Francis Quirk and the Strange Case of Football Figure/Artist William “Lone Star” Dietz

This post continues our series on artists supported by Quirk through exhibitions at the Lehigh University Art Galleries, we explore the strange case of William H. “Lone Star” Dietz. Dietz’ paintings were included in a 1955 exhibition that also included sculpture by Princeton’s Joseph Brown and Jose de Rivera, formerly of Yale. At the time of the exhibition Dietz was 69 years old.

1955 Photo of Francis Quirk, William "Lone Star" Dietz and Joe Brown discussing sculpture. (Could the portrait in the background may be the work of Dietz or Quirk?) 

Dietz was best known as a football player, attending Oklahoma’s Chilocco Indian Agricultural School. He would later move on to Pennsylvania’s Carlisle Indian School playing football with NFL Hall-of-Famer, Jim Thorpe under famous coach Pop Warner. Later he would move into coaching at various college and professional teams. The 2012 College Football Hall of Fame member coached at Purdue, Washington University, Louisiana Tech University, University of Wyoming, Albright College and Haskell Indian Nations University.

His professional coaching career was short from 1933-34 with the Boston Redskins who were using Fenway Park. While details are not available it is believed that his background may have influenced the naming of the franchise that eventually moved to Washington DC.

In the Native American Community, he is a controversial figure as his heritage has been contested in that he may have been feigning this ancestry. The following test is excerpted from Wikipedia. 

Dietz's heritage was first contested in 1916 after former neighbors who settled on the Pacific Coast heard he was posing as an Indian. In December 1918 the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated his heritage after he registered for the draft as a "Non-Citizen Indian" with an allotment. The Bureau found he had taken on the identity of James One Star, an Oglala man of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation 12 years his senior who had disappeared in Cuba in 1894. Dietz also claimed he was the head of an American film company that produced propaganda films for the war.

Dietz was tried in Spokane, Washington in June 1919 for the first offense. One Star's sister, Sallie Eaglehorse, testified after seeing him for the first time at the trial that Dietz was definitely not her brother. Still, the judge instructed the jury to determine whether Dietz "believed" he was an Indian, not whether it was true. Despite that others had witnessed his birth in the summer of 1884 or had seen him the following day, Dietz's mother Leanna claimed he was the Indian son of her husband who had been switched a week or more after she had a stillbirth. Dietz's acting ability along with his mother's fallacious testimony (to protect him from prison) resulted in a hung jury, but Dietz was immediately re-indicted. The second trial resulted in a sentence of 30 days in the Spokane County Jail after he pleaded "no contest".

Through the research on Quirk, we have learned that Lone Star also was an artist who had achieved some level of notoriety for his painting. The December 6, 1955 article from Lehigh’s Brown and White discusses the upcoming exhibition and mentions Dietz' “prize winning landscape, My Pittsburgh.” You can see photos of the "My Pittsburgh" painting on an excellent blog kept by Tom Benjey. He painted portraits as well. Our search for information on Dietz as an artist has brought limited success. However, Tom Benjey's biography of him "Keep A-Goin" provided some helpful information. After his football coaching days ended, Dietz would have a short-lived effort at running an art school in Pittsburgh. The Korean War turned the enterprise into a financial disaster. He would later move to Reading, Pennsylvania and undoubtedly met Quirk  through geographic proximity.

On AskArt.com we were able to find the image below of a Dietz painting executed in 1930. "Sioux Country, Late Afternoon" has a certain beauty in the use of a varied color palette and attention to detail. Despite a clear layer of surface grime, it still retains considerable charm. When we found this image, we were surprised at the strength of his work. 

Sioux Country, Late Afternoon by William "Lone Star" Dietz 1930

Several of Dietz' paintings can be found at Albright College. These include paintings of All-American Albright Quarterback Dick Riffle, the Albright Lion and "The Pursuit of Knwoledge: A College Fantasy."

Dietz' artistic career apparently did not bring him financial success as when he died in 1964, there was not enough money to fund his tombstone. His former teammates took up a collection to fund a simple marker inscribed with “William ‘Lone Star’ Dietz born in South Dakota.”

