle in New York. He is known as a painter, a sculptor, and an etcher. His works very rarely come on the market. Syracuse University maintains a Datz archive. His works are held in many museum collections, including the Whitney Museum of Art.

Datz had a palate of bright colors and our survey of his work on-line provided many floral still life images and scenes of New York. 

Gladiola and Chrysanthemums by A. Mark Datz  Worcester Art Museum

  

Hands of Fate by A. Mark Datz 1955
Whitney Museum

A Medley of Shapes 1956  A. Mark Datz

Fort Independence Park  Etching  A. Mark Datz Funded by the WPA

We decided to dig a bit further to learn about this man and had to go to the Syracuse University Archives where his papers are stored. 

Born on October 2927, 1889 in Russia, he emigrated to New York in 1903. He attended Cooper Union from 1908-1912, The National Academy of Design 1912-1915 and Beaux Arts (New York) 1916-1918. 

In the 1930's his work was supported by the Works Progress Administration program funded by the Federal Government. 

He had almost a dozen one-man shows in New York City institutions including the Eighth Street Gallery, The Dorothy Paris Gallery, The Montrose Gallery and the Hartert Gallery. The Paris Gallery was active from 1930-1936 and her papers are in the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian. 

In addition to Lehigh University his work is in the following museums, Whitney, Smithsonian Atlanta, Worcester, Los Angeles, Norfolk, Newark, Osh Kosh, Tel Aviv, Birmingham, NYU, Syracuse University, Evansville, US General Services Administration and Biro Bidjan, Russia. 

Personally, He was married in 1919 to Rebecca Fiensilver. Rebecca died in November 1934 at Creedmore Hospital in Queens, NY and is buried at Mount Richmond Cemetery on Staten Island. Abraham married again in December 1934 and his wife, Lillian, had one child, Israel Mortimer Datz who became an accomplished systems engineer working at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, NASA and the US Military. Mark Datz died in 1969.  

Henry Strator Paintings Show Edward Hopper Influence

Two delightful Henry Strator works are being deaccessioned by the ING Group's collection at the Atlanta Office at auction on December 7. Strator achieved considerable fame for his Time Magazine cover portrait of Ernest Hemingway who was a personal friend. Earlier we had written a post focused on the artist and that portrait.  

Strator was a prolific artist, and we frequently see his work coming up for auction. The pieces include full paintings and have extended down to include ephemera such as decorated Christmas cards and painted envelopes. But this post concentrates on two fine paintings from 1964, one of which brings to mind the work of Edward Hopper. 

Morning Inspection-   Henry Strator 1964

Morning Inspection brings to mind the work of Hopper for several reasons. The similarity begins with the basic layout of an angular seaside building with the planar surfaces neatly laid out. Even more striking is the color palate, which includes pink and yellow under direct sunlight as well as shadow. To see Hopper's use of yellow you can visit our post explaining the true meaning of Nighthawks. Strator's treatment of the sea in which he incorporates green into the blue water is typical of his own work, but also has similarities with Hopper's technique. Morning Inspection also includes a solitary figure like so many of Hopper's paintings. Below we have included Hopper's iconic morning sun painting from 1954. 

Morning Sun  Edward Hopper 1954

The second work is a classic marine scene painted in York Maine near Strator's home in Ogunquit. It captures a placid harbor on an autumn day with fluffy clouds in the sky. It is a creditable work that Strator executed well. He seemed to be focus on delivering quality in this painting as it has a tighter technique than many of his other works. 

Incoming Tide York   Henry Strator 1964

Francis Quirk Brings Roy Lichtenstein's George Washington to Lehigh

Each year Quirk organized an exhibition of Contemporary American Painting at Lehigh and worked with 4-5 East Coast galleries to provide paintings for display. The works were for sale and usually a favorite was selected for purchase with funds provided by the exhibition alumni supporter Ralph Wilson and his wife.  (You can learn more about Ralph Wilson here.) 

In the 11th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting in 1964 was a painting by Roy Lichtenstein. The work "George Washington" was on loan from the Mi Chou Gallery who had acquired some of Roy's work from the Leo Castelli Gallery. Mi Chou generated some notoriety for itself and Roy through an exhibition of Lichtenstein's works interspersed among Hudson River School paintings. 

