My Life In Art–The Dwight Kirsch Biography
(1)
By JoAnn Kelly Alexander
Edited by Brooks John Kelly, Ph.D.
1
This is the epic biography of
Frederick Dwight Kirsch, master
artist, who was born in 1899 and
raised on a Nebraska homestead.
(1)
After graduation from the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1919),
Kirsch studied at the Art Students
League, NYC, with artists Robert
Henri, Boardman Robinson, Sterling
Calder etc.
Kirsch taught art at UN-L (19241950) as Instructor, Professor,
(2)
Chairman of Department and finally
Director of the University Art
Galleries. He coordinated UN-L’s
acquisition of one of the finest
contemporary art collections in the
country, and was catalytic in the
building of the Sheldon Art Gallery.
Kirsch’s wife Truby, son John, and
(3)
niece JoAnn Kelly (Alexander) were his
abiding inspirations.
During his tenure as Director of
the Des Moines Art Center (1950-1958),
Kirsch assembled a wide range of
vital, historical art. He then became
(4)
Artist-in-Residence at Iowa State
University until 1965.
2
Front Cover
1
Front Inside Cover
2
Contents
3
Preface, by Norman Geske
5
Introduction
7
1.
Tragedy and Honor, 1953
11
2.
Early Years, 1899–1920
18
3.
Student, Apprenticeship, 1919–1921
39
4.
University of Nebraska: Teaching, Marriage, 1924–1950
44
5.
Golden Years: Galleries, Art Department Head
65
6.
Colleagues, Exhibitions, Travels
78
7.
Summer School: Travels, Kady, Mabel, Exhibits
93
8.
Fairdale Road House; ‘Aries’
106
9.
World War II, Atkinson, ‘Main Street,’ John
128
10.
Beginning of the End: Post War
163
11.
Wright Morris and Dwight, John, Solo Exhibit
179
12.
59th Annual N.A.A.–1949, Testimonial, Mexico
192
13.
Mexico; Back to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
206
14.
Iowa, Des Moines Art Center, 1950, New House
223
15.
John to New York, Life Magazine, Mabel Eiseley
246
16.
Letters from John, Alaska Trip
261
3
17.
Letters from John, M.O.M.A.
278
18.
Travel: Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona, California
298
19.
Trip to the Orient: Letters to Phyllis
317
20.
New York, Galleries, Murdock Collections, Groz
342
21.
Retirement, 1958: Murals, Artist-In-Residence
366
22.
John: Attempted Suicide; Dwight’s Letters to John
388
23.
Recovery, Estrangement, Reconciliation, Mural
4147
24.
Adult Classes, Inge, D. Peterson, Iowa State
446
25.
John: Dinnen, Clarinda, Inheritance, Death
463
26.
Cats: D. Peterson, P. Patrick, Classes, Hospital
483
27.
Colorado: 1976-1981; Travels, Painting, Death
500
Epilogue
540
Index
542
Illustrations
587
Acknowledgements
606
Back Inside Cover
608
Back Cover
609
4
Preface, by Norman Geske
Dwight Kirsch was, first of all, a painter educated in the
tradition of Benton, Curry and Wood, and dedicated to the daily
practice of an art that reflected his understanding of everyday
visual experience.
Secondly he was a teacher in the full sense of the word,
always generous in the guidance of others who sought the
pleasures of creativity, whether student or amateur.
And lastly, and perhaps most important of all, he used his
insights as an artist and his willingness to share in the
creation of two collections of art that are enduring reservoirs
of inspiration and enlightenment in the two communities in which
he lived.
The quality of his work as a painter should be acknowledged
as a serious and perceptive variant of the regionalist point of
view that prevailed in the years of his training and teaching.
Fully aware of the constant element of change, he was constant
in the pursuit of his own vision and attained at the last a
deeply personal appreciation of landscape and natural forms.
His many students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and
continuously in later years in the many more informal workshops,
5
demonstrations and private teachings attest his skill as a
teacher.
Most of all we are indebted to his "eye," that intuitive
perception of the integrity of artistic expression. In the works
of art acquired under his direction for the Sheldon Gallery in
Lincoln and the Art Center in Des Moines there was established a
standard of excellence that has guaranteed the present day
importance of both institutions. Both museums are in possession
of at least one genuine masterpiece, paintings by Edward Hopper,
both of them his choice.
6
Introduction
When Dwight Kirsch died unexpectedly in 1982 at the age of
81 and we gathered his belongings from his room in the Colorado
State Nursing Home, my hopes that he would write his
autobiography vanished.
One of the few pieces of furniture
saved from his Des Moines home, which he was able to have in his
room, was his treasured maple deck and in it was found a
handwritten outline on yellow senate pad paper.
“My Life in Art = Memories.”
exhibited on those pages!
His title was
And what a remarkable memory he
The thought then flashed through my
mind that maybe I could finish his work.
the project “might take some time.”
I also realized that
(Yes it did-over twenty
years!)
From those sketchy jottings, his story gradually evolved,
thanks to old letters Marguerite Lewis and other friends had
saved, interviews and bits and pieces from former students,
friends, associates and relatives, university archives, his own
files of letters, clippings, photographs, and my own personal
memories.
Using pen, old manual typewriter, electric typewriter, word
processor, and now computer, and while helping college-age
7
children, holding down a job, to grandmother-hood, and finally
retirement, this amateur author finally arrived at the twilight
of life with the thought, “was it all worth the effort?”
Weary
relief and the knowledge that I have done my best constitute the
answer.
Dwight Kirsch, as well as Truby and John Kirsch, had always
been a major factor in my life.
He appears to have been a
“wunderkind” who developed into an amazingly versatile and
brilliant artist but to us, he was simply “Uncle Dwight.”
There
are happy, early memories of watching Uncle Dwight snap pictures
(at first with a large camera using glass plates and a tripod)
of two little red-haired cousins kissing after a family wedding;
of his lovely folding screens in the upstairs apartment (the
arched windows formed the background for his “Aries” painting.)
on Sumner Street, Lincoln; our early poses for his sketches
(sitting still for fifteen minutes seemed unending); and my
fondness for Robert Henri’s “Pink Pinafore” hanging in the
Morrill Hall gallery during our “Uncle Dwight
excursions”
around town while parents attended Nebraska football games.
There were children’s living room games along with adults
carrying on their “shop” conversations, dropping names such as
Dr. Grummann, Miss Mundy, Mabel and Loren, etc.
John loved
pieces of gossip and one of his favorite items about two of his
favorite people was that Mabel Langdon and Loren Eiseley were
8
engaged for ten years before they married.
(Dwight’s late
cousin Jo Waddell told me that Dwight and Truby helped arrange
their honeymoon to the Waddell cabin in Colorado.)
Those happy memories include the “Country Gardens” duet
that John and I played on the piano, the fun we had as teens
going to Capital Beach with Russ Tudor, then later being in
university together - though he far exceeded me in scholastic
achievement, not that I cared.
I felt special because of my
uncle’s status in the art department but did not expect favors
from instructors.
We were naïve in thinking our uncle simply painted
pictures, taught art classes at the university, mounted the
Nebraska Art Association’s annual exhibit and produced UN-L’s
“Living Pictures.”
His vast scope of work in Lincoln, in
Nebraska, and later Des Moines and Iowa, in the art world in
general was scarcely mentioned by him and in fact, it wasn’t
until I was deep into the research that I was fully aware of all
he did, of the giant strides he made in behalf of art.
Without
the support of Truby, and later John, his effectiveness would
have been lessened, but it goes without saying he was a huge
driving force.
From those Great Depression years to the moment the utility
man in Des Moines found Dwight in a sorry state, one would
imagine that since he had lived a long productive life, that
9
this was the end!
Not so! After a “jump start” in the
Broadlawns Hospital, where Peggy Patrick managed to place him
for his recovery, he came to Florence, Colorado and delighted us
with his art.
Without the concerns of paying bills, cooking
meals, feeding cats, there was plenty of time to read, paint,
travel, and contact old friends, and to reminiscence about
artists he once knew, some who were with him at the Art Students
League.
Drawing inspiration from nature, he produced fantastic
art. He graced the Veterans Nursing Home walls with his works,
sent paintings to friends and occasionally exhibited his work.
Truby and John seemed always to be with him in spirit.
My Kirsch memories herein compiled into this biographyhappy and painful-are forever woven into a very long, seventy
plus year’s braid!
10
Chapter 1 “Tragedy and Honor, 1953”
That cold, raw day in February 1953 was normal enough for
Iowa, but it marked a turning point in the lives of Dwight and
John Kirsch.
The day was a mix of tragedy and joy!
luck of the draw!
Ironic Irish
A few days before, John sent me a surprise
letter, telling of Truby's up-coming surgery with the reassurance
that the prognosis was optimistic.
I shuddered and felt
apprehensive at the news but was too busy with two little boys, a
husband, and a visit with my brother Warren (who had just
returned from army duty in Japan), to dwell on my feelings.
It was a relief to know that John was back home from New
York.
He said it was a good excuse to see the new house, but in
reality, John was unable to earn a living there.
He knew his
mother (always “Truby” to him, not “mother”) had been dealing
with intestinal problems for months, but building a new house and
doing some of the finish work herself, such as acid-etching the
concrete floors with a mop, helping Dwight with his new demanding
director's job at the Art Center, and the other day-to-day
details she handled, gave her excuses for ignoring the trouble.
She finally saw a female physician and surgery was recommended.
11
Dwight was on a buying trip to New York, which was a good
thing because he had a phobia about hospitals. His mother and
sister, Pat, died when he was a teenager, so it was a shock to
come back to find Truby in “that place.”
She was a kind of
“Earth Mother” to John and Dwight, a world-class manager, strongwilled and opinionated, intelligent, stylish, yet loving,
cheerful and beautiful, theatrical, almost a larger-than-life
lady.
One got the impression that “here is an indestructible
woman!”
My brother Warren was anxious to get back home to Atkinson.
After a full day's drive from Cheyenne, we enjoyed a happy
homecoming with our parents.
dimmed with a call from John.
That shining hour was quickly
Truby was dead!
The surgery
seemed a success; she had asked for mirror and make-up (typical)
while she visited with Dwight and John.
developed.
However, peritonitis had
Calling my dad at the Graphic office was so painful.
I couldn't find the right words and blurted out the news without
warning.
He and my uncles, Eric and Tabor Kelly, all adored
their older sister, she had run the household and helped raise
Tabor while my grandmother made hats for well-to-do farmer's
wives.
They were devastated.
Because my family felt John needed me, my mother stayed home
to care for little Kelly and Mark while we drove to Des Moines
for the funeral.
My Uncle, Eric (Ric) Kelly, met us on his way
12
from Colorado. Tabor came from Chicago. Dwight's cousin, Jo
Waddell, came from Lincoln, along with many other relatives and
friends.
The roads through Iowa in those days were narrow and
winding with sharp, unexpected turns up and down hills and along
the roadsides we saw many parked trucks and cars, unable to slog
through the mud.
At last we drove into the city and found the
new house on Casady Drive.
Dwight was so distraught he was unable to arrange the
funeral and asked an associate to help in the selection of a
minister.
My mother remembered that when Dwight's father died he
completely fell apart. This uncommon behavior was embarrassing
for the mourners.
I do recall his remarking about Truby's
gravesite that he and John chose, “it's in a park-like area with
trees and flat, unobtrusive markers that Truby would have liked.”
(Garden-like cemeteries with the flat gravestones were at that
time new for the area.)
The Lutheran minister (by coincidence, Dwight and Truby were
married by a Lutheran pastor in Atkinson because the Methodist
preacher was out of town) had chosen to conduct his traditional,
formal, long-winded dirge of a service which was so totally wrong
for the unorthodox, non-church-going, free-thinking family as to
be almost surreal.
How was he to know the Kirsches had kept
their religious and spiritual beliefs to themselves, except to
enjoy particular religious music, attend services at an Episcopal
13
church when John sang in their choir, or when Jo Waddell played
organ while directing a choir concert?
The man had never met
Truby and from information given to him, he completely missed the
essence of her spirit and character (he did not know that she was
raised a Congregationalist by parents who believed children
should decide for themselves their personal religion and or
church affiliation).
The word picture he painted of her was so
sentimental and off base that I began to squirm, then noticed how
agitated John was acting.
His body, seated next to me, twitched,
his face began to flush and turn crimson - almost as bright as
our red hair, and I thought that any minute he might explode.
Suddenly, he stood up, ignored the droning voice at the pulpit,
pushed himself along the seated relatives and friends, and left
the funeral home sanctuary!
I froze in my seat and could feel a
shock wave sweeping over the mourners so electric that those
people still alive still remember.
Later, on the way home, my
dad said, “it was Kirsches’ fault for not joining a church.”
After the cemetery burial service, John and I held each
other and sobbed until my dad separated us to meet former
Atkinson friends, saying, “One should not display such feelings
in public.”
Mercifully, the “wake” at the house was exactly right, and
was characteristic of Truby's gift for entertaining and making
people feel comfortable.
If one believed in spirits and life-
14
after-death, none of us doubted that she was there, hovering over
us in the crowded house.
In the kitchen, we women kept saying,
“Truby would want us to use this dish, or arrange the food this
way,” or “Truby would want someone to play the piano,” as if she
were directing the occasion and talking to her guests.
Telegrams
and cards poured in, and with ample food and drink, people really
made it a party.
During the “festivities” a special letter arrived, was
opened and read aloud to the gathering: “Dear Mr. Kirsch: It is a
pleasure for me to inform you that the faculty and Board of
Trustees at Grinnell College have voted to award you an honorary
Doctor of Fine Arts Degree on the occasion of our one hundred and
seventh Commencement June 7, 1953.
Through this means we wish to
recognize your sincere hope that you will find it possible to be
present at Grinnell on June 7th to receive your degree.
look forward to an affirmative answer from you.
I shall
Sincerely yours,
Samuel N. Stevens, President.”
The consensus of the crowd was that Truby “knew!”
The irony
of it all - her poor timing - if she could have put off the
surgery one more day, but yes, she was there!
However, Dwight
couldn't share the honor with her and could only imagine her
radiant smile as the letter was read, or hear her strong voice
rejoicing in the pride she felt for the man she loved.
15
Truby's spirit could no longer hide her age (sixty), when
John finally realized she was seven years older than “papa.”
We
all knew John was “at risk,” because he was still groping with
life, was ungrounded and rather unstable at age twenty-six,
brilliant but lacking self-discipline and ordinary coping skills.
Without Truby, we were all concerned about his future because he
depended on her strength.
His road could be rocky!
On the other
hand, Dwight had a job, lots of caring friends, plus the new
honor.
Two days after the funeral, Dwight wrote his answer, “Dear
President Stevens, your letter of February 25th informing me of
the honor you wish to bestow me is a great and welcome surprise.
I am glad to accept this honor and will be present at Grinnell on
June 7th.
Coming as this does at the time of my bereavement, I
am considering this as a fitting recognition of the teaching and
public service in the cause of Art in which my wife and son have
always joined and helped me.
As an academic honor, this means
much to me, coming from Grinnell, because of the high regard I
have for your staff and alumni, whom I know, and for your high
standards in general.
I am particularly glad, too, because of
the closer tie it makes with Miss Edith Sternfeld, whose
inspiring and courageous teaching have had such far-reaching
effects. Sincerely, Dwight Kirsch.”
16
During his struggle to heal the grief he felt, Dwight
stifled his emotions with distractions of his job, and by
accepting the caring, nurturing attentions of his friends.
He
had to learn to live alone, since John again returned to New York
to make another stab at an art career.
Such a transition period often triggers early memories,
memories of life's earliest happy times.
Some of mine include
Uncle Dwight taking pictures of us (he began when I was only a
few months old).
He probably recalled his early years on the
farm near Mayberry, Nebraska, watching his mother and sisters
cook, and play on the nearby clay hill.
In the last years of his
life, he wrote an account of his family and than jotted down very
sketchy notes of his life in art.
I believe that Dwight would be
relieved, and quite pleased, to know how his rough notes have
evolved into this book.
17
Chapter 2 “Early Years, 1899-1920”
Fred Kirsch and Lovie Gifford were married in 1885 (he wore
a red mustache).
Their children were: Ethel Louise, Edna
Josephine (Pat), Bess E., Gifford Karl, Hollis Harlan, and
Frederick Dwight, the baby of the family, born January 28, 1899.
Dwight once told me “as my father had no middle name, mine was
chosen by an aunt from a box of Dwight's Cow Brand Soda, or so
they say.
Or maybe it was from the middle name of the preacher,
Newell Dwight Hillis.”
Fred Kirsch was the son of a master
cabinet-maker, Phillip Karl, and he practiced carpentry after
coming to America from Southwestern Germany, near Sweibruken and
the Saar.
Many years later, while writing his Kirsch History,
Dwight mentioned that, “very often an artist can trace his talent
back to a craftsman in his family.”
“The Kirsches came to America in 1848. On the steamboat they
brought a big wooden chest built by Phillip that held bedding,
clothing, and some gold coins.”
“After settling first in
Pennsylvania, and then in Dane County, Wisconsin, the family,
which by then included Jake (a ‘forty-niner,’ as he liked to call
himself), Emma Louise, Elizabeth, John and Frederick D., all
18
moved to Nebraska in 1868, a year after it became a state.
The
Homestead Act had come into effect in 1862, and Phillip and Jake
filed for homesteads at the United States Land Office in
Brownsville.
The Kirsch family had chosen a farm on Turkey
Creek, in Pawnee County. The Kirsch home place was in hilly
country, with lots of woods along Turkey Creek.
In the early
days, as Uncle Jake often told us, there was lots of wild game buffalo, elk, deer, antelope, wild turkeys, maybe, and prairie
chickens.”
“In the times I remember, my father and two brothers were
good hunters, bringing in to cook and eat - wild ducks and geese,
quails, rabbits and squirrels.
They also trapped to get skins of
muskrat and mink.”
“The town nearest our farm was Mayberry, about three miles
away.
We went there to buy at the general store, to go to the
Methodist church, and once in a while to evening affairs, oyster
stews and box socials.”
“The first Kirsch farm home was a small white cottage where
I was born, later it was moved to Mayberry where I saw it many
times in later years.
The big house (still there) was a square
white two-story building, with an attic, and a deck on top with
an iron railing, where Pat and I used to play and take
photographs.”
19
“On the farm, the crops we raised were corn, wheat, oats and
wild hay.
We had chickens and pigs (Duroc-Jersey), also once a
billy goat (about which I cried when they killed it to eat).
We
had Jersey cows, but mostly white-faced Hereford cattle.”
Throughout his life, Dwight's art was influenced by his
abiding interest in plants, and nature.
The corn plant became
almost a signature or “theme” for him and his earliest known use
of it was in photography in the late 1920's and early 1930's,
where he used corn to decorate various art brochures written for
the Fine Arts Department of the University of Nebraska.
Later,
in 1938, he decorated the stairwell of their new home in Piedmont
with a row of life-sized corn marching up the wall to the second
story studio.
At last report, it was still there.
Corn husks
and split corn cobs decorate the frame of a handsome still life
watercolor of Indian corn, maize, which he painted in the late
1940's one hot summer.
It now hangs on our living room wall.
A
patch of corn also appears in his mural for the Mahaska State
Bank, Oskaloosa, Iowa, and a painting of a lone corn stalk with
its gracefully curved tassel is used on the cover of an art
workshop leaflet from Ames, where he became the artist-inresidence.
His last corn painting was completed June 25, 1981,
entitled “Iowa Corn.”
(He used to say he was a farmer at heart.)
“We children went to a one-room school called New Home
(District 36), a mile and a half from home, up and down hills
20
that were awful in winter, the road drifted with snow.
But
wintertime was fun too, with bobsleds, snowballs, and ice
skating.”
“Teachers at New Home School were Edwin Crawford, Miss
Carey, Miss Bloss, Elizabeth Brackett and Blanche McCreary (later
she married Will Klein, the postman).”
“I was only twelve years old in 1911, but had passed the
eighth grade county exams a year before, but my family decided I
better spend another year in our country school before going to
high school.”
“In summertime we always had visitors, mostly aunts and
cousins, some from far-away Colorado, Indiana and Georgia, plus
Aunt Melissa from Asherville, North Carolina, who was the best
artist and painter in the family. We always had a lot of music
around our farmhouse: mouth harps, autoharps, a fiddle, a banjo,
and a guitar; also a piano-organ, and later a piano, which I
learned to play.
One brother played a cornet and Uncle Jake sang
hymns, in a way to tear your heart out, but he was the happiest
one of the family.
The folks used to read aloud at home by coal-
oil lamplight, taking turns.
We had good books, and even the
country school had a library.”
“...We didn't have much art there (New Home School), but I
always knew I wanted to be an artist, and everyone encouraged the
idea.
I was the one at school that got to do big things on the
21
blackboard in colored chalks, for special seasons, turkeys and
pumpkins for Thanksgiving, Santa Claus and reindeer for
Christmas.
All the school kids had me help them invent
Valentines and May baskets, mostly out of scraps, stuck together
with flour paste.”
“At home on the farm I became interested in plant life
during vacations.
I got to know the names of wildflowers (even
Latin ones) from my brothers' botany books, and helped them to
gather specimens to press for herbariums from the woods and
hills.”
Incredibly, Dwight still knew Latin names of plants in
his seventies and eighties.
“We had a big clay hill near the house where we got a pure
yellowish clay we used to roll for marbles, then coated with
linseed oil and baked in the kitchen oven, and made pitchers or
pots, Indian heads and figures, and one I remember of William
Jennings Bryan.”
I saw one at Dr. Wayne Waddell's home in
Beatrice several years ago.
It was an Indian head bas-relief
about two by four inches. Dwight told me he shook hands with
William Jennings Bryan when he was a boy.
“We played with
colored chalk-rocks on big flat stones (glacial moraine), in
Turkey Creek, swimming and fishing, and trapping muskrats and
mink.”
“My sisters brought me my first set of watercolors, brushes
and drawing paper that I used for my first paintings at age six
22
or eight.
They also got me (from Montgomery Ward) a small
‘Buster Brown’ box camera.
I learned to develop films and prints
in our cellar lighted by a little red lantern with a candle to
burn inside.
I must have been about ten when I started
photography, taught by ‘Chick’ Shedd, when he visited us.”
(Dwight was one of the first photography teachers at the
University of Nebraska.)
“Uncle Jake, who always lived with us, became a favorite of
the family. He went blind at the age of thirty-five as a result
of running into the corner of the hay rack one night. He soon
learned to find his way all around the farm and house, usually
followed by a big, gray cat.
patron.
He was my first and steadfast art
Instead of just giving me money, he hired me to do his
Christmas cards, and to do portraits of him, or of others in the
family.
Later on he used to buy my watercolors to give as
birthday or wedding presents to many of his friends. Uncle Jake
never forgot what things looked like after he went blind.
So he
taught me about how precious eyes are, and how to use them when
you have them.
He had one very cute trick - he would get me to
describe a painting of mine, color and all.
This he would
remember word for word, and then he amazed people who called on
us by telling them these details.
Maybe that is how I started to
learn how to give a gallery talk, to tell the salient points
about an art work so graphically that anyone could shut his eyes
23
and still see it.”
(Dwight later told me that the many
descriptions of pictures and scenery he described to Uncle Jake
contributed to his
“art memory” skills.
He was able to make a
rough pencil, charcoal or ink sketch and remember details of
color, line, and in many instances, he would paint totally from
memory.)
Dwight scarcely mentioned his older brothers, Hollis and
Gifford.
They were large men, more like their father, Fred, and
Dwight was small and fine-boned like his mother.
Close family
friends repeatedly said that “Dwight was his mother's son, he had
a very close affinity with her.”
In contrast, his father
appeared to have little rapport with his sensitive young son, and
according to Atwood Clemens, who dated Hollis, he was sometimes
harsh with him.
Dwight's cousin, Rex Gifford, wrote “I'm two years older
than Dwight. As boys, we grew up on farms about four miles apart,
but as his older brother Hollis was nearer my age, he and I both
liked to play ball, etc., (Hollis was a track runner, as well,
while Dwight had no interest in muscular action so I thought he
was surely a sissy.”
Waddell's “bundle from heaven,” Jo, took Dwight's room when
he attended high school in Pawnee City from 1911 to 1913.
It was
the custom for farm kids to room with relatives when the time
came for high school, or if that wasn't possible, friends.
24
The
second year he stayed with the Fullerton family.
He listed names
and activities: “my Latin teacher was Rose Clark, who taught
botany later at the University of Nebraska.
Activities consisted
of glee club, recitations, female impersonations, and some
special friends such as Grace Porter (she and I had top grades in
the class).
She married Kyle Curry. Inez Evans, Verna
Kirkpatrick (married Joe Gifford), Powells, John Starr, and Van
Horns, Ada and Helen Potts, who married Ronald Wherry, Joe
Liebendorfer, Jim Barker, Allen Edee, also Gretchen and Al
Francis.
The Wherrys (none in my class), Tom (nearest my age),
Kenneth Wherry (United States Senator in the 1940's), and
Florence Hartwell (sister of Grace, who was much admired by
Gifford Kirsch and visited him in Chicago and in Lincoln.”
“Jacob and Fred Kirsch sold the farm in the spring of 1913
and the family moved into a bungalow on South 30th Street in
Lincoln, Nebraska.”
The farm boy from Pawnee County adapted very well in his new
school, Lincoln High.
His memories included “plays, drawings for
classes; teachers Sarah T. Muir, English; Maril Gere, chemistry;
Ethel Beatty and Olivia Pound for Latin and physics; and Elsie
Cather, sister of Willa Cather.”
From his account he had a wonderful time.
“Stunt nights,
plays, skip days, Epworth Park, Capitol Beach” (the latter was an
25
amusement park with a wonderful swimming pool fed with salt water
from the adjoining salt marsh and Salt Creek).
During this period, he met the Stuff and Maryott families.
Marjorie Stuff wrote: “My earliest memories begin shortly after
his arrival in Lincoln. He occasionally played the organ for a
Sunday evening youth group, known as Epworth League, which met at
the Elm Park Methodist Church, located at 29th and Randolph
Streets.
He was very slight of build, with very rosy cheeks, at
times an almost hectic flush, and thick medium brown hair combed
back which stood up almost like a pompadour.
were grey blue and that he wore glasses.
I think his eyes
He played somewhat
hesitantly, but with a air of determined concentration as he
pumped the organ vigorously which seemed to increase the color in
his cheeks.”
“I do not mean to imply this indicated any profound interest
in religion or that he was a church member, but in those days it
was something to do on a Sunday evening and a way to get
acquainted with the young people of the neighborhood.
Sometimes
Dwight's blind uncle, known to everyone as Uncle Jake, would
attend the church service.
Uncle Jake was a beloved person in
the Elm Park addition, always neat in appearance, distinguished
by a closely trimmed white beard and black glasses, tapping his
way along the way.
Years and years later when I saw Dwight as an
old man, I thought I was seeing Uncle Jake again.”
26
Among the Lincoln High classmates Dwight remembered in his
handwritten notes are: “Chick Rightez (later at Iowa City); Frank
Fowler, Cable Jackson; Carolyn Reed and her daughter, Betty Reed
Mallot; singers Josephine and Forrest; Georgia Adams; Mary Helen
Allensworth (married Dr. Harry Flansburg); Gladys and Zora
Schaupp (and brother Roscoe); Nina Baker (later principal of a
Lincoln school); and Melvin Van Denbark, who lived at 29th and
Randolph.”
The summer of 1915, Dwight and Uncle Jake took a walking
trip from Lincoln to Lewiston, some eighty miles, in three days.
“Some lifts in wagons, and meals and overnight at Uncle Jake's
friends.”
Atwood Clemens, who raved about how much Hollis looked
like Rudolph Valentino, said that the older Kirsch boys would
never have done such a thing as go on a walking tour.
“They were
out-going, athletic. Dwight was different from the other boys and
going with an old gentleman would suit him.
They had a dear
little mother, just darling, tiny, that's where Dwight got his
size.
There were beautiful daughters, just gorgeous.
I knew
Bess and she took care of Uncle Jake after Mr. Kirsch died.”
The walking trip left a lasting impression on Dwight and he
often spoke of it to me in his later years.
The experience of
helping a blind man find his way over country roads and through
small towns reinforced his conscientious nature and his growing
skills in observation.
Nebraska had few paved roads in those
27
days, and the summers can range from hot and humid to rainy and
windy, but there was no word of complaint concerning the trip,
only fond memories.
Indeed, he spent a lifetime of traveling
without dwelling on the frequent hardships that occurred.
“I graduated from Lincoln High School in 1915 (age 16). As a
student at the University of Nebraska my first art instruction
was from teachers Sara S. Hayden, Louise E. Mundy (watercolor and
design), Blanche C. Grant (a one-eyed art history teacher),
William F. Dann and Gertrude Moore art appreciation and later art
history.”
(Miss Moore also taught Greek and Latin and when she
began to teach art history, there were no textbooks on the
subject until the one written by Gardner was published.
She
collected hundreds of photographs and slides of art to show her
students, and gathered every other scrap of information she could
about artists, even a few slightly off-color or witty stories.
Her knowledge of Bible associations with art, how the early
church, popes, and the wealthy, patronized and influenced art,
was vast, and we were fortunate to have been in her classes the
last years she taught at the university.)
Leonard Theissen was an early student at the university.
In
1982 he told me “at that time (early 1920's) all the visual art
classes, at least most of them, were held on the top floor of the
old library building, which I believe now is the architecture
building.
There was a large sky-lighted gallery in that building
28
and the classes were all held in that gallery and they had little
dividers that made for some privacy.
There were classes taught
by Louise Mundy over at the Temple Theater on the top floor of
that building (that top floor vibrated as if it were alive when
we had band practice there in the mid-forties).”
Theissen didn't remember live models, however, Ruth Whitmore
Folsom was an earlier student and she recalled having them.
She
also mentioned going outside, “we used to do trees and things,
I'm not an artist, I just took it because it sounded like it
would be interesting, but I had no idea of ever going very far in
art, just enough to have fun with. I was glad I was able to do
the backgrounds for the Living Pictures (Nebraska Art Association
shows) but that didn't take any great talent.”
Florence Maryott told me “we were all up in the art
department, I certainly wasn't a gifted artist, but I can tell
you how Dwight used to laugh.
We had to drag out easels up to
the attic and I always used to drop mine, and I made a thunderous
clatter and Dwight would say, ‘Florence dropped her easel,’ with
a laugh that was almost musical.
A laugh that enveloped you with
sheer joy!”
Dwight continues, “fellow students were Howard Greer, who
became a noted fashion designer (Dwight arranged a show for him
in the 1940's at Morrill Hall, and I was enchanted with his
voguish drawings and paintings of elegant ladies wearing his gown
29
and dress designs); Enold Bahl, who later became a flyer friend
of Charles Lindbergh; Aaron Douglas from Topeka, Kansas, who
later moved to New York at Sugar Hill (Douglas was the only black
student in his class, was a member of the university Art Club and
a ground-breaker for the development of African-American art in
this country); Freda Stuff (she taught me design in the midforties); Sarah Appeson; Cynthia Thomas; Marguerite McFee;
Marguerite Polk; True Gingery Rogers; and Sarah Ladd, who later
became active in the Nebraska Art Association.”
“Special friends and neighbors included Herb Yenne; the
Mills sisters Eva and Leona (Tony) and sometimes their sister,
Adah; Margaret and Mary Noble; Gertrude Moore and her nieces;
Freda and Grace Stuff.”
The Maryotts were great friends, and Florence and Alma
Maryott told me that, “Dwight and Tony Mills went together for
years.
She taught English and her sister, Eva, taught home
economics.
They had spells of going places, and they would go
just as far as their money would take them and get a job.
One
summer they went to China and they got jobs teaching in high
school.
Eva was taken with sleeping sickness and was never well
after that. They stayed about a year until they had enough money
to come home.
year.
Another time they went to Alaska and taught for a
Tony said she was going to do everything she wanted to do
until she retired and then she was going to find a man with a lot
30
of money and marry him, and that's just what she did.”
Willa
Cather, in her 1922 novel “One Of Ours,” tells about two sisters
going to China. One wonders if she was inspired by the Mills
sisters.
Dwight said he knew Cather's sister at the university
and no doubt she also knew the Mills sisters.
Marjorie Stuff said “I have a vivid memory of Dwight as a
member of the ‘Demon’ bunch.
university.
By this time I suppose he was in
The ‘Demon’ bunch was composed largely of girls who
lived in the neighborhood, and my aunt, Gertrude Moore, who was
somewhat older than the others, but enjoyed by all since she was
an exceptionally good cook and had a sharp wit and a keen sense
of humor.
As I recall there were no other boys, but Dwight did
not seem to mind being the only male.
They had no set meeting
time, but got together as the spirit moved them for potluck
supper and an evening of playing Demon.
the players sit around a large table.
If you know the game,
Each player has a deck of
cards and what follows is similar to solitaire, only all players
build up the center piles.
I was considerably younger, but when
the bunch came to our house I was invited to “sit in” and play.
There was a constant crossfire of humorous comments and
witticisms until the first person shouted ‘Demon!’
It was a
noisy, merry evening enjoyed without alcohol or drugs.”
“In the early 1920's, Dwight spent considerable time with
our family at our summer cabin on Pelican Lake, near Brainard,
31
Minnesota.
too.
I think some members of his family were at the lake,
My mother's birthday on August 23rd was usually celebrated
at the lake with a fish dinner and home made cake and ice cream
or blueberry pie.
birthday cake.
I was about 15 or 16 and had baked the
Dwight came along and volunteered his services
for decorating the cake.
However, temperamentally, we were never meant to be
collaborators.
I grew impatient with his rather unorthodox
methods and technique and I recall saying, ‘Well, Dwight Kirsch
if you want to do it that way, you can just finish it all by
yourself!’ and stormed out of the kitchen.
Unfortunately I
cannot recall what the cake looked like in the end, but I am sure
we ate it.”
“At that time I was in a rather pudgy state of adolescence
and Dwight called me ‘powerful Katrinka’ after a strong-armed
cartoon character of the day.
One day shortly after the cake
episode we were in the woods, perhaps gathering blueberries or
hiking for the mail.
I knew the trails better than he did.
That
evening at supper he accused me of trying to lose him in the
woods in revenge for my irritation over the birthday cake.
The
following Christmas, he painted boxes for most of the “Demon”
group.
The older girls had miniature treasure chests with
elaborate allegorical creatures and flowers of fantasy.
round with a dull silver or aluminum paint background.
32
Mine was
The
design was a narrative of a powerful cave woman dragging a
frightened boy into dark and dismal woods.
I had it for years.”
(Tiny photographs of the boxes are in the collection he left.)
The student years at the University of Nebraska were
productive, scholarly, and great fun for Dwight.
“I studied
French all four years under Elizabeth Reese and department head,
Clara Conklin.
English readers and instructors included F.A.
Stuff; Gertrude Moore; R.D.Scott; Lowry Wimberly; Orin Stepanek;
and Olivia Pound (her brother, Roscoe, was Dean of the Law
College).
Later, Mamie Merideth of that department became a good
friend; zoology with Dr. Oliver Wollcott; history, Clifford
Hicks; geology and museum, Edwin H. Barbour; Hartley Burr
Alexander, philosophy; botany, Charles E. Bessey; and later
Raymond Pool.”
Dwight also studied chemistry, and he later used
it to concoct his dyes and stains.
Paul H. Grummann was head of the School of Fine Arts.
He
had taught German but when a Nebraska law was passed during World
War 1 forbidding the teaching of German in public schools, he
taught dramatics, and was then appointed to his art position.
Dwight flourished in the art department and he used his
talents by contributing cartoons to the “Awgwan,” which,
according to a 1922 “Cornhusker,” was “one of the best and
breeziest college comic magazines in the country.”
It is
published by Sigma Delta Chi, an honorary journalism fraternity,
33
and also by the student yearbook “Cornhusker.”
He was a member
of the Kosmet Club and worked on their annual theatrical
productions.
Dwight belonged to the local art honorary, Alpha
Rho Tau, and was one of its first presidents.
set designs for the drama department.
He also did stage
These early collaborations
resulted in a life-long interest in the theater and lively arts.
It is fascinating to compare his early “Cornhusker”
illustrations with the later ones.
In Ruth Folsom's 1916 book,
Dwight's drawings were good, but showed his immaturity.
Not only
that, but the School of Fine Arts, organized in 1912 to include
art, dramatic literature, music, architecture, drawing and
painting, was never mentioned.
His later drawings, by 1919, were
more skillfully rendered, an easily discerned improvement.
He
did student teaching during his junior and senior years, teaching
night classes with such students as Mr. Speidel, and Marguerite
Klinker, a piano teacher.
Gladys Lux, who later helped form the
art department at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, was
also one of his students.
One day Dwight astonished his friends in 1918 by joining the
Student Army Training Corps. The Maryott sisters said “when he
turned up at our house with his army-issue coat draped around his
slight body and dragging on the ground, he looked like something
out of a comic strip, Sad Sack perhaps.
His mother had died that
year of cancer, and perhaps the good food served to the S.A.T.C.
34
boys helped his grief.”
He told me in later years that “the eats
were great,” and he mentioned a special S.A.T.C. friend,
Jefferson Machamer.
Three months after he joined, the war was
over and he received an honorable discharge.
Toward the end of
his life, that discharge paper would prove to be worth pure gold.
The Maryotts told me “he was at such loose ends.
He was
always kind of a mother's boy. He was close to his sister Pat,
who died a few years after his mother, and my mother, called
‘Mother Maryott’ by our friends, took him in.
He was such a gentle person, so loveable.
of time with us.
Mama loved Dwight.
He spent a good deal
We helped him furnish a little apartment,”
which Marjorie Stuff said was “in a large white house at the
corner of 28th and O.
It was called the Mossman Place.
Dwight
had the third floor with several dormers, which provided alcoves.
It was before the trend of remodeling old homes into apartments,
and I am not sure what cooking facilities, if any, it had.
friends contributed to setting him up.
In our home a pierced
brass dome light had hung above our dining table.
replaced by a chandelier.
His
It had been
Somehow Dwight learned that mother was
disposing of it, so he carted it off to his loft and converted it
into a very interesting lighting accessory.
He used floor
cushions before they came into vogue commercially, and through
various other clever arrangements created a kind of Middle
Eastern decor.”
His friends did not seem to know whether he was
35
unwelcome in his family after the death of his mother, or if he
simply wished to be independent.
What is certain, Dwight's young age, or his many campus
activities, did not prevent his distinguishing himself
scholastically because he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
In
fact, the only area in which he seemed to be totally inept was
physical education, and he just barely passed.
The Maryott's described their social life.
“We used to have
fun, we'd all get together and take something with us and have
supper.
Every summer when we were going to school, we used to
spend time at Blackbird Hill on the Indian Reservation at Macy,
Nebraska, near Walthill.
Our father was in business up there.
We had a great big old house and Dwight, Herb Yenne, and the two
Mills sisters used to come up and spend a week or so.
cook like crazy before they'd come.
We'd just
You wouldn't believe how
those boys ate, especially sweet stuff.
Dwight was batching and
didn't do a lot of that kind of cooking and we even found cookies
under his bed when he left.
five dozen cookies.
I remember one summer I made twenty-
They ate them all.
Of course there was
nothing up there except my father's business, so we had to make
our own fun.
The natives thought we were a bunch of hooligans
because we did lots of crazy things.”
Old photographs taken by
Dwight record some of the natives with the “hooligans” dressed in
funny, crude costumes.
36
“One night we decided to stay up all night just because we
never had.
A friend of our parents, who was at the house that
night, decided he would stay with us.
was our parents' age.
His wife was gone and he
It was getting along about 3 o'clock in
the morning and he said ‘let's go over to my house.’
I said
O.K., so we all piled in his car and on the way to his place it
rained.
We didn't want to get the carpets dirty so we all took
off our shoes, and it was a little bit of a town where they
turned off the power at midnight, and we danced by candle or
lantern light until morning.
I think the neighbors thought he
was having a wild party, and we got home just in time for
breakfast.”
“Our house in Lincoln had a large upstairs room similar to a
dormitory, and in the morning Mother Maryott would call up the
stairs ‘how many are up there?’ She'd get a count and then she'd
start making biscuits.
She had a great big pan that would just
fit in the coal range oven, they'd be this high and wouldn't last
ten minutes.”
The friendship with the “Demon” bunch continued, though
there were interruptions while Dwight finished his education and
apprenticeships. He graduated from the university at age twenty,
having served on the commencement exercises committee, and had
gone as far as he could with his art education in Nebraska.
teacher, Louise Mundy, had received advanced art training in
37
His
Chicago; Sara Hayden studied at the Chicago Art Institute and
with artists in New York; fellow student, Aaron Douglas studied
in New York with Fritz Winold Reiss, at the Barnes Foundation
outside Philadelphia, and in Paris.
Therefore, it was natural
for Dwight to go to New York, where he roomed with his brother,
Hollis at the Alpha Sigma Phi house on 113th Street, to begin
another phase of his life in art.
38
Chapter 3 “Student, Apprenticeship, 1919-1923”
Alma Maryott remembered the early 1920's in New York.
“He
(Dwight) went in the fall, and I didn't go until after the first
of the year and then served an internship in dietetics in County
Hospital in Brooklyn.
We used to spend one day a week together.
My roommate and I would do all the things we wanted to do until 4
o'clock when Dwight was free, and then we'd do the things he
wanted to do, see the art displays and things of that sort.
then we always went to dinner, and then we went to a show.
And
We
paid $2.50 and would go way ahead of time in order to get a first
row of the balcony, because we were all small.
place in the house for us.
It was the best
We saw all the good plays, Lionel and
John Barrymore, Ina Claire and Frank Bacon in ‘Lighten'’ that ran
for years.”
From Dwight's handwritten notes we read that “during my
years at the Art Students League, from 1919 through 1921,
Boardman Robinson was an instructor and Edmond Duffy (later a
cartoonist) and Raymond Eastwood were monitors; life drawing and
figure sketching, Frank Vincent DuMond; lectures, George B.
Bridgman on anatomy; Robert Henri, general art and criticisms,
39
guest for single lectures and stage design (Robert Henri Cozad
was the son of John Cozad, founder of Cozad, Nebraska and he
lived there from 1873 to 1882. He died in 1929.
The story seems
to be that Henri dropped his last name because his father was
involved in a scandal); lettering, Fred Goudy and wife (he was
also an author).”
Goudy designed the “Goudy typeface” which
became well known in the publishing business.
Dwight also
studied clay modeling and sculpture with A. Sterling Calder;
figures with Mrs. Nellie Alexander; and heads and portraits with
Leo Lentelli.
“Among my fellow sculpture students were: Kate Keisman;
Eugene Gershay; Bessie Kunz (Dwight visited the Kunz country
estate three times near Peekskill, New York); Hannah Small;
Marion Walton; Concetta Scaravaglione from Cincinatti; Louise
Abel; Russel Wright (the famous pottery designer); Terzo Canci;
Andree Rudelan; Mary Louise Feldenheimier; and Helen Bacon.
Other League instructors observed were Kenneth Hayes Miller;
Yasuo Kuniyoshi; Alexander Brook; Peggy Bacon (first wife of
Alexander Brook); Katherine Schmidt; Reginald Marsh; Eugene
Speicher; John Sloan and Max Weber (whom he met later).
Alexander ‘Sandy’ Calder was a student there at that time.”
The Art Students League was begun in 1875, according to
“Years of Art” by Marchal E. Landgren.
All art students “whose
characters are approved of, are eligible for membership.”
40
It was
a progressive school, student controlled and managed with an
unquestioned integrity.
Social life consisted of daily “penny
teas” served in the lunchroom and an annual costume dance.
“No
single event of the year provoked the attention of the public or
press as much as the annual antics of the Society of American
Fakirs, those members and students selected to burlesque the
paintings of the honored and established few.”
“And they respected no one.
The spirit was wholesome, and
proceeds went to student scholarship funds.”
It is no wonder
Dwight so enjoyed the costume balls in Lincoln, and expressed his
irreverence toward pompous celebrities and artists.
New York in the early 1920s was a time of “ballyhoo and
whoopee” and it must have been a rather heady experience for a
farm boy from Nebraska, who had played organ for Epworth League,
who belonged to hiking and card clubs, and who spent time in the
summers on an Indian reservation!
Living for the moment, cosmetics, smoking, paganism, moral
disorientation and cynicism all typified the life style of young
students.
The ‘Great American Thing’ was part of the art scene
when Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keefe became an ‘item’ in
that era.
Having a good conservative background, a network of
friends from home with him, and little money, probably prevented
him from throwing himself completely in with the radicals;
41
however, the influences from these experiences must have been
felt and expressed in his art.
How Dwight managed to afford the League is unknown, since,
according to his old friends, he had very little help from his
father.
Perhaps Uncle Jake supplemented the income he received
from his part time job doing commercial art for the Niagara
Lithograph Company, which he considered an apprenticeship.
The professional art experience with Niagara gave Dwight the
opportunity to work with such artists as Willard Ortlip, Everett
Henry, and with mural painter Louis Bouche, all of who worked
under the manager and head of the New York Studio, Audette.
He
produced ads and designs and thus became familiar with the world
of illustration and commercial art.
Dwight’s apprenticeship continued for two additional years
in Los Angeles, California.
He did interior decoration with the
John B. Holtzclaw Company, under a Mr. Nielson.
The work was
rich with “hands on” art projects, drafting, color sketches,
furniture decoration.
He learned to do walls and ceilings with
freehand or stencil decorations under a Mr. Lawford.
He
photographed his work, and we know he did rooms with hand-painted
walls for Charlie Chaplin.
He mentioned working with Jerome
Laudermilk, who later became a paleontologist.
Perhaps this
experience helped contribute to the small weird drawings of
monsters and cloud formations he did based on tales of fantasy,
42
which recurred in some of his last watercolors.
Among his old
photographs are decorated pilasters, lampshades, small decorative
boxes (such as the ones the Maryott sisters said he gave them for
Christmas one year), and folding screens designed and made by
him.
Kirsches always used folding screens in their homes.
remember one of painted glass.
I
He also stretched fabric over
frames and created painted designs on them.
In later years, he explained a stencil process he learned in
California “by which wires were used to connect the vital design
parts.
The artist applied the paint a second time after slightly
moving the stencil to hide the space left by the connecting
wire.”
Some of Dwight's last Christmas cards were done with
stencils he cut of his favorite views of the Sangre de Cristo
Mountains.
43
Chapter 4 “University of Nebraska: Teaching and Marriage, 19241950”
While working for Holtzclaw in Los Angeles, Dwight received the
following letter, dated April 24, 1924:
“Mr. Dwight Kirsch
725 South Union Ave.
Los Angeles, Calif.
My Dear Kirsch,
For some time I have been having you in mind for an
instructorship in the department.
I asked Miss Moore to find out
whether this might fit in with your plans.
I am delighted to
hear from her that you are willing to look in this direction. I
have just received the resignation of Mr. Haugseth and wish to
offer you an instructorship at $1,800 for next year.
I shall ask
you to take charge of substantially the same classes that Mr.
Haugseth had been conducting.
I think that you will find the department most agreeable.
Miss Stellar is a remarkably successful teacher and creates a
good atmosphere.
Mrs. Miles, who has been added to our force
44
since you were here, has been doing most excellent work in
pottery and modeling, and now that Miss Moore has charge of the
appreciation (a forerunner to her art history classes) we feel
that the department is really under way.
Kindly let me hear definitely at once about this, so that I
may get formal action before the regents.
By mistake we sent you a letter yesterday, of which this is
a copy, addressed to 525 South Union St.
We were afraid it would
not reach you so we are sending you a copy.
Sincerely,
Paul H. Grummann”
And then shortly thereafter, this letter:
“Mr. Dwight Kirsch
May 9, 1924
725 South Union Ave.
Los Angeles, Calif.
Dear Kirsch,
I am glad to have your letter of April 28th and am convinced
that you will be quite happy in the old environment and that we
are doing a wise thing all around.
It is a little difficult to define your work exactly.
You
and Miss Stellar will have to look after the drawing and painting
45
from 1 to 4 daily.
In addition to this there will be two
sections of perspective, one section of composition, one section
of anatomy from 4 to 5 on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Tuesdays
and Thursdays, and a class in lettering from 4 to 5 on Friday, an
evening class in drawing and painting from 7 to 10 on Mondays and
Wednesdays.
way.
This work would have to be worked out as we feel our
My present feeling is that you ought to take two sections
in perspective and one in lettering.
On Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays we run interior decorating and commercial art.
I believe
it would be well for you to assume responsibility for these.
But, as I say, that can all be done very much better when matters
can be talked out pro and con.
There is some chance of a new room for our life class.
I am
quite excited over the prospect and hope we can make it succeed.
The formal appointment will be made at the next meeting of
the Board of Regents.
We never have contracts signed.
appointments in the University are for one year.
All
While this is
true of all ranks in the faculty it is especially true of
instructorships.
I hope that you will be so happy in your work that we shall
want to continue this relationship indefinitely.
plenty of opportunity to develop and grow.
Sincerely,
Paul H. Grummann”
46
You will have
Thus Dwight's long and productive career in teaching art began!
As Leonard Theissen remembered, “Dwight was teaching interior
design, and we did elevations and perspectives and designed
homes, and I was very active doing illustrations for a campus
magazine which was called ‘Agowan,’ off-color drawings.
I recall
Dwight and I did interior design together, much before Mr.
