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. 

Pine Barrens Painting en Plein Air

A different type of Francis Quirk painting recently came to our attention and we are excited to share it with our followers. ***As you read this post, please follow through to the addendum at the end.*** 

'Morning on the Pine Barrens' was executed in 1970 when quirk was 63 years old. At this time in his life  he had retired from teaching at Lehigh University and served as a Professor Emeritus. In 1969 he had spent a fellowship at Georgia's Ossabaw Island painting from nature.

The Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands or simply the Pines, is a heavily forested area of coastal plain stretching across more than seven counties of southern New Jersey. The name "pine barrens" refers to the area's sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil. Although European settlers could not cultivate their familiar crops there, the unique ecology of the Pine Barrens supports a diverse spectrum of plant life, including orchids and carnivorous plants. The area is also notable for its populations of rare pygmy pitch pines and other plant species that depend on the frequent fires of the Pine Barrens to reproduce. The sand that composes much of the area's soil is referred to by the locals as sugar sand.

Morning in the Pine Barrens by Francis J. Quirk

The oil painting is painted on board, a material he frequently used. Parts of it including the trees on the left and right foreground as well as the forest wall seem almost monochromatic with a limited color palette.  He executed several paintings from nature at Ossabaw that truly were monochromatic. Three prominent areas of color dominate this painting: the blue sky, yellow-green treetops and the green ground.

Focusing on the composition the line of treetops guides the eye to the middle right and then the two figures bring it back to the lower center. The hunters also are executed in a monochromatic fashion.

At first glance, it almost appears to be an unfinished work, but the price on the back indicates that it was sold as a finished work.

'Plein Air' is characterized as a style of painting out of the studio, outdoors with less adherence to academic rules. It originated in France along with impressionism in the 19th century. Special painting sets were developed that included mobile easels and cases for paint so that it was easier to get out into the countryside. 

Popular plein air painters include John Constable and Alfred Sisley. An example from both is provided below. You can see that these paintings, like Quirk's, have a loose, less finished format. They capture the essence of the day without intense detail.

En Plein Air painting by Constable

En Plein Air painting by Sisley

Addendum- It has come to our attention that a person familiar with Francis Quirk's work questions the attribution of this painting to him. On the one hand it is less finished in appearance than most his work with monochromatic portions. This initially caused the author to raise an eyebrow. On the other hand Quirk was also producing truly monochromatic canvases at this time.  And not every work by every painter is a masterpiece. Nonetheless, we felt that the nature of the question raised and the stature of the person raising it warranted sharing it with the readership. 

The Quirk Art Diaspora- Unusual Painting Coming Up for Auction in New York

It is interesting following the dispersion of Francis Quirk's artwork since we first saw the large trove sold in Maine a few years ago. Since then, we have seen pieces sold that day resell in Rhinebeck, New York, New Jersey and now New York City at Cabo Auctions. 

One unexpected benefit is that the pieces are usually well photographed, and this allows us to improve the quality of our image library. Those who have been following this blog for a long time may recall that many of the images captured in Maine were not of the best quality. 

Francis Quiirk- Futuristic building with hanging ball. Oil on aluminum sheet. Signed at lower right and dated 68. Sheet size, 18 x 24 inches.

Cabo describes it as "Futuristic building with hanging ball. Oil on aluminum sheet. Signed at lower right and dated 68. Sheet size, 18 x 24 inches." Upon initially encountering the painting, it seemed atypical of his work. But perhaps it was inspired by the futuristic buildings of Expo 67 in Montreal. That exposition, like New York's World's fair seemed to highlight the bright future that lied before us. And the architectural creativity still stands out as unique and innovative today. 

Habitat 67 Montreal 

Cabo also supplied a photo of Francis Quirk's signature. He never cut corners when it came to signing his name. 

Francis Quirk Signature.

We use an app LiveAuctioneers to track the auction market in general and for Quirk's works in particular. If you are collecting a specific artist, or artists, it is a helpful tool. 

Ruth Gikow- Francis Quirk Brings Her Art to the Lehigh Valley

We continue our stream of posts about artists who were helped by Francis Quirk by looking at Ruth Gikow.

Gikow's career - from aspiring commercial artist to recognized fine artist - began in New York City, where her family settled after fleeing an antisemitic pogrom in the Ukraine. She had been born there on Jan. 6, 1915. During their two year flight they had wandered through Europe including a year outside Bucharest in a gypsy camp. In 1920 her family immigrated to the United States including her father, Boris Gikow, a photographer, and her mother, Lena. They settled on the Lower East Side, where Gikow grew up in poverty. With a zest for living she never lost, she overcame the language barrier quickly and survived the teeming streets, diverting her tough cronies with chalk drawings on the sidewalk. She won distinction for her artwork at Washington Irving High School, which had one of the strongest art departments in New York City.