George Washington, 1962 Roy Lichtenstein Private Collection

The painting is sizable, measuring 51 by 38 inches and presages Lichtenstein's more mature style in two notable ways.  First, the content is of a prominent image that of our respected first president who graces our one-dollar bill. But it is not just a copy of the original Gilbert Stuart portrait, instead it is a copy of a woodcut of that portrait found in a Hungarian national newspaper.  Already, he was reaching into published graphics for inspiration. Second, it uses some classic Lichtenstein techniques- Ben-Day dots on the face and background along with graphic brush strokes on the right side of the face and collar. This is the infancy of the artist's signature graphic style.

George Washington, 1962 Roy Lichtenstein Private Collection    Close up of eye forehead and hair

In the close-up one can see the red Benday dots in the forehead, the black Benday dots adding gradients of shadow in the background, the brushstroke effect of the shading on the forehead, and the solid lines to delineate the locks of hair. The elements of Lichtenstein's mature style are all here. 

There is an interesting blog post, which hypothesizes that this painting contains elements of a self-portrait. The writer theorizes that Mr. Lichtenstein is fusing the image of the revered leader with himself saying.

The president's face, as so often in portraits of iconic figures, has been fused with the artist's.¹ Lichtenstein presents himself as an American icon. "I have always had this interest in purely American subject matter", he once said. And later: "I had a feeling about official painting...I still do. It's their reliance on great subjects for their force that interests me.."² 

The blogger then provides the following image. 

Is this a strong similarity? That is for the reader to decide. But we have found another Lichtenstein self-portrait that makes his case even stronger.  In our research we found a Lichtenstein self-portrait from 1951-52.

Self Portrait 1951-2,  Roy Lichtenstein

When we add in a close-up of the face from the 1951-2 self-portrait, the bloggers observation seems to have more substance. But is it a similar face or a similar style? 

George Washington (close-up) Photo of Roy Self Portrait 1951-2 (Close-up)

It is worth noting that Lichtenstein had earlier mined the George Washington idea with a painting of him crossing the Delaware.  We leave that digression out as already we have wandered a bit far from Lehigh and Francis Quirk's exhibition. 

Somehow, Lichtenstein's painting went unpurchased, nor did the school select it for addition to the Lehigh University Art Gallery collection. It was listed for sale as painting number 8 at the respectable sum of $500, which was towards the low end of the range of prices. 

Translating the 1964 $500 price into 2023 dollars factoring in inflation that price would be equivalent to $5000 today.  But the market value for a Lichtenstein such as this would be in the range of $30-$40 million today. 

Kiss III 1962,  Roy Lichtenstein

For comparison, in 2019, Kiss III sold for $31.1 million at Christies in New York. Alas, Francis Quirk and Mr. Wilson missed the Pop Art boat.  Later the Lehigh University Art Galleries would acquire a Lichtenstein print and display it prominently on a catalog cover for a print exhibition.

Finally, Lichtenstein executed another self-portrait in 1976. We show it below. 

Self Portrait   1976,  Roy Lichtenstein

Beautiful Quirk Watercolor "The Poppy Field" to be Auctioned July 27th at Eldred's in East Dennis, Mass

A fresh watercolor painting of the French countryside will be auctioned on July 27th in East Dennis Mass. 

"The Poppy Field" by Francis Quirk

Quirk was adept with oils, pastels and watercolors and this painting illustrates his mastery of that medium with lovely color and delicate draftsmanship.  We suspect it is a location in France, but that is merely a suspicion based upon the village church and flowered fields. We have no knowledge of him traveling and painting in France. However, our knowledge of him is not complete. 

You can reach Eldrid's and the lot listing here on the online catalogue. 

Close up of Quirk Signature on "The Poppy Field"

Jesus Painting and a Silhouette of a Young Girl by Francis Quirk

Through the Francis Quirk Facebook page we have received word of a painting of Jesus by Francis Quirk. The owner graciously provided photographs of it and a close up of the signature from 1962. It is typical of his work with a three quarter frontal view. The signature is a solid match. 

Earlier we had posted a bit about his work related to the Christian Faith and a portrait sketch of a religious figure.

A Portrait of Jesus by Francis Quirk

Portrait of Jesus Close-up of Francis J. Quirk Signature

On EBay we found this undated silhouette by Francis Quirk. The piece is undated and it may be from his days at Ogontz College when he provided images of students as prizes.