Lotto.”
Mr. Lotto was THE Lincoln interior designer in the
1940's, and perhaps earlier.
“At that time the annual exhibition of the Nebraska Art
Association hung in this sky-lighted gallery where we, as
students, worked and continued to work during the time of the
exhibition, which lasted about a couple of weeks.
Those
exhibitions were packaged deals that were put together by the
Grand Central Galleries in New York.
Nobody in Lincoln had any
role in selecting what was coming, that was one of the things
that Dwight accomplished later on, and that, of course, was a
great step forward.”
As he had done during his undergraduate years, Dwight delved
into activities outside the Art Department by designing stage
sets with Polly Gellatly for the University Players and Kosmet
Club shows, as well as posters and program covers.
He mentioned
other outstanding students of his, including T.B. Martin from
Omaha, Ben Albert Benson and Don Jameson.
47
The Maryott sisters, Freda and Grace Stuff, Mills sisters,
Mary and Margaret Noble, Gertrude Moore and Dwight, the old
“Demon bunch,” all often met for lunch in the back of a campus
cafe with the group exhibiting a great deal of warmth, laughter
and comradeship.
Campus life in 1924, compared to the present,
might well have been on another planet.
An iron fence with an
elaborate gate enclosed part of the university, dividing it from
Lincoln proper.
Lincoln.)
(This fence was later moved to Wyuka Cemetary in
No smoking was allowed on campus.
Those who wished to
partake of the habit did so outside the gate, and if a student on
campus was caught smoking, he, or she, was likely to be expelled.
Needless to say, alcohol was also banned on campus (that rule was
still in effect in the late 1940's), as well as illegal drugs.
There were strict curfews for undergraduates, and coed/male
dormitories were unheard of, men were allowed only in entrances
and living rooms of sorority houses, unless one managed to sneak
in with the help of a sweetheart/accomplice.
As mentioned earlier, Dwight and “Tony” Mills had been an
“item” for years, but when a new member of the group appeared on
the scene, Truby Lois Charlotte Kelly, their alliance dissolved
and from then on, there was no one for Dwight but Truby.
She was
stunning in appearance, a statuesque, auburn-haired, violet-eyed
beauty.
She had attended Peru State Teachers College, and had
48
taught school in Atkinson and Valentine.
At the end of the 1923
school year, she went to Lincoln to finish her degree.
According to the Maryott sisters: “as I remember that group,
I'm a little surprised that their interests were not social, but
academic.
I remember Truby made a perfect score on a botany test
that was a cause for rejoicing among us.
She was an assistant
and later spoke of making slides for her professor.
It was a
diverse group, one member was a geologist member of the faculty
and the poor soul was a kleptomaniac and Dwight and Truby were so
good to her.
She would take things, and afterward return them.
They were always kind to her, and she needed friends.”
Truby no doubt met Dwight at Phi Beta Kappa meetings, to
which she had also been elected.
She was a fine scholar. English
(her major), drama, music and art interested her.
She was well-
dressed, tall, slender, with fine features and dark, arched brows
which accented her pale, creamy skin.
She was in her early
thirties when she met Dwight, but age was no cause of concern to
them.
She had dated many young men from Atkinson, Oakdale and
Wisner, where she graduated from high school, but none seemed to
suit her so that she seemed destined to become an “old maid.”
Because she hadn't attended school in Atkinson, she was
considered rather an outsider to the town young people, and with
her college education, she was a step above some of the local,
coarse-acting, young men.
49
Truby's father, Silas Warren Kelly, believed that a college
education should be earned, thus, during her undergraduate career
she overworked and was forced to spend a year in bed recovering
from tuberculosis.
The result was fragile health, but this was
overshadowed by Truby’s strong character, and the state of her
physical condition was never discussed.
Truby was an accomplished pianist and she accompanied a
Chautaqua circuit violinist named MacCauley.
She did some
singing and piano solo work, too, and wore clothes made by her
talented mother (my grandmother), Maud Todd Kelly.
One
particularly lovely dress was worn for publicity photographs - it
was made of sheer, soft green, marquesette, a color complementing
her auburn hair.
Many years later, Grandma Kelly gave me scraps
of that dress which I eagerly used to sew a gown for my Shirley
Temple doll.
During the time Truby was with the “Demon” bunch, Dwight was
secretly courting her and the others in the group didn't realize
it.
Their summer wedding was held in the bride's home in
Atkinson.
According to The Atkinson Graphic, Dwight visited the
Kelly family about two weeks before the wedding, probably getting
acquainted.
Tabor, the Kelly's young son, was about fourteen,
loved cars, and taught Dwight the rudiments of driving.
They
took short jaunts to explore the country, which was radically
different from Pawnee and Lancaster Counties in southern
50
Nebraska, hunting with a camera instead of a gun, and there were
picnics, swimming, and dancing with the local young people.
Dwight also refinished a few pieces of Grandma Kelly's furniture
and an old clock.
Maybe he was showing off his artistic skills
to his “new family.”
At any rate, he was brought into the fold
with enthusiasm.
A number of local young women gave Truby a wedding shower.
My mother, who taught school with Truby, and who was very much in
love with my dad, was there.
Those old newspaper accounts gave
every detail of such events including the food that was served,
the decorations, as well as names of guests.
The affair was
rather grand for that town and era, an important factor for my
grandmother and Truby.
In digging through her store closet when
we were little kids, we found Japanese paper lanterns and
umbrellas used in her garden parties.
Truby loved a “show” and
one old timer said she “put on airs,” but she was gracious,
friendly, and great fun.
Marrying an artist and instructor at
the university gave her a special standing in the community, an
artist was a rare species for Atkinson folks.
My Grandma Kelly was a very strong-willed lady. She sewed
beautiful clothes in the latest fashions, was a skilled hat
maker, craftsman, scholar (she studied Shakespeare and helped
found the Atkinson Public Library), and master gardener (she also
helped found the city park).
She must have made sure that her
51
only daughter's wedding was as fine an event as they could
afford, even though it was a small family affair.
The Methodist minister was out of town and so couldn't
perform the ceremony (Truby sang solos in the church choir, which
indicates the family's interest in religion).
The substitute was
the local Lutheran minister, the Rev. Mr.W.G. Vahle.
Mrs. Vahle,
who was in her nineties when I spoke with her remembered “I stood
up with them at the wedding, it was late at night,” Thursday,
August 20th, 1925 at 12:15 A.M.”
My grandfather printed the
newspaper every Thursday night and put the out-of-town mailbags
on the Chicago and Northwestern train, which stopped in town
about 12:30 or 1 A.M.
Immediately after the wedding, the
newlyweds took the train to Omaha.
They may have planned it that
way to avoid pranks such as kidnapping the bride, a favorite
trick of the times.
Tabor only remembers lying on the living
room sofa with an injured leg.
However, he liked Dwight and
thought he was an “O.K.” fellow.
Truby's brother, Eric, came
from Des Moines, Iowa, for the event, and over the years he
enjoyed and respected Dwight's talent and intelligence.
The Maryott sisters said “we were very surprised when they
married.
We wondered about it a little because of the difference
of age and temperament.
Truby had a dominant personality, while
Dwight was always mild.
I think he felt many things just weren't
fighting for.
Truby was just the opposite.
52
There was a feeling
among Dwight's friends that he would have progressed farther if
Truby hadn't been so forceful.
did his job and did it well.
Maybe not. . I don't know.
He
He let that speak for him.”
Truby gave him the support and “mothering” he lost when his
mother, and favorite sister, Pat, died, and she gave him the
encouragement and “audience” he required for his art.
Dwight
thrived on feminine attention; he grew up with it and
unconsciously sought it.
Truby loved the arts, and her artistic
tastes were well developed by the time they married.
Dwight
respected her opinions on such matters and it is doubtful that
they ever had serious disagreements over the subject.
Truby was
very much like Grandma Kelly and they both knew Dwight was the
sort of cultured, brilliant man she could love.
She made an
impression on Lincoln society with her striking beauty enhanced
by wearing stylish clothes, and with Dwight's slight, yet
dignified appearance, they made a handsome couple.
Dwight and Truby didn't have a honeymoon immediately after
the wedding, but waited until the summer of 1926, when they took
a wonderful trip to Europe.
Dwight received a raise and on a
scrap of paper, which by some miracle was saved, he listed his
(amusing) budget for twelve months from September 1, 1925 to
September 1, 1926:
“The Perfesser's salary
53
9x$133 equals
2200.00
-1197.00
1003.00
555.00 Savings
1558.00 To spend in Europe
Which does not include the fact that during the past year the
perfessor took in $254.00 besides his salary, not the fact that
it isn't impossible to expect one or two gifts of money.
and not bust either!
Paris
A tentative budget for the new Kirsch
family, for 1925-26 (until June 1st, as compiled from figures from
Dwight's account book for the past year):
Room rent
20.00
Food for two
40.00
Laundry for 2
10.00
Car fare
6.00 (with a lot of exercise on foot)
Barber,toilet,etc.
2.00 (mostly for rouge)
Clothes
20.00 (vanity sinking fund)
Papers, mag.,stamps 2.00 (minus special deliveries)
Amusements
6.00
Photo supplies, art 7.00 (the artist's playthings and his
materials, dissipation and bad habits)
54
Household supplies
10.00
133.00 (per month)”
The newlyweds lived in an attic at 12th and H. Street in
Lincoln, probably the same site from which Dwight photographed
the construction progress of the Nebraska state capitol building.
He made an arrangement with the University of Nebraska for a
four-month leave of absence from teaching to go on their belated
honeymoon trip to Europe in the summer of 1926.
Truby's clothes for the trip were mostly made by her mother,
with some bought by her father.
such an excursion.
In those days, one “dressed” for
Later on, she began to sew her own clothes
using a portable electric machine set up on her dressing table in
the bedroom.
(My Grandmother Kelly used an old treadle, the kind
I learned on, later augmented by a motor my dad rigged for her.)
Aunt Truby always had a three-way mirror on her dressing table,
which was essential to her for fixing and trimming her hair and
for applying make-up.
In his notes, Dwight wrote, “I wore a soft gray felt hat
always put on wrong and crushed out of shape. We stopped at
Philadelphia to see Hollis and Virginia, to Atlantic City, New
York, West Point, and the return bus was delayed and we were
almost late for the boat, Cunard Line's ‘Homeric.’
was in Cherbourg, train to Paris.”
55
Our landing
Pictures of the couple show Dwight looking quite
distinguished with his hat placed perfectly on his head, and
Truby looking ravishing in a stunning outfit, the way a bride
should look.
She “wore” her clothes - they didn't “wear” her.
During their tour in Paris, John was conceived (Dwight
mentioned this in a touching letter to John in the 1960's).
They
were in Venice and attended the International Art Exposition, an
experience that later helped Dwight win a point with Chancellor
Burnett in 1936.
Truby brought back a beautiful Venetian glass
bead necklace (part of which I still have), and they toured the
Netherlands and cities in other countries, many of which were
bombed during World War 11.
I recall how upset they would be
over war news - we didn't dare talk during radio broadcasts.
John Kelly Kirsch was born March 10, 1927 at Lincoln General
Hospital. He was rather a fussy baby, with flaming red hair and
blue eyes!
I came along two months later, the first child of
Bernice Dickerson Kelly and Ralph John Kelly, also with lots of
red hair but with brown eyes.
We babies were a family sensation
and as we grew up were often taken for twins.
We were soulmates
from the beginning!
The Kirsches moved to a second floor apartment on twentyfifth and Sumner Street, a place I remember, and which Dwight
used as a studio for his painting and photographs (his painting
“Aries,” and photo portraits of authors, Mari Sandoz and Dorothy
56
Thomas, and others were done there).
My dad had press tickets
to Nebraska football games and we often stayed with Kirsches.
We
kids slept on the floor and told ghost stories (usually John's
idea) when we were little.
The Maryott sisters commented that, “Dwight and Truby had a
very happy married life.
It was always fun to go to their home,
how many impromptu parties we had!
Wonderful memories, we took
it for granted then as young people do, but those parties were
wonderful.
Nothing was planned.
We just enjoyed each other.
Truby had a rare gift of making people feel comfortable without
seeming to make any effort.”
A former Sumner Street neighbor and old friend, Eloise
Burton, said, “there was never any ugliness about the Kirsches.
He was very gregarious earlier.
Kirsches did not raise their
voices in public or cause any trouble. Truby was more quiet as a
hostess, she let Dwight do the talking.
feel at home.
They always made you
You never smelled anything cooking over there.
At
first Dwight seemed to have a problem, later it seemed to be O.K.
There could have been a problem with Truby's cooking at first,
she was a good cook, but didn't bake pies, cookies, cakes, etc.
like his mother and sisters.”
Aunt Truby baked an applesauce cake for John's birthday once
a year, and she probably made one for Dwight, too, however that
was the extent of her baking.
She did meat roasts, stews, many
57
salads, vegetables and fruits.
Her bout with tuberculosis gave
her a lifelong dedication to serving and eating healthful food indeed, the first time I ever heard of vitamins was from her, and
when chlorophyll became the rage, she quickly taught us about the
wonders of carrots, and other fresh vegetables.
We experimented
to see if our sight was better and if our feet smelled nice!
There was never a dish of candy or plate of cookies in their
home, and thanks to her, John grew up with perfect teeth!
Dwight threw himself into his teaching work with enthusiasm
now that he had the added responsibility of his little family.
In 1927 the Art Department finally had its own quarters in the
newly built, stately Morrill Hall.
There was, at last, gallery space for art exhibits on the
second floor, which was shared by the music department for
practice rooms.
On the third floor there were spacious rooms for
art classes and which opened onto a wide gallery-like corridor
used for additional display.
Large plaster casts of well-known
classic sculptures were placed in the corridor, which was also
used for over-flow art classes.
The students used the sculptures
for their assignments, and at that time, they were deemed
necessary as an essential tool for teaching.
As if his teaching schedule weren't enough, Dwight immersed
himself into outside activities. He wrote a book review for the
Nebraska History Magazine “Red Heroines of the Northwest.”
58
He
belonged to the Lincoln Artists Guild, and he continued to pursue
his life-long fascination with photography.
Truby and John made
fine models for portraits and Christmas cards, and his
photographs of the university buildings were used the official
school brochures.
He was a founding member of the Lincoln Camera
Club and may have been the first photography instructor at the
University of Nebraska.
In addition to the photography, he did
lithographs and etchings of the campus gates, a number of the
buildings and the state capitol building.
John was asked to pose so often that he once had a terrible
tantrum in Atkinson and refused to cooperate.
We were very
little and were dressing up with old clothes found in our
grandmother's store closet pretending to be “grand” people,
parading around her garden and the school lawn across the street
where Dwight set up his tripod to shoot us.
I was a willing
model and loved the attention, but not John!
Truby and Dwight took John along to the Lincoln Artist Guild
meetings, much to the dismay of Miss Mundy, who worried that they
shouldn't have the baby out and about so often.
Gladys Lux said
Miss Mundy was kind “but a spurry kind,” but little did she know
how protective Truby was.
The Guild exhibits were popular in those early years and
Dwight, Gladys Lux, Miss Mundy, Bob Sill, and other Lincoln and
area artists participated.
In the friendly atmosphere, an
59
exchange of ideas and techniques during workshops prevailed which
resulted in growth and intense interest in art.
One can imagine
that when Dwight returned home after attending summer school at
the New York School of Fine Arts in 1929, he had “show and tell”
sessions with Lincoln Artist Guild friends.
Perhaps he painted the small “Birch Trees” watercolor, dated
1929, after those summer classes. It displays a well-developed
sense of color, line and composition and could have been a study
for a larger piece.
He gave it to my parents - we always enjoyed
having his paintings on our walls, and sometimes he would
exchange one for something new, but I still have my old friend
“Birch Trees,” that I have loved since babyhood.
Once when I was
small, he left an oil of some cypress trees, which he could have
done from a sketch made on their honeymoon.
He didn't do many
oils, and even though I was very young, I knew the “Cypress”
painting was special and sorry when it was taken.
All his outside pursuits focused on encouraging interest in
art and the programs Dwight gave, using his German Agfa camera,
were very popular.
He became so expert at photographing
paintings that his color slides were used in many publications.
Gladys Lux
60
With the Frank M. Hall Trust, which was established in 1929,
the Nebraska Art Association was able to purchase contemporary
art.
Mabel Langdon was then curator of the University Art
Galleries, as well as doing secretarial work for Dr. Grummann.
Art was well established there.
However, out in University Place
in north Lincoln, there were many years of struggle in building
an Art Department at Nebraska Wesleyan University.
A few
socialites in the Nebraska Art Association looked down their
noses at Wesleyan, and with money scarce during the Great
Depression years, Gladys Lux's “art classes were sometimes
dropped by the dean.
Art was not important.”
Like Dwight, Lux was born on a farm near Chapman, Nebraska.
She said she took care of her father and a crippled uncle after
moving to Lincoln.
She took classes at the University of
Nebraska, was an early student of Dwight's, and Miss Henrietta
Brock, who taught China painting and was in the original Haydon
Club.
Lux took one hour of China painting each year in order to
qualify in teaching it.
Amazing to us today, she took China
painting in high school, and she said her grandmother learned the
art when she was seventy years old.
Miss Moore taught her art
history.
Beginning with a “methods” class at Wesleyan, Lux received
permission to teach other art classes so that students could earn
a minor in art.
“At that time, people didn't consider art as a
61
part of the culture.
Art was considered a frill.”
She
persevered through the years of the Dean's cost cutting and art,
naturally, was always the first to go.
“I would teach alternate
classes each semester when I was the only teacher, art wasn't
important in those days (to university officials), but finally we
could graduate students who majored in art.
In addition to art
classes, I did stage sets and props for Nebraska Wesleyan
theatrical productions, including opera.
I remember covering an
egg-gathering kettle to resemble copper for a production of
“Carmen.”
In 1934, Gladys Lux escaped Lincoln's hot, muggy summer to
teach at Chadron, a town in the far northwest corner of the state
not far from the Black Hills.
“I was with a friend who was a
regular teacher in the History Department (Chadron State College)
who came to my room and said we should go watch the balloon
ascension. . I went home, got my dad, picked up Rita in our Ford
that afternoon.
We followed a trail until we came to a gate,
then walked to the natural bowl and sat there and watched the men
work.
It got dark, the lights were shining, so I asked someone
for a pencil and made a sketch on the back of a blank check.
Next day, during lunch hour, I did a memory sketch in watercolor
and later on that winter, I did an oil painting of it.
That was
the first time I realized I had the talent to do memory sketches.
62
Other summers I cleaned, canned, did art outlines and sometimes
taught.”
When I left her house that day in 1982, I knew I had been
visiting with an art pioneer, who like Dwight, had dedicated her
life to the cause.
Quite wistfully she said that “one of my best
works is the ‘Stratosphere’ oil, but it wasn't chosen for the
Nebraska Art Collection.”
Over fifty years later
‘Stratosphere’
is now owned by the Sheldon Art Gallery.
“Dwight was very experimental.
He introduced serigraphs and
monotypes, he brought a man into Omaha who was one of the first
persons to do serigraphs (silk screen printing) as art for an
exhibit about 1940.
We had to make our own equipment.
China
silk to cover the frame, Touche crayons and liquid and glue.”
The only thing Gladys Lux would say about Truby was “she was
aware of what sort of impression she made,” and indeed that was
true. (Truby wore smart Vogue Pattern outfits and didn't own a
“housedress,” but instead around the house she wore old “good”
clothes, suit skirts and blouses, or the new style, slacks.
Her
only apron was a tea towel wrapped around her waist, much like
Julia Child's.)
It is understandable that they were not close
friends, Lux was very plain looking, and in the summer she wore
cotton print dresses as she walked on her way to Wesleyan by
Grandpa and Grandma Day's house on Walker Avenue (my husband's
grandparents).
She was down to earth and friendly and, in her
63
house that day, showed me part of her doll collection and her
stacks of serigraphs.
As one of Nebraska's most talented artists, Gladys Lux,
through her contribution in teaching and work in art
organizations is so great it is impossible to measure.
her art her “style.”
She made
The University Place Art Gallery had been
housed in the old firehouse for seven years when she bought the
building, a lasting contribution to the city of Lincoln and to
the state.
(Grandpa Day once ‘hung out’ there when it was still
in use as a firehouse, after he retired from his Iowa farm.)
Her
longtime dream back when she was president of the Lincoln Artists
Guild “of a community art center for Lincoln” finally became a
reality.
(Gladys Lux was 102 years old, June 2001.)
Ever a teacher, she gave me helpful advice on doing my linoprints. The last thing she said was “I'll never be in anyone's
book.” I told her she would be in this one, - and she smiled, and
gave me a hen and chickens plant.
64
Chapter 5 “Golden Years: Galleries, Art Department Head”
While the Frank M. Hall Trust was a boon to the Nebraska Art
Association and the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Omaha also
benefited from art philanthropy about the same time with the
building of the beautiful Joslyn Art Museum.
Dr. Paul Grummann was offered the position as director of
the Joslyn.
He had been secretary of the Nebraska Art
Association from 1913 to 1931, began his career at the university
in 1899, and was something of an institution in Lincoln.
Filling
his shoes would be a challenge, and the man anointed his “heir”
was Dwight, who was born the year Grummann started teaching.
Behind every successful C.E.O. is a mentor and I wondered
who filled that roll for Dwight.
Not knowing how I would be
received, after some gentle prodding and questioning via long
distance telephone, I learned that it was Mabel Langdon (Eiseley)
who took Dwight under her wing.
She modestly admitted that she
saw to the myriad details involved in running the art department
and galleries.
She turned in students' grades, did scheduling,
wrote publicity, was a secretary and taught Dwight the fine
points of administrative work.
He had the moral support of
65
Truby, Miss Moore, Miss Mundy and other friends, but Mabel was
the key.
She was warm and gracious to me and was especially
touched that day because it was her late husband Loren's
birthday.
She and Dwight kept in touch until his death.
The secretary of the N.A.A., after Dr. Paul Grummann left in
1930, was Harry Cunningham, head of the Architecture Department,
and it was not until 1933 that Dwight was elected to the board as
secretary.
A good share of Dwight's career at Nebraska would
involve N.A.A. work and the selection and hanging of works of art
for the university gallery.
Fred Wells wrote in his history of the N.A.A. that, “there
were not many restrictions in Mr. Hall's trust agreement.
It
authorized the Board of Regents to purchase oil paintings,
statuary and works of art for the Art Gallery of the University
of Nebraska, and to spend not more than $10,000 in any one year,
provided, however, that such works of art shall not be purchased
without first obtaining written approval of at least wellrecognized, expert judges of pictures and works of art.
The
provisions of the Hall Trust were put into effect almost
immediately.
(In the N.A.A. minutes – “By the spring of the
following year, 1930, the major part of the 40th exhibition came
from the Chicago Art Institute.
Again the Des Moines Association
of Fine Arts and the Kansas City Art Institute joined in rotating
and sharing in the expense of the Chicago Art Institute part of
66
our annual rotation.”) According to Wells, “three oil paintings
were selected in New York with the approval of the experts and
were sent to the university to be purchased under the terms of
the Trust.
No one would question the stature of the experts
called upon for this delicate task, even at long distance.
This
arrangement of absentee selection and approval continued with the
same consultants for several years.
to please everyone.
Obviously, it was not going
There began to be grumblings among the
faculty, and among the trustees of the N.A.A. who, having worked
hand-in-glove with the Halls for many years, felt that they were
being by-passed with no voice whatever in the selections.”
“Early in 1932, a plan of action was worked out with
Chancellor Burnett and the Board of Regents which authorized the
N.A.A. trustees to initiate recommendations for purchases for the
permanent collections under the Hall bequest.
About the same
time, it was decided to discontinue the current practice of
securing exhibits from the Chicago Art Institute, and get them
directly from the individual artists or Eastern galleries.
Both
steps contributed greatly to independent action in making
purchases for the collections.”
Maynard Walker, of the Feragil Art Gallery in New York,
secured paintings for the N.A.A Annual Exhibit in 1934: John
Steuart Curry's “The Roadmenders” for $1000.00; and Lucioni's
“Arrangement in White” for $750.00.
67
With “Roadmenders,” the
N.A.A. realized an earlier chance of “being pioneers in an
appreciation of Mr. Curry's ability as an artist” in 1930, when
he first showed his “Baptism in Kansas” in Lincoln.
Over the years, Maynard Walker became a close personal
friend of Dwight's (we also had the privilege of meeting him,
entertaining him at our home and corresponding with him every
Christmas), and was one of his New York “connections.”
He could
be relied upon to supply art, recommend it, introduce Dwight to
artists he knew or handled, and in general was a trusted ally.
Alexander James and Thomas Hart Benton were two artists in his
group, and in 1935, the N.A.A. purchased Benton's “Lonesome
Road.”
As much help as Maynard Walker and other New York agents and
contacts were in helping find the art for the annual exhibit, the
feeling persisted that it would be far more satisfactory for a
representative from the N.A.A. to go to New York and work
directly with the galleries and artists.
At that time, while Mrs. C.F. Ladd was president of the
N.A.A., Clara Walsh Leland (Mrs. Dean), who had been an art
teacher as early as 1892, charter member of the N.A.A. who was
associated with Mr. and Mrs. Hall, felt that the Hall will had
been misinterpreted and was asked to submit a plan.
She
suggested “that it would work to the advantage of the University
of Nebraska and greatly improve the standard of the Annual
68
Exhibition if a representative of the University could go to
artists and art centers to assemble an exhibition.
The
University would select and call two outstanding art experts to
visit, look over and select from the Art Association’s Annual
Exhibition for the approval of the Chancellor and the Regents
such pieces as they decided would add value to the Hall
Collection.”
Mrs. Leland's plan was adopted.
The responsibility
of selecting the paintings for purchase was therefore no longer
in the hands of two out-of-town art experts; instead, the art
selected for the exhibit would be done by a local person with two
art experts brought in to advise on works for purchase.
Thus
Dwight was deemed the logical person to carry out the N.A.A.
board's wishes and began his yearly ‘gallery/artist jaunt’ to New
York and other art centers in December of 1936, just before
Christmas break.
Dwight knew the strengths and weaknesses of the
art collection, was familiar with the best galleries and artists,
and was well able to attempt to fill in the ‘holes.’
Perhaps Sam Waugh, a well-respected attorney who handled the
F.M. Hall Trust (and would later become president of the ImportExport Bank in New York) and Dwight had something to do with Mrs.
Leland's plan, for it is in the records that the two men met and
studied the terms of the will about the same time.
Dwight was
usually given credit for the changes, though common sense tells
us that working with a board does requires teamwork.
69
The N.A.A.
Board of Trustees was comprised of prominent, intelligent Lincoln
people, the ‘movers and shakers’ and art-interested.
(Mrs.
Leland and Alice Righter Edmiston (Mrs.A.R.), who was also an
early art teacher and N.A.A. board member, were enthusiastic
artists who, in addition to their work on the Annual Exhibit,
belonged to the Saturday morning sketch group that met at
Kirsch's after the Piedmont house was built.
They were valued,
loyal friends who often arrived for the sessions dressed in
typical matronly fashion - hats, stockings, “old lady” shoes,
looking a lot like the sisters in “Arsenic and Old Lace.”)
By the time Dwight began to travel to New York to select the
art for the exhibit, Nebraskans had gained a fine reputation in
that city for their interest in art.
He was given “royal”
treatment and respect in the various galleries.
The fact that he
was then both Chairman of the Art Department and Director of the
U. of N. art Galleries was not lost on them.
Truby and John accompanied Dwight when they could afford it,
and would be treated to Broadway shows, sight seeing, parties,
etc.
The weather was often terrible and at least once they were
snowed in and couldn't get home on schedule.
traveled by train on those trips.)
(They always
John talked about going to
the top of the Empire State Building and Dwight had a flair for
spotting celebrities, such as Garbo, and getting involved in
interesting situations.
After the trips, which included
70
Philadelphia and Chicago to visit relatives, a few faculty and
students would gather at the Kirsch home to hear stories about
famous artists, and seeing such performers as Gertrude Lawrence.
Truby would play some of the new show tunes on the piano.
There
would be singing and great fun.
Truby prepared many weeks ahead, buying fabric and Vogue
patterns from Miller & Paine to sew for her travel clothes.
Her
pattern envelopes were covered with notes on design changes she
made, colors, fabrics, measurements, and essential “findings.”
For their tight budget, she looked like a million.
The clothes
she carefully and expertly constructed were always appropriate
for the occasion and paired with her air of confidence and good
looks, she more than held her own among the New York art people.
Dwight was often invited to visit various art studios such
as Walt Kuhn, William Zorach, Alfred Steiglitz, etc., and being a
fellow artist, he was accepted into the fold of the eastern art
world.
With money scarce during the Great Depression, and
knowing there was a chance to show or sell a painting out in the
“hinterlands of Nebraska,” artists were anxious to present their
best work.
If the prices were set too high, some were willing to
negotiate, however, some artists began charging rental fees for
showing, an unsettling revelation for the N.A.A. board.
Edward Hopper's “Room in New York” was purchased in 1936.
Dwight met Hopper in a New York gallery later, and when Hopper
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learned that Kirsch was from Nebraska, they had a very warm and
animated conversation.
Hopper had just returned from a mid-
western trip and was very much interested in the area.
After
Hopper left, the gallery director told Dwight he could scarcely
believe what had happened, that Hopper was well-known for not
being a warm, friendly conversationalist.
Back in Nebraska, Dwight was gaining recognition for his
authoritative and administrative work, and for his skill in
creating an easy atmosphere for conversation and expression and
in drawing-out a shy person.
He was at home in dealing with
young students, faculty members, board members, socialites,
businessmen, and was never intimidated by any of them.
He was in
his early thirties when he was selected to the “Young Men in
America” list, and he was fast becoming a popular speaker for
club meetings in Lincoln and out in the state.
In spite of a modest salary during the Depression, Kirsches
save enough money to buy a new Ford and drive to New York for
Dwight's summer classes at Parsons, to Minnesota to visit
Dwight's father who had re-married a lady named Lena Yule, and to
Chicago to visit his sister, Ethel.
There were visits to Truby's
home in Atkinson, where Dwight's fascination with the Nebraska
sandhills began. He photographed when it was not possible to
paint or sketch, and he turned the upstairs storeroom and
bathroom in Grandma Kelly's house into a photo-developing lab
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during the visits.
Anything for the sake of “art” was fine with
her!
Always experimenting, Dwight tried painting on the “bogus
paper” my dad (Ralph Kelly) gave him, in which bundles of
newsprint were wrapped.
It was a heavy paper and Dwight liked
the rough texture and pinkish color.
Those jaunts to Atkinson
and the sandhills were a tonic for him, and of course, we loved
having John and Aunt Truby around.
When we grew a bit older, we posed for sketches and later,
watercolor portraits, but my best memories were when Dwight took
the three of us (John, my brother Warren, and me) with him out in
the south country to play in the blowouts while he painted.
We
ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drank lemonade from a
jug we buried in the cool, damp sand.
We looked for arrowheads,
wild flowers, and played sliding games on the sandy slopes.
It
is a wonder we didn't come face to face with rattlesnakes, but
all we found was a shed skin!
On one special occasion, we got up before dawn and drove out
to the country, parked the car, and hurried to the top of a
sandhill to view the sunrise.
Below and beyond was a misty haze
which hung over mown hay newly stacked in a flat field (a “hay
flat”) between the hills.
Moments later, the red sun emerged and
slowly rose, burning off the haze.
experience, nor did Dwight.
We never forgot the
It was typical of him to think to do
73
such a thing -most fathers were too busy working, fishing,
golfing or hunting in their spare time to bother with kids.
He
showed us how to make hollyhock dolls which created lovely
effects floating in shallow bowls of water, and how to make
shakers out of Grandma Kelly's oriental poppy pods and shake
seeds over wet bites of her nearly ripe Dutchess apples (which
make the best pies).
He got on the living room floor with us in
bad weather and taught us how to do exercises, and in the
evenings we did drawing games.
We had no idea he was a brilliant
art authority, but we did know we loved having him entertain us.
He gave great colored slide shows to the entire family, usually
on trips they made.
We didn't have those sorts of vacations
because of the newspaper and our tight budget.
Local people often came by our house when they visited with
craft projects or pictures they had drawn, and Dwight never
failed to encourage and offer suggestions.
hooked rugs she had designed and made.
One lady brought
My grandmother hooked a
lovely area rug with an oriental flavored design he did for her
and I recall the little watercolor sketch he made of it.
Our
neighbor, Gary Kokes, took his advice and studied and worked in
Chicago as a commercial artist.
Mary Ann Schnase, whose father
had a small clothing store in Atkinson, would go to the country
to paint watercolors with Dwight and also became a commercial
artist.
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One summer, about 1934, Kirsches drove to the Badlands and
Black Hills of South Dakota.
On their way home they stopped in
Atkinson, making a “grand entrance” with a unique automobile
bumper decoration - a ram's skull!
The sun-bleached skull with
its thick horns curling and twisting out from the top of its head
soon became the subject of a tempra painting, which Dwight named
“Aries.”
His sense of composition and use of appropriate subject
matter for the drouth years, the bare tree branches seen through
the arched windows of their second floor apartment, and the bleak
skull hanging over the cactus plant growing in an American Indian
pot (Acoma), all work together to give us his “masterpiece.”
The results of the hot, dusty trip yielded more than the
wondrous ram's skull. Dwight's photographs of that desert land,
Badlands, and sandhills, were used for the new book “Old Jules,”
written by his friend Mari Sandoz (published in 1935).
Mari was
a frequent visitor in the Kirsch home, and Dwight photographed a
stunning portrait of her about the time “Old Jules” was
published.
I recognized the background drapery, which hung in
their apartment.
My mother often remarked about how worn and
rough her hands were (for the ladies in her world did very little
manual labor).
From her book, we know how hard Mari worked on
her father's ranch, and how she lost the sight of an eye while
looking after cattle in the snow.
75
Alma Maryott told me that, “Mari Sandoz came when we were
all out of school, she was teaching down there (at the
university).
She never made many friends.
It was extremely
difficult for her because of the kind of life she lived, extreme
poverty.
She required sympathy and understanding.
She came down
here from the Gordon/Rushville area in the Nebraska panhandle
with just about absolutely nothing, and was too proud to ask for
help.
I know Van Denbark used to drop in the office she had on
the campus every once in a while at lunch time and divide his
lunch.
People in the English Department kind of looked after
her, but she was hungry for a long time.”
My parents went to the Chicago World's Fair in 1934 and came
back with a new Terraplane car.
The Kirsches also went, and
returned with Century of Progress photographs and slides Dwight
used for talks and probably teaching.
However, Dwight had roots in the land.
Cities were exciting.
He wrote much later for
an exhibit catalogue, Midwest Painters Invitational Show, Grand
Rapids Art Gallery, 1960, his art philosophy: “The study of
nature with its forces and movements has been my abiding interest
as an artist.”
The sandhills and Badlands photographs in the Sandoz book
reveal a desolate, dry country, stark and cruel - a very tough
land in which to exist.
His pictures reflect the hard life that
our early pioneers led. In the 1880’s my Grandfather Dickerson
76
often took his horse and wagon to the Atkinson south country some
thirty miles in the Swan Lake area to hunt game and birds to feed
the hungry town folk.
But later on in the 1930’s drouth years,
there was still beauty in those rolling, sandy hills and hay
flats - sunflowers, wild roses and begonias, thistle, yarrow,
coltsfoot, cacti, yucca, sage, hemp, blue-stem, cottonwood trees,
rivers, and lakes.
and with paint.
that beauty.
Dwight's mission was to capture it on film
He tried to help those hard-working people “see”
I think he eventually succeeded.
77
Chapter 6 “Colleagues, Exhibitions, Travels”
Dwight was fortunate in having allies among the Art
Department faculty.
Louise Easterday Mundy began teaching
drawing and painting at the university in 1913 and was still
there as an assistant professor when Kady Faulkner came in 1930.
Miss Mundy was a good friend of Dwight and Truby's, but Truby's
sense of style did not rub off on her.
She looked very much like
an old Mary Poppins with black, ankle-length dresses, black boots
and stockings and ramrod straight back.
If she found out a
student smoked, she gave him a bad grade. I'm not sure how she
took Dwight's smoking. John and I were little when I first saw
her.
John had often mentioned her and we made fun of her and
giggled after she walked by us.
She looked funnier (to us) than
old Maggie Nightingale back home.
Kady Faulkner added another note of eccentricity and, as a
former student and distinguished scientist said “she was
scatterbrained and kind of wild, who led Dwight into pictures
that shouldn't have been on display.”
I disagree about the
scatterbrained tag, and from close observation, she was a very
fine teacher of anatomy, drawing and composition.
78
What did it
matter if one was a bit eccentric?
department!
After all, it was the art
She wore short-cropped hair, mannish grey suits and
low-heeled shoes, glasses, and had a smile on her face much of
the time.
I also cannot imagine that she led Dwight astray on
the selection of paintings.
Dwight kept in touch with her until
her death.
In 1931, Dwight wrote that, “a splendid attitude exists
among the students in the School of Fine Arts, for they are doing
work that they really like.
In spite of the large enrollment, a
spirit of friendliness prevails.
In the Department of Drawing
and Painting several activities through the year help to bring
the students together in closer relationships outside of the
classroom.
For example, it has been the custom during 1931-32 to
have student teas in the faculty office nearly every Friday
afternoon after classes.
A small fee is charged, all students of
the department are welcome, and committees from the various
classes are in charge of arrangements each week.”
The teas were continued over the years in Kady Faulkner's
office/studio until she left.
samovar.
She used a wonderful brass
Her cat, “Da Vinci,” a sort of mascot, was always
present, and the ambience was warm and jolly.
That friendly
atmosphere Dwight mentions may have been present when Dr.
Grummann was there, but it blossomed into a kind of Golden Age
through the 1930's and most of the 1940's.
79
Instructors were
skilled, enthusiastic, and interested in the progress of their
students, and art collection grew.
There was a spirit of
learning, of excitement, discovery, creativity which was electric
and which seemed to permeate the very walls of Morrill Hall.
Dwight may not have consciously helped build a support system for
instructors and students, but nevertheless it was assembled.
If artistic jealousy existed, it did not appear, at least at
this point, to be serious.
On the contrary, there was
constructive criticism in each class.
Students regularly lined
up their work against a gallery or corridor wall for critiques.
Most often, encouraging comments were laced with suggested
improvements.
If a student seemed hopeless, or less talented,
the instructors despaired in private, but they were never
insulting, but instead tried to redirect.
As such, Dwight was often heard telling such a person
“you're coming along.”
Dwight was a natural psychologist in the
area of positive reinforcements and confidence building, and he
gave students, male and female, assurance that they could go out
into the working world and get jobs.
He had done it himself.
knew about graduate courses and schools (beyond what UNL could
offer), and had valuable contacts in commercial art, interior
decorating (as it was then called), advertising, cartooning,
photography, stage and costume design, museum and library work,
80
He
and teaching Saturday Morning Art Classes and coordinating
Traveling Exhibits (Lyda Dell Burry and Nellie Schlee Vance).
After graduation from the University of Nebraska with an art
major in 1929, Lyda Dell Burry, with the help of Dwight, got a
job in the Art Department library half-time with Gertrude Moore.
“It was wonderful for me because it was the height of the
depression, then he offered me an assistantship in the
department.
I stayed there for nine years.
During that time the
Saturday Art Classes developed, however, it started when I was
still in school and was taking art from Miss Ella Witte.
been taking any students that wanted art by extension.
She had
One day
she asked me if I would like to do it, and of course I did.
first class consisted of one eight-year old boy.
ten year-old was added.
boys were very good.
The
Then later, a
The tuition was one whole dollar.
Both
Incidentally, today the ten year-old has an
organization in Pasadena, California called Erickson and
Associates.
It is a multi-million dollar design studio that
completely does ski hotels and other huge hotels all over the
world.
The eight-year old works for him.”
“I had those boys in the Saturday class from the time it
started and into the university when they had to go to war.
Anyway, when the class started there was very little money
anywhere and even one dollar was too much.
So I talked to Dwight
and he decided to see what he could do to help.
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That is where
Mrs. Vance and Mrs. Leland came in.
By that time I was
collecting students right and left, but had no money for
supplies.
So I had a friend who worked on the Lincoln Star who
persuaded the editor to give us their scrap newsprint and
pencils.
He also wrote a lot of articles with pictures, which
got us more students.”
“I went to art conferences and made friends with art
suppliers, crayon companies, etc. and they gave us their
exhibition wares.
So we started!
Finally, the N.A.A. voted to
give us $200 for scholarships and supplies.
So it turned out
that the teachers in the public schools recommended their best
students, who came for a try-out on Saturday morning at the
beginning of the school year.”
“When I left, I had 350 students and five assistants from
the department. We could use the museum and the galleries anytime
and we had no problems.
them to leave.
Our children loved it.
We had to force
I was back there not long ago and I found out
they can no longer use the museum and can only walk through the
new galleries.
It makes me sick.
We had a great bunch of
students at that time, both in the Saturday class and in the Art
Department.
Dwight had very close ties with other departments.
The architects all took drawing and so did all of the engineers.
None of those things happen anymore.
conscientious teacher.
He was a very good and
I was his assistant in perspective.
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He
gave much of himself to all kinds of projects.
We worked with
Mrs. Vance and the traveling galleries and his hard work along
with hers, made it a success.
He worked endlessly and traveled
thousands of miles to get money for the new building (the
Sheldon) and galleries, for which seemingly he got no thanks.
We
had none of the petty jealousies that control a lot of
departments.
We were more like one happy family.”
Erickson wrote, “as the seed is planted and cared for so
shall the tree grow. I must have been in the 5th or 6th grade at
Saratoga Elementary School in Lincoln.
I was one of the
fortunate children to be selected for this program and it
continued to my enrollment at the university for one semester
after which I received a scholarship to Pomona College,
Claremont, CA, and then had the opportunity to study under
Millard Sheets.
During the seven or eight years of my
association with the University of Nebraska, I have several
remembrances of Mr. Kirsch.
Natural in the mind of a 10 year
old, he reflected authority and a father figure.
a roll model were deeply imprinted in my mind.
His actions as
I would watch him
hang a gallery show, ‘hang the large piece here, no, move those
three over here, that color clashes with that painting, etc.’ He
would orchestrate the whole thing as if he were conducting a
symphony.
I learned a lot by watching and helping him move the
paintings around.
As I grew older his guidance in what was good
83
in art and why it was good has influenced my taste throughout my
life; a Gottelieb, or a Motherwell, a Picasso or a Sargent
watercolor, etc, etc.
He used to give lectures on the old
masters paintings, analyzing their construction, composition and
design.
This alone would influence a 12 year-old mind.
To this
day, I think of him as ‘The Maestro’ conducting and shaping minds
into what is commonly called ‘an artist.’
Most of my schooling
at the university was done under the guidance of Lyda Dell Burry,
a great, great artist and person.”
During the heyday of the Saturday morning art classes, an
art pioneer emerged who was active on the N.A.A. board,
contributed to Living Pictures and the N.A.A Annual Exhibit.
Nellie Schlee Vance was concerned that many Nebraskans out in the
state were unable to afford trips to Lincoln to enjoy the art in
Morrill Hall.
Furthermore, many parents, who did come into town
would refuse or overlook their children's requests “to see the
pictures.”
She worked out a plan to take art to Nebraska
communities within a 150-mile radius of Lincoln, but she needed
help to implement her idea.
Mrs. Vance had the moral support of the Nebraska Art
Association, but little else.
Dwight wrote to Chancellor
Burnett, “If Mrs. Vance's plan could be put into effect, I am
sure it would accomplish a great deal in awakening the interest
of the schools and their patrons in the possibilities of
84
developing and the teaching of art, particularly in the high
schools.
The development of art education in the public schools
is far behind that in other neighboring states.”
As a result of Dwight's letter to the chancellor, and with
the approval of the Board of Regents, Mrs. Vance began her
association with the U.N.L. Extension Department by organizing
art clubs in the state.
She was already acquainted with many
art-interested people in Nebraska, and with those contacts she
formed art clubs with dues-paying members.
Her goal was twenty-
five members in each town at one dollar per family membership
each year.
The twenty-five dollars was used to pay her travel
expenses with any moneys above that amount to go for purchases of
a good picture for the school, or for establishing a scholarship
to the University of Nebraska Fine Arts Department, or for
securing the services of a special drawing teacher for local
schools.
Her plan was to become a “win-win” situation, she did
not cost the university anything because she received no salary,
and the project was self-supporting.
Not only that, she
accomplished what she set out to do!
Mrs. Vance was an amazing woman.
She, like Dwight, had a
mission, a burning passion to acquaint young people with art,
particularly with the art displayed at Morrill Hall.
She would
pack her car with a current “traveling exhibit” and away she
would go, racking up many thousands of miles and wearing out at
85
least one car during her treks.
One wonders how many people can
trace their interest in art to her pioneering jaunts to small
Nebraska towns, and it all began when she overheard a father
refusing to take time to allow his child to view the paintings on
the second floor of Morrill Hall!
Finally, in 1939, the Vance and Kirsch efforts generated a
reward of $5000 from the Carnegie Corporation for the purpose of
carrying on with Mrs. Vance's traveling exhibits.
The Omaha
World-Herald wrote “A stout heart, a Ford and a five thousand
dollar Carnegie Corporation grant which finances her traveling
exhibit was the description in Newsweek Magazine of the equipment
Mrs. Nellie Schlee Vance of Lincoln employs to take art to rural
Nebraska.
From the self-appointed task of trundling pictures
over the state begun three years ago (November, 1936), Mrs.
Vance's work has won national recognition.
Her success has
brought her an invitation to speak at the National Rural forum to
be held at State College, Pa. August 30 to September 2. Mrs.
Vance will appear with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, noted
American painters.”
The idea of a traveling art gallery had been
in the back of her mind for a long time when she contrived to
borrow a group of pictures from the permanent collection of the
University of Nebraska.
She loaded them into her car, showed
them wherever she could get an audience.
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Her galleries have been shown in country schoolhouses,
churches, on the walls of farmhouses.
Last summer she had an
exhibit in the building next to the swine pavilion at the
Jefferson County Fair and packed customers in. (Pictures and pigs
- what a combination!).
on tour.
She averaged five hundred miles a week
She has had four gallery shows and talks in many a town
in one day.
I remember hearing about Mrs. Vance and the art tours from
John and was sorry Atkinson was out of the 150-mile limit.
All
was not lost because each time we drove to Lincoln we got to go
to Morrill Hall and see the paintings, and the wonderful Elephant
Hall on the main floor.
“LIVING PICTURES”
Before the era of traveling exhibits, costume balls were
held during the Annual Exhibition with prizes awarded for the
best costume.
The “dress-up” mode developed into the popular
“Living Pictures” programs in 1929, with leading Lincoln art
patrons and their children posing in costumes depicting wellknown paintings.
Backgrounds and drops were painted by the
committee - the first done by Dwight for the nine paintings shown
that year.
Artists Whistler, Fragonard, Gainsborough and Hals
were among the first used and with those, a tradition was born!
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It was exciting and wonderful to see friends and relatives pose
in the tableaux, furthermore the social event of the season was
achieved by spending next to nothing.
Ruth Whitmore Folsom painted a number of the backgrounds and
drops for the “Pictures” and she said many were quite elaborate.
Her youngest son, Burton, posed for a Thomas Hart Benton
painting, “Lonesome Road.”
He was a young man sitting on the
seat of a wagon driving a mule.
“We had to cut a hole in the
canvas, which was stiff with paint, and stick his head through it
up to his waist.
Someone put a good strong belt on him and held
him, because he was at this precarious angle - his legs were
painted on - it really came off fine.”
She said they usually
selected paintings from the Nebraska Art Association collection.
When we were nine, in 1936, my cousin John was invited to
pose as the clown in Renoir's “Clown in White.”
His pictures
appeared in the Lincoln newspapers, though in those days of black
and white, the effect of his flaming red hair was lost.
I
delighted in viewing the white satin costume with its luxe
texture, the fancy collar and buttons and am sure Aunt Truby made
it.
One year Fritz Craig, a board member and outstanding
Lincolnite, and Miss Mundy posed for Grant Wood's painting
“American Gothic,” an appropriate role for plain-looking Miss
Mundy!
88
Thomas Woods told me that in about 1940, on the 50th Annual
Exhibition year celebration, he posed for another of Grant Wood's
paintings, “Arnold Comes of Age,” a painting that proved to be a
fine investment for the N.A.A., purchased in 1931 for $300.
Woods was not a relative of the painter, however, his mother,
Mrs. Thomas C. Woods, was very active on the N.A.A. Board.
His
ancestor invented the dial telephone and his family owned the
Lincoln Telephone Company.
He accompanied his mother to Morrill
Hall on numerous occasions and Dwight often came to their home
for N.A.A. consultations.
“Arnold Comes of Age” was in great demand for loan to many
art galleries and museums - Feragil Gallery in New York, and the
American Legion Gallery, San Francisco, with an illustration of
the painting shown in their catalogue.
Posing the same year as Woods, Gretchen Teal, daughter of
Dr. and Mrs. Fritz Teal, posed as the young girl in Robert
Henri's “Pink Pinafore.”
The painting was extremely popular with
the general public and was my favorite when, as a youngster, I
visited Morrill Hall.
Cats were even involved with “Living Pictures” when Kady
Faulkner and her “Da Vinci” posed for “Peggy Bacon and
Metaphysics” by Alexander Brooks.