Ruth Gikow with her family c 1950 including husband Jack Levine and Daughter Susanna

She intended to pursue a career as a fashion artist after graduating from high school in 1932. Instead, unable to find a job, she enrolled at Cooper Union, where she was a pupil of the American regionalist painter John Steuart Curry and Austin Purvis, Jr., director of the school. She was determined, she said jokingly years later, ''to make a lot of money so I could have a French maid.''As she had throughout high school, Gikow continued to support herself and contribute to the family income by working evenings at Woolworth’s.

During her studies at Cooper Union, Gikow abandoned her aspiration to do commercial work and chose painting instead. A fellowship during her second year allowed her to study privately with idealistic young Raphael Soyer. A review of his work will show some similarities in technique. Soon an informal exhibition of her work, painted in a social realist style, was held at the Eighth Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village. From then on, her subjects remained the urban environment and the vast multiplicity of its inhabitants.

As an impoverished young woman, she joined the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration as a muralist, an assigment, she later said, compatible with her desire to bring art ''to the people.'In 1939, she was commissioned to paint murals for the children's ward at Bronx Hospital, Riker's Island and Rockefeller Center. We have not been able to find images of these works. With some associates, she helped found the American Serigraph Society, which turned out a volume of original graphics within the range of people of modest means.

Ruth Gikow Tunnel of Horrors 1935 through WPA

Following World War II, after a brief career in commercial art, she met and married artist Jack Levine. Challenged by his dedication and commitment, she returned to her own painting and drawing with renewed vigor. She illustrated Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" and began to exhibit at New York's Weyhe Gallery, Grand Central Galleries, Nordness Gallery, Forum Gallery and the Kennedy Galleries. Her endless quest to find humanity in a turbulent and sometimes hostile environment led art critic Henry-Russell Hitchcock to describe her as one of the country's "ten outstanding women painters."

By 1946, the time of her first one-woman show, Gikow had settled into Expressionism. Two years later, a critic found that Gikow was making ''extraordinary progress'' as ''her mood deepened in a new maturity.'' By the early 1960's, most of her paintings were of people, caught in a variety of moods as she emerged as an Early Modernist. 

One representative painting, ''Kleptomaniac,'' showed a prim elderly woman with fear and humiliation on her face. It was inspired by something that Miss Gikow had seen years before when she was working at Woolworth's. The prim, elderly woman had been caught stealing a tiny bottle of perfume.''An artist must constantly refer to life to get a living, growing art,'' Miss Gikow said. We have sought out images of this painting without success. However, the painting below may be an apt illustration of her work and the accompanying description from an exhibition held at the George Grevsky Gallery describes it well.

Adoration of the Gadget 1969 by Ruth Gikow

"Nowhere are these themes more clearly relevant than in Adoration of the Gadget, 1969. In this painting, various people are preoccupied by their cameras, hair dryers, and other electronic devices. Gikow, however, is not praising the rise in home electronics, but is commenting on the captivation of the human mind by that which it does not fully understand." - Text from George Krevsky Gallery

The people she painted seldom were anchored in a particular place, but instead seemed to hover on the surface of the canvas. Sometimes the figures were almost fluid, an effect that Gikow helped to achieve by using oils thinned by turpentine. Against 'Facelessnes'I wanted to get underneath things,'' Gikow said, ''to be more involved with individuals, and to get away from facelessness.'' Miss Gikow's last show, at the Kennedy Galleries in 1979, was almost entirely of people - sitting, standing, walking, running, dancing and, matter of factly, growing old.

The two works below as are renditions of the same image in two different media. Since she reproduced the work, she must have had some affinity for it. 

Ruth Gikow- The Kitchen    print

Ruth Gikow-  The Kitchen   oil on canvas

The works below show Gikow's range of style, technique and media. 

Ruth Gikow- Ballerinas

Ruth Gikow- Interior   lithograph

Ruth Gikow- Psychosis- Two Napoleons and a Josephine    screen print

Ruth Gikow- Seance

Gikow's work is represented in numerous private and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art in New York, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Portland Museum of Art, Maine, National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts, Hartford Arts Foundation, Connecticut, and the Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, Ohio. Among her awards were an Institute of Arts and Letters grant and a Childe Hassam Fund Award.

If you are a fan of her work, or if this blog has piqued your interest, you may be able to locate or purchase a work through the George Krevsky Gallery.

Learn more about Ruth through her Wikipedia profile.