Francis Quirk Develops Smithsonian Loan Relationship for Lehigh University

In previous posts we had highlighted Francis Quirk's efforts to expand the visual arts at Lehigh University. He expanded the Art Galleries, added programs, cultivated alumni donors, sponsored groundbreaking exhibitions and developed relationships with commercial galleries.  

But we were surprised to see this blurb about his work with the Smithsonian Institution in the Clemson University student newspaper. Lehigh was the first University in the country to take part in the new art loan program. This is another example of Quirk's proactive nature and his tireless effort to enhance the University's offerings. 

Interestingly, we could not find other references to the program in our searches of Lehigh University's Brown and White archives. This may indicate that the announced program did not come to fruition or that it was of a low-key nature. 

Article in the Clemson  University Tiger highlighting loan relationship between Smithsonian and Lehigh University

Quirk Traffic Exploding! Is a work coming up for auction?

We have been experiencing sizable spikes in traffic to the blog in the past month.  Given that we have posted relatively little during this period due to other pressing needs, we are a bit puzzled. It may be that there have been works coming up for auction and people have been seeking information on Professor Quirk. 

If you have information Quirk, his art, or his paintings, don't be shy. We would love to hear from you. Or you could like the Facebook Page dedicated to his art. https://www.facebook.com/francisquirkpainter/

Refining our virtual recreation of Quirk's 1969 Lehigh University exhibition

Through a Pennsylvania collector of Francis Quirk's work, we have been able to refine the information and content of his exhibtion that we hightlighted in an earlier post. (You can see that updated post here.)

In addition to pinning down the year and correcting some minor errors we have added in the painting below. 

#16 Patterns --- Sloops   This delightful work had been highlighted earlier in a brief post. The pleasing palate of blues and greens help the white sales to pop. He also usess a slightly cubist technique that works well.

Patterns --- Slooops by Francis J. Quirk


 

Image of "Impossible Art" Painting Found Akin to Work by M.C. Escher

In a periodic sweep of the web, we identified a black and white image of a Francis Quirk painting. It is entitled Four Step Gantry Gated. Given the "impossible" nature of the work we suspect that it may have been included in the Impossible Art Exhibition of 1970.

Four Step Gantry Gated by Francis J. Quirk

This painting is reminiscent of the work of M.C. Escher. 

Maurits Cornelis Escher was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically-inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for long somewhat neglected in the art world, even in his native Netherlands. He was 70 before a retrospective exhibition was held.

Impossible Cube by M. C. Escher

Quirk's impossible art paintings are another illustration of his versatility in being able to produce yet another type of painting. 

Ten Great Art Books for Children

As a parent and writer of a blog about art, I am frequently asked about how to expose children to art. Through the years three approaches have brought some success: books, museum visits, and art classes.

This post will focus on the books and those for younger children in particular. We have compiled this list of ten great art books for kids. All of them are filled with bright colors and almost all containing a narrative. Our eyes have evolved to track to bright colors. (This is part of the reason why cartoons and Sesame Street hold the viewer’s attention.) The storyline helps with the engagement.

Many of these books are available at your library or local bookstore. They make great gift ideas for relatives and grandparents who want to bring something that will catch the eye, but not be a toy or socks.  They are wonderful options for reading with a child or grandchild as the adult can learn a little bit as well. To make it easier we have included links to the books on Amazon to make it easier to find what you need.

1. Babar’s Museum of Art-   Everybody loves Babar! And when he goes to the Museum, you both get the opportunity to learn about various painting styles. The paintings do have elephants subbing in for the original subjects, but it still works swimmingly.  This is a great foundation book.

2. Frida- A colorful story book about this intriguing Mexican painter.

3. Chuck Close Up Close- His unusual painting style captures a child’s attention well while also conveying subtle lessons about different techniques and perspectives. This one is a bit pricey, but Close makes it into the curriculum's of many a school. 

4. Picasso and the Girl with a Ponytail (Anholt's Artists Books For Children)- Picasso is a seminal figure in modern art and this book tells his story.

 5. Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci- Leonardo's ingenuity and engaging ideas tend to pull boys in.

6. Fallingwater: The Building of Frank Lloyd Wright's Masterpiece- The story of one of the country’s finest buildings by its most iconic architect. If you have a trip to Fallingwater, this book can lay the foundation for a more productive visit.