The pose came to an abrupt end
when Da Vinci decided he wanted no part in the “silly” game.
89
He
was used to students but a room full of people who applauded and
laughed?
Nothing doing!
Because of the understandable brevity of each tableau,
Dwight suggested to the N.A.A. that he not only photograph each
presentation but also photograph the depicted paintings and show
lantern slides of the actual paintings in conjunction with the
live show.
Thus, “Living Pictures,” with a drawing card of
children, well-known adults, a cat, became so popular that
Morrill Hall was nearly bursting with people.
The 50th Annual Exhibit was so outstanding it was highly
praised in the leading art magazines, mentioned in Life, Time,
and in Art Digest (the art exhibit): “is a large group of
American Art. . which qualitatively ranks with many eastern
museum annuals. . There is more in the way of promotion of
contemporary art in Nebraska than singly and collectively
Harvard, Yale, and Princeton can point to.”
Grant Wood's
comment, when he lectured in Lincoln, said he “had not seen
anything at any State University in the country that would
compare with the Nebraska collections.”
Finally, the next year “Living Pictures” programs were moved
to the University of Nebraska Student Union.
The slides Dwight made of the “Living Pictures” and the
N.A.A. collection, of paintings from various galleries and his
travels numbered in the thousands.
90
They were used throughout his
teaching and lecturing career in many hundreds of both private
and public programs, and of course in our special private shows
in Atkinson.
The Nebraska Art Association elected Dwight secretary for a
number of years in the 1930's, with Mabel Langdon assisting him.
It was a nice arrangement for the N.A.A.
Dwight was in charge of
procurement of the annual exhibition, for inviting the expert
artists to give recommendations for purchase and to lecture; he
gave tours and gallery talks during the exhibitions - often
escorting people who expressed special interest; he was in charge
of unpacking the art, seeing to the titles; exhibit catalogues,
as well as carrying on the regular “business” of the Art
Department administration - teaching classes and attending
faculty meetings.
Mabel Langdon, various N.A.A. committee members, faculty,
and Truby relieved him of much of the paper work.
Mabel wrote
the publicity for the newspapers, which she said was almost
always printed as she wrote it, typed letters to artists,
galleries, and carried on with her curator duties, while Truby
saw to having catalogues printed (the first leaflet on a solo
exhibit of the Haydon Art Club was printed in 1888), helped
design some of them, wrote biographies of artists, and assisted
in countless ways.
John began to help at a rather young age,
too, and would talk of “being dragged to Morrill Hall to work.”
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Special students helped unpack and hang the art under the
direction of Dwight.
During those exciting, productive years, art experts invited
to come to Lincoln during the annual exhibit included Donald Bear
and Otto Karl Bach from the Denver Art Museum; F. A. Whiting,
Jr., editor of the American Magazine of Art; Royal Cortissoz, an
art critic from New York; Miss Lelia Mechlin, secretary of the
American Federation of Arts, Washington, D.C.; Paul Gardner of
the Nelson Gallery, Kansas City; Muriel Sibel, head of the
University of Colorado Art Department; Meyrick Rogers and Fred
Sweet from the Chicago Art Institute; Perry Rathbone, St. Louis
and later of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Phillip Adams,
Columbus, and later Cincinnati.
Howard Devree, New York Times art critic, Bartlett Hayes of
the Addison Gallery, Elizabeth H. Navas, the Murdock Collection
in Wichita and New York, Fred Bartlett and Paul Parker, Colorado
Springs Fine Art Center, also served as art experts to recommend
purchases by N.A.A. and the Hall Collection.
Most of the
experts, after viewing the exhibit, gave interesting gallery
talks, and, sometimes evening lectures.
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Chapter 7 “Summer School: Travels, Kady, Mabel, Exhibits”
When Dwight Kirsch was free of teaching summer classes at
the university, he took great pleasure in gardening and
traveling, as well as painting.
In the summer of 1936, the
family drove to New York, and since I was visiting them in
Lincoln alone for the first time, they invited me to accompany
them.
John and I had been having such fun playing with Scottie
Burton and other Sumner Street kids I suppose Truby and Dwight
hated to separate us, but alas, my parents wouldn't allow me to
go.
It was a great disappointment but money was scarce and then,
perhaps my mother could not stand the thought of having me away
for such a long time - she had cried when she left me in Lincoln
for two weeks!
John was sad about it because he was a lonely
child and craved peer companionship.
Aunt Truby's bed was completely covered with her clothes for
the trip, and I was awed by the sight, because my mother had only
a fraction of her collection - one or two “good” dresses for
church and club meetings, and the rest, house dresses.
then.
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No slacks
That was the summer Kirsches spent time on Martha's Vineyard
in a friend's cabin.
Dwight “did” the New York galleries and for
the first time, selected the paintings for the N.A.A. Annual
Exhibit.
He also found time to paint a charming little tempra of
John reading, “Lamplight at Quitsea,” that has survived (Miss
Moore used to say when John learned to read, he was a changed
child and much easier to handle).
The painting is a small jewel
(10”X16”).
The viewer looks through a
The setting: a cabin.
doorway into a small, primitive kitchen.
John is sitting at a
table on a straight-backed chair reading by a kerosene lamp, his
shiny halo of copper hair, a hanging cooking pot, red counter
water pump, wood tones on the walls, floor and chair, Truby's leg
and sandalled foot complete a warm, domestic composition.
It was
one of Dwight's favorites and was always hung on his walls.
The year 1936 seems to have been a landmark period of
activity in Dwight's life.
Nebraska's Governor Cochran appointed
him to head a selection committee for Nebraska art to be sent to
a special show at Rockefeller Center in New York.
Ten paintings
were chosen, five from Omaha, and five from Lincoln.
In the
group were Dwight's “Aries,” and “Cloud in the Valley,” both
tempras.
That same time he also exhibited work in Philadelphia,
the University of Oklahoma, the Kansas City Art Institute, as
well as in Lincoln.
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That year, the painting “Roadmender's Camp” was loaned to
the annual International Exposition of Art in Venice, with
Chancellor Burnett's permission, and at Dwight's recommendation.
This was the same exposition Dwight and Truby viewed on their
honeymoon and Dwight was able to give firsthand knowledge of its
importance to the chancellor.
One of the choice paintings in the N.A.A. collection was
purchased in 1936, Hopper's “Room in New York.”
It has been
reproduced in many publications, and was, and doubt still is, in
great demand for loans to other institutions.
Grant Reynard, a Nebraska artist living and working in New
York, came to Lincoln in 1936 and spoke in conjunction with an
art demonstration at Morrill Hall.
Dwight made the arrangements
and wrote the chancellor asking for a fifty-dollar honorarium for
Reynard.
Along with Reynard, Paul Gardner, Director of the
William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, Kansas City, and Dr. Paul
Grummann, Joslyn Memorial, Omaha, spoke.Gardner “warned against
sordidness in art,” and Grummann discussed “art and propaganda.”
They no doubt commented on paintings in the exhibit, especially
the newly purchased “Room in New York,” and “Window Cleaning” by
a former Nebraskan, and the “only colored student ever elected to
membership in the University Art Club,” Aaron Douglas.
His
painting was the first by a former Nebraskan to be purchased by
the N.A.A. since William Schwartz's “Tents of Illusions,” 1927.
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Indeed, overlooking Nebraska artists became such a sore point
that two of the prominent N.A.A. board members “asked not to be
considered for membership inasmuch as the Nebraska Art
Association had not yet seen fit to purchase paintings by
Nebraska’s artists”.
They later reconsidered.
Finally, in 1937 the N.A.A. inaugurated a definite policy
for the purchase of pictures by recognized Nebraska artists
(local and out of state), with the purchase of Dwight's “Aries.”
At least fifty-five years later it was still being reproduced in
many publications and on the Sheldon Gallery gift shop cards.
Leonard Theissen’s “Still Life in Brown and Yellow” was purchased
the next year for a ‘whopping’ $100, a lot of money for those
Depression days.
The 1937 purchases so impressed eastern artists and
galleries that a long article, accompanied by reproductions of
three of the new acquisitions, “Self Portrait” by Henry Varnum
Poor, “The Sea Shell” by Henry Schnakenberg, and “Miners Resting”
by Paul Sample, appeared in the April 14, 1937 New York Times.
“American Art Bought for Collection at University of Nebraska.”
All of the canvasses were selected from the exhibition of
American paintings formed for the University of Nebraska by
Maynard Walker of the Walker Galleries, with the cooperation of
the Kraushaar, Rehn, Milch, McBeth, Downtown and Feragil
Galleries.
Dwight was not given credit in the article for
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helping select the paintings, however, we know he was in New York
for the purpose of doing just that.
Walker may have written the
article, or submitted the information to the Times.
No matter,
recognition in the newspaper gave Nebraska art lovers a feeling
of pride in their region.
The knowledge that there was a flicker
of culture nestled among the wheat, hay and corn fields and feed
lots raised Nebraskan's self esteem because easterners had
noticed!
With newly painted walls in Morrill Hall, the paintings
“gained in color and interest,” according to a letter from Dwight
to Chancellor Burnett.
the painting to be done.
He had written earlier with a plea for
Not only new paint, but the following
year the Art Department and the N.A.A. exhibit committee no
longer had to contend with orchestra rehearsals in the galleries
during the exhibit talks and children's tours.
The musical
distractions were a great source of irritation for many years,
and while music was often played as a part of the exhibition
entertainment, and Kirsch and the faculty loved music, the
rehearsals were bothersome.
It was impossible to hear gallery
talks, or to concentrate on the art, in short Dwight finally
appealed to the chancellor for other arrangements to be made, and
he complied.
After a whirlwind second semester of classes, exhibits,
talks and programs in 1937, Kirsches took a wonderful trip to the
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southwest, where Dwight studied and worked with the Rockefeller
Laboratory of Anthropology for a month in Santa Fe.
They visited
the Painted Desert, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce and Cedar Breaks.
Dwight learned how the American Indians made their beautiful and
precious Santa Clara and black pottery, and at same time spent
time with his dear friend, Loren Eiseley, and probably Dorothy
Thomas. On their way home, they stopped for a few days in
Atkinson, where Dwight painted “Distant Blowouts, Nebraska
Sandhills,” a watercolor now owned by the Great Plains Art
Collection, University of Nebraska.
During those visits, we kids always found things to do.
Sometimes we got into our Grandma Kelly’s upstairs store closet
where the red silk Civil War army sash and sabers, and Aunt
Truby’s leftover stage grease paints were “waiting for us.” (The
army items could have belonged to Captain Silas Warren Kelly who
organized Co. F, 59th Illinois Volunteer Infantry.)
In nice
weather we helped John learn to roller skate, climbed our
grandma’s crab apple tree, built a screen-covered garden in our
wagon so that we could capture flying insects to put in it.
Later, when we were in eighth grade our Uncle Tabor and family,
Jon, Brenda and Sheila visited, he brought his new record-player
which also cut little red disks.
He recorded a silly play John
and I wrote based on the radio soap operas, and of course, we
acted out the parts in front of the microphone.
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Dwight didn't simply focus attention on the sandhills of
Holt County, small-town rural scenes such as the Main Street of
Atkinson also intrigued him.
One day he sat in the middle of a
four-way intersection near the railroad tracks and semaphore
signal, with his easel and proceeded to paint.
well known by the locals.
He was fairly
However, artists were curiosities and
unknowing others ignored certain art protocol.
At that time
Helen Snyder, a local businesswoman who was direct and outspoken,
stopped and watched Dwight on her way to her store, and told him
he had moved the Catholic Church over to the side instead of
where it stood at the end of the street.
He was furious to think
she had the nerve to tell an “art authority” how to paint a
picture.
This “busybody” lady needed to be educated in matters
of artistic license and he did just that.
“If I decide the
Catholic Church looks better moved over from the center of the
street, I can move it.”
She took the reprimand quite well and
happily circulated her version of the story throughout her life
until her death, some fifty years later.
He had gained respect
in her eyes, and from the locals.
Many years later, the sketch for “Main Street Crossing,
Atkinson,” a rather large watercolor, was lent to me for my room
in Northeast Hall at the University of Nebraska, presumably to
help alleviate homesickness.
I may have had the only room in the
dorm with two original paintings; the second was of the
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sandhills.
Aunt Truby, Uncle Dwight and John all came to my dorm
room during an open house to hang the pictures and make me feel
special.
My roommate Claudia Neuenswander, also from home, loved
the “Main Street” sketch so much that she later purchased it.
“Main Street” still has stories!
Dwight presented the
finished tempra painting to the Atkinson High School a number of
years later in memory of Truby.
It hung on the main stair
landing wall until a janitor threw it into a closet full of junk,
no doubt during summer vacation when the school was being
refurbished.
When my cousin, Brenda Livingston, began to teach
there in the late sixties she happened to come across it.
Furthermore, she also heard that the O'Neill Chicago and
Northwestern stationmaster had had his eye on it and had possibly
even have made a deal with the janitor to get it.
There was no time to waste!
Allowing the painting to be
illegally taken from Atkinson to an archrival town was
unthinkable, so Brenda went to my mother with a plan.
She had
the key to the school - they would wait until dark, get their
flashlights, cross the street from my mother's house (directly
across the road) and retrieve the picture.
The scheme worked!
Damage to the painting was slight, but it was saved!
As far as
they were concerned the school authorities, who seemed to have no
regard for the gift of a fine work of art, did not deserve an
explanation, and it seems no one actually missed it, except
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perhaps the janitor and station-master.
And what could they say?
My mother (Bernice Kelly) was thrilled with their “picturenapping,” but of course Dwight was never told.
Before painting “Main Street,” Dwight immortalized in
watercolor “Dexter's Blacksmith Shop” in Atkinson.
The building
has long since been torn down, but older folks remember the
green, barn-like building across the street from the Stockman's
Hotel - and the clanking of metal, smell of leather, horses and
hay.
Warren and Mary Kelly of Atkinson own the picture.
Art students at the University of Nebraska took pride in
being a rather exclusive, freewheeling group.
much like a small village.
They were very
As artist and graduate, Arlo Monroe
said, “while I was an undergraduate and a graduate student, I saw
no evidence of any friction among the faculty, no back-stabbings
or professional jealousies.
When I moved on to study at the Art
Institute of Chicago, I was amazed at the ferocity of the
political infighting that was prevalent there and which I felt
affected the work of the students detrimentally.
There was
nothing like that at Nebraska, at least not in the Art
Department.
The atmosphere was one of mutual interest and
support among all the faculty and students.
We felt we were
members of a sort of family group, somewhat isolated from the
rest of the mainstream of the campus, proud of it, and supported
by it.”
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Some years later, when John Kirsch and I and our
contemporaries Marian Hattan (Ellis); Don Ellis; Betty Aasen
(Kjelson); Roger Crossgrove; Wynona McDermott (Crossgrove);
Miggie Kuhlman; Bob Hansen; Trudy Zastera; Mary Ann Marshall
(Soderholm); Andrew Morrow; Jody Wolcott (Carson); Bill Moomey;
Anne Whitham and many others were students there, the warm
ambience continued.
There was plenty of gossip, but nothing
mean-spirited or cruel.
Students were hired to work at various jobs in the
department, and their experience in the packing room impressed
and taught several future art professionals.
John Norall and
Arlo Monroe worked there, as well as Joe Ishikawa, Tom McClure,
Marv Rudolph, and others.
Norall wrote, “I was lucky enough to
get a WPA-type job in the packing room for my last years (in the
early '40's) and Dwight taught a couple of commercial art courses
in my last two years.
Between his passing through the packing
room to check on paintings in shipment for shows, and the classes
we became more acquainted.”
Arlo Monroe added, “I worked for three years in the packing
room and galleries.
I took numerous courses with Kirsch, but I
think I learned more from our associations while packing and
unpacking paintings and other art works, arranging them in the
galleries and corridors under his supervision, and in discussing
informally with him about the works we were handling and the
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artists who created them.
We tried to handle the work there
carefully and in an organized way.
However, in spite of this,
occasionally something would happen.
We were opening crates of
paintings for a professional contemporary art exhibition.
We had
taken a large portrait by Stephen Etnier out of the case and had
leaned it against the vertical post that supported the storage
balcony.
It was a typical Nebraska day and the window was open.
A gust of wind blew the painting forward so it fell and struck
the corner of the packing case causing a four-inch scratch on the
side of the face of the portrait.
We went immediately to the
office and reported what had happened.
Dwight was pretty upset,
as could well be expected, but he never blamed us or berated us
as being careless.
After that exhibition was over, he never mentioned the
incident again and later we were told that the insurance company,
after some extended problems, settled with the artist for the
damage done.”
Dwight was not the breed of administrator who had to have
full control over every minute detail.
realized he must delegate.
Wearing several hats, he
In his own gentle, yet sure manner,
he, with the aid of Mabel Langdon (Eiseley) and his able faculty,
gave his associates a great deal of latitude, though he had high
expectations and with his own example of hard work and
dedication, his “style” paid off.
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His older graduate students
were given positions of responsibility.
Lynn Robert Wolfe taught
Saturday morning art classes to school children, and as a senior,
Dwight gave him permission to do painting outside the classroom
“if I would do twice as many assignments, which I agreed to do
and when I showed him all of the paintings I had done over
Christmas vacation he let me fill one of the galleries with a
one-man show.” (Lynn Wolfe later taught me sculpture and made me
feel good about my work.)
When the new Student Union building was completed, there was
a request for art for the walls of the Corn Crib, an early “fast
food” type cafe where students could have coke dates, and a
“crib,” a brownie topped with ice cream and chocolate syrup, or a
sandwich.
Arlo Monroe recalls “when Joe Stegner and I were in
our second semester of our junior year, Dwight sent the two of us
to arrange paintings there in the corridors and offices.
Later,
he gave us the chance to design and paint decorative murals
depicting campus activities on the four walls of the large sodagrill room in the new union and of course we were delighted to be
able to do this.
(I remember those clever black line drawings.)
Prior to this, DK had directed us the opportunity of designing
and painting a huge backdrop for the Military Ball, held in the
Armory.
The large drop was 26' high and 60' long as I remember.
Needless to say we learned a lot doing those projects, which of
course Dwight had anticipated and set up for us.”
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“At times Dwight demonstrated the tolerance, understanding
and patience of the local chapter of Delta Phi Delta, the art
society.
As always we were struggling constantly to come up with
worthy ideas and projects for the members.
We got carried away,
and voted to have an extra, in addition to the spring show, a
fall show of student work in the galleries.
us to check the year's calendar.
It never occurred to
He never said a word to me
directly about this when we learned of our stupid and thoughtless
action, though I did get a talking to from his secretary, Mabel
Eiseley.
But he did not say ‘No’ to us and we had our extra show
even though it must have meant tremendous inconvenience, numerous
letters, and rescheduling arrangements.
learned from this.
We goofed, but we
One thing I learned was that students were
important to him.”
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Chapter 8 “Fairdale Road House; Aries”
The Great Depression year, 1938, was marred for Dwight when
his father died.
Fred Kirsch had remarried after Lovie died to a
widow named Lena.
They moved to her home in Minnesota and left
Dwight's sister, Bess, to care for Uncle Jake.
My mother said
Dwight made a terrible scene at the funeral; a display of
temperament she thought was undignified.
I do not recall hearing
very much about Lena - there was only a hushed silence when her
name was mentioned.
children.
However, Dwight seemed very fond of her
Family meant a great deal to him.
He sent his
paintings to relatives, and made an effort to keep in touch.
Somehow, Dwight and Truby scrimped and saved enough money
for a house, the sale of his “Aries” could have made a
difference, and Dwight's father may have left him a small
inheritance.
They chose a lot in Piedmont, an exclusive section
of Lincoln on Fairdale Road.
designed it.
Bruce Hazen, a Lincoln architect,
After they had investigated building an adobe
house, he helped them compromise on a stucco finish instead, the
climate in Lincoln was not suitable for adobe.
Hazen built a
scale model of the house, which was very contemporary for the
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time.
Because of building restrictions in that area, a second
story was required, and therefore, the Kirsch studio, a second
bath and Truby's small sewing/guest room met the building code.
The house was obviously designed with entertaining in mind
because the open plan of the “L”-shaped living/dining/kitchen
created an ideal space for gatherings.
recalled senior parties at the house.
Many former students
Lynn R. Wolfe told me “I
was so impressed with the sensitive, sound, contemporary design
in their environment, I have sought to establish a similar living
and working space for myself.
Because of the happy memory of
that visit I try to have all of my students each semester visit
my house and studio in Boulder.”
John Norall said, “in his home habitat he was a gracious
host and his home was a more advanced design and reflected a more
sophisticated facade than a lot I had been in out west.”
Arlo Monroe remarked that, “..shortly after Dwight Kirsch
and family built their new home in Lincoln, we seniors were
invited to their house for a sort of senior party.
always felt at ease in Dwight’s presence.
I can’t say I
I had great respect
for him, which often threw me off stride, and I was felling
especially uptight that evening.
Dwight was showing a group of
us around the new house, and finally he said ‘would any of you
like to see our basement?’
Of course I fell right into the trap,
and said I would like very much to see the basement!
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At which he
beamed ‘so would I’ and then he vanished into another room.
house was built on a slab.
His
He loved that.”
Rosalie Stuart Franklin, whose mother was a fellow classmate
of Dwight’s, wrote: “Luckily for me, Mr. Kirsch was my advisor,
very calm, and equal to all collegiate problems.
Later on, that
first year, the 1930’s. in his Perspective class, I turned in an
assignment about which he said, studying it in front of the class
‘now, THIS is exactly what I meant.’
From then on he had me in
his pocket.”
During the annual senior party at the Kirsch home, she told,
“Their son John was a little boy then, about nine years old, very
earnest with Kelly hair, gloriously red.
I recall the Kirsch cat
strolled about among the guests, quite at home.
One of the coeds
picked it up and remarked that it appeared to be so limp compared
to Kady’s cat.
‘Well!’ Declared young John passionately, ‘you’d
be limp too if you’d just had FOUR KITTENS!’
Thus, endearing
himself to us forever.”
“After I left Nebraska we kept in touch.
Once he was in New
York City and a business trip and looked me up.
And I visited
him after he moved to Des Moines — Nebraska’s loss was Iowa’s
gain.”
“Dwight Kirsch went on a trip to Alaska after we had moved
out here (Washington state) and on his trip home stopped by to
visit us.
As it happened my parents were here too, so we all had
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a good time.
Our two oldest children were little then; he was
talking about his latest new technique, painting on tissue paper
— so to their delight he demonstrated it for them, doing a clown
face for Jane, an instant ‘D.K.’”
Dwight only wrote a sketchy account of the house.
However,
his former neighbor, Eloise Burton, recalled its adobe motif and
the amusing and typical practice of Truby spending hours on the
building site at a table checking every step in the process, and
catching numerous mistakes.
When the house was ready for wall
finishes, they experimented with paint colors, and while it
wasn't evident, the living room was done in several tones of soft
greens and golds, with window walls lighter in value and opposite
walls a more pronounced color.
were an innovation.
Corner windows in the living room
I was amazed when my Aunt Truby actually
hired someone to wash them, she wouldn't “do” windows (nor would
she launder and iron Dwight's and John's shirts).
The drapes
were a very heavy hand-woven Schumacher fabric in warm neutral
colors.
There was no wall-to-wall carpet, rather large rugs
woven with a geometric design, again in neutral tones of browns,
tans, golds, siennas.
The freedom one felt in the house was
incredible, and gatherings of people around the baby grand piano
while Truby or Dwight played, the abbreviated “stage” formed by
the stair landing was used for informal presentations, often
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silly dances and songs John and I performed.
The ease and sense
of belonging were a delightful interplay of house and the owners.
Wallpaper was not used.
Instead, Dwight painted life-sized
stalks of corn on the stair wall (I think the corn is still
there), and applied silver stars to the upstairs bathroom
ceiling.
Other than those treatments, pictures, pottery,
sculpture and plants were used including a wonderful world map
Dwight did from a National Geographic map.
He varnished and
decorated it with paintings of cherubic heads in each corner
blowing the four winds, outlined each state in various colors,
with borders of cartouches and designs a child would enjoy.
A new feature in the house was the use of plastic laminate
counter-tops in the kitchen and bathrooms.
The design was
contemporary, interlacing obtuse triangular lines with rounded
edges in salmon and gold colors.
That design was in the Formica
line for years and occasionally we still see it.
Most families had no need of two-car garages, however after
the house was sold, more garage space was added.
The only
problem I recall is that mice found they liked the laundry room,
at least until John's cats took care of them.
Dwight did a wonderful job of landscaping the two-level
yard.
He brought irises from my Grandma Kelly's garden, and he
bought, for 50 to 75 cents each, pfitzers and young trees.
He
also planted a double hedge of Chinese elms and Russian olives in
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back along a steep bank, made a sunken garden in the excavated
pool site, and topped the low front courtyard wall with petunias
and he often used geraniums for the upstairs balcony/deck.
The
lawn became so lush on the former farm that Dwight finally bought
an electric mower.
John wrote me a hilarious letter complete
with illustrations of “Papa not only cutting the grass, but the
electric cord.”
One who knew him can clearly imagine hearing a
few choice swear words uttered in an outburst over that.
When I
visited, I was expected to help with the hand trimming and was
rewarded with blisters.
Dwight personally supervised the millwork on the house.
Later, the Fahnestock brothers crafted the studio shelves and
storage units. In the 1940's, a large, vertical mirror was also
installed in the studio and was used for self-portraits, for
checking compositions, and for Truby's sewing.
The studio overlooked a cornfield (which is now completely
filled in with houses), and in the distance, the Veteran's
Hospital.
Many paintings were done of the views from the studio
and balcony, and the latter was a favorite spot for working on
suntans and for “camping out.”
My brother Warren and John were
especially keen on sleeping out there in the muggy, hot summer
but it invariably rained.
There was no air conditioning then
(just in movie theaters).
John thought his sunbathing would give
him a golden tan with his freckles magically melting together.
111
I
quit trying and resigned myself to having white skin, and golden
spots.
Saturday morning sketching sessions during the summers
Kirsches were home were very popular activities relished by
friends and a few faculty members, including Clara Marie Allen;
Mrs. Leland; Mrs. Edmiston; Freda Stuff Spaulding; Barbara Ross;
etc., and sometimes Truby would try her hand.
I visited, we were always asked to pose.
When Jo Waddell or
Though Dwight often
said that my features were too proportional to be interesting to
a painter, John painted me so many times that I lost count.
Ever the teacher, Dwight often gave advice to the artists.
Freda once had a problem with her work and he suggested she get
back to basic pencil drawing.
After they finished, the group
would set up their work against the long bookcase/counter in the
living room for critiques.
There was lots of encouragement and
open, honest criticism, laced with jokes, laughter and general
merriment.
Music was often played on the radio, no fancy hi-fi
sets then.
Truby insisted that painting while listening to
classical music would improve and inspire artistic creativity.
She believed in the importance of pleasant surroundings, a
characteristic she inherited from her mother, my Grandma Kelly,
and she protected Dwight from every day trivialities such as
grocery shopping, car repairs, paying bills, etc.
112
While Dwight enjoyed the art group and gatherings of
friends, he often retreated to a quiet place by himself to work
on a project alone.
After a long, hard day at the university, he
would sit in bed reading mysteries or pour over his collection of
House Beautifuls.
The new house was a haven for him, but with
his numerous public engagements, there were precious few quiet
evenings at home.
Meanwhile, in an American Art Magazine article titled
“Contemporary Art for Nebraska,” Dwight is given credit for the
University of Nebraska Fine Arts Department: “steadily raising
its standards, Mr. Kirsch and his staff seem to understand that a
college art department, although it may give technical courses in
painting, sculpture and the graphic arts, must guard against
placing chief emphasis on a vocational approach..” (May 1938).
Dwight also advised his serious students to strive for advanced
degrees, and do graduate study at a specialized school such as
the Chicago Art Institute and the Art Students League in Parsons.
Though he did not take advanced work in photography himself, he
did advise a few students to attend special schools for a
vocation in that field.
Dwight was ahead of his time in working out the curriculum
for interior design, indeed, the F.A.S.I.D.'s education section,
FIDER, lists suggested requirements in the field with few changes
from those Kirsch initiated in the early thirties.
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Jeanette O.
Lammel, F.A.S.I.D., said of Dwight that, “without his guidance I
would never have entered the field of interior design.
I owe him
much.”
Lincoln interior designer, Andrew Morrow stated that Dwight
was his advisor and supervised his senior project for his BFA,
which was a media techniques show at Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha.
Cedric Hartman and Robert Owens, both outstanding designers, also
studied in the art department.
Katherine Schwake (Stone) was mentioned in Dwight's outline,
and she wrote that, “following graduation in 1932 and during the
Depression, I worked in his office and assisted in several of his
classes.
He recommended me for a scholarship to the Paris branch
of the New York School of Fine and Applied Art for one year, but
due to the war, I returned to the New York school and finished
the year there.
Returning to Lincoln and the university, I was
an instructor in the Art Department teaching lettering, fashion
design, fashion economics, commercial art and layout, and one
summer class in interior decoration.
This turned out to be a
wonderful opportunity and financial relief for me at this time
with my father in ill health and unable to work.
Mr. Kirsch was
very friendly and had a special talent in giving constructive
criticism both to students and to me in starting my teaching.
Truby was easy going, happy, and I, being always sewing in my
spare time, had several conversations on this subject, as she
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frequently came down to school to use our long tables for cutting
out materials.”
Another “Great Depression” student, Irmel Sheffrey,
graduated for the Art Department in 1938, and said she majored in
portrait painting.
After obtaining a teaching fellowship at
Montana State College, she came back to the University of
Nebraska as an instructor.
She assisted Lyda Del Burry in
teaching the Saturday morning art classes for children, and in
addition, taught night classes, wrote art courses for the U.N.L.
Extension Division and lectured at the new television station
given to the university.
She remarked how “Dwight Kirsch worked
very hard on the yearly N.A.A. exhibits.
One year, I labeled a
large white fire extinguisher, which was hanging in a corner in
the hall.
I put a stand under it and an impressive label.
Dwight laughed and left it during the exhibition.
everyone tried the silkscreen technique.
One year
The instructors
exchanged prints, I don't have one of Dwight’s but I do have a
nice watercolor ‘Storm Clouds over a Nebraska Wheat Field.’
I
don't remember when he gave it to me - when I was a senior, the
Art Department had an art auction.
I may have obtained it then.
Lyda and I had no trouble being accepted at Art Center
School, Los Angeles, the most outstanding school in the world.
They were happy to have N.U. graduates.
The department gave an
exceptionally good art background, quite a compliment to Dwight.”
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Classes at the university were enriched by the exhibits at
Morrill Hall.
Years after graduating I visited the art
department gallery of a neighboring university and was surprised
to see their small exhibit space and poor collection of
paintings.
I then realized how lucky we all were to have such an
opportunity to view and learn from our contemporary American
artists.
Dwight hung a Philadelphia Water Color Show at Morrill Hall
in 1938, which included a piece by “young Andrew Wyeth, son of
N.C. Wyeth.”
The newspaper review quoted Dwight, who claimed the
show was “one of the most extensive and varied water color shows
in twelve years.”
He often mentioned N.C. Wyeth, the famous
illustrator who taught at the Art Students' League when he was
there, and Andrew, whom he had met in New York.
Since he had
established art connections in Philadelphia during visits with
his brother, Hollis, and had exhibited his “Blowout in Early
Morning” and “Over the Housetops” at the 1935 Philadelphia Water
Color Society Show, it was easier for him to obtain such shows
for Nebraska.
Following the Philadelphia show, a Santa Fe exhibit was
arranged by Dwight's author friend, Dorothy Thomas.
Loren
Eiseley, Mabel Langdon, Miss Mundy and Dwight contributed Indian
items: Dwight, photographs of Santa Fe and Taos, plus Indian
designs he did while working in Santa Fe; Dr. Eiseley, a handsome
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Iroquois ceremonial mask made of corn husks, and a sculptured
goose from D.H. Lawrence's wife; and Miss Mundy, a birch-bark box
and buckskin bag.
In 1939, Dwight was able to obtain works by artists who had
never exhibited in Nebraska, including: a sculpture self-portrait
from Malvina Hoffman; works from Georgia O'Keefe; Walt Kuhn;
George Groz; Justin Sturm; a Reginold Marsh painting which was
printed in Life Magazine; and Glacken's “Mahone Bay,” which was
purchased for the N.A.A. collection.
Margaret Varga, then art editor of Life, came to Omaha and
Lincoln and received a flurry of attention.
Any mention in a
national magazine concerning Nebraska's art was a triumph for
those involved.
Even though famous actors and actresses such as
Robert Taylor, Henry Fonda, Fred Astaire and Dorothy McGuire were
from the Cornhusker state, Nebraskans still felt misunderstood,
with easterners visualizing cowboys and Indians romping over the
plains.
In 1939, in a speech before the Nebraskan Federation of
Women's Clubs, Dwight recommended “the use of better pictures in
homes, schools and other public buildings, improving art
exhibitions at state and county fairs, and particularly
strengthening the public school art program through better
training of elementary teachers.”
He lectured in many schools in
the state, and that year in Grand Island he assembled a traveling
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exhibit, helped display the works, and made three appearances to
the high school and citizens.
enjoyed his talks and pictures.
Over 150 students and patrons
The year before, he was able to
get John Steuart Curry to visit Lincoln and lecture.
Mr. Curry
was described as “jolly, round-faced, Kansas born top-flight
artist.”
Each November, American Art Week was celebrated, and to
promote the occasion, Dwight, with the aid of Mabel Langdon,
wrote for the Daily Nebraskan (the campus “rag”): “Surveying past
and present in field of American Art, looks to middle west.
It
should be significant to those interested in art that many art
critics in New York are beginning to look more to the Midwest for
the production of the best in characteristic American art.
Opportunity to observe the growth of the American spirit in
painting is available to any one who wishes to visit the
university art galleries in Morrill Hall.
The permanent art
collection of the university is considered one of the best and
most progressive in any state university to represent the
outstanding contemporary American painters.
Pictures by such
artists as Henri, Prendergast, Burchfield, and Hopper show the
earlier stages while Curry, Benton, Wood and Marsh show
experiments in localized subject matter presented in very
personal and dramatic ways.
Of special interest this fall is
Alexander Brook's painting of his wife, Peggy Bacon, with her
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Cat, ‘Metaphysics.’
Brook has just been awarded the most coveted
prize in this country, that of the Carnegie International
Exhibition in Pittsburgh.
brushwork eludes analysis.
Brook is a subtle colorist, whose
A definite feeling of illumination,
and the use of unexpected accents help to bring Brook's paintings
to life.
The present show of works by Nebraska artists brings
our review of American Art up to date, and close to home.
More
than ever, a number of Nebraska artists are finding ways of
expressing that which says ‘Nebraska’ in honest, straight forward
terms to the gallery visitor.”
All bases seem to have been covered by Dwight, with his
constant flow of art publicity on exhibits, lectures, classes and
administrative duties.
carry on his mission!
One wonders how he had the energy to
He made sure the Student Union was
supplied with pictures, including a “Picture of the month.”
Chancellor Boucher, in December 1939, wrote Dwight to compliment
him and the art department in lending pictures to the union and
Ellen Smith Hall, as well as the painting of the mural in the
Corn Crib.
“I think one of the most worth-while activities of
your department can be the stimulation and cultivation of a
cultural interest of a large part of our student body in art.”
Dwight could easily be described as chameleon-like in the
way he could switch from serious, distinguished, professional,
discussing art with a peer, to professor delivering a lecture
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dotted with humor, to fellow teacher telling a funny story about
a recent trip to New York, to father and husband at home.
Carol
Channing, in her one-woman shows, couldn't change costumes on
stage behind her folding screen faster than Dwight could change
roles.
And like Channing, the process was seamless!
The father/uncle role he played when we visited Lincoln was
a great treat, he took us on our first street-car ride, to the
state capitol building, the Sunken Gardens, Antelope Park and
Pioneers Park, etc.
There was nothing “distinguished” about him
those times, except that perhaps he was teaching us without our
knowing it.
He was jolly, patient, told funny stories, pointed
out interesting sights and seemed like a kid himself.
John and I
giggled so much he called us the “tee hee twins.”
Later when we were in the university former student and
faculty member, Murray Turnbull, returned from the war and taught
perspective. We were lucky to have such a talented person,
because some that followed were less than inspiring.
He told
about his experiences with Dwight, saying, “he was a closet
pixie, and now and then his quiet wit would emerge in delightful
ways.
When I first taught at the university (1946-48), we often
got together for lunch in Kady's large studio-office, indeed for
a year or two I had a desk of my own in there as my office.
She
was a dynamic, if opinionated woman, and clucked over those of us
who were the faculty with constant concern and admonitions.
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She
had, as you may remember, a marvelous old samovar which she fired
up every day with charcoal for afternoon teas, and which she
often used at noon to make soup which she insisted was to keep us
all from getting scurvy.
I recall one noon when Dwight sat
quietly at one side after we had done our duty by the soup,
saying very little.
At last his very silence began to attract
our attention a bit.
It then became apparent that he was smoking
a cigarette with an unusually long ash and in an odd way to
protect the ash so it wouldn't fall off, by holding the tip of
the cigarette to his mouth by means of a toothpick serving from
the bottom as a handle.
Soon enough there was not more than a
quarter of an inch of cigarette and all the rest ash, and we
focused our conversation on such an extraordinary sight.
He even
managed at last to place the unbroken ash gently on a tray when
it lay in astonishment rather like a powdered but whole worm.
He
said nothing about it but let us all take our amusement in wonder
at the accomplishment.
It was only later, perhaps sometime in
the afternoon, when the tray was emptied, that we discovered that
he had smoked the cigarette with a wire inserted like an armature
through its length.
It was the sort of jest he enjoyed most.”
“His creation of the collections was a taxing if
exhilarating effort, but he knew he was also in the wilderness,
and he was surrounded by philistines, who, even when lending
support and enthusiasm were also chopping away at what he was
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trying to do.
That he managed in days when it was a pioneering
effort of the most significant kind to build what is still one of
the genuinely solid collections of its sort in the country is not
much short of a miracle, and of course the splendid Sheldon
Gallery would never have come into existence without his
achievement.”
“It was an exciting time in the years I was there - he would
plan and talk about and make his annual foray to New York to
select the show, and for weeks would energetically direct our
efforts in arranging and hanging everything to best advantage.
He had a keen eye and good sense of what was substantial rather
than fashionable, and at a time when it was excruciatingly hard
he managed to introduce much of the midwest to arts which were
not widely understood. . He was a determined and feisty man,
remarkably happy with what he was doing in spite of much travail.
He never set himself apart, and indeed we felt honored to be real
friends even if subordinate in many ways.
possessed by an unshakable integrity.
Dwight was always
He had a way of being at
home with painting and painters and scholars in a comfortable and
relaxed way, but never let himself slip into that folksiness
which would protect him from thinking or caring about serious
matters.”
“He often demonstrated for his classes or painted with us
when we went on sketching trips, almost always with his hands
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busy with brushes and paints, the white stick dangling loosely
and seemingly unnoticed from his mouth - he was forever knocking
ashes into the paint accidentally, either brushing them swiftly
off the paper or muttering a brisk ‘Damn!’ and blowing away the
dust.
This was long before Pollack and others habitually dropped
ashes and other detritus into the paint on their canvasses.
Dwight always forgot the ash.
I can see him now suddenly
emerging from concentration elsewhere and flicking his hand
across his chest to dispose of cigarette droppings.”
“Years later, he switched to pipe smoking and exchanged
dropped ashes to dipping his paint brush into his coffee or beer
instead of paint water.”
Turnbull was a student when one of the most important shows
the N.A.A. ever mounted celebrated the 50th in 1940.
As was
mentioned earlier, Mabel Langdon Eiseley wrote the publicity:
“Three artists about whom books have lately appeared will be
represented in this year's show.
and Eilshemius.
They are Biddle, John Sloan,
This will be the first time for the work of
Eilshemius to be shown in Lincoln.
Several portraits of artists
will assist in making the exhibition interesting.
Doris Lee, who
has painted with spontaneity and dash, and has sometimes added a
few ‘wise-cracks’ on canvas, appears in this year's show as seen
by Arnold Blanch.
Waldo Pierce offers a self-portrait, and John
Sloan presents a sketch of Robert Henri.
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In George Groz’s
‘Memories’ appears a self-portrait against a war torn background.
Groz's painting, by the way, and Bellows' lithograph of Edith
Cavell are the only two pictures in the show having anything to
do with war.”
(Hitler was then on his insane “march” through
Europe.)
“Children, and doubtless a good many adults, will be
intrigued with Wayland Gregory's conception of Ichabod Crane, and
by Warren Wheelock's sculpture of Paul Revere fairly flying thru
the air in the mad haste to warn against the British.
Some may
take Calder's sculpted “Abstraction” humorously, but anyone who
has the faintest interest in mechanics will find himself beguiled
by the clever devices which the artist has maneuvered to produce
a study in perfect balance.”
In addition to several hundred lines of copy for newspapers,
Mabel Eiseley had to deal with reams of information, such as the
history of the Nebraska Art Association for the Time and Life
people who came to Lincoln.
She was at least thanked by the
N.A.A. board for her “untiring work,” though not well paid.
job was a labor of love - her devotion to Dwight, the art
department, and the annual N.A.A. show, demonstrated a real
sacrifice since she was willing to help out in a crisis in
Lincoln, while her new husband, Loren, worked in Lawrence,
Kansas.
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Her
In another article on the 1940 exhibit, she writes:
“Sensational, no less, was the opening of the Nebraska Art
Association's exhibit Sunday at Morrill Hall.
Some of the
sensations were the life size portrait of Katherine Cornell, the
panic of the studio cat (Kady's ‘Da Vinci’), the presence of a
photographer from Life, the size and distinction of the exhibit,
and the opening gun in a campaign for an arts building.”
“The campaigners had plenty of ammunition in, first the size
of the show, and second, the unprecedented crowd and consequent
difficulty of making the living pictures visible to all.
Then,
too, the growth of the association as epitomized in the
reproduction of its first exhibit, a single picture - (Piloty's
‘Wise and Foolish Virgins’ owned by the New York Metropolitan
Museum) and the collection that opened Sunday, carried an
implication of further growth and the need for space.”
She continued. . “This is, board members of the Art
Association believe, the most exciting year in all their history.
There has probably never been a time in which everyone worked
harder and with more imagination to make the exhibition a
success. . The exhibition committee, consisting of Mr. Kirsch,
Mrs. Dean R. Lealand, and Fritz Craig have gone to an almost
unprecedented amount of work to bring to Lincoln the greatest and
most inclusive art show ever exhibited here, and in order to
assure the Art Association of favorable exhibition space, the
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University of Nebraska has had the second floor corridor
painted.”
The prestige of this exhibition was further enhanced by art
experts who came to Lincoln to make recommendations for purchase.
The two, Myrick Rogers and Muriel Sibel, were well acquainted
with Kirsch and the growing collection.
In addition, Grant Wood lectured (March 5, 1940) on
“Regional Art” in the Student Union.
“The prestige and
background of Paris schooling is not necessary for a present day
American artist, in order to be a success,” declared Wood, as he
told of his two trips to France.
Wood was asked to leave a Paris
art academy after making an “Impressionist” painting, which was
considered the acme in radicalism at the conservative academy.
Wood seemed to be prophetic when he felt “that from the 2nd World
War, there may arise a cultural leadership from the first World
War.”
Then, on March 17th, Karl Mattern also gave a lecture,
this time on “Sense and Nonsense in Art.”
Excerpts of the history of N.A.A. written by Mrs. C.F. Ladd,
which was printed that year in lieu of purchasing a painting,
included the fact the General John Pershing and William Jennings
Bryan were early members.
Among other bits and pieces of
publicity was a story on the Saturday morning children’s art
classes accompanied by a picture of John Kirsch with a group of
other youngsters and assistant teacher, Arlo Monroe.
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The writer
mentioned that murals were painted, fashion illustration taught
by Miss Schwake, assisted by Jean Holtz, and other teachers
included Tom McClure, Robert Wolfe and Irmel Bush.
Lynn Robert
Wolfe, another Saturday morning art teacher and after the war, my
excellent sculptor instructor (who went on to the University of
Colorado at Boulder), sent me a picture of his 1939 class, which
also included John.
I heard so much about the classes from him
when we were kids that I almost wished we lived in Lincoln.
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Chapter 9 “World War II, Atkinson, ‘Main Street,’ John”
Atkinson celebrated its first Hay Days in 1940, and though
there were feelings of anxiety and uncertainty with world
affairs, my dad, and several other businessmen decided the town
should mark its sixty years of existence with a special event.
Kirsches drove up for the festivities, and while there, Dwight
painted “Big Sandhill Near Burwell, Nebraska.”
Where most people saw drab, desolate, desert-like land only
fit for supporting a few cattle, Dwight saw rhythms, soft colors
and a beauty that lent itself to his spontaneous style of
painting.
His return from those country trips were happy events
since he always had new pictures to show and sometimes a story to
tell, getting stuck in the sand, being chased by a bull, or easel
and paper blown apart by the wind.
For the Hay Queen's coronation, all of us were enlisted to
help.
We decorated the stage with bales of hay, spirea and
whatever flowers were blooming, then sat in our back yard to work
on the queen's crown.
Dwight fashioned one made of hay, which
was ugly, but since pretty tiaras were unavailable, it had to do.
128
Grandma Kelly had made me an 1880's style dress that I wore
to the old-time dances, however I was too young to date.
When
John came, we learned the polka, two-step, and a few square
dances while I proudly showed off my gown.
Later that summer,
Dwight painted a watercolor portrait of me sitting in a rocking
chair wearing that dress.
For Christmas that year, he silk-
screened stationery for me with a cameo design of an oldfashioned girl (I still have a few sheets!).
The heat that summer must have inspired Dwight because he
turned out a number of paintings, including “Indian Corn,” an oil
of his “Big Sandhill Near Burwell, Nebraska,” “Boy with Plants”
(of John), and “Portrait of John,” oils on canvas.
He must have
meant to work more on one or two because he neglected to sign
them.
I recall watching him work on “Indian Corn,” a large still
life of corn he grew, which he arranged on the rush seat of a
straight-backed, wood chair.
He framed it with a cornhusk-
covered mat, and a grayed wood frame discretely decorated with
halved corncobs (my parents purchased it from him and we now
enjoy it on our wall).
The heat didn't seem to matter to Dwight.
Summertime art
projects, traveling, gardening recharged his batteries and gave
him a chance to escape university classes, administrative chores,
speeches, and meetings.
129
Alas!
Summer was too short and university registration of
new students and setting up art classes intermingled with a few
“sticky wicket” problems.
Mrs. Don Love, one of the N.A.A.'s
highly esteemed members, died, leaving a few bequests to the Art
Department.
Dwight received a letter from Chancellor Boucher concerning
the pieces (it was a delicate matter since the family had left a
large sum of money for the construction of Love Library), a
painting by J.G. Brown, “Bootblack,” a marble copy of Venus
D'Milo, and a mosaic table made in Rome, were to be placed in the
university gallery.
Dwight was anxious not to offend donors, yet many times the
contribution was not the type or quality appropriate for the
university and N.A.A. collection.
He diplomatically suggested
that the table be placed in the soon to be built Love Library,
and the painting hung in the reception room of the new dormitory
for women, and since they were overstocked on marble copies of
Venus, there seems to be no record of what happened to the Love
gift.
He later suggested that a “Bequest Committee” be formed to
handle such matters.
THE WAR YEARS
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With his typical midwestern work ethic, Dwight forged ahead
in his job and again traveled east on December of 1941.
When
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, he was in
Philadelphia.
Undaunted, he went about his work in selecting art
for the 1942 exhibition, not knowing if the N.A.A. board would
cancel or hold the show.
In January, the board voted to continue
with the exhibition, but to curtail expenses where possible.
The
catalogue pages were reduced, and Dwight was quoted in the N.A.A.
minutes as saying “in time of war we need especially to have
stabilized our cultural achievements and ideals.”
The theme that year was patriotic, but also included a
memorial to Grant Wood, who had recently died.
Since not many
works could be shipped, the show was limited, but was
nevertheless a great success.
Sculptures by Zorach and Jose de
Creeft; paintings by Ernest Fiene; Max Weber; Boardman Robinson;
Henry Varnum Poor; Gilbert; Mattern; Albert and Faucet; “Hunter
in Red Shirt” by Gladys Rockmore Davis; etc., were shown.
Louis Utermeyer gave a Sunday lecture during the exhibition,
and the two art experts were again Meyric Rogers of Chicago and
Fred Bartlett, Denver.
honorarium of $25.
$28.03.
Their expenses were paid plus an
Living Pictures expenses that year were only
Kirsch reported that one of the artists with work in the
show, Hobson Pittman, sent a letter commending the Art Department
131
of the university and the N.A.A. for “its high type of
exhibition.”
From the minutes of the N.A.A., “Mrs. Thomas Woods reported
that she had been in New York during the past week and while
there visited four or five of the leading art galleries and was
pleased to note that in each of these galleries the people in
charge spoke high praise of Professor Kirsch, the Art Department
and the N.A.A., and some of them also expressed the opinion that
Professor Kirsch was held in high esteem among the artists in New
York.”
Because of the friendship between Dwight Kirsch and Mr.
Robert McIntire, the N.A.A. received a welcome gift of ten
paintings from the Bliss Collection of New York, including Walt
Kuhn's “Roses,” and works by Arthur Davies.
After that school year, there could be no extensive
traveling because of the war and gasoline rationing.
Thus, the
Kirsches spent time in Milford, Nebraska at “Porchy and Bath,”
large cabins which belonged to their good friends, Gretchen and
Joe Fahnestock.
It proved to be a delightful haven for
gatherings of the art-oriented, and if one was low on gas
coupons, the crowded bus was available.
Dwight was photographed doing a watercolor near a dirt road
in a field near Milford, pipe in his mouth (scarce cigarettes
were sent to our military), a basket of painting supplies next to
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him and “his friend,” a goat, a few feet away.
I can imagine he
carried on a conversation with the animal!
John wrote me a funny letter that summer, July 24, (we were
fifteen) describing his bus trip from Atkinson back to Lincoln:
“Chateau Kirsch.
Dear darling, sweetness honeysuckle sugar-pie
JoAnn: Please forgive me!
I've been saying to myself I'd write
to you ever since I got home, but I just didn't get around to it.
Your horn-cleaner (for my clarinet) has disappeared, but if it
turns up I'll send it to you.
on the way back.
home.
More fun!
Well, you should have been with me
It was hot as blazes all the way
At O'Neill we stopped to pick up passengers, and two men
going to the army got on.
I thought one of them seemed extra
jolly, 'till I smelled his breath.
Guess what!
You're right.
Pretty soon he and his pal got out the bottle and started
swigging.
Then it was passed around to everybody in the bus.
He
stuck it under my nose, and said it was free as water, and why
didn't I take some.
This lasted all the way to Grand Island.
Meanwhile he went dead drunk and came out of it sober, losing
whiskey out the window.
As we came into Grand Island he yelled
at all the fat matrons on the sidewalk, ‘Hey sister, d'ya want to
get married tonight?’
So much for that.”
“I showed the portraits to everybody when I got here.
Papa
thought Grandma's looked more like her, but yours was a better
picture as far as color, composition and stuff goes.
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I am
enclosing a lock of my hair for you.
I don't know how you can
use it, but yours made a good Hitler moustache, and it matched,
too!
You should have been here!
soldiers interested in art.
Sunday we are entertaining ten
There will be two soldiers to every
girl in the Artist Guild, who are helping entertain them.
Wonderful chance, isn't it?
I took your advice on books, and
read ‘Lost Horizon’ and ‘Frenchman's Creek.’
swell.
Isn't ‘Frenchman's Creek’ romantic?
hold up under the diet you cooked for him?
forward to seeing Aunt Bernice again.
sealing wax, if I can dig it up.
They were both
How did Uncle Ralph
I bet he looked
I'll seal this with
(He found it - a glob of gold
imprinted with the initial “K” was applied to the back along with
‘S.W.A.K.’).
I've done one still life since I got home, but it's
been so hot it isn't pleasant working.
juicy news as soon as possible.
Well, write me all the
Love, John XXX, P.S. Please cool
off about my not writing.”
In a 1941 letter, John wrote me to say, “I'm going to play
in a piano recital, the ‘Secondo’ in ‘The Swan.’
Papa says it
sounds like a dying duck.”Even at that age John was interested in
colors, fabrics, paintings and art in general.
He did a gouache
for me of a beautiful woman wearing a long gown walking down a
garden path when we were about thirteen and he commented and
teased me on my clothes, my ideas for dress designs, etc., much
to my delight.
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In his August 1942 letter from “Hall of Mirrors, Kirschshire
by the Sea,” he tells about the square dance parties, my horn
cleaner was found, one of the soldiers they entertained had a
sister who was a Vogue model and that he would like to meet her.
“Did you see any good shows in Omaha?
was ‘Mrs. Miniver.’
It was swell.
bawl at a movie before.
The last good one we had
I never saw so many people
The whole audience was blubbering.
I
thought your fingernail polish was rather gruesome in coloring.
I can't imagine you wearing ‘Black Mask.’
I don't know what it
would do to you hair, but I have a pretty good idea!”
“Is that blouse to go with your new skirt?
material.
It's pretty
By the way, have you put rick-rack around the skirt
yet, or shouldn't I have brought it up?”
We had a very heated
argument about an “Alice-in Wonderland”-type skirt we designed of
blue and white seersucker.
He wanted rick-rack both on top and
at the hem of a side white organdy ruffle and I thought it would
look better with it just at the top.
Aunt Truby even got into it
by siding with John, but since I was doing the sewing and
wearing, I won.
“I've been painting a lot lately.
The last one is one with
two figures in it, about three feet high, called ‘Lonesome
Women.’
I wish you were here to pose, but I'll bet you've had
enough modeling to last a long time!
This pen is acting like a
refugee from a Post Office (his letters were always messy with
135
crossed out words and smeared ink).
Write all the hot gossip
soon.”
John's December letter from “Kirsch Hall” teases me about
geometry, with which we both had trouble, and comments on a pin
he sent me for Christmas.
“They're the latest thing at Millers.
The doodads on this particular one seemed to sort of suit you.
The portraits will be coming along as soon as we can send them. .
I used yours to get into the Art Club over at Lincoln High.
All
the boys wanted your address and phone number, but of course I
told them how I had flattered you. (ahem). . We are kind of
lonesome this year, and I wish we could have gone up there.
That
would have been impossible on four gallons of gas a week, I'm
afraid.”
John was never active in competitive sports, but he did
learn to ski when his parents gave him a pair for Christmas.
He
and his friend, Russ Tudor, had fun skiing on Lincoln's hills,
and he also took riding lessons at a near-by stable.
In another letter, John is anxious to have me visit.
“I've
been doing a lot of painting lately, and I did a large oil
portrait the other morning in four hours.
(This is just to
comfort you in case you'd like to pose for a little while again.)
We've got some sunflowers that would look beautiful in your hair,
and would make a swell portrait.”
I had my eyes tested, and he
commented, “I hope you don't have to wear glasses again.
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If you
do, I suppose you'll get those harlequin frames with red
fingernail polish on them.
Eek!”
“Papa has a water color class at the university which I go
to once in a while, and it might be fun for us to go down to it
sometime while you're here.
There are some other high school
kids attending, and it's more like a picnic than a class.”
When I visited Kirsches during the war, we could not make a
sound during the news broadcast on the radio.
There were few
complaints about the rationing, just good-natured acceptance,
knowing we were doing it for “the cause,” though it was a
worrisome, grim time (ours was the only high school class that
began and ended during that war).
Russ and John spoiled me with
their attention; Russ was once able to use the family car to take
us to Capitol Beach to dance.
I loved their jokes, posed for
them, and savored those moments I did not have to be home cooking
and cleaning while my mother ran the Linotype at our newspaper.
I helped in the Kirsch “Victory Garden,” which was planted
alongside the driveway where the irises used to be, and was truly
amazed when Aunt Truby bought a pressure cooker to “put-up” the
vegetables.
There were no freezers then and she was determined
to cook healthy meals.
In the mornings, John would slowly move to the table in his
pajamas, then very slowly, eat his breakfast.
If Dwight needed
to take him to school, Aunt Truby prodded, yelled, and as a last
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resort, shrieked to urge him to move faster with his eating, his
use of the bathroom, his dressing.
He would have tried the
patience of a saint, and on reflection, it could have been John's
subconscious way of gaining control in his life.
I can still see him leaning out the car window peeling and
eating a juicy orange on the way to classes, juice dripping down
his chin and onto his shirt.
Uncle Dwight contributed to the
morning turmoil by uttering sharp words including a “damn” or
two, but he did manage to drive.
During that time, Dwight began a sporadic correspondence
with Mrs. Marguerite Lewis, who was the sister of Gretchen
Fahnestock, from 1942 until his death in 1981.
One of the first:
“Dear Mrs. Lewis, I wish there were such a thing as ‘thought
transference’ that could be depended on, then you would have
heard from me many times, instead of not at all.”
“Last fall early I felt pretty low, thinking that the very
best of our art staff had left (Lyda Del Burry to to Kansas City;
Mabel Langdon Eiseley, Lawrence, Kansas; and the male instructors
off to war), and it was hard to see how we could get along.
But
we have all pitched in and continued to run things (as often in
the past) on our famous ‘shoe string,’ and now I must admit that
those left on our staff are pretty swell, too.
But we do miss
you daily, Mrs. Lewis, and I hope that realization and feeble
thanks from us are some compensation to you for all you went
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through for us.
You must have liked it, or you wouldn't have
stayed, for such paltry practical incentives!
“We just had our Christmas party yesterday p.m. in Gallery
A.
Each of the 4 class groups put on a stunt, cleverer than
usual, and this year the faculty put one on, too.
We had an Art
History class with Joe (Ishikawa) as Miss Moore and me as the
visiting lecturer, Alfred Stieglitz!
The others took off
different students (Kelly, Miles, Garven, etc.) in clothes which
Glea (his secretary, Glea Frankforter), and Mac (the Morrill Hall
guard) stole for us!
It was great fun and I am sure you would
have enjoyed seeing it and contributing to it.”
“I just got back from the East Tues. A.M., Dec. 14.
The
trip was better than ever tho New York was a madhouse, crowded
with people, especially the hotels and theatres.
I stayed with
the Spike Bells on Staten Island three nights until I could find
a hotel room.
We are planning a bigger March show than last
year; the N.A.A. ‘upped’ the budget.
Will feature a group of 25
or more small oils (for homes), many drawings, watercolors and
other items for local collectors.
I got to visit the studio and
home of William Zorach and Marguerite Z., which is one of the
loveliest I have seen.
It was formerly a stable (in Brooklyn)
but has been completely rebuilt and modernized.
Will have some
of their work in March (including his portrait of daughter) and
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also other examples of other artists portraits of family members,
fellow artists and themselves.”
“I followed the Stieglitz trail again this year, result:
another 45 minute free lecture, even more fabulous than ever.
And feel that if he lives long enough (and isn't taken to the nut
house in the meantime) we can eventually get some first rate
Marins here.
Georgia O'Keefe is reported to be about to break
with Stieglitz permanently.”
(By this time, Alfred Stieglitz had
stopped doing photography but still maintained his gallery.
Unlike Dwight, who believed art should be enjoyed and understood
by ordinary people, Stieglitz was an elitist and believed in art
for art’s sake.
Early on he had introduced to the art world such
artists as John Marin, Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove and Charles
Sheeler and of course, Georgia O’Keefe.
His early magazine,
‘Camera Work’ ended publication in 1917 - before Dwight’s time,
however, he may have known about it.
He did not know O’Keefe,
but said he was in the same room with her during an art event.)
“Mr. Sweet invited me to be on the jury of the Chicago Artists
Show there, so Truby and I are going there Jan. 1st for a few
days if Mr. Roosevelt can call off the theatrical strike!”
(We
suffered through the strike by having to listen to very old noncopy-written music on the radio).
“I know you will have many empty feelings in your home this
holiday season.
(They had lost a son to polio).
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We are all
thinking of you and send sympathy and friendship to help you keep
going.”
“I am going to send some prints, etc., after the Christmas
rush, for your ‘art market,’ and for your own use.
Best to you
three, from Dwight Kirsch.”
A few months later, Dwight again wrote to Mrs. Lewis: “March
9, 1944.
We got Joe to pack a few watercolors to send you today
as per your request to Kady.
I included one of John's
watercolors too that he did at Weeping Water last fall that is
pretty cheery and decorative.
Your letter hadn't arrived before
I sent the monotypes to you, so probably some of the winter
scenes, etc. were not so welcome, though they might be next
summer.”
“Incidentally one of my recent sandhill monotypes (similar
to the one I sent you that has snow etc.) was accepted in the San
Francisco Water Color Show that opens soon.
Perhaps I told you,
too, that Mrs. Edmiston and I sent a group of monotypes to the
Kraushaar Gallery in N.Y. and Miss Kraushaar is going to keep a
few to try to market for a while.
far.
I have had a nibble on one so
Mrs. Edminston is now having a monotype show at Joslyn, and
has sold one of the group so far.”
“I intend to get some mats cut to send you with a couple
more prints of the windmill (silk screen) but have been so sunk
with too much to do lately that there hasn't been time. . for a
141
while we couldn't get enough help to hang the show but we pitched
in and got the work done somehow.”
“The show is grand and is much more colorful and extensive
than last year.
It has many wonderful angles for gallery talks:
Some of the oils, particularly the two Webers, the Karfiol nude,
the Kantor trees, have us going around ‘drooling’ they are so
luscious.
We got a pretty fair Marin (through another gallery,
not Stieglitz) but it is mostly causing people to ask why is it
worth that much ($700).”
“Trank's things came in fine (Lynn Trank), we have several
of them in a case in the exhibit with one of Murray Turnbull's,
and the rest as an ‘annex’ in the library.”
(The two men were in
the war then.)
“I would like to send a few of them out with the rest of the
Service Men's show to the Kearney Art Fair, where they have
requested an exhibit for the last week in April-if we may have
them that long.”
“We had our first ‘incident’ yesterday and today in
connection with the schools and the above-mentioned nude.
Mrs.
Morley and the teachers at Prescott decided they didn't want
children to see the painting, so instead of taking it down or
closing the gallery we simply used the gallery (A) for our uni.
classes for gallery talks while the Prescott children were here.
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None of the rest of the teachers seem to object and Miss McFie is
perfectly in accord with us.”
“In case no one else has told you, your sister did bring me
the money for the ‘Big Cottonwood’ gouache some time ago - and
many thanks for your part in the transaction.
Best regards to
all, DK”
The “Big Cottonwood” gouache he mentions was no doubt the
original from which his well-known silk screen was done.
The
farmyard tree fills the space with large curved branches with
green changing to gold leaves partially covering a small house.
My grandmother Kelly enjoyed it in her little house.
Unfortunately, it later “disappeared” when renters moved her
things after she died.
Dwight describes in pencil on thin “airmail stationery” a
rare account on the “Making of a Picture. . The subject: a
farmyard about six miles southeast of Lincoln, Nebraska, as
viewed from a hilltop.
The view towards the east is dominated by
a large thunderhead (anvil-shaped) in the distance, in opalescent
colors from the light of the setting sun. The summer of 1942 was
a moist one, showing finally the breaking of the drouth cycle.
There were rich greens (especially in corn fields), and vast
expanses of overflowing abundance.”
“A small watercolor sketch was made on the spot in about
forty-five minutes, before the light changed too much.
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From
this, and a small notebook ‘shorthand sketch’ in pencil, a
working drawing (the size of this print), was made in black and
white.
All main lines, details and dark light were indicated on
this working drawing.”
“A silk screen print is made by using a series of hand made
stencils, one for each printing color (eleven, in this case).
The stencils are made of glue (Le Pages), applied wet, then
allowed to dry in a film, on the silk screen.
The ‘screen’ is
silk (or nylon) bolting cloth, of very fine mesh, voile or
organdie are sometimes used as a substitute.
This fabric is
fastened tightly to a wooden paine, on which it forms the bottom
of a tray, as it were.
Each time a color is printed through a
stencil, the paint (similar to a mixture of oil paint and
printers ink) is squeezed through the open mesh of the silk
screen with a rubber-edged ‘squeegee’ that resembles a windshield
wiper.
In this way it is possible to print, by hand, and in the
artist's studio, an edition of fifty or more of each subject.
Seventy-five are in this edition of The World's Granary.”
His reference to a “Service Man's Show” was only one of
several Kirsch projects devoted to the war effort.
The USO was
located in the old Rudge and Guenzal store building in downtown
Lincoln, about 13th and “N” street.
An art space in the former
department store was available to the service men who were
interested, and Truby was heavily involved in seeing that the men
144
had art materials, an occasional model, display space, etc.,
though I suspect more precious to them at that time were her
motherly offerings of encouragement and reassurance to those
young people so far from home.
With others, the Lincoln Artists Guild and the N.A.A. Air
Base Project, Kirsches helped with placing some 700 pictures to
“improve morale,” in offices, recreation rooms, etc. on the
Lincoln Air Base and the Veteran's Hospital at the request of the
Office of Civilian Defense, Washington, D.C.
By 1944, with the war gradually winding down, the N.A.A.
minutes mentioned in Truby's report (read by Mrs. Edmiston) that
several items from the local Service Men's Show were sent to Des
Moines for a national USO convention.
Those minutes also record
that the N.A.A. rejected Gladys Lux's request that her Nebraska
Wesleyan art students view the annual exhibit free of charge.
They had to pay fifteen cents.
Was this benign neglect?
they (the N.A.A) that short of funds?
discrimination?
Were
Or was it snobbish
Miss Lux felt it was the latter, and recalled
the incident some forty years later.
That summer of 1944 my parents were hard at work on the
Graphic and I was still keeping house and cooking (juggling food
coupons, too) and helped with the care of Grandma Kelly, until
she required a nurse.
She died in July and my mother was furious
that Aunt Truby did not come to help with her care.
145
John later
explained his mother could not face seeing her mother so ill, and
she herself told my dad that she could not leave Dwight and John.
To the credit of those involved, the strong critical feelings did
not erupt into a full-blown family squabble.
Dwight's October letter that year is filled with university
news.
“We have simply submerged since the Seward show: First,
the uni. registration last spring except for freshmen, and a
bigger, new freshman class this year.
than its share of new students.
And the art dept. got more
Our preliminary count shows our
enrollment is up over 40% over last year's, whereas the general
uni. increase is not over 10%.
We had several of our best former
students, who had been out working, return, such as Marian Hatten
and Lola Everingham, all of which is very cheering.
means a lot of work.
But, it
Our new help is good: Mrs. Allen (from
Calif.) is a peach, and sails right into things. She (Clara
Marie) teaches public school art, illustration and helps me with
the morning section of Drawing 1 & 2 besides teaching night class
(Freda teaches all design classes & int. des.), Dora Von Bargen,
who taught in McCook last year will help us full time as
assistant instructor in lettering lab, as well as helping in 1
section of Design, & public school art, probably in Sculpture
next semester, and will have charge of Saturday classes.
Doris
Doezal (red-haired girl who had the children's summer class) is
assisting in Kady's Art 1 & 2 and Anatomy labs and in my Art 3
146
(Perspective).
She is a senior, with a light schedule of
classes, so can help fully half time.
Joe came back Sept.15, just in time to help unload the trunk
from Seward.
He is on the job in the library again, as well as
helping with packing & exhibitions, and B. Nakada does our signs.
Glea is kept pretty busy with Extension things for Mrs. Vance, as
she has taken over all the mounting, etc. that Katherine did.
We
have a half-time stenographer in the office, a freshman who has
worked a year in a law office.
But still and all we miss that
Lewis woman and Lyda & some of the others, and have enough work
to keep all of them busy were they here! We actually have six or
seven men registered in the department this year (as compared
with 3 or 4 last year).
And the Union is serving meals to ‘us
civilians’ again in the cafeteria, very good food, too, if you
have time to stand in line for it. The Guild has its first
meeting Thurs. Oct.12, a new color film, with sound, on ‘Life in
18th Century Williamsburg’ made by the Eastman Co. and released
only for one showing in each city-, just like ‘Gone with the
Wind’ are we ever exclusive!
Perhaps your sisters gave you some
reports or ‘statistics’ on the conclusion of the Seward Show.
was a big success on most counts, certainly from the standpoint
of the school children and the general community interest, as
well as for the stimulation it gave us five painters and
families.
I am sorry Mrs. Semler had to go through some
147
It
disagreeable haggling over the settlement of accounts but it
might have been worse.
Actually the sales of pictures made there
were due to Mrs. Semler's work, and yours and Gretchen's.
If we
had had to depend on the woman's club committee I doubt if
anything would have sold.
15 pictures in all were sold the total
of prices $265.00, of which $16.50 in commission went to the
club, to help pay costs.”
“The Kirsches had the big “intake,” enough, in fact, to
cover the cost of Truby's trip to N.Y. with me in December and to
bolster John's “account” up to the amount his trip would cost.
We opened our group show in Lincoln on Sunday, Sept. 24 with a
tea, and most of the ‘best people’ turned out, very much
impressed.
I was so delighted that Gretchen and Joe could come,
and bring Betty and Mrs. Newton (who seemed to get a huge kick
out of it).
The Spielers came, too, Millie looking like
something out of a late fashion plate.
People just started
buying out of our Lincoln show yesterday, and in the course of 24
hours 4 pictures have sold ($25 to $35 each), 2 of Barbara's
(Barbara Ross), one of Mrs. E's (Edmiston), and a small oil of
mine.
Glea says she also wants to buy my small oil (head) of her
to give her husband.
Wish you could see the show; it hangs very
well, instead of one gallery we used both (one for oils, one for
watercolors and drawings) and wall space in the corridor from the
last corner to Gallery B (just one side of the corridor).
148
You
know how we love to expand.
Our group started painting together
again last Saturday at Barbara's.
Saturday.
We hope to work every
Freda Spaulding, Mrs. Allen (Clara Marie), and
possibly Mrs. Jorgenson and Mrs. Leland will work with us from
time to time too.
(Mrs. E. and her husband are going to
California soon and will be gone until January.)
We hope Betty
Fahnestock can pose for us next Saturday at our house.”
“I had an extra moulding put on the frame of Bob's portrait
and it looks much better - Hope you will like it.
The color on
the moulding may be a bit strong for your house, but, if so, you
can ‘dope’ it with wax crayon to subdue it.
to you by express soon after Oct. 15th.
I'll try to send it
I have proposed the idea
of a ‘field course’ in painting & sketching (including all media)
at Milford next summer to our Extension director, Dr. Broady, and
he is very enthusiastic about the idea.
If we succeed in making
all necessary arrangements it would be an intensive 3-week
course, probably in July, beginning soon after the 4th, and under
my direction.
Won't you join the class?
Please don't get the
idea from the above ‘blurb’ that we have sold so many pictures,
we still have some good ones left to send to Phillips, Borger and
other ‘benighted’ places in Texas!
Just let us know when you
want them, how many, and what kind.”
“I discovered after you had left that I had not told you how
beautiful I thought your talk was at Seward.
149
If that is a sample
of what you can do, I suggest you better keep at the lecture
business and raise your fees. Thanks, between friends, may be
redundant, and not in the best of taste: but we are grateful to
you for all you did for us this summer in countless ways.
At any
rate please thank John for lending you to Nebraska for the
summer.
Best wishes to you all, including your mother and Bob.”
“Sincerely, Dwight.
P.S. My latest sale: an oil, at Joslyn
Memorial, from their December ‘Six States’ show, was the sketch
of Mary Louise Rose (his niece from Chicago) in the studio last
summer, with a big bouquet beside her-called ‘Summer Afternoon.’
DK.”
Dwight's January letter to Marguerite gives us a sample of
how difficult it was in the city to get meat.
The Kirsches spent
New Year’s eve with Gretchen and Joe, “to share our tough chicken
- the chicken purchased from Bess Streeter Aldrich (their authorneighbor) at the back door of her son-in-law grocer Beechner's
house, believe it or not.
Had Allens, Mrs. Jorgenson, Doris
Marie and friend Will Wilson (nephew of Wm. Jennings and Charlie
Bryan) and the Rosses, and we had a mildly hilarious time that
included dancing, from hick style to ballet, music of all
periods, both records and piano and singing.”
“A War Art show, 26 pictures by Benton & Schreiber showing
submarine warfare, and 8 of Bob Pierce's New Guinea sketches.
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Bob is one of our art graduates who was in South Pacific a long
time & was decorated.”
He enclosed the “dope sheet” on the March show and mentions
“The tops, as I recall them: Biddle's ‘Frieda Lawrence,’ an
amazing characterization, at first sight unprepossessing, but
properly solid and with a fine head.
Several amusing items,
Csoka's (pronounced Chike'-ah) ‘Preview,’ and L. Pershing’s ‘Dear
Mr Smythe,’ whose caller has a blue-green face and button eyes
and is bringing flowers and something to eat.
Several abstract
and semi-abstract pictures as well as surrealist-fringes to amaze
the students some, but N.A.A. members more, and probably to make
Jean Kinder froth at the mouth some more” (he delighted in
shocking stodgy, “veddy proper” types).
“The new Heliker oil is
fine, done in Maine, boats in the harbor-related to Hartley's
work but in a subtle way, the colors like fused enamels.”
“We'll have some “primitives” too, Patsy Santo (a protege of
Walt Kuhn's - who works in a very delicate and Currier & Ivsey
style), Pippin, & I hope Grandma Moses.”
“We are to get 2 of the Carnegie Show prizewinners,
Kuniyoshi's still life ‘Room 110’ in light grays and translucent
buffish-yellows and Waldo Pierce's big bouquet, with a kitten
below it, ‘Black-eyed Susans.’
One of Darrell Austin's latest, a
moody spotted dog, salmon pink moon, painted much more broadly
than he usually does.
The Sparhawk-Jones is fairly good, but not
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tops, a graveyard with figures.
The Weber ‘Moonlight’ is two
nudes in the foreground & mostly blue green, but the way he has
used his lines they might have been in long flannels.”
“Among the sculptures we have several fine wood pieces & a
beautiful new Zorach in a marble or alabaster in light sienna
tones (try your paints to see what I mean).
We are having
shipments made earlier than usual, partly to get the work out of
New York before it is all sold, & partly to avoid possible delays
in shipment. Possibly you have had other reports of our Morrill
Hall Xmas party, it was even more hilarious than usual.
Gretchen
begged me to send you this enclosed card (‘Nickie’ is Martha
Nickerson, a freshmen you might remember from your last year
here, she did the goat-perfume label for you).
return it as it is a ‘collector's item.’
Please be sure to
The cast of characters
include Kady with galoshes, me with harp on the outside, & Joe
Ishikawa chasing Clara Marie Allen, inside.
accurate and not overdrawn.
It is pretty
Details correct except for my harp
courtesy M. Shanafelt (who was a puppeteer), which was actually a
green Irish harp, the type Chauncey Olcott used.
blue-green (dyed) mop that was once Blue Beard's.
My hair was a
Halo and wings
were made of bent coat hangers & white tissue paper.
Our
performance was in the homemade and impromptu opera, titled
‘Space Relations’ (which phrase was sung & repeated ad
infinitum).
Other instruments used by the ‘cast’ included a bell
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(Miss Moore), a tom tom, a flute etc. etc.
freshmen had good stunts.
All except the
The sophomores did the statues on 3rd
floor coming to life.”
“I threaten to write an account of ‘New York day by day’ and
have Glea type copies to send you, Mrs. Edmiston & others, but
think this better go, as is.
Best to all, Dwight.”
Seldom did Dwight's letters to Marguerite stray from artrelated matters.
She was slowly healing from the deep wounds
caused by the death of her son, and found that showing and
selling art was a worthwhile and satisfying diversion. The art
exposure and money from sales, in turn, helped the artists.
She
received a 10% commission.
Dwight was generous in including fellow artists to “share
the spoils” and it is noted that by March, 1945, several out-inthe state artists were included in the shipments to Borger,
Texas: Mrs. Elizabeth Meyer and Mrs. Marjorie Corn from Grand
Island (the latter was a former student of DK's); Miss Ruth
Tompsett, Omaha; and Mr. Paul Faulkner, North Platte.
He tells
Marguerite (March 6, 1945) “Mrs. Meyer is a grand old lady from
Grand Island or you might call her ‘Nebraska's Grandma Moses.’
She is in her 80's and has been the main organizer and the active
force of the Grand Island Sketch Club.
Mrs. Corn is secretary of
that group and is Marian Hatten's sister.
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Ruth Tompsett teaches
in one of the Omaha high schools.
Paul Faulkner, you remember,
is one of our graduates who has done murals.”
“I am including a few copies of two of my silk screen prints
although I did not have time to mat all of them.
I am also
including two of my watercolors, which I thought might appeal to
Texans though I am sure you have enough other pictures of mine.
Judging from my list, the small sandhill picture to which you
refer which is a combination of pencil and watercolor is called
‘Frost in the Hills’ and it is not for sale, as it is one of the
few pictures that I have done which I want to keep (he kept the
small 9' X 12” study with him until he died).
I thought I had
probably priced ‘Open Country’ high enough so no one would buy it
as it was one of my favorites.
In regard to the prices of
pictures in larger quantities (in case your Corpus Christi man
still wants some), I would not lower prices on any of the
pictures which you have as they are low enough for this group
which I consider among my best work.
If they are still
interested in seeing a group of several monotypes in April, I
could send him a series of a dozen or more that could be priced
as low as $12.00 each to him.”
His letter also mentions the N.A.A’s annual show “it was a
huge affair and a big success from all indications.
Mac counted
over 1150 people in the galleries on Sunday afternoon.
From
those figures you can imagine not many people really got to see
154
paintings and sculpture in the exhibit because they got in each
other's way.”
Later that month he also wrote a brief letter, which
discussed commission, and showing of work in Corpus Christi.
In
April he clarified a few questions she had on titles of
paintings, and a price for “Alice in the Studio” for $20, a
gouache he did of Mrs. Edmiston.
That he would sell it for as
little as $20 seems incomprehensible today especially since his
portraits nearly always “caught” the individual in an easy,
charming, sure manner.
He finishes that letter by mentioning he
had just returned from his talk closing the show.
“It has been a
success but leaves us limp, and with much to catch up on.
Our
Beatrice plans are going ahead for Apr. 10 to 13, Kady, Mrs. E.,
and I will give talks and demonstrations there.
We're sending 75
pictures by 23 artists.”
The European “phase” of World War II ended in April of 1945.
V-E Day was celebrated in Atkinson by going to church and praying
for our servicemen and women in the South Pacific.
In his May 1
letter he doesn't mention the war, or John's (and my) upcoming
high school graduation.
activities.
It was all art business and his own
He had just returned from a trip to Oklahoma and
found her letter, with money enclosed, “I have been enjoying the
role of Santa Claus, distributing the money, and everyone
concerned is pleased.
I am afraid you have taken it all too
155
hard: with all of us, an occasional sale of a picture is just so
much ‘velvet’ and we expect nothing.
So I think you have done
extremely well, especially since I got a sample of what happens
down your way in the kind of pictures painted for the rich in
Oklahoma, mostly imitations of ‘purty’ prints dispensed by
Colonial Art Co.: Magnolia blossoms, dogwood, calendar
landscapes, etc.”
“They showed me a lovely time in Tulsa and also arranged a
‘personally conducted’ trip to Stillwater and Norman.
Then I
stopped in Okla. City two days to visit relatives and see things.
My solo show, including oils, tempra, watercolor, etc., will be
shown in Wichita, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City next fall and winter,
maybe other places later.
I'm not teaching summer school so
intend to spend the time trying to become ‘human’ again by being
a farmer and painter.
Dwight.”
My friend Claudia and I were in Lincoln most of that summer.
We planned to begin classes at the University of Nebraska that
fall and we thought we should try our wings and find summer work.
For pleasure, Aunt Truby got us into the USO Junior Hostess
program and we met a lot of soldiers who were stationed at the
Lincoln Air Base.
We weren't allowed to date them, but it was
easy to break the rules, and they were “gentlemen.”
I did lots of posing for the Saturday morning group that
summer, chunks of time screwing on a pearl earring while wearing
156
a pink slip (John managed to unclothe me that much), and a string
of pearls.
He entered the portrait in a pearl company contest
and received an honorable mention, but no monetary prize.
My
shoulder-length red hair was done in an “upswept,” stylish at
that time, and he threw a blue-green drape over one arm.
Years
later he was horrified and embarrassed when he noticed he had
given my right-hand middle finger an extra joint.
He was
precocious and very knowledgeable about art at that young age and
later made no excuses for his mistake.
I still find it amusing!
Claudia and I missed the August V-J day celebration in
Lincoln, however John filled us in with a letter describing the
wild, joyous event.
Dwight, typically, did not mention it in his
September 19th letter: “. . many thanks for the check for the
picture - it will come in handy as this has turned out to be a
heavy month what with John's tuition, etc.”
“You interest and amaze me, suggesting a fee of $100 and
expenses from Okla. City.
I would not only come for that price
but would even include an impersonation of Stieglitz, thrown in
for good measure (though Truby says that would be worth $150).
am definitely slated for a reception in Wichita Sat. evening
Oct.6 and lecture Sunday the 7th.
Truby will go along too.
If
the Borger ‘promotion’ should materialize the date should be as
early as possible in that week.
With the work piling up here I
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I
would not dare be gone too long as I have to be gone again in
Nov. (to St. Louis) and Dec. (N.Y.).”
“Our enrollment is way up and we are going to be swamped in
some labs (they were, I was in Drawing 1 and Design.
drawing, we had to work in the corridor.
For
There were architecture
students in the class, including Irv Dana and others, with
talent).
Fortunately a good sculptor fell our way - like manna
from Heaven.
She is the wife of Air Base permanent staff
officer, and has had swell training at Uni. of Washington (state)
& with Archipenko & Maldarelli in N.Y. as well as teaching
experience and commercial work in pottery & ceramic sculpture.
She promises to stay out the semester & probably the whole year,
even if her husband is transferred.”
“Katherine is still going to teach one class on Fridays, &
we have two excellent upperclassmen for lab assistants so far,
and two men to help with packing room & hanging & signs, also
clay mixing.
Xmas.
Joe is coming back for Library but not until after
So we have to line up someone for art library this
semester. . wish you were here.
We opened our faculty show of
summer work with a tea Sunday - Clara Marie, Freda, Kady and I.”
“As for lecture subjects for Borger I think I suggested
either: (a) illustrated lecture with Kodachrome slides ‘American
Art in the Making’ or (b) how a watercolor is painted - a
demonstration of 2 or 3 different ways of doing it.
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The latter
would be more fun to do but don't know whether it would appeal or
seem worth $100.”
“We had a whee of a weekend at Milford Sept. 8th & 9th,
perhaps Gretchen has written you.
Freda, Mrs. Edmiston, Kady,
the 2 Allens & 2 Frankforters, Truby & I were all there & Barbara
& Bob Ross Saturday PM & for fried chicken & fixins at Spielers.
We had a paper shower for Betty after food.
I hear Chick (her
serviceman husband) is on his way home from Europe, went down on
Main St. and painted the local scene until the lights were turned
out.
Working from the middle of the street, top of car, etc.
Frank did a swell one & Barbara one of the barbershop (with
customer) from outside looking in.
Sunday AM we had Fred Allen's
mix of pecan waffles & sausages at Spielers.
A shower & cold
wind spoiled our plans to picnic out-doors but didn't stop us
from going to graveyards to paint (br-r-r-!).
The Allens set up
their bright blue Calif. beach umbrella for shade (when the sun
came out) in the graveyard and it collapsed when the wind came
up.
Gretchen fed us at ‘Porchy,’ Truby drove in to Lincoln in
the AM & brought John back Sunday evening.
As ever, Dwight.”
The September letter is full of plans for Dwight and Truby's
trip to Oklahoma and Texas, their schedule, train times, shipping
of paintings for the show there, he finishes by saying, “Truby is
sewing madly to get things ready to go.
A few days ago she got
cold feet and thought she couldn't leave but don't think she will
159
back out now.
John will be on his own, and judging from the time
we have getting off in the morning, it wouldn't surprise me if he
were late to all classes: the change of time may help, though.”
“We have just added Gene Cotton Garrison to out staff full
time.
She will be in charge of art library, taking time off to
assist in some labs, helping Clara Marie in Art 1 & 2 &
understudying her in illustration & in charge of children's
Saturday class.
We also have a half-time student in art library.
Just as I was thinking our staff is complete Glea broke the news
that she & Frank are expecting another Frankforter at their house
along about April.
But as Joe comes back next semester, Gene
Garrison could work in office & Joe in library.”
“You should see the handsome men from the Air Base who are
in some of our classes, also our new off-white walls in 3rd floor
corridor.
Don't know how much farther the paint job will go, the
latest is the Uni. is getting short of money again (or yet) &
they won't paint offices & classrooms on our floors just now.
More later, as ever, Dwight.”
Those days of train travel are nearly a memory.
Dwight's
note to Marguerite written from Kansas City on the trip back from
Phillips, Texas mentions a few complications, “we were actually
on another train that was on time.
Santa Fe from Okla. City, so
we had time for a bite to eat, and now a brief wait before
boarding the Zephyr for Lincoln.
160
Our ride from Amarillo to OK
City turned out well after all, though we had an anxious half
hour at first.
Finally sleuthed out a vacant upper berth on the one Pullman
car, & after chasing from one end of the train to the other, over
babies, baggage, bare feet, located the conductor in the Jim Crow
car.
We had to buy new tickets first class to get a Pullman so
will have some to send in for refund.
Tho we had intended to sit
up, the train was so late we went to bed and actually got about 5
hrs sleep, arriving shortly after 2AM, where we were met by our
relatives.
Then after early AM lunch at their house-coffee (milk
for me) & banana cream pie with whipped cream!
sleep in bed.
We got 4 hrs more
Our memories of Borger, Phillips & the nice time
we had still linger pleasantly.
Sorry that the anxiety of
getting that train prevented thanking you properly.
Best to John
& Bob, Dwight.”
Truby was especially excited about the Oklahoma-Texas trip
and related colorful descriptions of the oil fields at night with
their ejections of billowing, pink, smoky steam.
Dwight did a
wonderful gouache of the sight.
Dwight's follow-up letter, October 18th, states “I just came
across the enclosed list of books which includes a number of
recent works on color which I thought might interest you.
Possibly you could have your library order some of them and I
think you would find the color packet useful in your talk.
161
I
have heard Mr. Birren talk and he is a good authority on the
subject of color and can express himself very clearly.
We
arrived in Lincoln shortly after 10 P.M. on Sunday and were very
glad to get home.
We did succeed in getting seats all the way,
however (trains were so packed with servicemen, etc., we often
sat in the aisles).
John had had a few adventures while we were
gone, including the experience of losing his house key on
Saturday.
He solved his problem by breaking one of the French
door panes to get in.
I am still curious as to whether the two
portrait sketches were accepted.
At any rate, I am going to make
a sale of a picture in Wichita, as Mrs. Navas wants one of my
watercolors for the Murdock Collection; probably one of the
Milford pictures.
With best regards to the family.
Dwight.”
162
Sincerely,
Chapter 10
“Beginning of the End: Post War”
With the end of the war, imports were again possible.
We do
not have an account of how Dwight managed, we only know he was
chairman of the Exhibition Committee for the 1946, 56th Annual
Exhibition of the Nebraska Art Association.
time, an exciting European Art Show was hung.
But, for the first
I vaguely recall
the paintings, but in my young naive state, and even after
studying the artists in Art History, I took them for granted not
realizing how wonderful it was to have art by Dali, Chagall,
Picasso, Cassett, Matise, Renoir et al., right in front of my
eyes in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The Lincoln newspapers sponsored the
European section, and it was noted in their publications that
“Professor Kirsch stressed the fact that this was also an exhibit
of contemporary American art.., and the exhibition would be an
educational show in every sense of the word.” It was the largest
exhibition ever presented by the association with about 200
paintings, drawings and sculptures.
Young ladies from the best
families in Lincoln served tea and sold catalogues, with a chosen
few posing for Living Pictures.
Mrs. Thomas C. Woods, Jr., and
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son, stole that show event when they posed for Mary Cassatt's
“Mother and Child.”
There were lectures, panel discussions, and reams of
publicity.
In closing the exhibition, Dwight also demonstrated
tempra painting. This was covered by the Lincoln newspapers,
which reported “while waiting for the surface to dry on the
original painting, Prof. Kirsch assembled two sandwiches by a
similar process (to illustrate the steps).
Dark bread (casein
background), butter (under color), meat, cheese (surface color),
and jam (glaze).”
Leave it to Dwight to illustrate with food!
He commented on the two paintings bought by the N.A.A. for
their permanent collection, Henry Keller's watercolor “Lake
Louise,” $125; Joseph de Martini's “Lighthouse Point,” $495; and
Lee Jackson's “The Gray Horse,” $365.
Dwight also told how some
of the purchases had been made to fill in the gaps in the
comprehensive Hall Collection: “Pensionnaire,” a postwar painting
by Jack Levine, B.J.O. Nordfeldt's “Rooster,” and Jose De
Creeft's “Juanito,” a serpentine marble sculpture.
He related
personal incidents about the painters whom he had known, and
described their techniques.
Private citizens also purchased works from the exhibit by
Frances Sheldon, Mrs. E.J. Faulkner, Mrs. Fred Seacrest, Paul
Speier, Kady Faulkner, and Dwight Kirsch.
(Jean Faulkner wrote
me in 1983, “Dwight had a wonderful sense of humor and was a
164
dedicated worker.
John did an outside mural on our porch and it
is as terrifically good now as when he did it many years ago
(1950).
I thought John’s artistic talents were as great or
better than Dwight’s.”)
As if that were not enough art activity, Miller & Paine hung
a one-man show in their auditorium for Keith Martin at the same
time.
Martin spent 14 months in Iceland doing camouflage work by
day, and meticulous portraits by night. He was the first American
to hold a solo show in Paris since the fall of France, but since
he was in the Army at the time, he was not allowed to sell his
work.
Leonard Theissen said “Miss Gertrude Stein wrote of Keith
Martin: ‘Young man I am too old to be kind.
I am impressed with
your paintings, I like them very much.’”
That summer four paintings were loaned to the Colorado
Springs Art Center.
I am sure that was the summer John was given
an art scholarship for study at Colorado College in conjunction
with the art center.
Dwight's friend and artist, Boardman
Robinson, was there at the time, and John came home full of
enthusiasm from the experience.
That summer was also the beginning of a critical era for the
Kirsch family, the beginning of several years of pain, turmoil
and bitterness.
A letter was written from Dr. Arthur Westbrook,
Director of the School of Fine Arts (a musician), to Dean
Oldfather and Chancellor Boucher concerning hiring help for
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Dwight.
“He should retain his title as ‘Director of the
University Art Galleries and Professor of Art.’
The new man
should be Chairman of the Art Department (since Dwight does not
prefer administrative work), have a PH-D trained in education and
administration.
The selection of a chairman should be made with
the approval of the Chancellor, can teach history and
appreciation of arts (Miss Moore was to retire in 1948) and has a
lively interest in the field of art.
The appointment would be
made with approval of Chancellor, Dean Oldfather, Professor
Kirsch, and certain men in Teachers College who are interested in
art education, as well as myself.”
“In contemplating such a reorganization, I believe it should
be understood that Mr. Kirsch, as Director of the University Art
Galleries, should continue his work with the Nebraska Art
Association, the Lincoln Artists' Guild, and other groups, all of
which during the winter season almost makes a full-time job.”
“This recommendation is an unusual one, I will admit, but if
we may have a whole year in which to find a chairman of the art
department, I am sure we can make a very much better selection
than we could make if we were called upon to do so within two or
three months.
Cordially yours, Arthur E. Westbrook.”
The search began, and we know that at least two prospects
were interviewed without consulting Dwight.
In the meantime, the
university changed chancellors, from Boucher to Gustavson.
166
Dwight did speak to the chancellor asking for more help.
However, I must assume he did not mean hiring a new department
head.
I am quite sure he knew nothing of the above letter.
However, it is known that he and Dr. Westbrook disagreed on
matters between the music, art, and teaching departments (I was
advised by him and Truby to avoid taking “ed.” classes in
Teachers College).
The years of orchestra practice in one of the
galleries, and both music and art classes housed in the same
building must have been trying, and then too, their personalities
may have clashed.
That Dwight would be asked (allowed?) to “continue his work
with the N.A.A. and the Lincoln Artists' Guild” is amazing to me,
since many activities with the groups were in a voluntary
capacity.
Granted, he was being paid by the university during
time spent in N.Y., on the annual exhibit.
However, it was
activity calculated to build up the art collections in the
university galleries, as well as to improve the quality and
standards of the art department.
Over the years, Dwight enjoyed basking in a vast amount of
favorable publicity.
In reviewing the N.A.A. minutes listing
board members, honorary members, and volunteers, we also know
that the cream of Lincoln society was actively associated with
art.
Dwight was the Art Authority of the State of Nebraska, and
167
it is likely there were colleagues outside the art department who
felt pangs of envy and jealousy concerning his popularity.
Wives may also have played a part in causing a certain
amount of animosity.
Truby, with her beauty, style and confident
manner, intimidated women who had less self esteem and certain
Lincolnites would have enjoyed seeing her humiliated.
Dwight was firm in his convictions, capable of using his
temper, and diplomatic, however he lacked the political skills
necessary in fighting back in a constructive way.
He was not a
“wheeler dealer” type, and, though he did not possess a
doctorate, he certainly more than qualified for one.
His body of
work, summer study, writing, excellence in building up the
department along with the vast knowledge of art he acquired over
the years makes it evident.
But technically, his resume was
deficient!
The letters to Marguerite do not mention the interviews and
we are sure he knew nothing of them.
If he had problems at the
university, it was simply due to overwork and low pay.
His
letter dated November 14, 1946, discusses a silk screen outfit he
is about to send her with detailed instructions on where to
obtain her list of necessary materials, a good new book on silk
screen and another on framing.
usual.
“Things are buzzing here as
We've just taken down the Nebr. Artists Show (Guild
Annual) and are hanging new shows, including the Guild perm.
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collection (now 17 items - including ones by John Kirsch, Gene
Kingman of Omaha (Joslyn), and F.K. Ricter, formerly of Doane
College and Crete).
We also have Jacob Lawrence's John Brown
series as a loan exhibit and some new acquisitions from American
Fed. of Arts, and 4 of our perm. coll. that have ‘come home to
roost’ from loans, including “The Rooster” by Nordfeldt.
Am not
sure I wrote you about our faculty show at Miller & Paine around 20 pieces were bought from the show, and we are invited to
make this an annual event at Miller's each fall.
Their
decorating dept. bought pictures from Kady, Marian Hatten Ellis
and Freda.
Mrs. Don Miller also bought several herself, more by
Trank than anyone else.
Since our show the M. & P. firm decided
to start forming its own permanent collection of Nebr. artists
work from those who have exhibited with them.
So far, to my
knowledge they have bought one picture each from Kady, Trank,
Mrs. Edmiston, Mrs. Leland and me.
They also want to buy one of
my sandhills paintings - as yet it has not been selected.”
(They
did buy the “Humphrey’s Woodpile”, behind Mrs. Shultz’s house,
that Dwight painted one cold, snowy day in Atkinson.
He sat
outside my grandmother's house while painting, and when he
brought it inside he was half-frozen, with his picture covered
with little piles of snow.
I thought to myself “it's ruined and
beyond fixing,” but, as if by magic, it transmuted itself into
something wonderful when it dried.
169
The sandhills painting Miller
& Paine finally selected was Dwight's “Inland Wave, Holt County
Sandhills” a large tempra.)
Dwight continues, “Phyllis Campbell of Lexington is coming
for 2 programs & demonstrations of sculpture next Tuesday, for
our students in the afternoon and for the Guild in the evening.
She sold 1 plaster head (black) to Lotto out of the recent Guild
show.
He is now decorator for Hardy's, since summer.” (Mr. Lotto
was the interior decorator in Lincoln at that time.
Phyllis
Campbell Aspen was at that time considered an amateur.
During
later painting outings with Dwight, and other artist friends, he
encouraged her in her pursuit of sculpting.
Many years later, in
1983, she was commissioned to do a large bronze bust of Edward
Creighton, which was placed in the Nebraska Hall of Fame).
“I had a whee of a time on my Indiana trip, there is too
much to tell about in my present haste.
I gave 2 illustrated
talks with color slides on our Nebr. Collections, which evidently
made quite an impression (Mr. Henry Hope, chairman of the Fine
Arts Department of the University of Indiana was one of the art
experts brought in to recommend art for purchase for the Hall
Collection that year, no doubt invited Dwight to Indiana).
As
ever, Dwight.”
The Annual Exhibition was again an enormous success with
Howard Devree, art critic for the New York Times, and Henry Hope,
the two art experts engaged for it.
170
Marring its success however
were “red flags and alarms” when the art faculty learned of the
interviews with two prospects and a third under consideration for
the position of chairman of the department.
Proper legal
procedure was definitely violated by not including Dwight in the
meetings, and a strong letter of protest was sent to Chancellor
Gustavson from the art faculty, which included Kady Faulkner,
Gertrude Moore, Freda Spaulding, Clara Marie Allen, Murray
Turnbull, Dora von Bargen, Marian Ellis, Barbara Carmel and
Joseph Ishikawa.
Since Gustavson was new, he had only second-
hand knowledge of the history, politics and rivalry between
Teachers College and the Art Department.
Alas, the die was cast.
Either the protest letter was sent
too late, or was simply ignored, because the third man was not
only interviewed but was hired under terms not discussed with
Dwight.
The art faculty was shocked and outraged with the
administration's underhanded actions!
state of disbelief!
We students were in a
The Kirsches were not only humiliated, but
furious!
Indeed, earlier predictions of post-war change seemed
eminent.
However, after the storm subsided, Dwight quickly and
decently wrote a welcoming letter to the new man, Duard Laging.
Laging's reply, on June 30, 1947, is as follows, “Dear
Dwight, Thank you for your kind letter.
I had hoped to see you
again, but was kept on the ball right up to train time.
I had
some misgivings about the job, but when I found that you were one
171
of the greeters I assumed that the whole situation was on the
level.
Unfortunately, I had already resigned from the job at
Michigan State College, written the Belgian Foundation and sent
in my acceptance to Nebraska before I received your telegram.
The budget comes as somewhat of a shock.
I had been told that
there was an opportunity to promote an educational program in
art, but not at the expense of the art department.