 7. Through Georgia's Eyes- Georgia O’Keeffe’s beautiful paintings are timeless.

8. Roy's House- Roy Lichtenstein’s iconic comic book style lends itself to exciting graphics. 

 9. Diego- A colorful story book about this intriguing Mexican painter and muralist.

10. A Child's Introduction to Art: The World's Greatest Paintings and Sculptures-This is our one non-story book. It provides a follow-up after the others have piqued the child’s interest.

Did we leave anything out?  What should we add?

Note that these are paid links. 

Francis Quirk's Solo Exhibition at Lehigh University

Through a generous and thoughtful collector of Francis Quirk's art we have obtained a program from a Lehigh University exhibition of his paintings. The year is not provided, however we now know that the year was 1969 as an attendee at the event who purchased a painting was able to confirm it by matching the weekday with the calendar. One data point is that the painting on the cover of the exhibition catalog entered the collection in Georgia in 1971. 

Cover of Francis J. Quirk Exhibition Flyer

In this post, we are attempting to try to virtually recreate the exhibition, by providing as many paintings as we can. It is a work in progress that we will add to as we gain images. But before we continue, let us first comment on the exhibition and the paintings highlighted in the pamphlet.

Quirk had been the main pillar of arts at Lehigh University before his retirement and conversion to Professor Emeritus in 1969. In his 19 years at the school he scheduled numerous cutting edge exhibitions, fostered the careers of many artists and championed the arts in the region. This exhibition continues that tradition of pushing the envelope and including works from his classic interests: portraiture, maritime and nature.

Placing the portrait of Queenie Williams on the cover was a daring move and illustrates Quirk's ability to push the boundaries of his times. At the time of this writing, almost 50 years later, many US art museums have realized their woeful lack of women of color in their collections. In 1970, putting this painting up front at an exhibition at Lehigh University in a predominantly Caucasian community clearly made a statement.  While it seems hard to believe, at this time, Bruce Springsteen was not welcome to perform at certain U.S. colleges because his iconic saxophone player Clarence Clemons was an African American. This fine work now resides in the collection of the Georgia Museum of Art.

Inside Cover of Francis J. Quirk Exhibition Flyer

It also contains maritime works with several painting of sailboats. Quirk thoroughly enjoyed painting boats and on his retirement looked forward to painting many of them at his summer home in Kinney Shores, Maine.

Painting Listing of Francis J. Quirk Exhibition Flyer

One of the hostesses for the evening was his wife, Anna.  We believe she is in the photo below, but do not think this is from this particular exhibition. 

Francis Quirk discusses a painting with Anna J. Quirk and another gentlemen. 

Francis J. Quirk Exhibition Flyer back cover

Below are the images that we have assembled as of this date and a few comments about them.

#2 Shrimper Early Morning   Canton Museum of Art

Shrimper Early Morning  Image courtesy of Canton Museum of Art

#4 The Soloist  Queenie Williams

The Soloist  (Queenie Williams) by Francis J. Quirk  Image courtesy of the Georgia Museum of Art

#11 Man's Island

Man's Island by Francis J. Quirk  photo reproduced from exhibition pamphlet

#14 Marconis and Gaff

Marconis and Gaff  photo reproduced from exhibition pamphlet

#16 Patterns --- Sloops   This delightful work was highlighted earlier in a brief post as the collector/owner shared the image with us. After seeing this post, she graciously informed us that she had purchased it at the event, which was held in 1969. An earlier iteration of this post had the year as 1970. 

Patterns --- Slooops by Francis J. Quirk

#37 The Artist     Note that there is another self-portrait in the collection at the University of Notre Dame's Snite Gallery from approximately the same period. They will not authorize reproductions, so it can not be included. However, if you are in South Bend, you can stop by the Snite and ask to see it. We are not fully certain whether this image or the Notre Dame image belongs here. 

The Artist self portrait by Francis J. Quirk.  

#38 Island Trees #1

Add caption

#38 Island Trees #3

#42 Dr. J. Rutzky   We do not have an image of this painting at the moment. However, we have reached out to Dr. Rutzky's family to see if they still have the work. If so, we will update this post.