The
inequitable salary scale certainly will make for many headaches.
I can assure you and your staff that I will not only maintain but
actively endeavor to further departmental democracy.
I am
completely in accord with your determination to maintain the
standards of the department, which through your leadership have
achieved national recognition in college art circles.
I do not
know what is being offered in art education, but after I am
familiar with the problems, I am sure that I can make
recommendations that will in no way interfere with the quality of
the department.
I realize that I am in a tough spot now that I
find that you did not recommend the change.
However, since the
change is a fact accompli, I am willing to gamble on the chances
of affecting a smoothly working organization, if you are willing
to accept me, if negotiations are consummated, I shall be in
Lincoln sometime between the third and eighth of September.
May
I thank you again for your evidence of friendship and give you my
assurance of absolute confidence.
172
Sincerely, Duard Laging.”
Chancellor Gustavson and Dwight began to hear from concerned
friends and art people.
Lester Longman, Head of the Art
Department, University of Iowa, and Muriel Sibell Wolle,
University of Colorado, both wrote to Gustavson stating their
concerns.
Longman writes, “The cause of art and education in general
will suffer wherever they are not wisely handled in an important
institution. . all work in the field of art should be under the
direction of one man (he meant Dwight).
This includes the history of art, studio work, and art
education.
The second fundamental consideration is that high
quality of scholarship and art production must take precedence
over pedagogical method in the preparation of teachers as well as
artists.
When the typical ‘art educator’ (meaning D. Laging) is
in control, this never happens.”
Sibell wrote “Dwight Kirsch and Kady Faulkner in particular,
have built a forward-looking, sound, thorough and creative
department which it would be a tragedy to curtail or kill by
aligning it with the conservative, outmoded, and stultifying
influences all too present in a college of education.”
Gustavson answered, “My Dear Muriel, I hasten to tell you
that you have no fear that the Fine Arts Department will be
submerged or combined with the Department of Education.”
He gave
Longman the same reassurance, but in a later letter, had not
173
given up the idea of art education to be combined with the art
Department.
Florence Maryott said that, “there was a great deal of
professional jealousy.
Teachers College couldn't quite find a
place for themselves and for a long time they were just a
department in the university.”
Gertrude Moore's 1920's warning
of watching out for getting embroiled in university politics was
quickly coming true.
Linus Burr Smith, the “Great White Father,” as students
called the head of the Department of Architecture, in an
interview just two weeks before he died, said that “Dwight was
not a ‘hail fellow well met’ in any respect and in that respect I
always thought he lived a smaller life than he should have. . he
wanted credit and praise and was jealous.”
Smith apparently disliked Dwight, and kept switching the
subject to his own accomplishments and his education in France,
his life history.
He served on the N.A.A. board with Dwight, and
the two departments freely exchanged students.
We sat in his
architecture history classes in the auditorium of Morrill Hall
listening to him lecture and show slides of buildings, but soon
he was off on a tangent talking about his fascination with
archeology, himself, etc.
He was interesting.
However, I felt
we could have learned more about the subject instead of his
174
exploits and self-interest.
He was a man with a larger than life
personality!
The letters and the meeting between art faculty members and
the chancellor were too late.
September, stating that
Department.
The Lincoln Journal ran a story in
“Prof. Laging (age 36) Heads UN Art
Dwight Kirsch continues as Director of Galleries.
Mr. Laging's appointment will provide much needed relief of
departmental administrative duties for Mr. Kirsch, who has not
only been department chairman but director of the art galleries
and an art teacher.”
Dr. Arthur Westbrook, director of the School of Fine Arts,
was quoted as saying that “The university's art collection has
grown so large that this project alone requires the full time of
one man.
Since much of this outstanding collection has been
assembled under Mr. Kirsch's direction, it will now be possible
for him to devote more time to its future development.
It is hoped that under Mr. Laging's direction, the
University of Nebraska will lead the way in developing a
comprehensive art education program in the public schools of the
state.”
There was no mention of how the university would pay for the
proposed program, Westbrook, Dean Henzlick (Teachers College) and
Chancellor Gustavson must have known, and Dwight certainly knew,
that art scholarship, studio work and art history would suffer.
175
Dwight had worked with his “shoe-string” budget too long and
realized the scale would soon be out of balance.
By enclosing
his problems into an imaginary locked box, Dwight sailed along
with the job at hand.
His November 1947 letter to Marguerite
states “The Taos stuff sounds interesting.
the photos by all means.
I would like to see
The N.A.A. show next March will feature
a Latin American art section, so a group from a next-door
neighbor to Mexico should be appropriate.
I know of Ribek's and
Desburg's work but not the others.”
“As for trips, we have had one this fall, to Sioux City to
judge the Iowa watercolor show sponsored by the Women's Club.
I
also gave a demonstration of watercolor and monotypes there.
This week Truby and I are driving to Pawnee County where I was
born and raised.
A former rural schoolteacher of mine invited me
to bring a solo show.
I'm also bringing some of John's things.
They are inviting schools from neighboring towns, and rural
schools too to visit the show in the school building at
Steinhauer, Nebraska.
Next week on the 14th and 15th, Laging
(the new dept. Chairman) and I plan to go to Chicago for the
Midwestern College Art Conference meetings at the Art Institute.
The following weekend I help judge the six-states show at the
Joslyn, along with Britton (Edgar) from Colorado Springs and Paul
Parker of Des Moines.
Thanks again, Dwight.”
176
Dwight, in another letter to Marguerite, in December, states
that “The long tale of events and misadventures here might give
you some idea of what we've been up against, such as having 3
shipments of exhibits come in at once.
I worked all day Fri. and
Sat. and a half-day Sunday during Thanksgiving vacation trying to
get things unpacked and hung, and still have a sculpture show to
finish arranging tomorrow.”
“In addition the past week has brought more emergencies to
meet, first Miss Moore went to the hospital last Wed. for what
was supposed to be a minor operation.
very serious.
It was discovered to be
They are re-operating Wed. for cancer of the
breast, and hoping they have caught it in time.
(Our art history
class was taken over by Prof. Laging and we soon realized what a
unique and truly great instructor we had in Miss Moore.
This
tiny, white-haired bird of a lady with her sharp wit and thorough
knowledge of art history and the Bible could barely be seen when
she drove her car. I can now visualize her in the classroom, arms
tightly folded, telling us interesting personal morsels about
artists, never a hint of vulgarity, the most risque tidbits might
have been about an illegitimate child of a pope.)
Then Joe
Ishikawa was in a jeep accident on his way to spend Thanksgiving
with a former roommate out in the state.
times and he hit the gravel with his face.
177
They turned over three
He is back today but
what a sight and mess of cuts and bruises, apparently no bones
broken.”
“To bring us to the point of hysteria Marian Hatten Ellis
announced this morning that she is pregnant.
So there is plenty
of emergency planning for the new Chairman of the Art Dept. and
under the circumstances anybody's solutions are welcome!”
(I can
hear him chuckle with glee over Laging's problems. Jean Faulkner
said, “when Laging came we had great fun laying Laging traps.
He
was certainly not in Dwight’s league.”)
“We expect to be in N.Y., Truby and I from Dec. 4th to 17th
at the Barbizon Hotel, and John will meet us in Chicago.
get home the day before Xmas.
come back at all.
We may
You may wonder why we bother to
In haste, DK.”
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Chapter 11
“Wright Morris and Dwight, John, Solo Exhibit”
When I glance at the small watercolor of a late spring snow
scene with bright red tulips peeking through the white blanket
(which later became our wedding present from the Kirsches), I
recall the story of when Dwight and Wright Morris, his Nebraskaborn writer friend, drove to Atkinson one weekend and stayed with
my parents.
In between photography and painting excursions the
snow began falling and on one of their trips they got quite
drunk.
Dwight drove his car into and over the concrete storm-
drain barrier on the corner in front of our house and badly
damaged his car, and I imagine he had to have it pulled out with
a tow truck.
When he drank, his voice was very loud, though to
my knowledge, he was never violent or mean - they were, no doubt,
very jolly!
My parents, being teetotaler Methodists (though fairly
broad-minded), were very embarrassed.
My mother was especially
horrified and disgusted by their “outrageous” behavior.
As
pillars of local society in a small town newspaper business, they
felt their reputations were tarnished since, over the years they
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had sung Dwight's praises.
His faux pas was difficult to
swallow, they had “lost face” for a time.
I do not know how Dwight explained the damaged car to Truby.
I suspect she “had words” with him.
Growing up with a father who
had a drinking problem (until they moved to Atkinson), made her
slightly intolerant, however she did not object to an occasional
glass of wine or a cocktail.
Dwight and Morris were accustomed to the New York scene with
great quantities of liquor being splashed around, so in relieving
the continual erupting and stressful situation at the university,
and with Morris celebrating the publishing of his new book, it is
understandable that the two enjoyed the numbing effect of
alcohol.
The incident was never discussed again, and lives were
soon back to normal.
(Morris received the 1982 Common Wealth
Award for Distinguished Service in Literature.
He died in 1998,
and since 1942, he had written 33 books.)
Dwight again discusses, in February 1948, the Taos artists
with Marguerite. “The exhibition committee is a bit difficult
this year, some internal stress developed that forced us to give
up the Latin American section I wrote about earlier; and the
reaction to the California artists last year was not good, so
we'd best let a regional showing from the Southwest wait a bit.”
(Mrs. Harry Grainger; Mrs. Thomas Woods; Mrs. Dean Lealand; Mr.
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Samuel Waugh; Mr. Marvin Robinson; Mr. Fred Wells; and Mrs Fred
Seacrest were on the exhibition committee.)
“I did manage to do a few monotypes this last week-end.
John had a party Sat. nite and that started it.
We discovered a
new monotype wrinkle that one of C.M.'s night class students
first tried: lines made by laying string on the glass after the
paint is applied.
Try it sometime, you'll be amazed.”
(I was
there; we all had such fun that night experimenting in the Kirsch
studio with grasscloth, feathers, any pieces of textured
materials we could scrounge.) Years later, Dwight gave an Iowa
workshop
in which he gave instructions, which were saved by
Margie Carroll of Charles City, for monotype printing: 3 parts
Linit Liquid Starch, 1 part glycerin, 1 part honey.
Mix and
brush on glass using up and down and across strokes for even
coverage.
Paint on watercolor, sumi or tempra, -use strong color
direct from tube.
If using charcoal, wet paper first.
Use
airplane paper, newsprint or Japanese paper and place paper on
glass loosely so it wrinkles, work quickly so background doesn’t
dry.
May use sketch under glass for tracing.
When work is dry,
use chalk, charcoal or additional paint to emphasize basic
picture.”
“Affairs at the Uni. still keep us pacing the floor.
Tho
some of the art situation is working itself out, we still have
many things to iron out.
In the meantime other situations
181
develop on other parts of the campus so fast it makes your head
swim. In the Architecture Dept., resignation of 5 instructors in
one week followed by an investigation by the new ‘Committee on
Academic Privilege’ and then the Athletic stink, about which you
may have read.
Coach Bernie Masterson just resigned, as
announced by radio.”
“So ‘post-war reconstruction’ seems to mean many battles
coming to a head on the home front as we are all a part of it.
Just lately Truby and I have been thinking over the possibility
of taking a leave of absence for a semester to get a change of
air and to scout around.
Do you think one could make a living in
art or lecturing in Texas?
things ready for you.
God knows-if ever I'll get the Texas
Whenever there is spare time at home I'm
such a ‘tired old man’ these days there's nothing to do but to
flop on a couch.”
“New York was fine.
We had the best time ever, and were
there long enough to avoid rushing quite so madly as some years.
The art world in N.Y. is madder than ever, much confusion, and
art sales have fallen off.
Did you see the Look Mag. feature on the best American
painters (about Jan.20th).
We have 9 out of the 11 chosen by the
poll in our collection (of course I made out one of the ballots,
too!).
Time to ‘hit the hay,’ warmest regards to y'll, Dwight.”
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Dwight introduced Duard Laging to the Nebraska Art
Association board. In addition, they made a joint appearance on
the local “University Speaks” radio show during which they
discussed the annual exhibit, and they appeared together on
“Living Pictures.”
To the public, there was an effort made to
make a show of friendship and cooperation, and as far as I could
discern, Dwight made an honest effort when at work in
facilitating the transition in the department.
Privately it was
a different story.
As gallery director, Dwight still participated in the
Extension Division's traveling exhibits out in the state, though
the program must have taken a hiatus during the war.
The
Nebraska City News ran an April 18, 1948 story which stated that:
“More than Thousand See University Art Exhibit, Shown at Senior
High, including a Grant Wood and 35 other paintings. . Professor
Kirsch lectured seniors and juniors, and told of the composition
and history of the pictures.”
The exhibit featured “Apples in a
Wooden Boat” by Walt Kuhn, the new 1948 purchase, and Dwight's
“Calico Corn” (the ‘Indian Corn’ painting mentioned earlier).
Dwight later told me that Mrs. Kuhn later gave him the wooden
bowl used as a prop in the painting, and that it has since
disappeared.
The news story continued: “The queerest place the
exhibit was ever set up, Kirsch revealed, was the Fairbury hog
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show.”
It seems he got a lot of mileage and publicity out of
that amusing situation!
With Laging hiring all new art instructors, the “old guard”
found they had to defend their turf, and as a result the
atmosphere changed from “family” feelings to tension, with
students beginning to “take sides” in discrete ways.
Some had no
choice in the matter because of required classes, however the
consensus was that we all sorely missed Miss Moore.
The Kirsch household was a hotbed of strategic sessions of
psychological warfare, for there were jobs at stake and concerns
for the futures of the art students.
That wonderful, warm home
was a safe haven for “letting off steam” for faculty and
students.
The gatherings supplied Kirsches and everyone present
with moral support and there were endless funny stories to relate
about the many mistakes and escapades of the new people, piano
playing, singing combined with serious discussions.
John, at that time was compiling a brilliant scholastic
record at the university, which culminated in his election to Phi
Beta Kappa.
He would stay up all night studying for
examinations, constantly worry about finishing papers on time,
and he lived in fear of humiliating himself or his parents with a
poor showing.
Thank God John could escape mathematics.
in science, geology and botany.
He did very well
He sailed through all of his
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English classes (he had read every book on Professor Stepanik's
suggested reading list before taking the class), and he took
honors classes.
With all his scholastic and artistic talents, he
could have been a “nerd.”
However, the opposite was true.
He
was unselfish, delightfully funny with jokes and stories,
reveling in any “juicy” gossip he could unearth, and apologetic
to a fault for almost any action he made.
Seeing him walk down
the Morrill Hall corridor with his hands in his baggy pants
pockets sent a message of low self-esteem.
The affairs at the university hurt him, not to mention the
fact that he wasn't “one of the guys.”
Girls avoided any
romantic situations with him, though many in the department were
his great friends.
I remember the embarrassment I felt once
while sitting in the Chi Omega dining room when one of the
Lincoln girls made a nasty remark about him before she realized I
was nearby.
She left with no apology!
Perhaps he was not the
“jock” type or terribly handsome, nevertheless he was my cousin
and I was fiercely loyal to him.
I did reject his proposal of marriage once after we had gone
out one night, I loved him but not that way, and told him I did
not think my parents would approve of cousins marrying especially
since it had recently happened in Atkinson with their friends.
Aunt Truby was in favor of the match, but she gracefully and
tactfully kept her own counsel.
She knew I had a well-
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disciplined, strong personality, something that would motivate
John to continue with his art, and would take care of his needs,
but I wanted someone to take care of me and Fred Alexander was my
choice.
John sang that fall at our wedding, which was held in the
Methodist church that my maternal grandfather organized, and
Dwight helped with the decorations.
I recall he discretely replaced a rather bad print of a
tacky religious picture with a wall hanging and suggested that
the church board form a committee for the approval of future
gifts, to avoid hurt feelings.
We must have taken his help for
granted, not knowing how swamped he was with preparing for his
first big one-man show, and his annual trip to New York, as well
as arranging to serve on a panel discussion of “Contemporary
American Art” for the Midwestern College Art Council at the
University of Iowa.
The one-man show was good timing for him, a
boost to his ego.
“Kirsch's Solo Exhibit, His First Comprehensive Showing of
Works” from a newspaper article (December, 1948) by Joe Ishikawa,
Curator of the University of Nebraska Art Galleries, describes
the exhibit as “featuring more than 70 works of art, the one-man
show of Dwight Kirsch, now at the Joslyn Memorial in Omaha,
brings an honor to one of the leading figures of the Midwest in
the world of art.
The exhibit ranges from oil, tempera and
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watercolor to serigraph, monotype, drawing and collage.
It will
continue until January 2.”
“Although the work of Mr. Kirsch, director of the University
Art Galleries, has become familiar to almost all Nebraskans, this
solo exhibit has some revelations not readily apparent in
individual works.
The exhibition parallels at least two aspects of the
character of Kirsch, the man: courageous integrity combined with
dignified restraint, and a deep-rooted regard for spiritual and
moral values.”
“Mr. Kirsch is a thorough-going technician.
His familiarity
with the potentialities of a variety of media, his delicate color
sense and his facility of application techniques are in evidence
everywhere.
‘Main Street Crossing’ is a striking bit of
virtuosity in tempera.
Done from sketches made in Atkinson, the
painting is accompanied by a series of transparencies showing the
development of the painting.
careful craftsmanship.”
These illustrate Mr. Kirsch's
(He used his Polaroid camera for this
purpose in the last years of his life.)
“Design in nature can be found in the Colorado and Sand
Hills series.
In the former group, ‘Aspen in Wild Basin,’ the
oil-resist, and ‘Deep Forest,’ an oil, are particularly
spectacular while in the latter ‘Frost in the Hills,’ lent by
Lincoln High, and ‘Drifting Sand and Snow,’ stand out.”
187
“The sound fundamentals of his major works are present in
his drawings.
Effective spatial relations are found in the
charcoal drawings ‘Moonlight in Milford’ and “Caboose and
Elevator.’
Freedom and beauty of line keynote ‘Goats,’ a conte
crayon product, and ‘Acacia Park Philosophers,’ a stick and ink
drawing that has all the subtlety of a Chinese calligraphy.”
(“Goats” was probably done in Milford, and “Acacia Park” in
Colorado Springs.)
Dwight’s Joslyn show included a brochure with his
introduction and an extensive description of the media used.
“An
art teacher sooner or later discovers that art itself cannot be
taught, but a receptive attitude toward art can be stimulated and
the ‘language of art’ can be learned and translated.
This is
done in the course of finding out by trial and error how tools
and materials are used in many art processes, old and new; and in
studying and seeing the best works of the past and present.”
“The language of art changes with the years: in painting,
its idioms reflect the changing scene in style and subject
matter, as shown in this exhibition.”
“The visitor to a solo show like this may also have the fun
of a creative experience, by comparing and piecing together the
separate items that make up a painter's preparation and
expression: shorthand notes, detailed studies, quick color notes,
studies in brush and color control; experiments, in processes;
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spontaneous or deliberate compositions.
These are part of the
artist's vocabulary.”
In the brochure, along with interesting explanations of
media, Dwight also defines “Abstraction.”
“Abstract painting is
sometimes done as an end in itself, but some artists use it as a
means of understanding, digesting and organizing material for a
painting.
Nearly every artist ‘abstracts’ his subject matter to
a certain extent when he leaves out or changes details of what he
sees.
The influence of abstract art experiments on the seeing
and thinking of all contemporary artists is widespread.
Even the
painters classed as ‘realists’ do their kind of abstracting.
To
quote Walt Kuhn ‘One must work out of nature, not from nature.’”
Following his solo show opening, Dwight made his annual trip
to New York, which was remembered by Marguerite Lewis, who
commented that, “I spent six weeks in New York just before
Christmas in 1948.
This was my first visit to that fascinating
city and I enjoyed the opportunity to see all the art galleries
that had just been names before.
While I was there Dwight came
to select paintings and sculpture for Nebraska's big March
exhibition and sometimes invited me to go with him to a gallery
or an artist's studio.
It was here I realized how important the
show in Nebraska was in the national art world and how valuable
was his contribution to American art and artists.
Where I was
accustomed to walk around a gallery, seeing only the pictures
189
that happened to be hung, Dwight was welcomed with the ‘red
carpet’ treatment.
At mention of an artist in whose work he was
interested, we were seated in a private salon and runners
dispatched to bring the best they had of that artist's work for
his study.
This certainly saved much time and energy in N.Y.C.,
which, at best, is very hard on the feet.
At Jane Wasey's studio
she greeted us cordially and told us how proud her small son was
of the muscles she had acquired doing her marble sculptures.
She
rolled up her sleeve and showed us how she could ‘blow them up’
to impress him.”
“Often Dwight talked of his friend and colleague, Mrs.
Navas, who divided her time between N.Y.C. and Wichita, Kansas,
and one day he invited me to meet her at lunch.
I liked her and
admired her at once and enjoyed their spirited conversation about
art and artists.
She was a woman who ‘spoke her mind’ without
hesitation and knew a great deal about the art world she lived
in.
I could understand why Dwight valued her judgment.
A week
later she invited me to go with her to a very special concert of
chamber music at the Metropolitan Museum and we became much
better acquainted that evening.
One evening during a Manhattan
blizzard Dwight asked me to go with him to the roof garden atop
the Barbizon Plaza Hotel to compare that scene to the one that
had greeted the Kirsches in Phillips (Texas).
190
Although quite
different, it was very impressive, with the skyscrapers looming
like live monsters in that muted illumination.”
“These were beginning to be stressful times for Dwight and
the art department.
He said little about it but loyal faculty
friends told me of the pressures under which he was working.
They were distressed that he was losing weight but admired the
courage with which he went about the business at hand.”
Truby kept up appearances but I began to notice she seemed
smaller in stature and was also losing weight, however, she still
displayed her “Irish fight” at home.
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Chapter 12
“59th Annual N.A.A. - 1949, Testimonial, Mexico”
The 59th Nebraska Art Association Annual Exhibition in 1949
was a great show, which featured the centerpiece “General Dwight
D. Eisenhower,” a portrait by Thomas Stephens. Dwight's own
catalogue that year shows check marks he made beside certain
artists that were listed: Jacob Lawrence; Jack Levine; Arthur
Osver; Mitchell Siporin; John Sloan; Reuban Tam; Richard Taylor;
Philip Guston; Henry Koerner; Mauricio Lansansky; Bernard Perlin;
and Jane Wasey.
Bernard Karfiol, instead of a nude, sent “Field
Flowers in Brown Jug” that year.
Briefly mentioned in the accounts of the annual show are the
gallery tours of school children.
Miss Elva McFie, Supervisor of
Art in the Lincoln city schools K-12, made detailed, thorough
preparations each year, from 1937 until she retired, for the
Lincoln school children to view.
Art teachers of fifth grades
through high school were given schedules of tours, four each day
during the month of the exhibit.
Teachers were given a
preliminary tour, during which Dwight or Kady Faulkner frequently
spoke.
Their obvious enthusiasm, knowledge of the artists, and
wit were very helpful, according to Miss McFie.
192
She said that,
“in Dwight's lectures and workshops he had such a personable and
sometimes humorous approach, he held attention and interest.”
Her office sent out several bulletins before the show opened
containing the schedules, publication references on artists and
profiles of artists Dwight provided from his office, as well as
suggestions for teaching before the tour, and even “Gallery
Citizenship” for reminders to the children that they should be on
their good behavior.
(I saw hundreds of children streaming into
Morrill Hall, in long lines chattering excitedly to each other,
and never observed any misbehavior.)
If a teacher wished, arrangements could be made for a
specialist to conduct gallery discussions, and the art department
faculty, including Dwight, gave countless talks to the children.
Miss McFie wrote that Dwight “was genuinely interested in the
children and having them receive a truly meaningful experience
through the N.A.A. shows.
At the same time, our large groups of
600 and more children, 4 times a day or so in the corridors and A
& B galleries, near adjoining classrooms and offices had to be
something of a problem for Dwight Kirsch and his staff, but he
believed in it, and made our gallery visits an exciting time for
the children, and this paid off through the years in the support
and interest in the arts in our city.
He never ‘talked down’ to
youngsters but treated them with his usual dignity.”
193
The children were asked for their impressions of the art
works, and to list their own choices for purchase each year.
These choices were carefully considered by the N.A.A. and they
often matched some chosen for purchase by the
‘experts’.
I
believe when Dwight made his selections each year in New York,
that he considered the children.
During the time the N.A.A. show was running, a testimonial
banquet was held in honor of Dwight for his twenty-five years of
service, Miss Gertrude Moore, who had been on the art faculty
since 1917, and Kady Faulkner, who had been a faculty member
since 1930.
About 200 guests attended, including many students,
former students, and high-ranking leaders of the art world.
Peyton Boswell wrote in his Art Digest column that “At Lincoln,
in the center of Nebraska's flat, rich farmland country, just
honor was paid on the evening of March 19 to a quiet, unassuming
man who built one of the finest collections of contemporary
American art in the nation.
Modestly, Kirsch accepted the praise
in the same quiet manner with which he had faced an inadequate
budget and the traditional opposition to any leader with
progressive ideas. Added to the eulogies tendered him by dinner
guests were more than a hundred telegrams and letters from museum
directors, educators, artists, critics and art dealers throughout
the nation, (including that from Henry Varnum Poor, who has a
self-portrait in the Hall Collection, Lloyd Goodrich, Elizabeth
194
S. Navas, Henry Hope, and Paul Parker.)
Eugene Kingman, director
of the neighboring Joslyn Museum in Omaha, was principal speaker,
and Murray Turnbull presented gifts on behalf of the art alumni.
Dwight Kirsch has labored to spread art appreciation from the
narrow Atlantic seaboard into the midwestern heart of the nation.
He has not been alone in his crusade, but that Saturday night in
Lincoln was the apt time to applaud a job well done.
After all,
25 years is a big hunk to take out of any man's life, even if
those years have been given to a labor of love.
To Dwight
Kirsch: Skoll!”
The Nebraska Art Association presented Dwight a sterling
silver bowl “In Grateful Appreciation..,” and I can again hear
Aunt Truby's comment later at home about its simple, graceful
design “at least they used good taste!”
While following my Aunt Truby and Uncle Dwight as they
walked arm in arm down the sidewalk toward their car after the
banquet, I was struck by an aura of sadness about them.
They
seemed to lean into each other, and though he was only fifty
then, he seemed older and her steps had lost their usual jaunty,
confident manner.
The blizzards of '49 had taken their toll in more ways than
iced streets and hungry, or dead cattle.
Perhaps the weather
also played a part with dissension in the university and art
195
department.
However, the problems did not disappear when the
snow melted around Easter time.
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents held a May 27,
1949, meeting at which recommendations from the Dean of Faculties
concerning “The University of Nebraska Art Galleries” were voted
on and accepted.
In essence, the document was a set of
regulations that were to be followed that included the formation
of a consulting committee consisting of the Dean of the College
of Arts and Sciences, Chairman of the Department of Art and one
other member of the Art Department staff, elected by the staff;
one student majoring in art, one curator of the Art Galleries and
the director of the galleries (serving as chairman).
“The
galleries shall be managed by a director who shall administer to
operation of the galleries.
The work shall be carried out with
the assistance of a staff including one or more curators and the
advice of a consulting committee.”
The document was moved by
Regent Devoe, seconded by Regent Welsh, voted on and carried.
The “burr under his saddle” was no doubt the statement that
“the work of the gallery director shall be carried out with the
advice of a consulting committee.”
In other words, it appeared
that he had lost his freedom to do his job without having to bow
and scrape to authority.
Dwight underlined “Budget requests
shall be drawn up and new appointments made with the advice of
196
the consulting committee.”
He also underlined Regent Devoe.
Later that year Dwight was given tenure with a salary of $4700.
After their summer away from the fray, Dwight and Truby
faced reality at the university but were considering other
options.
His September, 1949 letter to Marguerite, who was
trying to help his situation, boosted their morale: “Thanks for
your letter. . and especially for the thought behind it.
I'm
writing to Phil Pryor and hope to follow it up with a meeting to
talk things over.
In fact we may go to Omaha this week for a
meeting of the Joslyn exhibition committee and might see him then
if he's home.
I like the idea of Pryor's proposal series and in
fact it is ‘right up my alley.’
If ‘next year’ should mean next
school year, I am hopeful of doing a lecture tour plus some
writing and painting during a leave of absence.
Will let you
know what materializes.”
“Classes started this week and I must say things are
somewhat better organized than a year ago but even in the last
week so many damn fool mistakes due to Laging have turned up that
we know the ‘fun’ has started again, otherwise all is sweet and
lovely.”
“Son John is staying on in Mexico thru the fiesta season in
San Miguel (the next several weeks) and for some travel before
returning to USA sometime in November.
He has a ride home with
his housemate who has a station wagon, at least as far as Dallas.
197
We gave him your address and there's a slight chance he might
stop to see you.
If his money holds out he talks of going to
California before returning home.
in Lincoln.
Bob and Miggie Hansen are back
Bob may have a teaching job in Peoria, Ill. for
which he made a personal application last week.
Roger and Wynona
Crossgrove have moved to Morelia, Mexico to go on with their
schooling there along with others from San Miguel.”
“We finally got a few of John's new pictures framed.
2 of
them go to jury show at Walker Art Center this week
(Minneapolis).
Joe Ish. is well settled in his new apartment and
his dad is here from California to be with him until Xmas.
They
were out today along with the Quinton's (Betty Lamb Quinton,
talented former art student and on the staff, she was one of the
few art history students in my classes who could answer Miss
Moore's questions about biblical characters that appeared in
paintings), and Bishops for a picnic supper and yard party, a
counter attraction and ‘previous engagement’ to avoid going to
the Westbrook's reception to new Fine Arts faculty at the Student
Union.”
“Among art attractions in Lincoln just now - Magee's used
over 20 paintings and 2 sculptures by Guild members in their
windows for fall opening display.
attracting lots of attention.
They did a good job and it is
As ever, Dwight.”
198
His next letter, in October, states, “I've been trying to
steal time to write you for some days - just at the moment a
slight lull while waiting for the Delta Phi Delta dinner.
Two big items: (a) Art. Dept. developments and (b) Mexico.
Firstly, strengthened by your report on Regent Long's reaction to
your letter and feeling pretty good about the possibility of
connecting with Phil Pryor for a lecture tour, I've been making
some more definite moves to bring things really to a head as to
discovering what's the score in our art situation here.
After a
short period of behaving himself, DL and his henchmen started
making bold moves = taking pot shots at various individuals and
their teaching areas: Betty (Lamb Quinton), Kady, Maggi (McGrew),
Freda (Spaulding), Joe and me (the old guard, that is).
And
proposals to make drastic revisions in art classes for next year.
We have started calling bluffs and challenging ganging up against
us.
Just now the art dept. policy committee, following up a
suggestion of mine is bringing in a report on basic aims of the
art dept., as they should be for a foundation of any future
changes.
Meanwhile I asked for an appointment with the
chancellor which I had yesterday PM, a frank talk of 45 minutes.
He was most cordial and I have a standing invitation to come
again and come often.
In brief I found out that DL has
completely lost the chancellor's confidence and even Borgman
(Dean of Faculty) has given him a very severe warning to behave
199
or else.
They hope he'll land another job before long (he has
several applications out), but if not, and if things get too hot,
there are indications that the chancellor would take more drastic
steps.
However he approves of our trying to scrap it out here -
seeing that things are handled democratically or else.
So the
moves the Laging crowd is making (mostly DL, Peter Worth and Kay
Nash) are pretty much desperate bluff to attempt to scare the
rest of us out first.
But this season we don't scare so easily.
With me, especially as Dr. Gus expressed confidence in my
judgment and hope that I would stick it out, I feel that there is
some real incentive and purpose for fighting.
So there should be
definite developments all along the line any time now.
At least
there is some hope at last.”
“Meanwhile John has decided to stay on in Mexico longer and
wants us to come down for Xmas vacation.
I think we could manage
to steal enough extra time for 3 weeks off.
We first tho't that
Wynona's father would drive us down, but he seems to have decided
against it, but there are other possible ways, among them,
getting a new car ourselves, driving our old car to the border
and going on by train, or flying from here to Mexico City, or
having Jo Waddell drive down (Dwight's musician cousin) after
Xmas to bring us back.
Remembering our slight discussion last
Aug. or Sept., would you be at all interested or could you get
away if we drove to Phillips in our car?
200
That would mean my N.Y.
trip earlier than usual and probably shorter.
Hastily but with
love to y-all, Dwight.”
He continues, “Phil Pryor was out to the house Sat. p.m.
with Jim Fahnestock.
We liked him much and it looks as if we'll
get together some kind of deal for next school year.
I hope to
see him in N.Y. and may stay at the same hotel (Wellington).
At
the above-mentioned staff meeting ‘our side’ lost a round, by a
vote of 6 to 7, on course changes involving drawing, anatomy and
perspective.
However Round 2 was won ‘by default’ as we've just
learned that the material was sent back to us for further study
by the school of Fine Arts Course of Study Committee that met
Friday.
The fact that I tipped off Elizabeth Tierney that there
was some dirty work afoot might have had something to do with it
(she is the chairman of the committee), to say nothing of the
fact that Laging and his gang don't even read the catalog and are
all snarled up over procedures, curricula, etc.
old-timers aren't unsnarling them, either.
This year the
I had a fine trip to
Madison, Wisc. and enjoyed the campus and the Union Bldg. where I
stayed, judged the show, and also lectured.
Tues. AM.
I just got back
Mrs. Leland's death occurred last Sunday and I was one
of the pallbearers (along with Deans Le Rossignol and Oldfather)
on Thursday.
“Now about Mexico.
me.
The financial arrangement sounds O.K. to
I am trying to arrange to leave here Wed. Dec. 14.
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John has
to be across the border, in U.S.A. by Fri. the 16th.
been doing some miniature monotypes.
I've just
A sample is enclosed.
been invited to show some at the Art Alliance in Phila.
opening size is limited to 3.
I've
The mat
It is more fun than you'd think
and probably a natural outgrowth of doing oval logs.”
(He is no
doubt jokingly referring to ghastly tourist-type ‘art.’)
“We're off to Minnesota Wed. AM with Betty Q., Joe Ish.,
Phyllis Campbell, Truby and I riding in the same car, back Sunday
after the art conference.
We'll stay near the Turnbulls.
Hansen will be there, too, among others.
Bob
Cherrio, Dwight.”
During the letter-writing time with plans being formulated
for the Mexican trip, Dwight managed to prepare three of John's
Mexico paintings: “San Miguel Doorway,” “White Doves,” and
“Salud: San Miguel,” and also three of his own: “Sammy,” “Milford
Skyline,” and “Campbell's Old Barn,” for the Lincoln Artists'
Guild 13th Nebraska All-State Show held in Morrill Hall November
1 through 15th.
Among the other artists who submitted work were:
LeRoy Burkett; Gail Butt; Ruth Rosekrans Cadwallader (later,
Rosekrans-Hoffman); Roger Crossgrove, Wyonna Crossgrove, Alice
Edmiston, Kady Faulkner; Elizabeth Ferguson; W.D. Frankforter;
Robert Hansen; James Henkle; Mina Jorgenson; Betty (Aasen)
Kjelson; Dorothy (Baroch) Kuttler; Barbara Mills Laging; Sidnee
Livingston; Walter Meigs; Bill Moomey; Katherine Nash; Elizabeth
202
Lamb Quinton; Barbara Ellis Ross; David Seyler; Marjorie
Shanafelt; Freda Spaulding; Lynn Trank; and Peter Worth.
John wrote Marguerite from San Miguel de Allende and began
with apologies for not writing sooner, saying that he “was a
little hesitant about writing you, not knowing yet whether Mr.
and Mrs. K. had contacted you about the proposed long-jaunt to
Mexico, or whether you had said ‘yes’ or not to the idea of
joining our safari!
And I didn't want to spring the whole idea
on you without any warning.
My folks, as usual, were pleasantly
vague in their last letter, and I am still in the dark about the
latter point!
That is, whether you are to join us from Phillips
on..”
“Gee, can hardly wait till December! The weather is out of
this world at this time of year, cool at night, and sunny clear
and dry every day, with a blue sky that puts pictures of the
Riviera to shame.
Recently we have been eating sugar cane,
chirimoyas (a strange fruit that tastes like Tutti-Frutti chewing
gum!) pomegranates, and other exotic things.
Steaks are the
equivalent of 35 cents or 40 cents for two pounds, gas costs twothirds of what it does in the States, and the peso is stabilized
at 8.63 to the dollar.
the world.
God's in his heaven and all's right with
The lake country around where the Crossgroves live
(Morelia) is lovely, and looks like Hawaii, they tell me.
volcano, Particutin, also in the region, is terrific.
203
The
And, of
course, San Miguel (according to people who have been around
anyway,) is the most picturesque in all Mexico, making even Taxco
look pale in comparison.
Well, that is about all, oh yes, plum
forgot! In case Mr. K. has not written you already, the latest
report from home was that one of my crudy Mexican pictures (of
some straggly zinnias), dragged down a third award and a purchase
by the A.A.U.W. chapter, at the Walker Art Center!
I am still
floating around on a little pink cloud, and just can't quite get
used to the idea yet!
It really gave the old morale a boost, and
almost makes the struggle seem worthwhile to carry on.
Gee whiz,
after all these years of building up antibodies, or something, to
rejection slips, the shock was almost too much for the system.
Well keep up the great promotion job you are doing.
I really
think the change of environment on the trip will make you come
back fuller of ambition than ever!
Give my best to Bob and John.
Will see you all real soon, and seeing friends in the states
after six months will seem wonderful!
John K.”
About half a year earlier, John and I graduated from the
University of Nebraska (June, 1949) in the school’s largest class
ever.
We were all so proud that John graduated “with honors” and
was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Our class also had the distinction
of being able to say “Johnny Carson was our classmate”.
John
left soon after on the Mexican adventure with his friends, Gail
Jackson Putney, and Mick Putney.
204
With little money, they camped
out on the way south. Gail (now Dr. Gail Jackson Fullerton, my
Chi Omega sister) recalled John’s slowness and that he overslept
out in a wheat field and was very nearly
combine.
“harvested” by a
John painted Gail’s portrait in 1950 - capturing with
paint her red hair and creamy complexion. In the 1980’s she lent
it to the University of Nebraska to be hung in the new alumni
building.
205
Chapter 13
“Mexico; Back to the University of Nebraska-
Lincoln”
The Kirsch/Lewis group met: Marguerite and son, Bob, Dwight,
Truby and John.
Marguerite wrote a wonderfully interesting
account of the journey, bear in mind that extensive travel so
soon after the war was still not common.
“South of the border,
John became our official guide and interpreter.
course, fluent in Spanish, both varieties.
He was, of
We arrived in
Monterrey after 11 pm, tired and glad to find a hotel in this
‘foreign’ country.
We were not at all prepared for the
magnificent view the morning light presented us down over the
picturesque town and up to the surrounding mountain.
Dwight
risked his neck to take a picture of it from the ledge of his
second story window.” (He also did such things in his 70's and
80's in the mountains with his Polaroid.)
“At Temuzanchate (which Americans simplify to ‘Thomas and
Charlie’), Dwight, intrigued by so many handsome faces, got a
fine photo of the men waiting patiently about the marketplace.
Truby insisted on doing much of the mountain driving, not
trusting Dwight or me to watch the road and ignore the scenery.
206
John had us stop to take a look at what he called ‘the vertical,’
where it seemed the farmers working them must have to be tied
with ropes to be able to maintain their balance.
This was
evidently coffee country for, piled on the ground beside the road
were great heaps of coffee beans.”
“John was anxious to get us to San Miguel de Allende, where
the Posada Fiesta was in full swing.
He had been living there in
the home of two aristocratic Spanish widows, to whom he referred
simply as ‘The Ladies.’
His Castillian pronunciation of the
Spanish language had endeared him to them, no doubt.
It was
fortunate that he knew the town well and managed to get us rooms
in a hotel on the plaza, where festivities swirled around us,
except at siesta time.”
“We were astonished by the excitement that burst upon the
town with nightfall.
all directions.
your feet.
It was generated by fireworks going off in
Firecrackers singed your hair and exploded under
Sparklers, rockets, whirligig flamethrowers and
flares marked the route of the procession.
Despite the fact that
it seemed terribly dangerous, we got into the spirit of it, and
the hole burned into my new coat didn't seem of any importance.
Fortunately the town was built mostly of stone, otherwise it
would have burned to the ground years ago.”
The group visited a fine weaver called Chago; they visited
many churches.
“Dwight took special pleasure in the ones where
207
the natives had used their own ideas to paint or carve the
decorations illustrating the Biblical teachings of the
missionaries, and John took us to the studio of Carmen Beckmann
who designed jewelry with a distinctive Mexican flair.
We
ordered a number of silver brooches, pendants, bracelets, rings
and earrings, since sterling silver and jadite were such bargains
here.”
(I have Truby's silver and onyx brooch, copper earrings
and her special silver “fish” and “lantern” earrings.)
“In Mexico City I took over driving and rather enjoyed the
challenge of coping with the speed and constant honking in this
city that had no speed limit.
Our hotel was near the best
markets so we didn't need to drive there to make our many
purchases.
Walking back to the hotel carrying a two-foot high
tin Christmas tree one morning, I suddenly realized that the
Mexicans I met found me very amusing.
There was nothing to do
but laugh with them.”
“We had been invited to spend Christmas with Roger and
Winona Crossgrove in Morelia, and Truby and I were delighted with
this chance to investigate the arrangements for living in a
typical, spacious Mexican home.
Crossgrove's main problems.
Refrigeration was one of the
They had managed to buy an old
icebox but they had to drive a long way across town to buy meat
at the one butcher shop that had a refrigerator from which they
bought the cuts ordered, instead of laying it all out on a
208
counter for the flies to enjoy.
Dwight and John were eager to
hear about Roger's art studies at the University of Michoacan,
and to see some of his work.
Time to paint was of the most
value, he felt, but he liked the school and the faculty.”
“Before we left Morelia, the Crossgroves took us to visit a
small fishing village where they had found that one family was
making such unique designs of fish and birds on their primitive
pottery that we bought all they had for sale.
En route we
stopped at an old church noted for human skeletons kept in an
underground room.
We had mixed feelings about going down to see
them but decided we needed the experience.
It was weird entering
this collective tomb but we were not prepared for the shock of
seeing a dozen skeletons seated on the floor, knees up, leaning
against the wall of this circular cavern.
Dwight took one look,
exclaimed ‘My God, it's just like a faculty meeting!’ and fled.
A bit of humor was what we needed at that moment.”
They visited Lake Patzuaro, less than fifty miles from
Morelia, spent time in museums in Mexico City, and in nearby
temples and pyramids at Teotihuacan.
“To see what Mexican artists were doing, John took us to the
best of the art galleries.
At one of them we found a handsome
exhibition of the work of Tamaya, ablaze with his glorious color.
This was like meeting an old friend, for Dwight had brought one
of his paintings to the March show at the university while I was
209
working there.
Of course we went to the Opera House to see the
much publicized Diego Rivera murals, as a prelude to an excellent
dinner at the Cafe Belles Artes.”
“The extreme poverty of so many of the people and the superabundance of very ornate churches made us wonder whether the need
for the astonishing number of orphanages here might be the result
of too great a financial burden having been placed on the
parents.
Watching a stream of pilgrims on bloody knees crawling
up the steps of the church dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe
to deliver offerings, made us wonder even more about their
teaching of the gentle Jesus.
That the missionaries had done
their best to destroy the pyramids and places sacred to the
Indians, often building churches on top of these ruins, when this
land was conquered, deepened the dilemma.”
“We took a night trip up the mountain next to Mt. Paracutin,
it was still putting on quite a show, and when the road ended,
John, Bob and I rode horses to the top.
Dwight and Truby chose
to walk rather than risk saddle-sore muscles.
The ringside view
from the summit gave us a splendid view of the frequent
eruptions, which tossed great rocks high in the air amid the
flames, accompanied by steam and roaring, hissing sounds.
Red-
hot lava cascaded with abandon from unexpected fissures, sending
heat waves in our direction, it was an experience to last a
lifetime.”
210
Dwight, having to get back to the States to work, wrote to
Marguerite's husband, John, who stayed behind in Phillips.
“We
stayed over a day longer in Guadalajara to see the bull fight New
Year's, a memorable if ‘buggy affair,’ and huge crowds at the
arena.”
“The first part of my train ride was not easy, no seats
available.
I sat on my suitcase and pillow in the vestibule to
San Luis Potosi, which was pleasant enough, airy too, as the
train door was left open most of the way!
At San Luis I noted a
good many people getting off, so started with my bags for a seat
only to be engulfed by cross current of people getting on the
train before others could get off, my suitcase lodged crosswise
in the aisle!
been in.
It was worse than any N.Y. subway crush I've ever
Finally getting my baggage stowed away between seats in
the middle of the coach, by that time all seats were taken, my
‘standing shoes’ were comfortable and we had plenty of
entertainment.
Most of the crowd consisted of students, largely
youths returning to school, who sang songs, trouped back and
forth over the Mexican families sprawled in the aisles.
I also
had a ringside stance at 2 card games, 1 of them stud poker with
bets on a suitcase held on boy's laps right in middle of aisle
and coach.
Everyone who tried to get past had to wait for
suitcase, with cards, money and all to be held high over their
heads.
Finally after warning by a trainman and a visit by an
211
armed soldier, the game broke up about 2 A.M.
Past Monterrey I
got a double seat and stretched out and slept most of the way to
N. Laredo, some 4 hrs.
Going through customs was not difficult
but slow, glance at baggage only, but they did confiscate my ham
sandwiches and gave me a smallpox vaccination, as I had no
certificate.
Coach fare all the way from Dolores to Lincoln
totalled less than $40 U.S., coaches were marvelously clean and
comfortable after the Mexican train.
I'm surrounded by winter
here, and the papers and radio say there has been snow and colder
weather around Kansas City and north and west from there..Special
to Truby and John--better check weather reports and road
conditions before starting north.
doesn't come up it should be ok.
However, if another storm
Best to y'll, DK.”
After the trip Dwight again wrote to Marguerite, saying:
“Along about midnight, Sunday, Jan.15-'50, I suppose you've had
as hard a time as we have catching up 'specially on sleep.
Just
now a gang is downstairs poring & drooling over Pete's ‘Joolry’
order before John sends it on tomorrow.
Among events of last
week, Friday night a huge crowd of students and art faculty
dropped in for a farewell party to Ben & Fran Bishop (she was art
librarian at the art department; he, an artist), reaching a count
of 46 people here before the evening was over.
market-place-at-home is attracting many.
to buy.).
Our Mexican
(Alas, I had no money
Truby & John got in safely just before noon Wed.
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After getting the car parked near Morrill Hall, the car
refused to start again, the starter spring was busted so we had
to get a tow.”
“Amid all the other things, I've stolen time to print some
of my Mexican photos and am now itching to do some enlargements
of the best of them.
I'm mailing you a flock of them, not
labeled except by groups in envelopes.
You & Bob may have fun
trying to make out what they are and where they were taken.
This
is not a complete set nor are they all A#1 prints but I thot
you'd enjoy seeing them soon especially as evidence that I was
really doing something those many times I kept y'll waiting.”
(This he did until the last: kept people waiting while he shot.
Sometimes I joined him with my camera, a great experience!)
“I've got back from the finishers only 10 of my color shots
(there are 35 or so yet to come) and they are turning out real
well.
Hope you get to see them someday.
I got some especially
good ones at Paracutin.”
“The Uni. kids got their ‘document’ finished last Sunday
(after working here in shifts 2 whole days), and presented it to
the Chancellor Tuesday pm.
He seemed very impressed and promised
some action soon, said the investigation was already underway.
But we've heard no more since.
Meanwhile, the art faculty show
opens at Miller's auditorium tomorrow.
John & Ben Bishop who saw
it Saturday said it stank, by and large.”
213
(Dwight, in his habit
of marking works of art he liked, checked two oils of LeRoy
Burkett, one oil by Gail Butt, a watercolor by Kady Faulkner, two
oil & lacquer pieces by Walter Meigs, three by Elizabeth Quinton,
an ink drawing by David Seyler, two oils by Freda Spalding and
one watercolor by Peter Worth.
The “Forward” of the show catalog
was written by Duard Laging.)
“After the stress and strain of it all, it was a pretty
grand trip wasn't it?
And we'll all have a lot to think about
and tell for a long time to come.
We do thank you most heartily
for making it possible and hope you and Bob had as good a time as
we did.
And so to bed, Best of everything, Dwight.”
He continues: “I'm glad to report my sister is greatly improved
and may get to come home later this week.”
with mental illness.
(Bess was plagued
She had a job at a laundry then, but she
seemed to have no friends outside the family.
Truby was kind to
her but Bess seemed to be, perhaps by her own choice, excluded
from much of the Kirsch social life, though she lived in the
upstairs “sewing” room and was available.
John was especially
fond of Aunt Bess.)
As Dwight mentioned in the Mexican trip-planning letter, he
would need to go to New York earlier than usual to select the art
for the big 60th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art, March 5
to April 2, 1950.
This would be his final selection trip on
214
behalf of the university's Hall Collection and the Nebraska Art
Association.
He may have sensed it!
He gave me a little job for a few weeks typing lists of
artists and galleries to be represented, and it seemed to be
“business as usual,” with no hint that it was otherwise.
I
helped with only a small segment of the huge amount of work
needed to mount such a show, and gained greater respect than ever
of the responsibilities in which Dwight and Truby undertook.
The Exhibition Committee comprised eleven members including
Fred Wells; Mrs. Everett Angle; Mr. Ted Butterfield; Samuel
Waugh; Mrs. Thomas Woods; and the Living Pictures' Co-Chairmen,
Mrs. M G Voltz and Mrs. J.R. Seacrest.
In addition, there were
memberships, budgets, teas, programs, lectures, gallery
hostesses, catalogues, sales to individuals, purchases, and the
60th celebration committee.
Mrs. E.J. Faulkner was president of
the Nebraska Art Association that year.
Art works recommended for purchase in 1950 included
paintings by John Heliker (“Mediterranean Landscape”), Everett
Spruce (“The Desert”), Theodoros Stamos (“Scar Thread”), and Mark
Tobey (“Icon”); drawings by Paul Klee (“Seeking Balance”), and
Henry Moore (“Draped Reclining Figures”); prints by John Sloan
(“Memories), and Jose Clemente Crozeo (“La Bandera”); and
sculptures by Gaston Lachaise (“Head of Marin”), Marino Marini
215
(“Horseman”), and William Zorach (“Adam”).
He told Marguerite
“it was a darned good show.”
The faculty and students still felt hopeful and optimistic
when they presented their “document” to the chancellor.
with an outline: “General policy of the School.
It began
We believe that
the purpose of a university art department should be to provide a
sound basic background for those who wish to make art their
profession and also for those who are interested only in the
cultural aspects of art.
In order to achieve the above aims, we
believe that we must retain good fundamentals (as they now
stand), good commercial art courses and good fine arts courses.”
The students presented an assertive case for not dropping or
weakening the courses in anatomy, perspective, pictorial
composition, lettering and graphic art.
They included the fact
that the present department had the staff and equipment necessary
to teach the courses.
The students' Article III: “Distribution of Equipment and
Relative Costs,” is a complaint concerning Mr. Laging's
allocation of equipment which they said “appears to be based more
upon his personal likes and dislikes of instructors and subjects
than upon the needs of the students or size of the classes.”
Article VI: “Inefficiency of Administration,” concerns the
department chairman's so-called “inadequate leadership and hiring
practices.”
They stated that “it is our common impression that
216
instructors should not be expected to plan a semester's work on a
three-day notice.
The staff, as a whole, was not informed of the
courses they were to teach last fall until a faculty meeting held
during registration week.”
(As I remember, Art History classes
were a shambles.)
Article V: “Attitudes of the present Art Department
Chairman,” states that “the chairman did not show sufficient
interest in the students' work or try to find out where their own
interests lie, nor does he show any interest in the manner in
which most of the art classes are being conducted.
own desires or needs are not considered.
The students'
A fashion design
student was asked to do her senior project on the architecture of
old houses in Lincoln, because all she would do is ‘get married
and drink tea anyway.’
As an instructor, Mr. Laging's lack of
preparation and scholarship has been evident.
lecturer, etc., etc.”
He is a poor
Numerous other examples of his
“inadequacies” were given, which should have caused great concern
to the administration.
They included complaints about his
“attitudes” towards staff members, the University of Nebraska,
toward the state and community, toward art professions, all of
which they considered “unhealthy,” for a person in his position.
Shortly after the students' document was presented,
Chancellor Gustavson wrote to Dwight asking for names of
competent outside authorities in the field of Fine Art at State
217
Universities in order to seek advice.
The investigation was to
be aimed primarily at the curriculum of the department and was to
be kept confidential.
Dwight gave him a hand-written list of
heads of art departments from eleven states and from that list
James Boyle, University of Wyoming, and Lester Longman, Iowa
State University were asked to do the investigation.
We do not know how long the investigation took, how many
interviews they made, or to whom, but it is interesting that they
overwhelmingly sided with the administration, though Lester
Longman, in his earlier letter to the chancellor supporting
Dwight appeared to do an “about-face.”
They said: “The cause of the factionalism in the Art
Department is that the new department head, after being selected,
was not strongly supported.
After full inquiry, we would
recommend that if his services as head are to be retained, Mr.
Laging should be given full authority to act, under close
supervision of the more important decisions.
It is recommended
that all members of the staff be asked to give Mr. Laging their
full cooperation.”
The two men recognized Laging's weaknesses, but if his
services were to be retained as head, his decisions must be
supported.
They felt that appointing a new department head would
not solve the “factional situation.”
They continued with the
surprising statement that, “Mr. Kirsch would not have the support
218
among members of the Administration (Dr. Westbrook and Deans
Henzlick and Borgmann), and perhaps in the city as well, which
would be necessary if he were to return successfully as chairman
of the department.”
Politics!
In other words, Dwight lost the round and was mired in a
hopeless situation.
He and his supporters among the faculty and
students were in a “no-win” position because the administration
could not, without “losing face,” undo their initial mistake when
they hired Laging behind Dwight's back.
Deeper holes were dug
for themselves by fighting and resisting any changes that were
proposed.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Kirsch family,
however, they “kept up appearances” and carried on with great
effort and courage.
On May 17, 1950, the Lincoln Journal ran a story announcing
the resignation of Kady Faulkner, effective August 31, the first
of the art department resignations.
Dwight had “no comment” for
the reporter, however he stated that he “had not been asked to
resign.”
Joe Ishikawa stated that he “planned to stay,” but that
there was a possibility that he might be offered a higher salary
somewhere else.
The story was followed by a news release from the university
news service announcing an expected revision in the art
department by Dean Borgmann “in the interest of economy and
219
efficiency.”
The story reviewed the suggested recommended
revisions made by Longman and Boyle.
The news stories resulted in a group of art alumni asking
for “Clarification on N.U. Policy” (Lincoln Journal, June 14,
1950).
They asked Chancellor Gustavson in a letter for “the
basic reason behind the resignation of Kady Faulkner?”
Trudy Zastra, secretary of the group, was also quoted as
saying that “the reputation of the art department in the past and
our satisfaction with the education we received makes us ask why
such a change in needed.
In the long run, will these changes
prove to be a move toward great economy?
Does the high cost of
the art department cover a period of 20 years or has it gone up
only within the past three years under the present
administration?
How will the policy changes affect the value of
the Bachelor of Arts degree held by alumni?
How are courses as
they are to be, going to serve and attract students who might
enroll in the art department?
Will other universities in this
field offer better programs?”
And finally “With only courses
such as art history, drawing, sculpture, ceramics and design, and
with the exclusion of commercial art courses, how could a
graduate be prepared to enter the professional field?
In the
past, a greater percentage of the art department graduates have
obtained positions in the profession of commercial art.”
220
The article ended with concern about Kady Faulkner's
resignation “Miss Faulkner, national president of Delta Phi Delta
honorary art fraternity, whose leadership and inspiration to the
students as well as to Lincoln and the state of Nebraska, has
served our university for more than 20 years.
When a person of
such integrity leaves the department to which she has devoted her
life, this indicates to us that something is wrong.
The rumored
resignations of other art faculty members strengthen this
suspicion.”
No longer would students carry around their little model
skeletons they built for Kady's anatomy classes.
I modeled for
some of her advanced drawing classes and wondered if there would
be live models again, and if there were, how well could they draw
a human figure without knowing anatomy?
It appeared she was
involuntarily forced out, which seemed a real tragedy to all of
the art community.
The Galleries salary budget sent to Dwight that June
totalled $7,790: Dwight, $4,700; Joe Ishikawa, $3000; J.E. McGee,
museum guard, $2,400; and Rosa Lee Harding, secretary, $1,680.
With maintenance, the grand total was only $9,090.
It appeared
they still had to cope with their “shoe-string” wages!
With Dwight planning to take a leave of absence and perhaps
work out plans for a lecture tour, it seemed the bottom of the
well had been reached.
However, with all of his artist and
221
academic friends in the mid west and elsewhere, there was always
hope for a better future.
He was fifty-one and in his prime, not
too late!
That June he received a letter from Lester Longman telling
him that he had recommended him for a job as Director of the Des
Moines Art Center.
“I am sure you could do an excellent job if
you are willing to undertake it, and it seems to me that their
problems at Des Moines have all been solved so that it would be
possible for a new man to accomplish something.
I think your
splendid record at Nebraska makes you an ideal candidate for the
job and at this juncture in the affairs of Nebraska it would seem
to me preferable for you to find a new opportunity at an early
date.
The job in Des Moines seems to me worthy of your abilities
and in line with your major interests.
Longman.”
222
Sincerely, Lester
Chapter 14
“Iowa, Des Moines Art Center, 1950, New House”
Soon after Lester Longman's recommendation, a board of
trustees committee from the Des Moines Art Center visited Dwight
and Truby in Lincoln.
A press release was then sent to the media
by Fred Hubbell, Chairman of the Edmundson Art Center, a part of
the Des Moines Art Center.
The Lincoln Journal ran an announcement July 26, 1950,
“Kirsch Leaving N.U. Art Post To Head Des Moines Institute.
Dwight Kirsch is taking a one-year leave of absence to serve as
director of the Edmundson Art Center in Des Moines.
will assume his duties in Des Moines Sept. 1.
Moines Tuesday night.
Kirsch, 51,
He was in Des
A nationally known figure in the art
world, Kirsch has built up a collection of pictures at the
university, which is considered one of the outstanding groups of
its kind in the country.
The Des Moines art center, opened in
June, 1948, has been without a director since the resignation of
Richard F. Howard in May.”
“Kirsch is a native of Pawnee County.
former Truby Kelly of Atkinson.
Mrs. Kirsch is the
They have a son, John, 23, who
recently graduated with honors from the university.
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The son has
exhibited widely in mid west exhibitions and is known as one of
the region's outstanding younger painters.”
“Kirsch also is a painter and his work has been exhibited
widely.
He is already widely known in Des Moines art circles,
having visited and lectured there a number of times. . It was
reported in Lincoln Tuesday night that Kirsch's leave of absence
has been approved by university Chancellor R.G.Gustavson and Dean
of Faculties Carl W. Borgmann pending the first meeting of the
university board of regents this fall.”
“Kirsch is the second veteran member of the university's art
staff who will not be back this fall.
Miss Kady Faulkner,
professor of art, who had been with the department for the past
20 years, resigned in May, effective Aug. 31..”
The Lincoln Star mistakenly reported that Duard Laging would
succeed Dwight as gallery director. The Star also reported
however that, “Joe Ishikawa, curator for the University of
Nebraska art galleries, took issue with a statement made by Prof.
Duard Laging, art department chairman, that he (Laging) would
succeed Dwight Kirsch as galleries director.
Ishikawa pointed
out that the appointment. . must be made and approved by the
university's administrative officials.”
(Norman Geske later ably
filled the gallery director post and continued after the Sheldon
was built.)
In retrospect, the university had derived a great
bargain those many years when Dwight filled the two positions.
224
As if the approaching new job were not excitement enough,
thunderous news was reported in the August 1950 Lincoln Star and
Journal that Frances Sheldon had left nearly one million dollars
to the University of Nebraska for an art gallery.
This was irony
almost beyond belief, a Frances had received advice from Dwight
for many years on personal art purchases, had admired his work
and apparently felt confident that he would continue at the
university for an indefinite period of time (if Dwight knew of
her intentions, he kept his own council).
The Lincoln Artists'
Guild had stated their wish for one for many years.
In a separate letter enclosed with his formal request for a
leave of absence, Dwight made a proposal: “To submit a rather
full report on problems and values of the Art Galleries seems to
me to be a wise and essential step before the statement on the
Art Galleries (also enclosed) is revised and resubmitted to the
Regents.
In view of the Sheldon bequest for a new Art Gallery
Building (though it may not be constructed for many years), I
believe it is highly desirable to give through study to the
immediate problems involved.
After twenty-six years on the staff
of the University of Nebraska and fourteen years as Galleries
director, I would be remiss in my duty not to see that steps are
taken to safeguard the art collection here and the activities of
the University Galleries as an entity.”
graceful, dignified finale.
225
His proposal was a
With Dwight and Truby driving back and forth between Lincoln
and Des Moines, trying to pack, rent an apartment, it is a wonder
they had time to come to our little house warming party that
summer.
Kelly Day Alexander had arrived April 2 on his Great-
Aunt Truby's birthday, much to her delight and we felt it was a
time for celebration.
They arrived at our little house in great
style in a sleek, new (used) grey Lincoln Continental which
looked worthy of the new position.
Aunt Truby looked radiant in
an elegant new dress she had made from a Vogue “Designer
Original” pattern, (I still have the pattern and sewed a dress
from it for myself).
The party was simple, but we all had a
wonderful time.
John stayed in Lincoln working on the packing, fulfilling
several small art commissions, and applying for various
scholarships, one of which was for a Fulbright.
My husband was
working out in the state for the highway department and I was
left without a car with a new baby.
John was a Godsend by
helping with groceries and other emergencies.
He was then jolted with a notice from the draft board that
he report for a physical for induction in the U.S. Army. The
Korean War had erupted.
The examining doctor found that he had
high blood pressure rejected him as unfit, much to Truby's
relief. She had plans for him to travel in Europe and remarked
many times that, “all fine artists (as opposed to commercial
226
artists) must travel to Europe before they can make a name for
themselves.”
Kirsches then left for Iowa and John to Europe:
France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, England and Germany.
My husband Fred was not as lucky as John, for he was also
called up for an army physical after having served during World
War II.
(My monthly army allowance was all of $24 and so my
parents took us in.
in those days.
Most new mothers did not work at paying jobs
When he was given a medical discharge at
Christmas time, we moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming.)
John was awarded the top purchase prize of $500 that October
in the Fourth Annual Exhibition by Missouri Valley artists, at
the prestigious Mulvane Art Center in Topeka, Kansas.
The
Atkinson Graphic reported that, “Kirsch who left Tuesday for
Europe on a year's painting trip and study, won the prize with
his canvas ‘Sangre de Cristo’ which was done while he was in
Mexico earlier this year.
It becomes a permanent part of the
Mulvane collection.”
Thus, there were droplets of hope, delight, and success for
his future, and the prize money helped finance his trip!
When
Dwight began to tackle his new (year-long) probationary job, he
was asked in an interview by Art Digest to comment on the “causes
and symptoms afflicting many institutions.”
His answers reflect his Nebraska dilemma and the Digest
offered him the platform he needed to air his views:
227
“1.
Changes in policy and top personnel for no better
reason than that change itself seems desirable.
Few shifts have
been based upon any real study of the problems involved or upon
considered examinations of the qualifications of the old or the
new leaders.”
“2.
Some protective association may be needed to establish
and enforce standards of professional ethics, freedom of creative
teaching and freedom of art-museum administration.
Such an
association could function in much the same way as the American
Association of University Professors.
Perhaps an existing group
could serve.”
“3.
A stronger assertion of faith in basic, timeless art
principles for art instruction.
Too often the established order
(perhaps strictly academic) has been followed without transition
by the abstract academy.
Frequently this takes the form of
encouraging a watered down Bauhaus style or an attempt to teach
automatic painting.”
“4.
Most art institutions need to spend more energy in
outlining a long-range program based upon specific or general
needs of the students and public to be served.
It would be
possible in this way to safeguard continuity, without which any
art program becomes only a bewildering series of changes.
Keeping up with the times does not necessarily mean the
exhibition and purchase of controversial art.
228
That has been a
large measure of trouble, of course.
The museum should survey
what artists are doing as objectively as possible, and present
their work to the public as impartially as is consistent with
those standards of quality which the museum must try to
maintain.”
The Art Digest writer continued, “The highest of tributes
was paid to him (Dwight) in the form of Miss Frances Sheldon's
bequest of approximately $900,000 to the University to be used to
build and equip a new art gallery.
Miss Sheldon knew Kirsch
well, and this bonanza to the university was based, we must
presume, entirely upon this wise legislator's (and her advisor's)
admiration for the program and collection Kirsch constructed, and
faith in his ability to continue his work.”
“The exact nature of the Nebraska unrest has not been
revealed.
But when, after 26 years, a man of Kirsch's caliber
has to face petty internal storms, which caused three members of
the art faculty to resign and another, in addition to himself, to
ask for a leave, there is something wrong with the institution,
not the man.
Whatever community Kirsch blesses with his great
talent for bringing art home to the people, we still will have
him.”
To further demonstrate the loyalty and concern he still had
for the university, in his formal request for Leave of Absence
for one year, Dwight Kirsch said, “In accepting my new
229
appointment, I feel certain that the experience of directing the
most completely equipped modern art center in this section of the
country will be of great benefit to me, and to the University of
Nebraska.
For example, we have already made arrangements for co-
operation on two exhibitions during the year which will be joint
projects of the University of Nebraska and the Des Moines Art
Center.”
Thus, the Kirsches left Nebraska with their heads held high,
able to look forward to the second half of the century charged
with an exciting challenge and new beginning!
IOWA
The Des Moines Art Center is nestled within a lovely, wooded
area on a sloping hill in Greenwood Park, a stunning and
appropriate setting for the handsome, Saairnen-designed building,
which was only two years old when Dwight Kirsch was appointed
director.
With his typical work ethic ingrained within, he immediately
plunged into his new position by meeting with the various art
center committees.
As Peggy Patrick, a long-time friend and
museum volunteer and later, employee said, “Had the world's
largest, most complicated computer attempted to choose the right
director for this place, at this time and its being, it could not
230
have done better, because Dwight was one who made people contact,
who made people comfortable, there was no elitist feeling thing
involved in being in the art center.
The African violet people
held their shows there, the rose growers held their shows there.
. Dwight's ‘folksiness’ his being a part of people-people, was
very important for the foundation on which the art center was
built.”
The second week that Dwight was in Des Moines, he met with
the school committee and immediately asked the group, “What are
the goals for the art center school?”
Peggy, who was new in town
and anxious that her children have the same opportunities she
enjoyed as a child, told him, “I want my children to have ‘thus
and thus’ experience” and he looked at me straight-forwardly (he
always looked at you square in the eye) with great sincerity,
“you seem to know what it is you want us to do, why don't you
help me do it?”
Art center board members were pleased with his cooperation
and ability, and together they began to discuss plans for the
future.
James Demetrion, former director succeeding Dwight,
wrote, “Dwight's role in the development of this institution
cannot be overestimated.
He shaped our acquisition and
exhibitions policy and was instrumental in establishing
professional standards in the museum and the art center's school.
He was a figure known throughout this part of the country and his
231
effectiveness as a teacher is still mentioned by those with whom
he came into contact.
way.
He touched many lives in a very positive
No one can ask for more.”
After only a few months on the job, Dwight had a one-man
show in Marshalltown in the Tallcorn Hotel.
Some of his
paintings were by then old friends, including “Livingston's
Pond,” “Lamplight at Quitsea,” “Martha's Vineyard,” “Frost in the
Hills,” “Burwell Bank,” and “Main Street Crossing.”
His year's probation period was cut short, from September to
February, and he was formerly invited to remain.
He was quoted
in a Des Moines Register article that February as saying, “It is
gratifying to have a hearty vote of confidence from the board
that operates the Art Center.
This decision, coming now, will
enable us to do a much more thorough job of planning a continuous
long-range program.
I am pleased that the attitude of the people
most actively concerned with the welfare of the Art Center is in
unanimous agreement that we must all work together to make the
Art Center function for the entire community and state.”
From a new friend, Rose F. Rosenfield, came this note, “Dear
Mr. Kirsch:
I came home today feeling very happy and secure
about the future of the art center. . your coming seems like an
act of Providence.
Through your knowledge, tact and
friendliness, you have won the confidence of DM and I know that I
am one of very many who hope that you and Mrs. Kirsch will be
232
with us for many years.
With many wishes for your complete
success.”
While continuing his fast-paced work routine, he contacted
artist friends.
There are letters and cards from B.J.O.
Nordfeldt, Mrs. Walt Kuhn, and Fleur Cowles. The latter must have
purchased a painting from him -- “I assure you I am a satisfied
customer!
And my proof is attached.
Sincerely, Fleur Cowles.”
Promising craftsmen and artists were soon hired to teach
classes at the center, it was a beehive of activity!
One
craftsman who rejected his job offer, however, was from a young,
struggling weaver none other than Jack Lenor Larsen.
Larsen very
clumsily typed on cheap, badly hand-decorated paper, his letter.
“It seems like an absolutely right position for a craftsman with
some ideals and standards that make his experiments not too
salable.
I am in exactly that position, but with some
venturesome spirit that will probably lead me on a free lancing
venture in New York this fall.
I am a fool not to consider this
possibility for security more seriously, but I cannot help but
follow my hunches.”
Those Larsen “hunches” were very much on
target, though I doubt that in his wildest “hunch” did he suspect
that years later, he would achieve his present status as a
supreme, world-famous designer.
Truby again followed her pattern of helping Dwight at the
art center, but she also handled a good share of the business end
233
of their real estate transactions as well as spending nearly a
year searching for a suitable building site for their house.
They needed space for entertaining, and for a studio.
Apartment
living fell far short of fulfilling their needs.
Their Piedmont house in Lincoln was sold to Fred Sidles for
$30,080 in late 1951.
Gretchen Fahnastock wrote a note to her
sister Marguerite, “The Kirsches stopped by and spent Sunday
night.
They were to move all their stuff from their house in
Lincoln to Des Moines for storage.
Their building plans are
slow, no site yet, and John has no immediate plan but thinks he
will go to Mexico and angle for a gallery job somewhere.
He is
skinny (he had returned from Europe, and was trying to get over a
bout of amoebic dysentery he contracted in Mexico). Had (with
him) three oils done in Colo.
Two portraits that were very
Spanish, and a Marsden Hartley sort of moonlight mountain scene.
Mostly greys blacks & whites.
I liked them all but I'm no judge.
Dwight had some delightful monotypes - some of them miniatures
and charming.
D's almost fat.
He looks fine and healthy.
has been ill and is trying to pick up weight.
Truby
She is still
Truby.”
I received a letter from her a bit earlier and she sounded
enthusiastic, but tired, “We are about as busy with this job here
as we've ever been in our lives, so you know our time can hardly
be called our own.
It is a wonderful place but we don't know yet
234
how long we can take the pace without more help.”
John was still
in Europe, “He is in Seville, Spain, enjoying the Holy Week
festivities.
He'll stay four more months.”
I was especially intrigued with his ability to travel alone
without losing all his belongings and money, an amazing feat for
him!
No doubt his Mexico experiences helped.
He returned home
in one piece much to our delight, and brought his mother a
stunning Spanish leather handbag, which I still have - very
simple in design with none of tooling decorations we see in
“cowboy country.”
During John's absence, the New York Times “Newcomers Column”
on the Art Page mentioned that his “Sangre de Cristo, the Mulvane
Art Center purchase, suggests a knowledge of Byzantine
forerunners; it is deep and convincing.”
A site for the new custom-built house was found on Casady
Drive in Druid Hill Park, a portion of an estate that had
recently been dissolved.
Truby again watched building progress,
and managed, while Dwight carried on with his work, which
included many out-of-town trips.
However, when letters from John arrived, everything stopped!
This time he was on his way again to Mexico, but took his
parents' advice by first checking out a possible job. “January,
1952, Laredo, Texas: Dear Folks: I stayed over in Norman longer
than I originally intended.
I had a very fine time there and
235
liked everyone on the staff that I met.
Jim Hinkle had me out
for lunch, and the ceramics teacher and his wife Corashaw (who
used to know Tom McClure well), had supper for me and Mr. O'Neil.
Mr. O'Neil seems like a swell person, rather shy, but very
honest. . one would always know where one stood while working
with him.
Everything is run on a very friendly, informal basis
around the dept., and there doesn't seem to be any trace of
dissension.
Guess that was settled last year when the big
turnover took place.
The museum situation is rather strange,
with a Chinese scholar in charge, Mr. Chang, whose field is
oriental art.
collection.
Mr. Chang has nothing to do with the American
What Mr. O'Neil wants is someone who would work more
directly with him and the department, who knows something about
contemporary painting, to take charge of arranging the state
department collection, temporary exhibits, student exhibits, etc.
Next year there will be a larger museum budget and a secretary to
take care of museum correspondence and since the school is moving
into the main campus from the naval station, the museum and
school will be much more closely connected.
To make a long story
short, Mr. O'Neil said the job was mine if I wanted it.
Next
year the salary would be $2000 or so (formerly $1800).
So the
deal seems to be all set, unless there should be a drastic budget
cut.
There is also a chance to get a masters degree in painting
without a thesis requirement, which I am interested in looking
236
into. . I imagine I had better get home a little earlier than I
thought, especially if I want to see the house.
You should see
some of the ‘Nature Houses’ in Norman, designed by Gouth, head of
the architecture department.
They are whacky, with roofs and
floors supported on central poles, serpentine, hole-filled
stonewalls with water falls running over them, and so forth.
They make our plans look old-fashioned.
could see them.
I wish the DM FHA man
Love, John.”
Before he left for Mexico, John and artist friend, Bob
Hansen were given a two-man show at the Joslyn Memorial Museum in
Omaha.
John's paintings for the show were done in Mexico,
southern Spain and Italy.
Ten were oils, one of which was the
“Sangre de Cristo” that the Mulvane Art Center in Topeka had
purchased.
Eight, such as “White Doves”, “Gray Day in the
Campos,” “Villa in Florence,” “Mexican Graveyard” were done in
casein.
There were several watercolors, including “Castle in
Spain,” lent by Betty Slaughter, Des Moines, “Hills Below Ronda,”
and two pen and ink drawings: “Spanish Religious Procession,
Seville,” and “La Parroquia, San Miguel.”
The simple flyer
listing their works printed a comment, “John Kirsch has a very
free spontaneous use of oil and water media.
He has said that he
paints ‘pretty much as I feel at the moment,’ keeping a fairly
direct relationship to subject matter, and usually painting from
nature or from memory.”
237
Unlike his father, John disliked being “on view,” as he put
it, during exhibits of his work, though he was no doubt present
the opening day.
His work was so much a reflection of his deep
emotions and sensitivity and being so very modest, he felt almost
“unclothed” to be near a crowd of viewers of his art.
embarrassed!
He was
He was delighted to get back to San Miguel and
again stayed with “the (Grimaldi) ladies.”
He painted and found
a few friends, including a Colorado Springs contingent.
“Lew
Tilley and his family are here to spend a year leave from the art
center. . Lew and his wife seem like swell people, and I'd like
to get to know them better.
Just to rub salt into your wounds,
this is a very exceptional winter. . it doesn't get at all cold
in the evening as it did the year we were here, and everything is
much greener and more springs-like. . I have seen Chago, too.
Serapes cost about twice what they used to, and his business is
not good.
Rebozos here are 35 pesos (just under $4.00) (John
brought me a beautiful deep turquoise one that I still use and
treasure) and Carmen's jewelry is a little more than it used to
be.
Her brother has recently designed some stunning new
geometric modern things, with copper and silver, black onyx, etc.
Glad to hear you are moving on the house plans. . Love, John.”
In another letter he wrote, “I am getting some painting
done. . I have been to a couple of wild brawls here, fiestas that
is, staged by the usual San Miguel Bohemian group.
238
Muy
intersante!
Have been having lessons (classic guitar) once in a
while with Carman, which usually turn into San Miguel gossip
sessions.
Sounds as if you are going at the usual mad pace.
Have you got a contractor yet?
you are okay (his mother).
want again.
Was glad to hear the doctor says
It must be nice to eat anything you
Are you?”
This must have been the beginning of her cancer, because in
spite of her doctor's report, Truby was still “having spells of
the business” as John remarked.
John's March 10th birthday letter sounded upbeat, “The
Tilleys are having Carman and me up for supper tonight.
a ‘pahty.’
Sort of
Glad to hear about the house plans being finished.
We have seen one good bull fight, over to Irapuato, the biggest
one of the season in this region.
Very exciting, with much
throwing of things from the audience.
guitar cheap.
I picked up a second hand
Don't know how to get it home, but may not bother.
Will look around for tin stuff, but think I will wait till later
to buy things until more definite requests come in.
I'm getting
rolling in the painting now, and the 4 months left doesn't seem
long enough to even get a good start.
I sometimes wish I could
sell enough paintings to stay here permanently.
I was just
wondering the other night, while some mariachis were singing up
at the corner in the moonlight, why anyone would want to live in
the U.S., with juke boxes and super markets and people getting
239
ulcers trying to go places in a hurry. Guess I am a bum at heart.
By the way, there is no hurry, but if some day you should get
around to it you might send along a few pocket books.
There is
no duty at the border on books, and I have run out of reading
material.
No detective stories, though (Dwight loved them).
Whatever else that's reasonably good: F. Scott Fitzgerald, D.H.
Lawrence, etc.
Love John.”
The April letter continues, “Am now pretty certain of a ride
at least as far as the border with the Tilleys, some time around
the first or second week in July.
It will be a lifesaver, since
by now I have acquired, besides a serape, a rather large guitar
and a six-foot long, 300-year old crucifix, which'll probably
have to be smuggled out of the country.
It is a real beauty, and
according to the antique dealer it was brought down from an
abandoned church high in the Sierras of the state of Hidalgo,
three days by burro back, and is probably 17th C. in date.
I can sell it to the Coffin Collection, huh?
Maybe
Since I just
remembered you are having 7' ceilings, I don't quite know how a
six-foot santo will fit in the new house.
In the small world
department, at a local wild party here, who should I bump into
but an ex-instructor from the art dept. at Okla., who besides
teaching painting and art history had also been in charge of the
museum.
(A Cranbrook grad.)
I got some of the inside dirt on
the dept. break-up, loyalty oath mess, etc. (the communist-
240
accusation McCarthy era).
It didn't sound too savory, and didn't
exactly increase my enthusiasm about the whole business, but we
shall see, we have a wide choice among the local Taos and Santa
Fe divorcees, down for the season, as models.
arty, Bohemian bunch here.
There is the usual
With the new hiway thru, San Miguel
is slowly being discovered by the touristas.
Among other people,
Rita Hayworth, without Ali, was in town a couple of weeks ago.
Thanks for the exhibition catalogues, etc., looked like an
exciting show.
people.
What was finally bought?
My best to all the
Love, John.”
The show to which John referred may have been “20 American
Artists of the 20th Century, A comparative Study of the Artists'
Vision,” which ran from March 28 through April 22.
Dwight's
forward, “THE ARTISTS' VISION,” gives us an engrossing, short,
treatise on the subject: “The quality that most often
distinguishes masters and masterpieces of art is vision: ‘vision’
in the sense of observing with the eyes of the artist, and also
seeing with the more penetrating insight of both mind and
feelings.
This extraordinary vision must be coordinated by the
artist with his ability to use materials skillfully and with
purpose - with energy and vitality - to express what he sees,
understands and wishes to tell others.
The fact that he ‘sees
differently’ is basic to the understanding of an artist's work by
the people of his own time and country.
241
His way of seeing and
selecting material for art expression represents a trained vision
that is not necessarily like the observer's.
So it is futile to
try to ‘pigeonhole’ each artist solely by the subject or style of
his best-known work.”
He also wrote brief comments on each artist's “vision.”
For
instance, on Walt Kuhn, who had seven paintings in the show, he
wrote, “VISION, keen perception, psychological insight in
portraiture, paintings forthright, posterlike, with subtle
abstract structure, still lifes and portraits of American types
among best work.”
Other artists in the show were Maurice Prendergast, Max
Beckmann, Joseph De Martini, John Marin (he tried to get a good
Marin for the Nebraska show from Stieglitz, whom he said had long
white hairs growing out of his ears that looked like rabbit's
feet), Raphael Soyer, Everett Spruce, Reuban Tam, etc. Sculptors,
including Lachaise, Calder, Small, Der Harootian, Maldarelli and
four pieces by William Zorach, and several others, also showed
their works.
Of them he said, “The Sculptor's vision penetrates
the materials he uses: the forms are carved or grown out of the
materials.
He must visualize his work as the light reveals it
from all sides and viewpoints.
The 20th century sculptor's
vision has produced open sculpture (like Hare's) that one can
look through, and sculpture made of thin metal wires that move,
242
(like Calder's).
A Sculptor's energy, persistence and skill must
be combined to carry out his vision.”
John's last letter from Mexico was written May 28.
“Dear
Folks, I certainly enjoyed the kodachromes and shots of the
house.
Almost as good as being on the spot.
brick sounds wonderful.
The color of the
(I recall Dwight had quite a time
convincing the brick-layers they had to come up with the right
mortar color - he matched it to the brick.)
much more has happened.
I suppose by now
I have been looking around for lanterns
for entrance lights as you mentioned.
The best bet seems to be a
large-sized star shaped fixture, since most of the others have
sort of a carriage-lamp colonial look.
and costs 30 pesos ($4.00).
It is about a foot high,
I wondered if you wanted one or two?
The only catch is that the glass isn't frosted, but since they
dismantle for packing, they could probably be doped up from the
inside.
(He sketched it, and brought at least one back.
It was
still there when the house was sold, the cats couldn't get to it
where it hung in the stairwell.
house.)
The design was perfect for the
I suppose you have heard from JoAnn by now that they are
expecting in August (Mark was born August 1,1952).
And now I
hear from Maynard (Walker) that he is sailing for Spain in July
and wants some information on places.
before sailing date.
Will try to get it to him
The painting has slowed down a little, and
a few more social engagements.
The Tilleys still plan to leave
243
around the last of June or 1st of July.
We are meeting some
interesting people here, with maybe the remote possibility of
picture sales; a youngish authoress from Minn. who recently has a
story in the New Yorker; the stepson of Don Felipe Pomar, the
school owner, who is a fairly good water colorist with Feragil
Galleries; a young New York interior decorator, etc. etc.
Have
also met the Sudlers, owners of the Drake Hotel in Chicago.
Miguel is going international, it seems.
anything from Okla. love, John.
P.S.
San
Still haven't heard
Just as I was about to
mail this, the letter from Okla. arrived.
It seems there was
severe budget cut, but the job is still open to me there at a
lower salary, it would mean only $1,800 on a 12-month basis, with
mornings free.
Sounds sort of like starvation wages, but I
suppose I had better accept it, at least for a year.
‘Museum Technician.’
Title is
Love, John”
He did not accept the Oklahoma job, however.
From the tone
of his letter, he sounded skeptical especially from the salary
point of view.
His parents could have discouraged him, also.
We
will always wonder “what if” - would his life have been
different?
The santo was smuggled out in Lew Tilley's station wagon.
recall hearing John say that “it was under a blanket and other
things we brought back,” probably including the large guitar
because I remember he had one in Des Moines.
244
He hadn't thought
I
of hanging the santo on the stairwell wall, which proved to be a
choice space for it.
A crucifix seemed to be unusual for those
three, who, on the surface, did not appear to be “religious.”
However, they were spiritual in their own quiet way.
John seemed
to search throughout his life for answers to his theological
questions.
Later, when Dwight sold his house, he donated it to
the Des Moines Art Center.
Thankfully, the cats could not quite
reach it with their claws, though they may have tried.
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Chapter 15
“John to New York, Life Magazine, Mabel Eiseley”
Dwight had a firm grip on his position at the art center and
was becoming well known in Iowa art circles.
His engaging
personality drew people, who did not realize they enjoyed art,
into many activities at the center.
Thus, when Life Magazine
come to Des Moines in 1952 to interview outstanding Iowans for a
multi-page spread advertisement called “What Happens When LIFE
Hits Des Moines,” they included Dwight.
He is shown holding a
picture of Alexander (“Sandy”) Calder (who was at the Art
Students League in New York at the time Dwight was there), and in
the background is a Calder mobile, all of which covers nearly
half a page, more space than they gave the governor!
Life quoted
Dwight as saying “LIFE has given the best and broadest coverage
among picture magazines in the field of creative arts.
LIFE'S
features relate the arts of the past to our social society.”
Iowa art and Dwight attracted other visitors that year.
Francis Henry Taylor, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, was photographed with Dwight outside the art center,
and Louis Bouche was “artist-in residence” for several weeks.
246
Personal guests were my parents, Ralph and Bernice Kelly.
It was difficult for them to get time off from their newspaper,
but they were anxious to see Truby and Dwight and the art center.
They were given the Royal Treatment with a special tour of the
Des Moines Art Center.
They were especially interested in the
ceramics and jewelry-making studio, and of course, the gift shop.
My mother brought home an unusual container, which I now enjoy,
for her outstanding flower arrangements.
They were terribly impressed with the nearly finished new
house and the surrounding woods, neighborhood, etc.
My mother,
after the many years of insecure feelings around Truby, was “in
her glory” because of her warm reception.
It seemed
providential, for that would be the last time she saw her.
Perhaps my mother finally realized for the first time that Truby
did work hard even though she was feeling under par, and that she
did not spend all her time “preening in front of her dressing
table triple mirror” as she used to say when she criticized me
for spending too much time doing my hair, etc.
My mother actually had no idea how much Truby contributed to
Dwight's job over the years.
She seemed to return home from that
trip with a new understanding and closer relationship with her.
John spent only enough time in Des Moines after returning
from Mexico to check the progress of the new house, visit family
and friends, then took off for New York to try his wings.
247
He had
sent photos of his work to Edith Halpert, was armed with names of
people to see, and felt confidant that a year there would be good
experience.
Knowing Truby, I am sure she gave him many reasons
why he was not ready for the “big time,” that he should be
working on his Masters, that a job in a mid-west college for a
while would better prepare him.
But John was submissive only up
to a point, and now that he was a “man of the world” he overruled the advice.
Because of election year, the art season on 57th Street was
very slow, and John found job-hunting a painful process.
letter, September 6, 1952 states,
audition with Mr. Baird.
His
“I have an appointment for
Saw his studio, talked to him.
He
wanted someone with more experience, but might be willing to take
someone on for training in his ‘style.’
We'll see.”
(John's
integrity as an artist would not permit him to do such a thing,
unless it meant starvation.)
He talked with the “mobile man,
Herman Cherry,” and had appointments at the Metropolitan's
personnel office, Brooklyn Museum, W.L. Rothchild, Halpert, Miss
Lewis of Macbeth, Artists Equity, and the Whitney Museum, all of
which yielded nothing.
“Maynard is having a very difficult time getting back from
Europe because of the cancellation of his reservation on one of
the new French line ships which had engine failure.
It seems he
can't get another res. in the rush season and is in a slim state
248
financially.
Roger (Crossgrove) is trying to get a part time job
teaching at Pratt.
Nothing definite yet.
in town, with a separation pending.
They said Bishops were
What's with the house?
Love, John.”
Dwight and Truby must have been ecstatic when they opened
John's next letter.
“Well, Roger and I are on the verge of
having teaching jobs at Pratt Inst.
We would each take one large
all day section of the beginning painting one day a week.
Mr.
Ajootson, head of Illustration dept., wanted two people with
similar backgrounds and viewpoints who could work together, so,
God bless him, Roger suggested me.
The pay is $30 a week, which
would tide me over while I am working on another part time deal.
However, we won't know for sure whether registration will be
large enough or whether the Dean will give approval until Wed.
We are praying, meanwhile.
The other deal, hold your breath, is
with a ballroom dance studio on Madison Ave.”
The Pratt “deal”
fell through, but John was having a great time with old friends.
“Ann Whitham met us at Roger and Wynona's for supper. . and we
discussed the commercial art rat race.
Like everything else in
N.Y., it sounds pretty tough, and Roger and I thought our only
chance might be in a portfolio for freelance spot illustrating,
textile design, etc.
Will tell gallery dealers of your pending
arrival.”
249
Seeing his parents, attending gallery openings and Broadway
shows with them was a delightful recess from job-hunting for
John, but exhausting for Truby.
Mindful that they would soon be
moving into their new house, they did not expect it to be so
frustrating, the toilets did not flush at first, and there was
the hard labor of acid-treating their concrete floors with mops
and rags to achieve the beautiful dark patina they sought.
Still
tired from the trip, the move in general, and their concern for
John, Truby could not seem to regain her usual lively energy.
John, being John, felt guilty for staying on in the City and
not helping with the move, but he was committed.
letter he says: “Well, guess what!
In his October
I hope you won't blackball me
for this, or something, (ha) but I am now stock room manager (or
whatever you call it) for Grand Central Art Galleries.
I decided
that I'd better take it, since the other job would have
terminated after Thanksgiving.
And I don't have to look at the
fronts of these paintings; I can contemplate only the backs.
job seems to be semi-administrative.
hang pictures and cart them about.
The
At least I don't have to
The work consists mostly of
cataloging and keeping track of incoming and outgoing paintings,
correspondence about shipping, etc.
the business end of this rat race.
week).
I may learn a little about
(Pay not too bad - $50 a
In the meantime I'm going to follow up the chance of an
opening at the Met., because they have said when the
250
reconstruction job is over they may need new help, and also call
Mrs. Navas about Mr. Keck when she returns.
I attended the
opening of the Fauves show at the Mus. of Modern Art.
Bumped
into Miss Kraushaar and Mr. Goodrich, both of whom sent you their
regards, and also, of all people, Sidnee Livingston.
She invited
me and the Crossgroves down to her studio in Minetta Lane,
Village some week-end.
The Fauves show itself was something of a
disappointment; very limited in scope and much early and obscure
work by many of the artists represented.
course was fascinating.
The crowd itself, of
It was quite a mob scene.
In fact it
seemed as if the ‘wild beasts’ were more in action on the floor
than on the walls.
Wish you could be here for Bea Lily, (the
wonderful British comedienne).
Well, so long for now.
Love,
John.”
John and his friend, Gordon, could not afford a larger
apartment so they decided to separate when John found a second
story walk-up, “one large room with north windows, freshly
kemtoned (the early Sherwin-Williams alkyd paint) for $55 a
month.”
This is the first time John mentioned living with
another man, though his parents knew he had “come out.”
Two and a half months at Grand Central Galleries was almost
more than John could stomach.
a dull moment.
His next letter says, “Well, never
I don't know quite how to tell you this, but it
looks as if I am about to pull the perennial ‘bad penny,’ or
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‘prodigal son’ act all over again.
isn't it?
Getting a little monotonous,
Well, it seems that the other day at the gallery I got
just completely fed up with the high-handed, totalitarian methods
and the hypocrisy, and we parted company.
Life was really
getting unbearable there, and hardly worth going on with.
With a
week's wages in pocket, I thought I could probably get a fill-in
job, but anything to stay in N.Y.
I began to question myself as
to whether N.Y. was worth it all or not, and just at this point
the answer seems negative.
I think eventually I might find what
I want here but now I think I am properly chastened.
I guess I
had to find out for myself; or I would always have been unhappy
with the nagging wondering of what it might have been like.
Well, now I know.
I'm sorry; I guess it was a rather expensive
experiment, mostly for you.
I am seeing a little more clearly
now the direction I want to go in.
And I know now that anything
to do with the business world is just not my plate of potatoes.
It may be escapist again, but I see that I miss the academic
sheltered and/or museum worlds very much, and that teaching,
after all, is what I really would rather do.
I hope there is
time before second semester to find a teaching assistantship
somewhere.
I realize now that the pace of the west or mid-west
is one I can stand better.
I don't care what size school, or
what the wages, as long as there is some security and sense of
direction.
Those things I have not found here.
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Please, I hope
you are not too disgusted with me about this business.
I guess I
am a pretty weak character after all, but you will just have to
be patient with me, well, see you soon.
Love, John (by bus as
usual).”
His friend, Fran Bishop, who lives in New York wrote me:
“Yes, we had some good times with John in N.Y. When he returned
to Des Moines I saw him off at the bus station.
comic opera.
It was a real
He had given me assorted kitchen utensils in a
couple of shopping bags when we left his apt.
He was carrying
the guitar, miscellaneous shopping bags, a large suitcase and a
pillow. Other passengers were probably surprised when I did not
board the bus too, because I was likewise loaded down.
He gave
me a nice flower painting which I still have.”
Little did any of us know then that John was seriously ill
with a mental condition called manic depression.
manifest itself about that time.
It seemed to
I suspect he blew up completely
at Grand Central people when the pressures of doing such work
just became too much for him.
When we were very young, he would go through periods of
“boredom” as he called it (we hardly knew what the word meant
then), and then of great excitement.
He craved the latter and
when we were in high school and college during visits in
Atkinson, he had late night drinking bouts, loved parties and
dancing.
He stayed up all night during college studying for
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exams, there was little frustration tolerance with his painting,
singing, and learning to drive during his teen years.
All was
wonderful when things went well, but if not he would often fly
into a rage.
Once, when I was posing for him, he erupted and
angrily scratched the silverpoint drawing with his tool.
I still
have it, scratches and all, but he left my face untouched.
John's “weak character” statement was his prevailing
assessment of himself throughout his life.
Except for a few,
school kids rejected him for being a “sissy.”
Having brilliant,
strong parents added to his inadequate feelings.
I heard from him that January, “I put off writing to you so
long that finally I was sort of even ashamed to remind you of my
existence.
It got to be a vicious circle.
got up enough nerve.
But at long last I
First of all, belated congratulations on
the new red head in the family.
I wish I could see him.
We got
a card from Aunt Bernice at Christmas time saying Warren should
be getting home quite soon.
was in the army in Japan.)
we last saw him.
Iowa again.
Have you heard anymore since?
(He
Gee, it seems like a long time since
I suppose you wonder why in heck I am back in
I sort of wonder myself.
I loved being in New York,
but the 2nd job I took, the permanent one (?), proved to be
unbearable after awhile.
I'm going back in Feb. though, with a
better portfolio, and this time I think I'll know a little more
what it's all about.
Trudy Zastera is now married to a young and
254
coming architect there, and Fran Bishop was also in NY.
Ruth
(Rosekrans) is taking graduate work at Penn. State, and got into
NY while I was there a couple of times.
In the meantime I'm
working on some decorative panels for the home of the local head
of the Better Business Bureau, who is paying generously, so I may
be able to afford the trip.
I'm also applying for some graduate
fellowships for next year, so I could work on my masters degree
(probably at Iowa U. if nothing else pans out), I still just hate
to settle down.
New York was exciting; too much at first.
Eventually, though, the day in day out grind of going to a dull
job on the subway wore some of the glamour off.
Still like it
though, and I'd stay there for life if I found a job I really
liked.
I wish you could see the new house.
of terrific.
It is nothing short
That is one of the reasons I had a yen to come
back, since it was only under construction when I left.
get some idea of it from the enclosed card.
You can
(It was supposed to
be a New Year's card, and I was supposed to write to you two
weeks ago.)
Oh, well, the walls are a pinkish buff colored
brick, with driftwood gray redwood siding.
Most of the interior
walls are the same pink brick, with natural redwood siding, only
the bedrooms and baths are plastered (or enclosed).
The ceilings
are all exposed beam and board construction and the hall floors
and stairs and pink Roman brick laid in basket weave pattern.
The big window in the photograph is the front wall of the living
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room, glass from floor to ceiling, facing south.
The whole thing
is sort of a rugged, luxurious cabin-in-the mountains look about
it, so that living in it isn't like living in a dull old house,
but more like camping out in a super deluxe cabin with modern
kitchen and inside plumbing.”
“Was glad to hear you have a house all your own now.
Would
love to see some pictures of Mark, and I really, honestly promise
I'll write sooner.
Love from your (sob) used to be favorite
cousin, John.”
Peggy Patrick remembers that the Kirsch house was the first
really contemporary residence in Des Moines, at least that she
was aware of, and she recounts Dwight's story of the appraiser
from the loan company trying to cope with a room count, since
only the master bedroom and bath were enclosed (there were
partial walls), with doors, “the kitchen opened freely into the
dining room and spread into the living room (similar to their
Lincoln house), the studio was half a story up, and with the
mortgage appraiser's forms, it was a 2-room house, completely
defying anything he had ever been to.”
I understand how John felt about the New York experience.
I
was thrilled that he went, and was slightly envious, especially
when washing and hanging out diapers.
do) all the time he lived there.
I ached to go there (still
His letters contradict one
another, to his parents, he wants to teach; yet, to me and when
256
home again, he wants to go back to New York!
told him to please his parents.
His inner voice
In New York he felt liberated
and stimulated, with a greater chance that his art and lifestyle
would be accepted.
His dilemma was then brought to an unexpected and abrupt
halt when Truby became ill, had the surgery, and suddenly died!
She was barely settled in the new house, really had not had the
chance to savor the change from their apartment to that wonderful
open space ideal for entertaining, the woods behind, the
efficient kitchen, etc.
Cards and letters of condolence filled Dwight's mailbox, but
the special one he cherished and kept was from their loyal
friend, Mabel Eiseley.
“Dwight Dear, you and John have been very
much in our thoughts and hearts.
It seems incredible to us that
Truby, who always had more than her share of enthusiasm, courage
and generosity of heart, should no longer be with us.
very much more incredible to you.
It must be
One knows that such things
must come to pass, but one is never really prepared.
We can take
comfort in the realization that she may have been spared a great
deal of suffering, in such quick passing.
evil.
Death is not the worst
This we know too, though subconsciously we may feel
otherwise.
Truby was a dynamic and truly wonderful person who touched
all those around her.
We perhaps forget, because of her
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spiritual vitality, that she was never vigorous physically, and
that she lived much longer than might have been expected,
considering her early struggles with respiratory trouble.
I will
always remember her, though, as strong, confidant, and never
lacking in humor.
We all used to ‘get down’ more than
occasionally, but I can still hear Truby saying ‘well, now, look
here!’
Her voice carried conviction, and she was very often
entirely right.
To me she was a wonderful friend.
We never
indulged in much talk together of the kind that seems to interest
many women.
But we had a fine feeling of understanding and
mutual liking.
She told me, quite spontaneously and in an
unsolicited confidence, to pay no attention to an age difference
between Loren and myself.
She said that was an inconsequential
detail in the light of truly important considerations.
never mentioned it again.
fifty-three.)
Then she
(She was sixty when she died, Dwight,
Truby had the faculty of living as she really
wanted to live, and as her family enjoyed living.
I think she
realized that there was not sufficient energy for everything, so
she chose, wisely, to create an atmosphere of relaxed warmth and
affection.
learn.
This is an important thing that many people never
They seem to be satisfying some inner compulsion of their
own, in many cases, compulsions that have little to do with the
comfort of those around them.
I have learned, somehow, and very
likely again owe a debt to Truby, that it is much more important
258
to hear all that Loren wants to tell me, and to sit while he
reads aloud or wants a feeling of having things shared, than it
is to go and rearrange a bureau drawer that might offend some
irrelevant busy body, should that mythical person be on a tour of
inspection.
We cannot do everything, and are fortunate if we
perceive what the truly important things are.
She will always be
with us, and we are grateful to have known her so well, and to
have had the opportunity to perceive her real quality.
I do not
doubt that in the tradition of the happy and satisfying years you
had together, you will find those right solutions for the
problems to be faced.
John will be a very great source of help,
for although he has not yet lived much in terms of years, he has
unusual insight, understanding, and certainly intelligence far
above average.
I found him remarkable in those respects when he
stopped to see us.
person.
He is a thoroughly lovable and satisfying
One of the nice things about your family relationship,
I've always thought, is John's appreciation of you both not
simply as parents, but as individuals whom he likes and
understands.
But I urge that you give yourself some deserved
time to meet your problems in a way that will be best in the long
run.
One or two things have occurred to me, but we can talk
about them later.
with us.
We do wish you could come and have a good talk
Loren is extremely fond of you and I truly think you
have first place among the men he calls friends.
259
He has said as
much.
It was most sweet and considerate of you to give us the
news yourself.
We love you for that, and for everything else
that makes you Dwight Kirsch.
Much, much love from us both,
Mabel.”
It was too bad Mabel could not have replaced the Lutheran
minister who officiated at Truby's funeral, her written eulogy
was so “on the mark” that I am touched at each reading.
260
Chapter 16
“Letters from John, Alaska Trip”
John, my brother Warren, and Dwight were invited to
Burlington, Iowa by Dwight's friends, the Schramms for a few days
after the funeral to re-coup.
Comments from my brother after
returning home were that they had a marvelous time, the Schramm
home was impressive and their hosts were warm and generous.
Dorothy Schramm, whose husband, James (Jim), served on the Des
Moines Art Center acquisitions committee at the time, wrote me in
1983.
“I recall we headed out into the country, a grey day with
a cold chill, not comforting.
But D.K. found some roots and wood
and even stones colored a warm, strangely orange.
for these — a measure of desperation, I thought.
His reaching
When we
returned to the house Dwight set himself to painting a watercolor
from our window overlooking the Mississippi with bare fall brush
and tree tops in the foreground.
tore sheets off the pad.
with greater intensity.
It refused to pan out.
Dwight
Each new start he threw himself into
Finally one came off.
Dwight said, handing it over.
‘Kinda spiky’
The painting showed the cold blue-
grey of February filled with the rusty oranges that had been in
the roots he’d plucked.
The thorny spikes of bark and tree
261
reminded me of Christ’s crown of thorns unconscious metaphor of
suffering.”
John then made preparations for another go-round in New York
with a more complete portfolio and greater insight on how to
adjust.
His letter written from Sloane House March 17, 1953, about a
month after his mother's death reveals concern for his father,
“Dear Pa, It was good to hear your voice Saturday and also to get
the letter the same day.
At the last - I felt very bad about
leaving you so suddenly, and I think I almost wouldn't have gone
if I hadn't been so effectively poured on the bus.
I don't know
that waiting would have made it any easier for you, I know, with
the lull right after all the excitement.
I hope you are making
out all right now, and the house and eating aren't too much to
cope with. And I hope you are getting to eat out and see people,
at least till you're tired of it. . So far everything has gone
unbelievably easily and snag free here. . I know it's silly not
to take advantage of the real friends one has here.
So I am not
going to hesitate about pursuing all the gallery angles. I
followed up Verna Wear's suggestion about the interior-decorating
firm, and had an interview there yesterday.
Much to my pleasant
surprise I found they specialize in Ecclesiastical art; stained
glass, church interior decoration, altars, etc.
Catholic mainly
but also Protestant, Jewish; all of a very high caliber. . The
262
pay scale us unusually good there too; $75 a week for the type of
work I would start with.
I followed up a want-ad yesterday for
someone with silk-screen and color separation experience, and
landed a $60 a week job doing decal designs and color separation
for an art material firm that turns out stuff Sherwin-Williams
sells - pre-outlined paintings and that sort of crap. . I spent a
pleasant day doodling Penn. Dutch flower designs (my own
creations yet) actually from what I saw Fri. and Mon., this is an
unusually good deal, since most commercial art studios offer
about $35 a week to beginners, no matter what their training. .
In the meantime to be able to feel things out slowly regarding
museum openings next year, restoring, as well as the religious
art business (which especially interests me) without getting in a
panic, or a hurry.
I would like, when Ken Hartman can spare
them, the two renderings I did for him. . and also if you could
dig up the design for the triptych altarpiece I did, it would
help a great deal there, too - or any other religious symbolic or
decorative items I might have left kicking around.
I just wish I
had a photograph now of the St. Matthew's church cross I did in
Lincoln.
Oh well, maybe I'll learn. . Am meeting Mrs. Navas for
lunch Saturday at the opening at Wildenstein. . There are too
many people to see here suddenly.
Got a call from Glenn
Chamberlain, which I haven't answered yet, and learned my wealthy
Cuban friend from San Miguel is here too.
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Love, John.”
Three months or so later, Dwight drove to Grinnell College.
That Truby was only near him in spirit when the college president
read the citation conferring on him the degree of Doctor of Fine
Arts, was one of the cruel, tragic twists of fate in his life.
The citation reads, “Frederick Dwight Kirsch, Jr., educator,
artist, museum administrator.
An artist whose works have
attracted national attention; an educator who had sought through
the medium of his art to increase man's capacity to enjoy beauty;
an administrator of the Des Moines Art Center, whose wise
leadership and insightful understanding of public needs has
resulted in an outstanding center of Fine Arts in Iowa.
Grinnell
College delights to recognize a man whose life has been devoted
to the capture of those things which are beautiful, good, and
true in art forms, and whose contributions to the common good
have won him many friends and great fame.”
All of us in the family, his students and friends were
thrilled with his deserved honor - the true words of the citation
were no exaggeration.
However, I know of no instance when he
used the initials of his degree after his name.
(Perhaps in some
of his museum correspondence?)
John immediately wrote: “Dear Pa: Or should I say Dr.
Kirsch?
ceremony?
Congrats and lauds and everything.
Was it too painful a
Would like to see the publicity, clippings, etc. about
the shindig.
I wish I could have got out there..”
264
Dwight could have been thinking about the trip he and Truby
made to the opening of the Des Moines Art Center in 1948 when he
reflected on his Grinnell honor.
In his outline he wrote, “DK
and Truby - all expenses paid, to travel from Lincoln,” and where
they first met Frances Shloss, Dan Degenbucter, and Fay
Huttenocher.
He also wrote about an “interview with Henry Harmon
(president of Drake University, Des Moines) about May, 1950, and
a visit to Lincoln by board members - Paula Brown, John deJong
along with George Shane. . Staff of D.M.A.C. - as of September
1950 (Jim Hunt had just left as acting director and art
instructor), Phyllis Letts, secretary (later treasurer), Charles
H. Oxbenrrow, treasurer (board member and former associate of J.
D. Edmundson).
Gene Baker, head janitor, and Mr. Williams, night
janitor and two other men.”
“School - Robert O. Hodgell, teacher of drawing and
painting, William E. Ross, ceramics, Mabel Eichhorn, weaving,
Peggy Patrick, started pre-school classes.”
He also listed
(handwritten from memory when in his late seventies or early
eighties) some of the members of the Board of Trustees, including
“Edmundson Art Foundation-Fred Hubbell, pres., Vincent
Starzinger, Carl Weeks, James D. Enyart, Henry Frankel, Gardner
(Mike) Cowles, Jr., Fleur? Cowles, Sally Cleveland, Bernard
Kurtz, James S. Schramm, Val Tone, Sally Wertz, Kenneth
Macdonald, John Woolson Brooks, Louise Noun, John de Jong, and
265
George Koss.”
In his outline, he also listed: George Grosz, Jean
Charlot, Kyle Morris, and Richard Neutra.
Later staff members included: “Jean Smith, Larry Hoffman,
Ray Ruehl, Louise Parker, librarian, from Lincoln, Joe Ishikawa,
curator and assistant director, Betty Slaughter, Pat Coady - head
janitor, Bob Hodgell left and Syd Fossum came.”
With funds from the Gardner Cowles Foundation, the art
center was able to invite an artist to spend a month at the
center to lecture, teach and present an exhibition of his or her
work.
Dwight, as mentioned earlier, was able to engage
Louis Bouche the summer of 1952; Minna Citron, friend and an
internationally known painter, in June, 1953; Arnold Blanch, who
had shown his work in Lincoln, came in the Fall of 1953.
Doris
Lee was there for one weekend (her works shown and purchased back
in Lincoln), and sculptor, William Zorach (his “Victory” was
given a place of honor in the N.A.A's 1946 show) came in 1954.
Because I especially loved that art form, Dwight gave me the book
Zorach wrote on sculpture when he visited us in Cheyenne.
In his notes, Dwight mentions that he changed the
Acquisitions Committee into the Exhibitions-Acquisitions
Committee, and that the “School Committee and Social Committee
were the most active at first. . Additions to the permanent
collection for the Edmundson Collection included Calder's mobile
(‘Black Spread’); and for the Coffin Collection, the Goya, ‘Don
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Manuel Garcia de la Prada,’ the transparency of which was passed
around after Truby's funeral; Courbet's ‘The Valley of the Loue,’
Daumier's ‘The Reader,’ Prendergast's ‘Head’ Sculpture; Rodin's
‘Honore de Balzac,’ and ‘Torso’ by Mailol.”
Upon his return to New York after Truby's death, John wrote
to Dwight about the “ultimatum” Dwight gave to the trustees of
the art center.
“I know it had to be done, and I hope it
produces some results soon.
way.
Laying it on the line was the only
I would be interested to hear what some of the reactions
were, of course, some of the ‘taking it more easy’ will have to
be initiated by you.
I suppose some changes of habit patterns
and easing up are in order, and now would seem as good a time as
any to do it.”
Truby had been concerned about Dwight's workload,
and without her support, it was very difficult for him to keep up
the pace.
John continued, “Saturday, Mrs. Navas took me to lunch and
to her ‘Landmark’ show at Wildenstein, (sponsored by American
Fed.) - very interesting, though motley.
I had never appreciated
fully what a truly sympathetic person she is.
We went later to
Downtown Gallery (bad Paul Burlin show) - where everyone was
kind, and solicitous about you.
Kraushaar's.
Then stopped at Antoinette
I had a brief talk with her about the picture
business and planning to see her this Saturday with some black
and white photos for a start.
She thought your suggestions about
267
Willard and Borgenicht Galleries good.
Thought Kodachromes a
good idea. . she thought not over ten or 15 Kodachromes.”
“Last night Maynard had me to supper of broiled lamb chops
and scrumptious ice cream, and later a recital at Town Hall of
baroque organ and chamber music group of the Bach Society.
Wonderful evening.
He seems fine, and has offered to help find
me a room. . The job is going fairly easily.
racket.
It is really a
They seem to want to keep me on the design end of it,
so, so far I have sat around and doodled a bedroom full of Penn.
Dutch floral patterns and a bathroom full of semi-stylized
mermaids, sea shells, fishes and bubbles. . I am still at the Y.
Don't understand how M. (Minna) Citron was told I had moved. . By
the way, I heard from Mrs. Navas that McBeth (Gallery) is folding
up.
Don't know what Mrs. Lewis is going to do.
John's Easter in New York was busy.
Roualt show with Roger (Crossgrove).
Love, John.”
“Weds. night to the
Lots of mink and mothballs
and hard to see the paintings, but it is a stupendous show.
Robinson Collection also on display there now.
E.G.
Thursday Ruthie
(UNL artist classmate) and I managed to get tickets to a B. (Bea)
Lily show, which we enjoyed immensely.
we can remember of the songs ever since.
We have been singing what
Tonight we are seeing
‘The Children's Hour’ all of which is knocking holes in the old
budget, but it's worth it.
This noon I met the Milligans and
some of their friends at the office to watch the Easter parade.
268
His office is on the 4th floor of the building across 5th Ave.
from St. Patrick's cathedral.
beautiful soft day here, too.”
Quite a spot!
And it was a
Dwight often spent Easters with
friends - Peggy Patrick said he showed her children how to
decorate eggs at their house.”
“I was very glad to hear how the memorial fund had grown.
(Dwight established the Truby Kelly Kirsch Collection at the art
center.)
Yesterday Roger and I went to some galleries to look up
some of the things you mentioned.
We chose 4 matted Feininger
watercolors (2 religious themes) to be sent to you Monday for
selection.
Then at Kraushaar Galleries we picked 4 of the
Prendergast monotypes, and also had them shipped, since they were
small. . Miss Walters at Rosenbergs was very busy weekends with
the ‘Critics Choice’ show of French Moderns, and thought it would
be better to wait about the Rattner paintings until you got here.
At this time there is nothing similar to the ‘Hands Upreaching’
on hand.
Janis.
Lots of good things to see now: Big de Kooning show at
Critics Choice at Rosenbergs, etc., and some not so good.
(Phillip Evergood at ACA He was holding court in person when
Roger and I were there.
Seemed like a particularly unpleasant
individual). . Roger was offered 2 sections (painting and drawing
at Pratt). . I know all your friends here will do their best to
wine and dine you. . Perhaps we could both manage a weekend in
269
Philadelphia while you're here.
Will be seeing you soon, love,
John.”
John, not fully recovered from the shock of Truby's death,
had an extremely shaky experience he describes in his April
letter.
He often mentioned it to me years later, “Dear Pa: Your
choices for purchase were fine.
It is always hard to know.
nearly all the Feiningers were very fine.
favorite artists.)
But
(He was one of Truby's
And the one you chose was our favorite
Prendergast. . Maynard sent tickets to opening at Whitney a week
ago Wed.
The show (watercolors and sculpture) was very
disappointing to me, esp. the sculpture section, which was filled
with tricky gadgets and gimmicks.
on theater.
This week I really shot my wad
But it was well worth it. . Friday night was next to
the last night of ‘Pal Joey.’ Carol Bruce substituting for
Vivianne Segal, but she was wonderful.
burlesque numbers.
Terrific lyrics and
Sat. pm to ‘Camino Real,’ the new Tennessee
Williams show, which I thought was superb; the only work of art
or attempt at one I have seen yet on Broadway.
You would enjoy
it very much, so I'll try to get tickets for first week in May
for us.
Sun. Fran and I went to two performances of Dance
Festival presented by Jose Limon and Martha Graham. . for the
piece de resistance the Oedipus legend done with Noguchi props,
(stabiles, lengths of rope, and trailing hunks of jersey through
which Martha and her troupe moved.)
270
It was a wow - many of the
women in the audience inc. Fran were in tears at the conclusion
of it.
Evening performance including the Othello theme done by
Jose Limon and troupe to a Bach pavanne.
And it, too, was one of
the most moving dance dramas I have ever seen.
wonderful weekend.
In short, a
But a bruised budget. I had a jolting
experience here at Sloane House last week.
I was visiting some
friends on a lower floor (in a room facing the court) when we
heard a voice from somewhere up above shouting ‘hold on, we'll
help you.’
My friends dashed to the window just in time to see
someone hurtle past us and into the courtyard.
just two floors below us.
The man landed
It was raining, just at dusk, and the
body lay in a puddle of water and blood half lighted from the
lower floor windows.
The whole business didn't seem quite real,
but more like a drama or pantomime, with policemen suddenly
appearing on the scene, a priest to administer last rites; and
ambulance and doctor, and more uniformed police.
It seemed as if
the body lay there for hours while people curiously hung out of
the windows facing the court, and the performance went on.
Finally the body was wrapped up and carried out, very
impersonally and unceremoniously.
not soon forget.
It was an experience I shall
I am starting to apartment hunt in earnest. . I
have one small favor to ask you. . I wondered if you could phone
for or have delivered one of the cheap guitar cases. . and tote
the old guitar in with the rest of your luggage.
271
I sort of miss
it, and now that there may be a chance to settle some place, a
little more practical. . How are all the Haines and Shane people?
It will be wonderful to see you real soon now.
Love, John.”
John's July letter relayed Nebraska news through Freda
Spalding “Freda looked very cheerful and chic and stuff when she
was here.
Ruth, Roger and Wynona and Marguerite and I all had
supper and spent the eve. with her. It seems Worth (Peter) is to
be acting head of the dept. next year of all people, with Geske
gallery director (Laging still gets same salary ($6000) for half
days!
4 art history classes. . Hope you can sketch in Alaska.
Your plans sound terrific, and I know it will be much more of a
rest & change for you than coming east.
Haven't had a chance to
call Minna Citron yet, but I want to soon to get all the dope and
gossip on her trip. . I thought you might get a kick out of the
enclosed clipping.
Ruthie and the Goya portrait (the one Dwight
obtained for the Des Moines Art Center) seem to be the only
things that make front-page news in N.Y.
trip. . See you in Aug.
Well - have a wonderful
Love, John.”
That summer Dwight borrowed $2300, which he must have used
for his Alaskan trip.
He had kept in touch with one of his
former students, Martha “Nickie” Nickerson Bolling (now Hyams),
who was living on Kodiak Island, and when she learned of Truby's
death, she invited him to visit.
272
He travelled the inland
passageway by ship, then stayed at a hotel Nickie had arranged
for him in the small village of Kodiak.
She wrote, “I had a small painting class going at that time,
and among them were Mary Cornelius, an English woman, and Eunice
Neseth, an Aleut-Swedish school teacher who had grown up in the
area.
Eunice was a small, dark, beautiful, warm, quiet,
sensitive woman, married to an uncommunicative gold miner. . she
had grown up on an island named Afognak, about 2 hours from
Kodiak by fishing boat.
island.
Her family house was still on the
We decided that Dwight should visit Afognak, so we hired
a fishing boat to take us there and pick us up a few days later.
. The island is very beautiful, quiet, the only wheeled vehicles
at the time were a couple of wheelbarrows.
It was not difficult
to see that it was a momentous meeting for Eunice and Dwight and
that there was a very real attraction between them. . Last year,
(1983) when I was in Alaska on a project for the Alaska Council
for the Arts, I phoned Eunice who still lives on Kodiak.
The
same voice answered, and she said she'd pay half my fare if I'd
come visit her.
The memories of that painting class and the
summer with Dwight are still very much alive inside her.”
Eunice's name does not appear in his address book, however,
it must have been a pleasant, comforting feeling for him to have
a person like her connect with his art and quiet personality.
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Dwight sent Marguerite a clipping from “The Kodiak Bear,”
the “Navy's Alaskan picture newspaper,” which ran an article,
with photographs, about an art show in which he participated.
His letter from Anchorage mentions that, “It was swell of you to
take time to write a long newsy letter and card both of which I
enjoyed.
Rosalie (Stuart Franklin) wrote me a note, and I will
hope to see her or at least call Sunday.
My return trip was
delayed by preparations for the art show in Kodiak and bad flying
weather.
I am here just overnight and will take a day trip by
plane tomorrow to Seattle; will hope the visibility is good as
they say there is magnificent mountain scenery all the way.
However, I have already seen so much unbelievably beautiful
country and seas and islands, it is impossible to remember it
all.
Photos and sketches may help recall it.
I have done a
multitude of drawings and watercolors including a number that
please me: ten of them were left (by invitation) for the Kodiak
Art Show which they will hang tomorrow.”
“Nickie has stirred up the community artwise much as you did
in Phillips and Borger.
A half dozen of the gals and guys meet
once a week to sketch from a model in Nickie's apt. over the Idle
Horn bar, and we also had an evening of monotypes while I was
there.
Nickie has made some very congenial friends there whom I
liked - and also located several native artists and craftsmen ranging from an “Eskimo Grandma Moses” (whom we visited and I
274
bought one of her small oils) to a Russian monk and a Catholic
sister.”
“Beachcombing was not the least of our outdoor sports resulting in driftwood and crud mobile of things gathered on the
beaches.
Berry picking, (mostly salmon berries, which are like
extra juicy big raspberries - and blueberries) was another
favorite pastime - resulting in jellies and pies, to say nothing
of wine.”
“It has been a grand vacation and has been balm to my
spirit, and it has left me with the realization anew of what a
wide, wonderful world it is.
Affectionately, DK.”
Dwight took stunning photographs of sea gulls, while
standing alongside the ship's rail, and he used one later that
year as a memorial tribute to Truby in holiday greetings he sent
to close friends and relatives. Her warm strength and love must
have sustained him, for she seemed to be with him in spirit those
last twenty-seven years.
Many years later when he lived near us in Florence,
Colorado, he bought Richard Bach's book “Jonathan Livingston
Seagull” and drew and painted several studies of seagulls.
As
was his habit, when a passage or picture was meaningful to him,
he turned down corners of the pages, or marked them in the
margins.
He turned down corners of that book showing seagulls.
When he showed me his paintings of the graceful, soaring birds, I
275
knew the meaning, one of which he called “Six Soaring Seagulls,”
a gouache and iridescent white on brown backing paper, 18” X 24”
(# 17, 1981).
The only painting I have from the Alaskan trip is
a lovely, small gouache and ink - a scene on Kodiak Island.
My mother thought he should remarry, but John and I would
have been shocked if he had, even though he did not lack feminine
attention and the favors they bestowed.
never have been replaced.
For Dwight, Truby could
He gained strength by simply feeling
her spiritual presence and her laughter, her freckled arms
extending in a hug and kiss.
She was every inch a lady no matter
how she looked or what she wore - but her nose was never “in the
air.” For fun and our early “showtime” antics, she would strike a
pose with her hands on her hips and leg extended in a sort of
dance, a bit like the way one would move when singing “Coming
through the Rye.”
When John and I wanted to learn to dance she
insisted we first learn the waltz steps, with hands-on
demonstrations.
For the annual art department Beaux Arts Ball,
she did herself up as Bluebeard’s wife-her head “framed” with an
actual picture frame and her hair pulled to the top as if she
were being hung.
She was the hit of the ball with her picture
appearing in the Nebraska Cornhusker.
She would have loved the Alaskan trip knowing that the
stupendous scenery would inspire Dwight.
When we were little and
in Lincoln for an evening drive, it was important to seek a hill
276
and look at the city lights, and when we visited them in
Colorado, the view of the mountains with a dusting of “powdered
sugar” was an event to be savored.
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Chapter 17
“Letters from John, M.O.M.A.”
John (August, 1953) finally received a raise in salary “at
the joint,” as he called his Sherwin-Williams job site, and he
also found an apartment on Remsen St., Brooklyn.
“White-washed
walls and charcoal gray furniture. . down to an extra rubber
couch which you could use while in N.Y.
I finally conquered the
contact lenses, and now wear them all the time from AM till night
in complete comfort.
It took me a long time and some slight
pain, but I think it was worth it.”
(He had told Mick Putney, “I
have noticed that men don't make passes at boys who wear
glasses.”)
Roger and Wynona and I got to see Minna Citron a few
weeks ago.
I enjoyed her account of her usual ubiquitous or
peripatetic behavior, or whatever, and seeing the publicity
clippings.
She, like Fran Bishop, was terribly impressed by the
house. . love, John.” (Citron had returned from her “artist-inresidence” stint in Des Moines.)
In John's October letter to “Pa,” he says, “You are in my
mind so much of the time that I guess I expect mental telepathy
to take the place of the letter.”
278
“It was good to hear from you, and hear about the Davenport
show.
What with the Arnold Blanche - Doris Lee business you must
have been going in even more than the usual circles.
Nothing
very startling has happened since I got back (from Des Moines).
Mostly fixing up the new place - painting, cleaning, and buying
more new furniture than I can afford.
It seems to be just about
whipped into shape, and Dorothy and Edith (?), who were down the
other night seemed impressed.
Esp. by the location and view.
The room has a fine old fireplace and wonderful ‘old southern’
type interior shutters.
I was able to get some good bargains in
furniture, including a couple of imported Italian wicker basket
type chairs at half price with the proceeds from the Haynes
picture sale.
I had another interview at the decorating place,
and they were interested in the altarpiece sketch, and were
interested in someone to apprentice in stained glass design, but
nothing definite yet.
Have had a couple of other interviews and
been looking into free lance textile design, but have been trying
to get some painting done so there is no time to supplement the
portfolio.”
“I took some things in to show Antoinette Kraushaar, who was
very nice and seemed genuinely interested.
She mentioned coming
down to my place in a few months to see more things (as she
occasionally does), esp. after a period of time when there is
more continuity and consistency in my things.
279
Also took some
things in to Grace Borgenicht gallery, where the young guy,
Philip - ? was very friendly and helpful, and also interested
sometime in seeing more work.
Right now the most important thing
seems to be to get started painting again.”
“I saw Edith and Dorothy two nights last week, we ate at the
oldest restaurant in Brooklyn - with original brass fixtures,
palm trees, plush wallpaper, and wonderful sea food.
Tonight
Edith and I are supposed to stop up at Minna Citron's during her
class and critique.
They seemed to be having a super-duper time,
with Whitney opening, cocktails and luncheon courtesy of Mr.
Davidson at Knoedlers., etc.
Well, it won't be long now before
I'll be seeing you. . only shows so far this season have been
Sadlers' Wells Ballet (standing room at the Met.), Daphnis and
Chloe, very good.
Love, John.”
We knew Dwight was in New York about then, because when he
returned home, he was astonished to receive a note: “The enclosed
Phi Beta Kappa key was found by Mr. Carl W. Painter's butler on
East 61st St., New York City on Friday, December 18, 1953.
Sincerely Yours, Harold E. Beyea, Secretary to Mr. Carl W.
Painter.”
It amazed Dwight that it was found by a person who
knew what it was and how to find its owner.
It is the only one
of the three Kirsch PBK keys to survive.”
John's January 1954 letter said he was going on a four-day
week at $55 per.
“Things seem secure enough so that I am not
280
worrying too much and have started to get some painting done.
With three days a week I hope something will come of it.
Because
of this, and because the fabric designing takes from two to three
nights a week, I have decided to postpone the school and degree
business, at least until next summer.
Typical vacillation, huh?”
“I haven't had a chance to look Jim Schramm up yet.
If
there is anything I can do here in the way of shopping or gallery
contacting for you let me know.”
“I have been toying with the idea of calling you every
couple of weeks. . at least to supplement letters.
think?
Best to all at home.
What do you
Love, John.”
When important things happened for Dwight, he would often
write me.
He told about his selection to serve as a one-man
juror and lecturer for the Virginia Museum Quadrennial Exhibition
of Contemporary American Painting to be held in Richmond; about
his trips to New York, Washington, D.C., and Richmond, to select
art for the 1954 show; and the fact that the previous juror for
the 1950 display was James Johnson Sweeney, author, critic and
museum director from New York.
Dwight was chosen “to give a
point of view from the mid-west.”
The show catalogue listed the hundred artists represented in
the show, and gave Dwight's dialogue which was written in his
easy, clear and instructive style - suggesting that the viewers
compare pictures “to find how our artists use the new language -
281
how they pronounce the pictorial nouns they have invented. . we
realize that the voices of art always speak clearly.”
He ended
by saying “The artist in a democracy has the privilege of freedom
to create in his own way: this freedom must be preserved.
But it
becomes the obligation of the Art Museum, the Art Center, and the
Educational Institution to do the job of selecting, presenting
and interpreting what our artist have created, if a living
audience is to be maintained. . This is the end of today's
lesson.”
Artists represented in the show included Kuniyoshi, Moy,
Okada, Tam, Graves, Lechay, Weber, Gikow, Rattner, Rain, Chavez,
Gray, Soyer, Greene, Perlin, Feininger, Marin, Hopper, Graves,
etc., and the works were lent from over forty galleries and
private collections.
It had to have been an extraordinary feat
not only in shear footwork, but vast knowledge of his subject to
make the selections!
Olivia (“Livvie”) Ishikawa, Joe's wife, mentioned the show
in a letter to Marguerite (after Richmond it was sent to Des
Moines).
“The Virginia show is up here now - the one Dwight
selected for Virginia.
I have just whizzed through but even at
quick glance it's very exciting. . The only one that I remember
well from my quick trip is the Kuniyoshi. (‘Amazing Juggler,’ oil
on canvas).
We had one at Nebr. called ‘Forbidden Fruit’ with
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the same singing color.
So beautifully applied it lifts you
right off your feet.”
The contrast between work Dwight and John were doing was
monumental for the time: Dwight, in all phases of high-level,
sophisticated art - John in designing wallpaper and fabrics!
John was deeply embarrassed about his situation because it was
years before “fine artists” and famous designers gave those
industries an element of recognition and legitimacy as “art” to
the general public.
As a result, he sent Dwight a note attached
to a “paint by number canvas: This loathsome looking object is an
original J. Krud design, on sale nationally.
Now when your
friends ask you what I do you can deny it vehemently and say you
have disowned me.
Sorry I couldn't send the 2 lovely pre-mixed
colors with which you could fill it in.
You'll have to use your
lurid imagination. (It was entitled: ‘Birds Among the Flowers.’)
Add it to Knickie's collection of objects d'art.”
The wallpapers
and fabrics were disgusting enough for him, but when asked to do
the “paint-by-number” mass-produced designs, it was the last
straw!
He compared it to the cheap imitations of Venus, with a
clock in her stomach, and the roadside stand paintings on black
velvet, which he loved joking about with us.
Nickie and her sister had just spent a weekend with Dwight,
and at a joyous reunion of friends, they celebrated by eating the
suki yaki made “with Ishikawa doing the honors - chop, chop,
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chopping..”
While we cooked he (Dwight) and Nickie decorated his
African and Mexican figures with false eyes, outsize lips, little
ducks to carry in their arms, rose buds for the posterior. .
“Nickie is getting her things ready for a show at Joslyn.”
John would have loved that evening in Des Moines.
However,
back in New York, he was happy to finally extricate himself from
the “krud” art job to a new one with the Museum of Modern Art.
The one catch before he could start was to learn how to type,
which proved to be as difficult for him to master as learning to
drive a car with a clutch and stick shift.
John’s July 1954
letter was partially typed (and almost as badly done as Jack
Lenor Larsen's letter).
coming along.
“It is still slow and awkward, but
(Dwight's famous words of encouragement to his
less talented students.)
And by the way, thanks for the money
for typing class.”
“I really did enjoy Jim Hunt's visit very much.
It was fun
to see NY with a fresh eye again, and see galleries and sights.
His enthusiasm made me feel old and jaded, almost.Well, life goes
on here.
I am getting eager to get started at the job. I have
been doing some inquiring (met a couple of museum staff members
recently; one of them Ronnie's (Rene d'Harnoncourt, Director)
private secretary and find that the people, and to a great extent
the public affairs department are considered very nice and easy
284
to work with, and. . not involved with political intrigue that is
common elsewhere behind those pure walls.”
“I decided to hell with this (typing) till I pick up a
little speed.
This is almost as messy and illegible as the usual
hand-writ variety, and much more stilted, since I have to sit and
think about where things are. . Why don't you plan on staying
here, since I am living alone now, - and you are not on
business.”
“I am eking things out on the picture sale and a recent,
low-priced portrait commission from a friend.
I may have to dig
you for $10 in the next couple of weeks to pay off the phone
bill.
It is discouraging to think I will not be earning too much
more than is coming in now. . Well, best to all.
to see you.
It'll be swell
Love, John.”
His next letter was completely typewritten and showed
progress with his new skill, “I went up to the museum yesterday
and got a little better acquainted with Miss Pernas in the
publications dept.
increasingly.
She is charming and easygoing, and I like her
I also learned that I don't have to report to work
until after Labor Day.
This may change our vacation schedule a
little bit for the better.”
“While at the museum I got to meet Mr. d'Haroncourt's
secretary again and see his private office; complete with African
and Incan sculpture, and six-foot Art-Nouveau desk.
285
All very
chaste.
Also got a free pass to the Japanese House.
really a beautifully done job.
It is
(Shoes must be checked at the
door, and cardboard sandals worn.
Bronx housewife had just
slipped and sprained or fractured leg, after going over edge of
porch into garden.
Was cussing museum, policemen, and stretcher
bearers at the top of her lungs.)”
“It has been unbearably hot and sticky here the past few
days.
I am enjoying this easy schedule much too much.
Am
getting some paintings of the harbor done these long evenings.
Also may have a part in one of ‘Willard Maas’ next short movies,
since I have free time. . Love, John.”
John's job began just after recovering from a stomach virus
(“not jaundice, thank goodness”), “was able to drag myself up the
first day of work, and since then have felt fine.
The job is
going well so far as I can make out, and I find it a most
stimulating place to work.
Last week worked on a layout for some
promotion with Mr. Barr himself, had lunch with Mr. Porter,
director of the film library, and have been typing up a
translation by Goldwater, of Chirico's writings, in French for
the new book.
Full of errors, and much re-translating and
correction of punctuation necessary.”
“Other excitement this week was a big party at Willard's for
Dorothy, the critic you met at their place that afternoon.
Charles Addams was there, looking like a mild version of one of
286
his own characters (he was a cartoonist for the New Yorker), and
I. Rice Pereira, who is the spitting image of Ruthie Rosecrans,
both in manner and appearance, only 20 years older.
me up to her studio.
She invited
Also there was Maya Deren, the experimental
movie gal who has just been to Haiti, looking like a gypsy dancer
with much frizzed hair and bosom (not frizzed) and her 18-year
old oriental lover.
Was sorry Duard L. could not have been there
- Right up his alley.”
“Enjoyed the shots of your gourds growing all over the
place.
Sounds as if you are back in the swing again. . Was
really sorry to have been such a dud the last week of vacation.
But I really did enjoy the rest of it, in spite of over-stewing
about the job, etc.”
One year when we met them at Jo Waddell's
place in Big Thompson Canyon, Colorado, he “stewed” about his New
York income tax and wondered it he would be “fined,” or worse!
“New York seems like home now, more than before, and I hope
I can get some work done in the way of painting this year. . I
would appreciate some of the tin ashtrays, wooden bowls, tweedy
serapes and other unbreakable Mexican things sometime.
Love,
John.”
At the Museum of Modern Art, John finally found a job
“home.”
The atmosphere agreed with him - meeting well-known
artists, being around the museum's art and working on books, and
living a life-style that did not raise eyebrows there all
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combined to keep him on an even keel for the time. Like many of
us, though, we yearn to go back.
“Dear Pa: It was good to get
your letter, and the wonderful shots of the garden and house.
It
all made me very homesick, and anxious to see the place again.
Your fall flowers look scrumptious, and the blue morning glories
were unbelievable. . Big excitement this week, with the opening
of the 25th Anniversary show today.
The show is wonderful, with
many things brought out of closets that haven't been shown in
years.
Wonderful German expressionist group displayed in direct
day light on 1st floor.
Considering the amounts available to
spend, I must say the American selection is pretty poor, though.”
“The opening was mobbed, with interminable talks by the
mayor, the president (recorded), U.N. officials, etc.”
“The job I like more and more every day.
lucky I was to pick Frances Pernas as a boss.
I realize just how
As far as I can
make out, she tops every one else in the place in humor, good
disposition, and basic decency.
She is completely unruffled in
dealing with all political matters and people and problems, and
handles all with equal aplomb and wit.
It is too good to be
true, and I don't know what I did to deserve it.”
“Interesting things to do this week; such as proof-reading
the text for Soby's new book on de Chirico (I enjoy proof-reading
very much, and find the experience on the Atkinson Graphic stands
me in good stead).
Also got to mix paint for one of the gallery
288
walls downstairs in the mad rush the last few days getting ready
for the opening.
I find that things are not any better organized
or on-schedule here than they were at Nebraska or Des Moines, and
everyone pitches in the last min. to help get things done in a
hodge-podge way.
I really don't see how the illusion of
efficient planning and organization that this place manages to
give off is kept up.
But at any rate it's more fun to work in
this less forbidding atmosphere.
(An example is Alfred Barr
changing his mind on the background wall color for a painting at
11 o'clock on the night before an opening, a favorite trick of
his, it seems.)”
“Other interesting event of a couple of weeks ago was
opening of Ed Hewitt's new gallery, which Marie Maas took me to.
(He is the magic-realist boy, you may remember; and the gallery
is across from Charles Alan.)
moving up that way.
It looks like a new trend in
Marie swears she saw Mme. Chiang there,
though I missed seeing her.
and Paul Cadmus, (ugh).
Lincoln Kirstein was there, though,
(Excuse all the name-dropping, please.)
The exhibition was full of the usual slick, icky kind of painting
that that crowd puts out.
Thanks for the green crinkly stuff.
May invest it in a new roll of canvas, since I have been doing
some larger size things at last.
And speaking of pictures, I
must say the current crop of 57th St. shows, which I've seen
during lunch hrs. has been pretty poor, with the exception of the
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wonderful Curt Valentin memorial show, in which the two things
from the Nebraska collection showed up very well indeed. . Love,
John.”
During his time at the Museum of Modern Art, Dwight said
“John worked mainly on the big illustrated catalogs of important
art shows and collections, or monographs on individual artists.
At first he did only proofreading but later on translations of
texts into (or from) Spanish.
John was fluent in Spanish, due to
study of language in high school and university courses, plus
a year’s residence in Mexico and a trip to Spain.”
“John also became expert in correcting color proofs of
reproductions of paintings.
oils over the proofs.
He did this by using transparent
To compare the color proofs with the
actual paintings, he was often sent to houses of collectors; once
to Nelson Rockefeller’s apartment; and on a longer trip, to St.
Louis to check paintings by Max Beckman in Morton May’s
collection.”
Dwight, spending more time in the house that fall with
gardening coming to a halt, must have spent a few hours on his
storage collection of earlier paintings because he decided to
present his “Main Street Crossing” to the Atkinson High School.
Though he may not have stated it during the November
presentation, it was obvious he intended the painting to be a
memorial tribute to Truby, since she once taught English at the
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school.
(She was my mother's teacher - she said she was a very
good one.)
Of course my parents were delighted with the gift and
welcomed Dwight with open arms.
He made a suggestion on where to
hang the painting on the stair-landing wall facing the building's
main entrance.
Little did he know that years later it would
generate such excitement in the family!
His trip to Atkinson was nostalgic with memories of so many
years of happy times - painting in the sandhills, picnics at the
trout ponds, seeing people who knew Truby, the Graphic office and
Kelly home, all gave him warm feelings.
He took pride in John's
Museum of Modern Art job and it helped his ego to tell relatives
about it.
Before returning to Des Moines, he stopped in Lincoln to
present the Nebraska State Historical Society his “Seacoast of
Nebraska,” and to visit with his sister, Bess.
As with most jobs
- it was “back to the grindstone” or at the least, “reality” for
him after a pleasant interlude.
Activities associated with the art center also carried over
to home, and consumed most of Dwight's life.
For example, in a
letter to Marguerite he wrote, “I got back from the East Fri.
P.M., late - it seems much longer than 9 days since, as I'm back
on a 7-day week, catching up with correspondence, ‘troubleshooting,’ and hanging new shows.
This afternoon I had an
appearance on a broadcast - a community program on radio, not
291
long but it took up enough of a Sunday in preparation to spoil it
as a day of rest.”
“I'm not sure you heard that I have had as ‘house-guests’
since Oct. 1 Syd & Bunny Fossum.
Syd teaches at the Center now.
They knew Trank and the Bob Hansens in Morelia.
They have found
a house to rent & are moving into this week, having collected
furnishings they'd left in Dakota, St. Louis & all over.
When
they move out they'll be accompanied by 1 dog & 2 cats (from
Mexico, originally) & Bunny's mother from Dakota who'd been here
since Dec.10.”
He gladly opened his home to artist-in residence guests, as
well as those who came only to lecture or give demonstrations,
teach, show their work, etc.
He did not fuss too much - they
were welcome, he enjoyed the company, they found their quarters
neat, but not always clean “under the rugs” and they were
encouraged to help in the kitchen while he went about his
business.
When friends “touched base” with him, he was delighted.
Without Truby, he needed the contacts, especially when
administrative duties crowded his mind.
His keen wit and sense
of humor at those times opened the door for special people to
offer cheer. In the last paragraph of a message to Marguerite he
wrote, “Last Friday I had another long, entertaining letter from
Nickie Bolling & a large post-Xmas package from her & associates
292
= friends I met & liked in Kodiak.
Not only did they send
artworks but such interesting items as a jar of native
lingonberry jam-canned smoked salmon & king crab; samples of
native snuff from Rat Island-and a winter cap trimmed with
limpets & feathers inscribed to me as ‘beach-comber emeritus!’ Such a gang!” (I can hear him laugh at that with glee!)
As in Nebraska, he took pleasure in children's art and
continued to stress the importance of their art education at the
center, which Peggy Patrick so ably managed.
Classes rolled
along first with Saturday mornings, then progressed to Saturday
afternoons and after school.
As David Archie, who founded Iowan Magazine wrote, “He was a
patient guide and teacher. . explaining why he liked something,
being poignantly silent when he didn't like something.”
“He had a keen interest in Iowa talent. I remember someone
telling that he demonstrated that same kind of interest in
Lincoln.
The Des Moines Art Center actually had shows of Iowa
artists - which has seldom happened since he left.”
“The fact that he was a practicing artist left its mark.
I
always felt he was entirely comfortable in an administrative
role.
He could be decisive.
One day I showed him an oil and a
watercolor that I had purchased from Paul Smith who was then at
the University of Iowa.
matter.
Both were flower-oriented in subject
Dwight pointed out that there was a recurring egg theme
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in both works, repeated in various ways.
in Smith's best works.
He said this was common
Years later when I was visiting him he
recalled the oil (unaided by me) and declared that it was the
best thing Smith had ever done.
Later, of course, he was able to
take this interest to art groups around the state.
him.
They loved
Friends of mine in Charles City still talk about him and
proudly display his work.”
Dwight and John spent the 1954 holidays together and I
assume John was sent money to fly to Des Moines.
Their Christmas
card was a simple photograph of the two seated on their sofa - a
happy, casual, smiling shot.
was startling!
However, my first glance at John
There he sat, smiling back at me with dark
eyebrows and eyelashes and no glasses!
The effect seemed to me
to be garish and fake - a bit like the stage, and he had
obviously used mascara to darken his natural blond, which he
always hated, but it was too dark.
As far as I knew, men in
Nebraska and Wyoming would never try to enhance their looks with
make-up!
him.
I was sure his high-life in New York had influenced
Doing it to attract other men did not enter my head!
Later, when we met in person, his “new look” was not noticeable
and I loved the improvement his contacts made, though it was
unnerving to watch him remove them.
That next May, John wrote to Dwight about the new sculpture
purchase at the art center, “It sounds as if you are really going
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in for Rodin in a big way.
The new Balzac sounds wonderful-
although it is hard for me to visualize where it will be put.
(A
new sculpture gallery was built five years later - the Rodin
looked sensational!)”
“I promise on my honor to pack and send the Maas' drawing
this week.
Marie was good enough just to laugh the other day
when she called and I had to confess that it wasn't sent yet.
The same day she mentioned an idea that she had about giving up
her studio in the Village, and renting a new one here in
Brooklyn, which she is interested in sharing.
They are large and
not very expensive, and I think a very good idea.
It would
certainly solve the space and mess problem at home, and be a good
place to have props and backgrounds, which has been a constant
problem in the apartment.”
“Just saw the Goya show of prints and drawings at the Met.
Haven't seen much theater since you left. . May try to get
tickets to ‘House of Flowers’ - and save my money for the
Tennessee Wms. new play, which is bringing scalpers prices.”
“The evenings of Indian music and dance here at the museum,
in connection with the exhibition, were quite fine - authentic
droning and head wiggling that went on for hrs, but still very
enjoyable.
I guess I told you that I had a chance to help more
on the show, from installing jewelry to painting eyes and hand
and foot designs (tattoos) on display dummies.
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Great fun, and
always appalling disorganization; things added or taken out an
hour before opening (embassy members in saris and full regalia),
and labels still being put on two weeks later.”
“Just remembered your question about the Family of Man show.
The big scale section of the traveling exhibition has been booked
solid thru next year, but a smaller section is now in preparation
because the demand has been so great. . I had your name put on
the mailing list, so there is no need to write them. . I would
also be happy to talk to A. Rattner, if you will let me know more
about it.
Was glad to hear you are considering him.
(To
lecture, jury, teach?)”
“Somehow Colo. doesn't appeal to me this year.
I think just
loafing and painting here or in Iowa would be more fun.
Let me
know what you are doing..” The table turned out fine about a foot
high, and a nice light oak with good grain.
The rice bowl on it
makes it look real Japanesy, but it never gets used for serving.
Love, John.”
In August John sent more information on the “Family of Man”
show.
Things at the museum were “quite hectic - trying to get
out three books at once, among them a foreign edition of Masters
of Modern Art which I have been proof-reading in Spanish, of all
things.
It seems as if all the seemingly pointless courses in
college are coming in handy (except for botany, at any rate). . I
had lunch with the curator of Prints at the Mus. recently, (who
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seems like a very nice person-albeit a little precious) who was
interested in the DM set-up and vol. to get together a very
select group of things from the print room for you.
I don't know
whether he really meant it, but it is worth looking into.
He
also wondered what you might have in the way of Picasso drawings
or prints, since he is trying to fully document existence of same
in this country.
I told him I didn't think there were any?”
“I am curious about your plans for a leave - but think it is
a good idea.
Are you considering a trip to Europe? or what is up
your sleeve?
I hope you got the book on Japanese Architecture -
which I thought might give you some ideas for moss waterfalls and
rock gardens and things.”
“Maybe one day this week I will sit home and really wait for
the express man to pick up this Rodin drawing, which is getting
to be a ‘Bete Noir’ or something of the sort.
If you think of
it, you might ask Jo to check with my ex-voice teacher (whose
name I can't for the life of me remember) for the name of someone
she'd recommend here in NY - Not that I can afford it, but a few
lessons this fall might be fun.
I hope you see JoAnn and Freddy.
I think of them often, but still haven't got around to writing.
Hope you can make it in Sept.
Let me know when.
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Love, John.”
Chapter 18
“Travel; Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona, California”
For several reasons - not able to take time from his job,
health, lack of money - John did not join his “pa” for the trip
to Mexico in late fall/winter.
I found Dwight's automobile
logbook, in it he noted: “Plymouth, 20,377 miles, with new
battery and tune-up, November 22. 1955.”
He left Des Moines
December 7th, “taking a business man's holiday that included
stops at Art Centers and University Art Departments I had never
visited (in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas).”
He crossed the border at Laredo on December 15th, and in his
Christmas Eve letter to Marguerite, which was written from the
Hotel Proa at Tequesquitengo, Morelia, he wrote, “Stayed 2 nights
at Monterrey in a ‘Super-Motel.’
Spent a day wandering in side
streets and a magnificent canyon (‘Huesbeca’) and taking
photographs.
I've followed more or less our 1949 itinerary - but
moseying along and taking color shots with camera, and doing some
sketching - including memory sketching at night.”
“In San Miguel Allende, I spent 4 sunny days and 4 wacky
posada nights - the latter even more unbelievable than those we
witnessed.
I've done a few memory sketches of a bit of it and
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monotypes - besides taking some highly experimental photos, which
may turn out to be nothing, or perhaps surprises, at least.
Had
intended to stay for Xmas at S.M.A. but after counting miles on
the map and finally thinking of a daily schedule (subject to
change without notice), I left at 9:30 AM today and stopped in
Mexico D.F. long enough to replenish my supply of films. . I
found the driving in Mexico City easier than anticipated and the
city and traffic much improved.
Some stunning modern building
since 1949, including University City, which I passed by on the
new toll road to Cuernavaca (superb)!”
“I heard about this place (Hotel Proa) from D.M. friends who
had stopped here, whom I encountered my first night in Monterrey.
It is a funny hotel with cottages - on hilly slopes adjoining a
magnificent smallish mountain lake about 30 mi. S.E. of
Cuernavaca.
Temperature and sounds of the night stillness about
like an A-#1 June night in midwest.
swimming, and good food.
Lovely gardens, boats,
It is a temptation to stay here and
soak it up - but will probably spend tomorrow p.m. (Xmas day)
going to Puebla via Amecameca (nearest view of the 2 snow-covered
peaks) and Cholula.
Then to Oaxaca Mon. for 3 days, I hope.
Some of the driving is rugged this trip - roads in poor repair
and I've got lost going thru more towns and on detours. . Will
probably not reach Phillips until Wed. night or Thurs. Jan. 4 or
299
5th.
Will phone or wire ahead if I get a chance.
Feliz Ano Nuevo to you and John.
Meanwhile - un
DK.”
The logbook records three flat tires, one in the mountains;
purchase of three new tubeless tires in Borger, Texas and new
shocks.
He drove 5,982 miles on the trip and until June, he took
no more “personal pleasure” automobile trips, but seemed to be
stuck in his “seven-day a week” job, as he called it.
Continuing the practice of inviting artists to spend time in
Des Moines, the Cowles Foundation invited Jean Charlot to come.
He wrote to Dwight (April, 1956), and in his very interesting
letter, he listed materials needed for a fresco wall, stating, “I
will come alone.
dormitory.
In Notre Dame, I lived in a student's
Something simple of that kind preferred.”
for plans and measurements for the fresco wall.
He asked
“Your ideas
concerning the fresco are good, both as to the place chosen and
the sending to me architectural shots to help me visualize the
perspective problems.
Unless the size is really gigantic, I am
quite sure the fresco could be finished in time.
Practically, I
could use the help of a group of students, which would amount to
a fresco class in the form of a workshop.
There would be time
for the individuals in the group also to try their hand at
individual frescos.
The wall should be prepared before my
coming, towards the fresco requirements.
cement wall to begin with.
I suppose it is a
All plaster or paint over the cement
300
should be carefully scraped off, finishing with wire brush.
Then, the ‘rough coat’ preparatory to fresco painting should be
laid on cement, laid with what masons call a wood float.
Natural
surfacing is rough enough, and would hold the next layer, put on
at the time of painting.
seasoned lime putty.
Also at this time, you could look for
Perhaps some builders or contractors in
Iowa have some in store, the older the better.
is lime putty, not plaster.
Be sure that it
If there is none to be found, enough
dehydrated lime should be put under water now for the job, in a
trough, stirring from time to time. . The rest is not as urgent;
a list of lime-resistant colors in dry powder, tools, brushes,
and for portable student frescos, cellotex edged with a wood
frame nailed to it. . Don't let the requirements bother you.
None of it is very difficult, and the effort well worth the
results.”
“The gallery (Associated American Artists, 711 Fifth Ave.)
has not yet received your order of transferring the pictures, and
would like to do so as soon as possible, if it is not already
done.
All best wishes, Jean Charlot.”
After his fresco workshop was finished, Charlot sent Dwight
a handwritten note, “Thanks for the most interesting clippings.
If only people knew that art would do much more for us abroad
than any loan dollars!
It must be heart braking to you to see
such good choice of works ‘neutralized.’
301
Had also a letter from
Leota Hobbs who agrees with your estimate of the success of the
wall color in relation to the fresco!
I enjoyed my stay with you
and as nice a crew of helpers as I ever had.
day the plans for the freestanding fresco.
Hawaii!
Will send you some
Will see you in
In friendship, Jean C.”
Charlot's comment on “neutralized” works referred to a Des
Moines Register story “Flurry Over ‘Subversive Art Charge.’
The
United States Information Agency (U.S.I.A.) is withdrawing from
sponsorship of what had been one of the most important exhibits
of American paintings ever sent abroad.
It has done so because
of a fear that some of the artists included in the show may be
accused of pro-Communist leanings.
This is the third flurry
within the U.S.I.A. in recent months over ‘subversive art’ and it
is regarded as the most significant.”
“A number of leading American art institutions had cooperated in getting up this show and had considered it an
ambitious step in international cultural exchange.
The reaction
now among these art groups is one of bitterness and
disappointment. . The federation invited Dwight Kirsch, director
of the Des Moines Art Center, and John I.H. Baur, curator of the
Whitney Museum of American Art, to make the selections. Then some
weeks ago, a U.S.I.A. representative informed the federation that
about 10 of the artists on the selected list were ‘unacceptable’
for political reasons.
The phrase ‘social hazards’ was used. .
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In Des Moines Thursday, Kirsch said he and Baur selected the best
possible art within the period specified (1900 to 1955).”
“Rejecting any political tests for its artists, the
federation's 42 trustees voted unanimously on May 23 not to
participate in the show of any paintings were barred by the
government.
The federation told the information agency it did
not want to know the names of the 10 suspected artists because it
did not want to participate in circulating any possible libelous
charges against them.”
The federation's 1954 resolution states,
“Art should be judged on its merits and not on the social views
of the artist.”
“Painters selected for the show ranged from such sometime
realists as John Sloan, George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Grant
Wood, Ivan Albright and Reginold Marsh to such expressionists as
Max Weber, John Marin, Yasuo Kuniyoshi and Ben Shahn and numerous
examples of the surrealist and abstract. . Efforts are under way
to arrange a private sponsor.”
“I certainly had no warning of the question of censorship or
I would not have gone to so much trouble to make the choice,”
Kirsch said.
He said he and Baur were named to make selections
“as qualified experts, especially in the field of contemporary
art.”
The movie and theater artists and writers were not the only
creative people affected in those days of “McCarthyism.”
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Dwight
abhorred any type of artistic censorship and commented, “It was a
terrific job.
It certainly is a blow to see the threat of it
being stalled.”
He later received $250 for his time and trouble, “In payment
for your committee work on the recent exhibition, Twentieth
Century American Painting.”
Dwight’s June letter to Marguerite mentions the censorship
fiasco, “This would be a long newsy letter if there were time for
it, but at the moment the clippings will have to tell the story.
It has been like a 6-ring circus around here most of the time
since Jan. 9 when I got back.
Since then I've had 2 trips to
N.Y. (mostly regarding the show for AFA & USA, referred to in the
clippings) and 1 short trip to Norman, Okla. to appear on a
‘career conference’ at O.U.”
“I managed to get in a good visit overnight with Melvin Van
Denbark who taught there (University of Nebraska) in the English
Dept. for 6 or 7 years; and Mari Sandoz came thru, so we had an
old-home-week talk-fest.
My request for a 6-month leave of
absence (without pay) starting July 15th has been granted.
At
the moment it seems practically impossible to get ready to leave
but I will.
I plan to drive west - maybe Maynard Walker from
N.Y. will join me - in stopping a while at Jo Waddell's cabin and
probably going on the Colo. Springs and the Aspen Conference.
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I
have a yen to go back to the Taos and Santa Fe area for a week or
so.”
“Hastily, if this does reach you, could you send a card with
answers to these questions?
(a) Do you plan to go to N. Mexico
any time early or middle August? If so, about when?
(b) Can you
recommend any inexpensive places to stay. . hide-out, that is?
If all goes well, I'd drive on to Calif. late Aug. and I have a
request in for a boat to Japan from S. Francisco in Sept. . Then
on for 5 or 6 weeks in Hawaii in December.
Murray.
Have just heard from
They are still there but the Hansens are coming back to
USA and Bob has a good job in Occidental College, Calif. teaching
next year.
This is a hurried hash of a letter - but full of good
will and affection. . As always, Dwight.”
The book on Japanese architecture John sent him seemed to be
prophetic, and the many years of his close association with his
respected colleague and good friend, Joe Ishikawa and other
Asian-American acquaintances could have influenced Dwight's wish
to tour the Orient.
John was correct, he did have something “up
his sleeve,” he had experienced Europe (“been there, done that”),
Alaska, a good share of the United States, and it seemed
appropriate and “right” for him to attempt to satisfy his
artist's curiosity to observe different cultures and terrain.
The first leg of his long journey began July 17, 1956, with
a drive to Colorado and cousin Jo's cabin, then to Cheyenne,
305
where he met Maynard Walker at the bus stop (Maynard loved
traveling by bus).
Cheyenne's exciting annual Frontier Days was
underway - the weather was perfect, the parade with its fine,
restored, horse-drawn buggies carrying pioneer families in period
clothes; sleek horses; colorful people including Oglala Sioux
American Indians; a world-famous rodeo; wild horse and chuck
wagon races gave the two men a real Western adventure especially Maynard, who had never seen such an affair.
“Dwight concentrated on photographing floats, cowboys, and
local color, then after the rodeo we invited them to join us for
an outdoor picnic at our little house on Bradley Ave.
We
strained our budget by buying prime-grade steaks, which Fred
grilled to perfection, and I made potato salad, cooked sweet corn
and baked beans.
They were so appreciative, we were glad we made
the effort.”
Maynard was enchanted with our little boys - his New York
art world life did not include children. We needn't have worried
that we lacked a fancy house or were not “arty” enough.
John had
mentioned how fussy Maynard was - he hated pink, among other
things. (I don't think I had a pink object in the house.) He
wrote to us every Christmas thereafter, until his death, usually
including photos of his beloved cat, Figaro.
Maynard continued on with his bus trip to the coast while
Dwight spent more time in Colorado. Dwight had invited John to
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join him there, however, he declined.
“I just don't seem to have
the get-up-and-go to pull up by the roots for that long.
I
haven't really had a chance to use the studio as much as I'd like
this summer, and there are so many things to do, and time grows
shorter.
I just got a chance to drive up to Montreal next week
with a couple of friends with a station wagon.
It would just be
for a week. . may get up to Quebec and the Laurentians for a
little sketching.
I'm also interested in taking this opportunity
to inquire around a little about teaching jobs, etc. at least for
the not too remote future, since I feel I have reached a point of
stagnation to some extent.”
“Got a call from JoAnn the other night.
It was good to talk
to her. . Well, I know you will get the best possible adventure
out of this.
I'm sure you'll be an expert Japanese scroll and
screen painter when you get back.
I think the Japanese Arch.
book has good suggestions on where to go. . lots of love, John.”
John's August letter says, “Canada was fun and a nice
change.
Got to do a little boating on the St. Laurence with a
friend whose folks have a summer place up there.
It was kind of
good to get back to work and some sort of schedule, since I tend
to get rather lazy and depressed when I don't have to do anything
at all.
I am most curious to hear what your visit with cousin
Millie will be like.
(Years later she left him the GTE stock.)
Speaking of people from the far west, a friend of Marie's and
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mine who has the studio upstairs says Mark Tobey is planning to
stay in New York this winter, and is interested in moving into
the studio bldg. to an apt. just vacated by the local prostitute.
Will certainly look him up if he does. . Love, John.”
Dwight's letters to his art center secretary, Phyllis Letts,
were saved, giving us a chronicle of the trip.
His first from
Jo's cabin reads, “Just got your letter - with enclosed bills &
in the same mail 2 important items you forwarded: My passport!
Thank goodness; and a good letter with names of people and places
in the Orient, from Martha Lattner.”
“I am pretty well ready to leave; floors to sweep and my
packing to do in the morning - and letters & bills, which seem to
be the hardest of all for me to get down to doing, since I have
been leading a life of a nature lover. . I have not had much
chance to get lonesome - fishermen (the river flows in front of
the cabin) and a nice neighbor (Bonnie Saunders from Lincoln) who
walks her dog by this place daily.”
“JoAnn Kelly Alexander, John's red-haired cousin from
Cheyenne, spent 2 days and nights here with her boys (ages 4 & 6)
so we had some good times and food, including fried chicken and
potato she brought; and one night wieners with cheese and bacon
toasted over the fireplace - followed by gooey toasted
marshmallows.
The boys were a handful, demanding a lot of
attention and the younger one yelling his head off most of the
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time.
But it was very nice having them anyhow.”
(Those two days
were so great for us, a rare treat to spend time in the
mountains.
Etched in my memory is hearing Dwight talk in his
sleep, repeating “Truby, Truby.”)
“I am only just now writing to Lyda (Lyda Del Burry, who
taught art and managed the children's classes at the University
of Nebraska).
I'll be seeing a lot of Ruth Rosenfield McGregor,
too. . I bumped into Betty Hatfield on the street in Estes Park
village when I went up to take the laundry.
She was surprised &
delighted to see me, and the following day I brought her to see
Jo's place & to take a spin in the mountains, fixed her a fruit
drink with Rum (a Kirsch special, harmless but potent) after
which she opened up & was even funnier and newsier than usual.
Betty is a dear, with a heart of gold and I adore her.
Thanks
for your good newsy letters, Dwight.”
From Phoenix, Dwight wrote “I am amazed and pleased that
Hans put across the expanded program at last week's board meeting
= a good step.
I am not surprised at difficulties with Paula -
she has to be educated over & over again, but in spite of that,
she is a valuable Board member, and when you can get her pinned
down to basic things she understands.
The Brown wedding must
have been beautiful and unusual with the bats or swallows (I
prefer to think they were bats)!”
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“I've had a lovely time here.
grand person.
Ruth Rosenfield McGregor is a
She has many of the same qualities of
intelligence, perception & loveliness as Louise Noun, but she is
even a more open person.
Besides a nice call & visit at her
home, I was there for a swim in her superb outdoor pool Sunday
before we went to a cocktail party at the home of the Schultzes,
pres. of their Art Board, (he is of one of the big baking
families of Chicago & she is from Ottumwa, Ia.) with only board
members & spouses present.
Then we went out to dinner at a most
unusual place ‘Green Gables’ which has a good orchestra & floor
show & where guests are met with flaming torches in parking area
& ‘Knights’ in costume (one on a white horse!) to help park
cars.”
“Yesterday Ruth took me to Scottsdale, a few miles out on
the desert, where we visited an artist (a teacher & a good
watercolorist, with whom Ruth has been studying), then we went to
Lyda's house - lunch at an interesting place in the village
called ‘Lulu Belles’ where they have a bar & big restaurant all
done in Victorian style - deep red walls & lots of old furniture,
whatnots, colored glass windows & louvres.
Something like places
in Central City, Co. but better designed.”
“Yesterday I met several officers & Board Members of their
Art Center at the old building they use, to give advice on
organizing their future program - including getting a new
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director.
They have a wonderful building site near the new city
library & community theatre & expect to launch a building fund
drive this fall.
I am not interested in the job, for now, but am
much interested in their program and plans.
Their board includes
many business leaders and ‘live wires’ men and women.”
“This country appeals to me and I like the people in the Art
game I have met here.
wonderful.
Lyda loves it, and I think she looks
I am getting quite a good even tan from sun & outdoor
air and am feeling tops - I got a short haircut today too!
With
fond affection to all, Dwight.”
A visit with the Allens in San Diego was Dwight's next “pit
stop.”
Lucky for me, Clara Marie was my advisor in the Art
Department at the University of Nebraska.
She taught in Lincoln
while helping put her husband, Fred, through medical school in
Omaha.
“The Allens are wonderful people, and great friends, so I
am happy about being with them. . Fred took me on two sightseeing
drives. . harbor full of warships, aircraft carriers, submarines,
etc.
This morning George Soranson, good friend of Allens who
teaches at San Diego College, near here, took me to see their art
classrooms and gallery, and the library, as well as general views
of the campus.
home nearby.
Then we went over to see Lowell Houser at his
He is a good friend of Jean Charlot's from the old
days in Mexico and Yucatan; and Houser used to live and teach at
Ames - and came to Des Moines to give lessons in days of the old
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art center (ask Violet Barlow and others who were in on things in
the 30's).”
“I am staying on here until Thursday hoping Marguerite Lewis
can come down from L.A. where she has been housepartying with
friends, and could ride back there with me. . We'll probably go
to La Jolla tomorrow and will see the Art Center there and try to
look up former D.M. people (Florence Weaver, etc.).”
His
immunization shots for the trip made him dizzy and he needed her
to help drive.
Marguerite did join him after he visited and got acquainted
with his Kirsch nieces and family in Santa Monica.
(His brother,
Gifford, was mentally ill in a Wyoming institution.)
He added, “I got to see the L.A. County Museum, including a
preview of the Burchfield show; Immaculate Heart College where
Sister Mary Contra was very nice to us and let me take pictures,
and U.C.L.A. Art Dept. and campus in Beverly Hills area.
There,
Frederick Iwizht, Gallery Director, was very hospitable and he
had us out for cocktails at their home later afternoon yesterday.
I've had some good barbecue and beach parties. . It was good news
about the sale of my old Lincoln Continental car.
Thank Syd. for
his part in it, and thanks for depositing check.”
The two drove up the coast to San Francisco, stopping along
the way to visit art museums, galleries, enjoy the scenery, swim
in the ocean, etc.
The car log mentions stops to photograph a
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mission at Ventura, overnight in Santa Barbara, stop at Shell
Beach, near Pismo, Point Lobos, Del Norte (he added oil), Carmel,
and on Sept. 14, San Francisco.
He wrote, “We just pulled unto
town about 4:30 p.m. and stopped at the P.O. on the way.
got your letter.
So I
Marguerite Lewis has been riding with me since
Santa Barbara, and driving part of the time. . We have been
sleeping in separate rooms, in case anybody asks! (They took some
ribbing along with her husband, John, back in Texas.)
Marguerite's friend, Chas. Thomas, from Texas, is in little
theatre work at Carmel and Monterey, so we saw a show he directed
at the Golden Bough Circle Theatre, ‘First Lady,’ a good comedy.
Burt Lancaster and wife were in the audience so we got a good
look at them after the show.
tea at Chas.
Also met Ramon Navarro in person at
Thomas's place in the hills. . more later - I am
very glad Peggy Patrick is on the job - in the school.
Cherrio,
Dwight.”
From the Hotel Sutter, San Francisco 9/17/56, Dwight wrote,
“We had a good day yesterday. . I wrote Joe about plans which we
carried out except that I got on the wrong highway a couple of
times, so we got to see more of the area across the bay than
planned.
Both of the ‘Nebr. Kids’ I saw have interesting places
to live and good jobs.
One of them, John Norall - took us to see
some of the new beach homes and seaside modern houses on the
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Belvedere, near Mill Valley, and a very interesting modern design
Christian Science church.”
“I hesitate about writing much to you (or anyone else) about
affairs and developments at DMAC.
As you know, when I'm gone,
I'm gone - and don't worry about what goes on.
I trust the staff
members so thoroughly that I know things are in good hands though you may have extra worries I could share if I were there.
I do appreciate your full information you've been sending.
I do
think the experience of having Hans there will do everybody good
in the long run - even if some of the results may come by
reaction afterwards.
My only concern for the future is that we
don't undertake a more ambitious program than we can handle the
year 'round, in other words, I hope you-all don't bite off more
than I can help chew when I get back - otherwise I'd simply bow
out of the picture rather than chew an indigestible mess.”
(He
could not face another “Nebraska situation.”)
“They say airmail to Japan costs 25c but you better check
with P.O. - I'll not expect much mail, at that cost!
With fond
affection, Dwight.”
On 9/18/56 Dwight wrote, “It is hard to believe how fast
your special delivery came thru.
Was delighted at the long
chatty news letter - and also at news of the check ($250) from
A.F.A. - That was a fee for work on the ill-fated show that Jack
Baur and I were doing that was cancelled.
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Tom Messer had
mentioned the possibility of a fee but I thought it was only a
myth.
This will make a little backlog, so I may not have to
become a beachcomber in Hawaii or hitchhike home from S.F.
It is
so hard to estimate expenses, but I am going to try staying at
cheap, native places in Japan at least, to save costs and have a
more interesting time.”
“I'm sending separately my manuscript for the article in
‘Art in America’ magazine to be typed - preferably by you or
Janet.
I'll expect to pay for the work (the magazine is supposed
to give me a $50 token fee) and instructions will be attached,
including where to send original and 1 carbon.
This is nervy to
ask but maybe now that Hans is gone one of you can work it in.
I
sent a letter to Joe yesterday with instructions for labels to be
typed for my show in Grinnell - if he isn't back soon, maybe it's
best to open the letter to get the labels done - it isn't private
correspondence.”
“Edith S. sent me a long letter about her problems and
revision of rental and sales gallery set-up.
I asked her to show
you my reply, so you get drawn in on something else!
I am
somewhat irritated and disturbed by this, and intend to write
Hans with a suggestion that he slow down on drastic changes.
letter has come from him yet.
No
Without knowing details, it seems
to be a good thing that he had a set-back at school committee
meeting, and I predict he may have other set-backs.”
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“You have been so sweet to write me all you have = your
usual self of course, but it has done me good-even if you had to
steal time from the job, it is service well-rendered!
Just so
you didn't steal your own time (from house-hunting, dancing,
etc.). . Actually I'm beginning to believe I'm going abroad, but
will know for sure in a day & a half.
hold the fort!
As always, Dwight.”
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Thanks for everything &
Chapter 19
“Trip to the Orient: Letters to Phyllis”
“Honolulu airport, 9/20/56.
this far across the Pacific.
Well, I made it! and have come
Murray & Phyllis Turnbull met me
here, with their 2 kids, and a lot of leis to put over my neck.
We had a good gabfest over a beer.
After boarding plane,
checking revealed an oil leak on one motor, so we are hung up
until 11:30 for repairs, but had a free supper in the elegant
‘Sky Room’ here at expense of Pan-Am.
For a tourist flight, they
are doing all right by us.”
“My seat mates are very interesting and distinguished
Japanese.
On my left, a young woman artist who has been in
Paris, Provincetown & Greenwich Village, N.Y. for a couple of
years & has had a successful show with good reviews at a N.Y.
dealer's gallery.
On my right is a research professor from Kyoto
& he is returning from N.Y. & Washington D.C. after making
preparations for an Antarctic Expedition (he is Logisticsoperations leader for it) that will last 2 yrs.
He (Prof.
Nishibori) bought us drinks on the plane = alcoholic, I mean.
Yes, you can buy drinks on tourist planes in this part of the
world.”
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“Enclosed sample of cards I had printed in San Francisco,
following a suggestion Joe & others have made, for travel in the
Orient. Do I impress you?
You make an impression on me, too.
More later, DK.”
We have no idea if that last line inferred a romantic
relationship.
There were hints made from John years later,
nothing more.
“Marunochi Hotel, Tokyo, Sep.23 '56.
I'm comfortably placed
here. . It turned out to be a long, adventurous trip. . about 1
hour out of Wake Island, the plane developed motor trouble, and
one of the 4 engines was turned off and we turned back to Wake
where we were stuck for over 6 hrs., rebuilding the motor.
In
many ways it was interesting especially to get to see some of the
island and do a little beachcombing.
pieces of coral, shells, etc.
So I picked up interesting
The color of the water there, in
surf and lagoon (inside the ring of islands and coral reefs) is
beautiful, so I hope I got some good shots to remember my first
experience of seeing a coral atoll.
Also took some shots from
the plane in landing & taking off, as well as clouds and sea.”
“It was interesting to get to know more of the people on
plane: all nationalities and professors. . a Dutchman, and East
Indian, besides many Japanese.
The U.S. Americans were (some of
them) the worst-mannered - but included a few ‘distinguished’
characters such as a Methodist preacher from Houston who talked &
318
dressed like a cattleman; and a university prof. from Stillwater,
Okla. . Several mothers with kids of all ages. . 3 of whom yelled
their heads off most of the time and kept the stewardesses busy.
My seatmates were among the most interesting, the prof. was met
at the airport here by photographers and a large delegation of
admirers.
We landed about 9:15 p.m. after dodging thunder and
lightning and ducking through clouds that looked like ink-washes
in a Japanese painting, to see the full moon emerge. . This hotel
is conveniently located just around the corner from Japan Travel
Bureau, the main Tokyo railway station and the Imperial Palace
grounds & public park.
Some kind of national holiday is going
on, no newspapers were published today. Best regards to all,
Dwight.”
“Marunouchi Hotel, Tokyo.
I've been very busy requesting
flight & hotel reservations and other travel details, but have
done some sight-seeing, shopping and browsing in between times.
This is a mad, bewildering city; very picturesque, noisy, and
smelly too. . The traffic is worse than in L.A. or Mexico City.
Everyone honks like mad & drives fast, when not in a traffic jam.
I've gone to two national Art Museums (historic & modern), a few
private art galleries, and several parks, also to the shopping
district and the fish market (pe-yew!)
Have done a little memory
sketching and am rounding up some light weight, portable art
supplies.”
319
“It is fortunate I got my Mexican huraches re-soled and
rubber-heeled in San Francisco; also I'm glad I have 2 raincoats,
and rubbers.
Weather is warm & humid here so far, so I wish I'd
brought more lightweight sleeveless shirts.
So will get them in
Hong Kong where prices are lower.”
“There is lots of modern building going on in business
sections here, but still plenty of small-scale, junky shop
buildings & dwellings jammed in close together.
dim and far-between.
Parks are much used & park benches occupied
by sleeping men & boys.
in parks too.
People do their laundry & change clothes
Parks are not very well kept.
(but picturesque).
Streetlights are
The trees look sick
I've had good food so far, but it is not
cheap (prices about the same as San Francisco) - one very good
lunch of tempura in a Japanese-style place.
More later.
Hastily, Dwight.”
“Miko Air Base, Japan 10/7/56.
Dear Phyllis and Staff:
Though I left Tokyo on schedule, I had to stay over night at
Osaka, due to delay and mix-up of plane schedules.
Only one
plane a day from Osaka to Miko base which also serves the town of
Yonago nearby.
In Osaka I saw the art museum (also in a park)
with show of contemporary painting and sculpture - much the same
range of styles as in our Iowa annual, but a bigger show - quite
a bit of abstract painting, and some of it good.
Same museum has
an equal division of modern and historic material - the latter
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not so good, except some oriental sculpture and, strangely
enough, a large collection of Greek ceramics & marbles.”
“I am getting a good taste both of army air force life
overseas and of native Japanese life & landscape.
The Grahams
put me up as their houseguest on the Base; and I have meals
mostly at officers' club just across the street (road, that is).
There have been cocktail parties too, & a wienie roast outdoors
last night.”
“There are very many interesting trees & groves on the base
& nearby.
Miko is on a peninsula, so it is not far to the
seacoast on either side, and a big fishing village (Sakae) a few
miles away.
Have been through many narrow streets of villages,
to see shrines, cemeteries, schools, silk factories; and to shop
at Yonago - a good art supply store there & all kinds of other
shops.
Martha Graham got me some dark blue and white warp-dyed
cotton fabric & is having her maid make it up in a kimono for
me.”
(That is the one I patched for him years later-split back
seam, burnt holes from cigarettes and pipe.)
“I have been sketching all over the place - rice fields and
gardens, trees, seacoast, Japanese people and even a flower
arrangement, a result of a flower arranging class I was invited
to attend - it is for officers' wives, is taught by a Japanese
woman.
People have been very nice to me and have driven me about
to see & photograph many things I wouldn't have got in on
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otherwise.
People originally from Lincoln, Nebr. are going to
take me to an Episcopal church in Yonago and then they may take
me to see a fine Japanese house & garden owned by wealthy people
whose daughter is a movie star!”
“I may go on to a Japanese hotel in mts. or on a beach
before going back to Osaka & eventually on to Kyoto as I have a
definite hotel reservation there.
As you may gather from above -
I'm having a great time. . Best to all.
DK.”
He was delighted to hear from John that next week.
“Dear
Pa: I was fascinated by your first letter from the mysterious
East, and inspired to write you back right away, 'tho I don't
know when this will reach you.
It all sounds wonderful, and as
if you were making the most of everything.
I was sorry that I
couldn't get one of these guidebooks that turned up thru Frances
Pernas to you while you were in San Francisco.
It was a phrase
book. . Are you attempting to talk ‘native’ at all?”
“The business you mentioned about the Munson-Williams
Proctor Inst. sounds very exciting.
It sounds like an ideal
situation, although I don't know how you feel about tearing up
roots again.
Chas. Allen called up the other day and said that
he had been asked to make a recommendation for the job, and had
said ‘you of course,’ He asked me if I thought you were
interested (I didn't commit myself), but said I knew you had been
considering it pro and con, and then he went on to tell me all
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the ‘dough’ they have to spend, how few trustee problems there
were, etc. etc.
Apparently he and Mrs. Navas have been busy on
the grape vine again.” (Dwight obviously rejected the
opportunity.)
“It looks as if I am going to share the apartment with only
one person after Dec.
in the place.
It hasn't worked out very well with three
It won't really be a hardship, since the back
bedroom will make a fine studio, and I am getting ‘tahred’ of
walking back and forth these cold winter nights and keeping
materials, frames, boards, etc. scattered around miles apart.
The problem of models and still life props is also a lot easier
at home.
I will miss the River and Bridge view very much, but
one can always sketch down there.
with Marguerite.
I was glad you got to travel
It also sounds as if you are finding plenty of
sake drinking companions (he came back with numerous sake cups).
A note from Edith Stanton with rental check, very unhappy about
‘acting director.’
Suppose you are hearing reverberations.
least they seem to be missing you at home.
At
I must envy you the
trip to Bali - it sounds like a dream come true.
Much love,
John.”
From the Kyoto Hotel Dwight wrote, “This is your clipping
service reporting. . my press relations still seem to be o.k. .
Clipping from Lincoln was relayed to me via my sister.
The one
from yesterday's paper here I can't read, of course (maybe Joe
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can).
The photograph was taken at home (Sunday evening) of a
Japanese painter here, who works in the traditional style.
He
served tea & cakes, and showed me brushes, colors, etc. and gave
me the painting he did in demonstration. (Subject - an orchid
plant!)
Arrangements for the visit were made through Mrs.
Yamamoto's friend Dr. Kawasaki, who went with me as interpreter.
He has been a wonderful help to me.
He also went with me to four
choice temples & shrines with gardens, and arranged for
permission for me to take color photographs everywhere.
This
morning, Dr. K. went with me to a very choice Japanese home (Urssenke), 170 years old (but with one modern room just finished
last year).
It is the center of the ‘cult of tea,’ the owners
being descendants of Rikyu Sen (or Sen Rikyu, rather) of 16th
century who perfected the tea ceremony.” (He brought back tea
ceremony supplies - bamboo brush, powdered tea, etc. and gave us
a demonstration, including how the cup is held, how one is seated
- all very solemn.
I still have powdered tea in his desk.)
“I took photographs there too, in the gardens & interior,
though the weather was drippy & dark.
I've been taking along the
tripod I bought in Colo. which is light weight but useful for
long exposures.”
“Yesterday, starting at noon was a big festival parade,
which I viewed from reserved seat (called Jidai Matsuri) at the
Imperial Palace grounds.
Though it was a hot, sunny day to start
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with, it rained hard before the end of the procession got
started. . I chuckled to myself when I remembered taking pictures
in Cheyenne of Frontier Days Parade in July!
This parade in
Kyoto had sections devoted to different periods of past history,
starting 794 AD & ending in 1868 (when Kyoto was capitol of
Japan).
Gorgeous costumes, many horses with riders and some
black bulls - besides all kinds of carriages, mostly carried by
poles on the shoulders of men, also in period costume.
In
between some sections were trucks with loudspeakers playing old
Japanese music.
There were also ‘bands’ with old types of
instruments - including conch shells that gave out strange
bellows when men blew on them. . I've been making numerous small
ink sketches of gardens etc., mostly from memory.”
“Tomorrow I go to Katsura Imperial Villa (special permission
from officials required) and other places. . I am to meet a Mrs.
Wada in a suburb, Hirataka, to see a chrysanthemum show.
Mrs.
Yamamoto also gave me introduction to Mrs. Wada's parents, the
Amanos.”
“I almost forgot to mention a visit tonight to home of a
ceramic artist Kasube Yaichi, and friend of Dr. Kawasaki who took
me there & saw very beautiful pots-thrown on wheel, with superb
glazes - modern in tendency.
Kasube only turns out about 50 pots
a year - all originals, individual & different. . Dr. K. & I had
tea & sake later at an interesting old folksy type of place.”
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“Would you do me a favor of phoning Mrs. Yamamoto & telling
her how helpful her friends here have been to me.
If you think
it would interest her, show her this letter. I'll go to Nara,
near here and back to Tokyo.
DK.”
After some difficulty in missing a train due to language, he
reached the island of Shikoku, to the town of Takamatsu. . “It
was so lovely I stayed an extra day - wonderful Japanese gardens
in the park; a mountain trip with a long walk thru the woods and
views of islands in the Inland Sea.
In fact the ferryboat ride
to get there, which takes an hour, was one of the most beautiful
trips I have had in Japan.
I did numerous small sketches, some
of which I may use in paintings in larger size; and took scads of
photographs. . most of the city has been rebuilt since 1945 when
American air raids destroyed most of it (except the park & the
castle grounds).
At Osaka last week I did some sightseeing
(mainly the huge Osaka castle grounds) and then did the theatres
- Kabuki Theatre (all male cast including some good dancers,
pantomimists & comedians).
I took color photos during the
performance by having my tripod along from the 7th row seat on
the aisle, until an emissary of the management came & told me
that only ‘the press’ was allowed to take pictures.
The show
lasted nearly six hours - with several longish informal
intermissions everyone eating & drinking all over the place.
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The
costumes, sets & color effects were superb, and I shall remember
it for a long time.”
“Saturday I went to Takarasuka, in the foothills, to see
their famous ‘Opera’ with all-girl cast. It lasted from 1 to 5
p.m.
Rain all day dampened me & my enthusiasm, and I didn't
enjoy most of it as much as the Kabuki players. There were 3
different shows, one a traditional dance-drama that was best, I
thought; and the other two were extravaganzas with very
complicated plots & many changes of scene.
They have a big
revolving stage and do some of the most tricky & elaborate
changes I've ever seen anywhere.
Costumes & lighting are good, &
the girls are cute, no doubt about it!”
“This is the place & the troupe that is referred to in James
Mitchner's book ‘Sayonara’ you can get it in a paperback now. .
This started out to be a short note, but there is so much to
tell.
After 24 days in Japan, I am beginning to get the feel of
it and to feel less like a stranger in a strange land.
Best to
all. . many thanks for banking checks for me, Dwight.”
He took an all-day tour to Nikko, planned & conducted by
Japan Travel Bureau. “Fall color is very fine now, in mountains.
We saw a very elaborate shrine-temple; & Shinto religious dance
(2 girls, accompanied by men, drummers).
Also saw the big Kegon
waterfall & lake above it, by taking a stunning road with many
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switch-backs (40 sharp curves, they say) and took a cable car
down the mountainside.”
“More of Mrs. Yamamoto's friends have been helping me around
the city here.
Mr. Soga, a former art dealer in San Francisco,
and Mrs. Y's nephew, senior university student in sociology and
social work, is taking me tomorrow to Fujiyama one hour by train
to stay overnight with some of his relatives, and to see Mt. Fuji
(if it is clear enough).
He is very good-looking and has nice
manners, too.”
“Went to dinner last night with Helen Church at another good
Chinese place called ‘Forbidden City.’
She is Joan Nickerson's
friend, librarian at Haneda U.S. Air Field in Tokyo.
She has
been getting cigarettes for me at the PX and also some color
films.
(I wondered if he used his “wire in the cigarette” trick
over there!
Probably not.)
Have done very little shopping
(though the shops are tempting), as my budget won't allow it.
The trip is costing a little more than anticipated - maybe I'll
have to get a job or become a beachcomber in Hawaii in order to
stay there a month.”
“A highlight of the week was being served tea by the Chief
of Police in a suburb of Tokyo, at the Police Station!
Mr. Soga
took me to meet this man and he took us to his house to see
several very fine Japanese paintings by famous artists - he
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inherited them from his wealthy forbearers.
I got to photograph
two of them (by Hokusai and Sosea).”
“Still having a wonderful time in spite of weather and
delays, but am looking forward to the sunny tropics and
especially Bali.
Best to all, Dwight.”
Dwight's business cards were useful and opened many doors.
Joe Ishikawa had warned him that the Japanese would be unable to
pronounce Kirsch, and that the closest the Japanese could come
would be “Kahshi” or “Kirushi.”
However, since his German family
name means “cherry,” in that land of cherry blossoms, “Mr.
Cherry” would most certainly be well received.
His card was
translated “Kurushe-Sakurs! Mr. Cherry, Artist” and it never
failed to evoke a response, an “A-A” or “a -Ah,” and, no doubt, a
bow.
A card from Dwight to Phyllis arrived from Hong Kong.
“Arrived here on schedule. . Hong Kong has the most beautiful
harbor & bay I've ever seen.
Warm sunshine & tropical plants
here like the best of Mexico & French Riviera combined.
Mr. Duff
(Caroline Brown's father-in-law) met me for coffee this A.M. and
has arranged several things for my pleasure including trip to
fishing area and native villages. . Good food here, too, DK.”
“Gleneagles Hotel, Singapore. I reached Singapore airport. .
after a 4-hr. flight from Bankok, and got checked in. .
Formalities always take so long, and I am beginning to get my
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fill of that part of traveling to different countries in the far
east.”
“This may seem like a funny name for a hotel, but it turns
out to be the nicest one of any in which I've stayed on the
entire trip. . is over 2 miles out from center of business
section, in a nice park & residence district - a winding
boulevard in front, way down the hill, and a golf course across
the boulevard.”
“A half block away is entrance to a big jungle park, with
pools & fine big trees as well as many varieties of special
tropical planting. . and monkeys roaming free & wild. . but tame
enough to come up close to be fed.
I took a walk before dark and
saw monkey silhouettes up on the high tree branches. . Singapore
is only 80 miles north of the Equator, so will cross it en route
to Djkarta.”
“The trip to Ankor-Wat (Cambodia the last several days was
certainly one of the best features of my entire travels ranking
along with Kyoto in Japan for interest).
I learned a lot of
geography by the trip to Angkor-Wat; and also much about early
architecture and sculpture - and about village and pastoral life
in Cambodia.
The whole thing struck me struck me just right, so
I enjoyed it fully, from the jungle bird-song and quiet village
sounds of dawn, to the visit (tours) by small bus to over a dozen
different ‘sites’ with ruins of temples, palaces, etc. in various
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stages of restoration - with some of the finest proportions in
building design, and best architectural sculptures I've ever
seen.
Most fascinating, perhaps were two or three spots where
jungle trees (mostly banyans) and vines have grown over huge
stone walls, entrance gates, etc. with roots clutching the
stonework, like gigantic gnarled hands.
The stones in themselves
are not too colorful, but lichens and mosses growing in the moist
jungle have colored up rock and sometimes have added an
embroidered effect to the stone carvings.”
“The Grand Hotel where we stayed, and the bus tours at the
Angkor, are French-arranged, so the cuisine is very good.
There
was also an unusually congenial group of us that happened to be
there at the same time - three youngish American men, a gal who
works in the Far East, and a gal who works in the American
Embassy in Korea - it turns out she was born in Sioux City, Iowa
and raised in Nebraska, graduating at Ainsworth High School.
(Ainsworth is only about 50 miles west of Atkinson on Highway
20.)
There was also a likeable British couple (an R.A.F. officer
stationed in Hong Kong) and so we were all taking photographs on
the tours, and had other common points of interest.
It was a
good working arrangement - and I do mean work - as there was so
much walking and climbing, leaving us all exhausted at the end of
the day.”
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“Fortunately the plane schedule left nearly 4 days at
Angkor-Wat, etc. & so after the principal tours I had the last
day to browse along the river and see the village, and do some
sketching.
I arranged to get 4 pretty good brush drawings of
kids in the village, and had interested and amused audiences
flocking around to watch me so closely, I could hardly get room
to move my arm!
It was great sport trying to communicate by
making gestures, although a few words of French got across now
and then.”
“The time was all too short to see enough of Bangkok, but
last night I did get in on one unexpected event that turned out
to be exciting.
After getting back from Cambodia only about 8
p.m. and snatching a bite to eat - we were told about a big
annual festival on the river - only a block from the Princess
Hotel where I stayed.
This festival is called ‘Loy Krathong,’
and it takes place on the night of the first full moon in
November - so, by moonlight people crowd the bridges and wharves
all over town, go out in launches, etc., to join in the
festivities which center around floating small boat-like objects
made of wood, leaves, branches and flowers, with lighted candles
and incense on them.
The trick is to see how long these boat or
bird-like objects (Krathings), will stay afloat and the candles
lighted - to add to the fun there are native musicians banging
away at gongs, and dancers on some of the boats, and fireworks
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are shot off, in fact fireworks like rockets and pinwheels are
aimed by people on one boat, toward another boat, so it is mad as
a Mexican posada night.
By the wharf where I saw all this, there
were lanterns hung in the trees, and outdoor dining and dancing
to jazz-band.
I took some color photos as experiments, of some
of it, including several multiple exposures of fireworks.”
“I see by the paper today that there are rumblings of
trouble in Djakarta.
That is to be my next stop. . I'll be
thankful to get there (and away from Indonesia) safely.
I have
been fortunate not to have been caught in Hong Kong or Singapore
during the riots and I've been hearing some wild stories about
what went on.”
His hotel, he noted, “Had excellent cuisine and a first
class Bar with all-night lift in attendance!!”
While waiting for his departure time in Manilla, Dwight
began a letter, saying he might finish it in Hawaii.
He had
written Murray Turnbull (who taught art at the University of
Hawaii) hoping he could meet him, or if not, would he send a memo
about a place to stay? – “Off the beaten path to rest up after so
much touring. . I also want to keep up practicing brushwork and
maybe doing paintings from some of the scrappy sketch notes I've
done everywhere.
I did get a few memory color-jottings done in
Djakarta after Bali, and while in Den Pasar (Bali) did a few
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others on the spot, mostly of ‘types’ young and old - and have a
couple of good ones of kids in the lot.”
“The Bali experience was really something to dream about for
many years.
In spite of the disillusionment several people had
warned me to expect, most of it is so beautiful in color, tempo
and gentle spirit that I believe it will always be remembered.
I
took several tours by car and two by pony cart - and saw native
dances three nights. . . An unexpected opportunity was getting to
take color photos in Museums at Den Pasar, Bali, and also at
Djakarta.
So if they turn out well, I'll have lecture material
on paintings, carvings, ceremonial objects, puppets, masks,
costume material, etc.
The museum people were wonderful to me
and these two are among the finest museums I've visited in the
Far East.”
“The Indonesian jaunt was a very costly one - largely due to
currency exchange rates, and to the fact that I tried to be
honest and obey the rules - whereas I found, too late to do me
any good, that most people exchange money at black market moneydealers, getting nearly three times what I got for my U.S. $ furthermore I was stuck with Indonesian money not needed, and
they will not refund in U.S.$, so I bought a few more things than
intended in Bali and Java (two masks, a wood puppet - a length of
batik and a wine-colored sarong, cotton).
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Now I'll have to get
tanned on top in Hawaii so I can wear it becomingly!
I had
already bought 5 small watercolors and ink drawings.”
“The people I've met recently (tourists, that is) have been
unusually interesting and friendly.
in the tropics!
Maybe they just open up more
I also found the Balinese people very
interesting and often charming, truly sweet people.
tourism has turned some of them into pests.
To be sure
One striking and
rather fierce-looking native man had a good stunt.
Carrying a
fresh green coconut to cut open and sell for the refreshing juice
(milk) at a spot where it was hot and we were out of breath
climbing up and down a steep canyon path.
“Honolulu- Sat. A.M. Dec. 1 1956.
More later, DK.”
For once the plane got in
on time and to my surprise & pleasure the whole Turnbull family
met me & I am at their house now.
Will stay with them 2 or 3
nights, but they have found thru friends, a beach house I can
rent by the week, which we are going to investigate tomorrow.
It
sounds good.”
“Thanks for all the mail, which was awaiting me here.
I
have just gone thru it hastily & will write more in detail later,
as I want to mail this now. Much cooler here but very pleasant.
Best to all – Dwight.”
“Hawaii-Dec. 7: Pearl Harbor Anniversary. Dear Phyllis, I
just got a set of prints of black & white photos I took Monday &
Thursday, so am sending a few to you to peruse & pass around the
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staff and others who might be interested.
This P.M. Murray is
driving me with a load of groceries I've stocked up, to the beach
cottage on opposite side of island, which I'll probably take for
3 weeks.
They say it is warmer there; also that there are
frequently very big breakers - both beaches & mountains nearby,
as I have been trying to get over a cold it will seem good to get
to a quiet place for basking in the sun when it comes out, and
for some painting indoors when it rains.”
“Will write more details later, but meanwhile some tips, re
my finances & bank account.
As I am operating on a narrow margin
now, would appreciate any help anyone can give in stalling off
bills that might pop up, until after I get back. . I have plane
reservations back to San Francisco for Fri. night Jan. 4 and will
stay again at Hotel Sutter.
I'll probably return from there to
Des Moines by train & may be able to make it by Sun. Jan. 13.”
“I see by the paper that Iowa has a coat of ice, take it
easy & don't fall down!
With best to all, Dwight.”
The Des Moines Register kept his name in print while he was
gone.
Their FRONT ROW COLUMN BY Elizabeth Clarkson Zwart ran a
charming sumi sketch of a geisha girl with Dwight's comment,
“Here is the geisha girl you ordered. . it was sketched tonight
from the second row at the geisha dance show.
Pontocho ‘Double
Pink’ was her name. . this is probably as close as I'll get to a
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geisha girl, as I'm told they come high as individual
entertainers.”
The article continues, “Of all the Japanese cities he has
visited, Mr Kirsch writes that he prefers Kyoto, with its
castles, temples and gardens. . He has been interviewed and has
seen his picture in a newspaper with the story in Japanese.
After meeting artists in Japan he observed: ‘Modern art
tendencies here are much the same as in Iowa, Texas or New
York.’”
Hawaii beaches and sunshine helped Dwight throw off the
terrible cold he caught and the “slow time” was a wise transition
period for him, to brace him against Iowa's winter cold and his
sometimes frantic job at the art center.
Less than a month after his homecoming in January, he gave a
slide show tour and exhibited about ninety sketches and paintings
at the Des Moines Art Center.
George Shane, the Register's art
critic, in his review of the February 9th, 1957 show wrote, “An
exhibition of unusual interest has opened. . During his six-month
leave, Kirsch spent four months traveling through the lands of
the Pacific.
He has accomplished a prodigious amount of work,
and its high quality is admirably demonstrated by this lively and
refreshing show.”
“The work was accomplished quickly and its spontaneous
nature is one of its more interesting features. . Most of the
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drawings and paintings were done on the spot, although some of
the most colorful and unusual landscape compositions were done
from memory, shortly after leaving the scenes. . Kirsch's work
never slips into the routine of travelogue documentation.
It is
a spirited show and demonstrates how well an artist schooled in
the traditions of the West can portray the color and charm of
distant parts of the Oriental world.”
“The largest crowd ever to gather in the art center's
auditorium heard his talk.”
After coping with an interim
director, Hans van Weerin-Griek, Des Moines was glad to have
Kirsch back.
Japan was rebuilding after World War 11, and it was still
unusual for many American civilians to visit that country, and
others in the Far East, as ordinary tourists.
“ordinary tourist,” as we all knew.
Dwight was no
He was especially well
received by the oriental people partly because of his age (55)
and his quiet, polite demeanor and distinguished presence.
He
could wear shorts or Hawaiian shirts and still there would be
“something about him” that people noticed and respected.
The trip was no doubt one of the wisest investments Dwight
could have made.
Though he had plans for using the experience
for art works, shows, lectures and workshops, he may not have
read in his crystal ball the vast influences the trip would have
on the remaining years of his life, from his art, to food,
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clothes, books, gardening, finances.
He wrote of his journey,
“to me a momento of an experience that was other-worldly, but a
very happy interlude to look back on.”
He would need those memories upon which to reflect very
soon!
In 1957 alone, he spoke to and/or exhibited his works at Des
Moines’ Rotary Club and the Y.M.C.A.'s Movie and Camera Club;
Waterloo's Washington Community Recreation Center Gallery;
Marshalltown; Burlington; Fairfield; Oskaloosa; Ames; Cherokee's
Sanford Museum; Mason City; Omaha; Nebraska's Joslyn Memorial Art
Museum; Davenport; and Ft. Dodge's Blanden Gallery - all this
while directing the art center!
Lula Mae Coe's Register story about Dwight's talk before the
Y.M.C.A., quoted him as he described the “different way of life.
I, too, have slowed down and do not think speed in this so-called
area of civilization is as necessary as we think.
I'm still on
torrid time..” and, that “there is so much heady color I nearly
went mad because I couldn't shoot it fast enough.”
The little
junks and their weirdly patched sails also intrigued him.
She
wrote that he termed a remote fishing village, not on the
tourists' routes, a “dream world” with its blue water and brown
sails and nets against the indigo sky.
He described Balinese
dancing as a “wild, jazzy sort of beat that gets in the blood.”
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He witnessed a ceremonial dance, the monkey dance done by
men who chanted in the quick staccato notes suggesting simian
chatter.
“It was pretty eerie in the jungle night to a stranger
in a strange land,” he recalled.
The willingness of different types of people, especially
youngsters, who gladly posed for him “helped to make several of
these experiences the best of all the trip.
A form of
communication resulted that revealed to me the potentials of art,
put into practice, as a visual international language.”
After that February art center audience had gazed at
pictures of rick-haws, three-wheeled carts with their willing
runners, and tropical gardens, they came outside to find that
cars coming to pick them up could not make it up the sloping, icy
drive!
People were fascinated with Dwight's demonstrations of sumi
painting; true, there were many still bitter about the Japanese,
but with the occupation years, and an increasing number of
Japanese visiting or living in this country, the need grew to
learn more about this different culture.
magnetism drew them into the art.
Dwight's charm and
He taught how ink is the
opposite of sumi both in composition and effect.
acid and a fluid.
That ink is an
How sumi is a solid made from the soot
obtained by burning certain plants, then molded into black cake.
The methods of sumi manufacture are carefully guarded secrets
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(Dwight said that China produced some of its best sumi three
centuries ago).
As he worked to perfect his brush strokes, with the rich,
brown/black sumi, which came in stick form usually decorated with
gold calligraphy, he would first dip the tip of the stick into a
special water reservoir carved in black stone.
He then rubbed
the wet stick on the smooth, upper part of the stone then quickly
ducked his Japanese brush into the obsidian liquid.
With rapid,
sure strokes, he painted on the rolled-out paper, which rested on
a woven floor mat in front of him.
While seated on a floor
cushion with his legs tucked under him, (in the oriental posture)
he produced beautiful, charming pictures in only a few seconds or
minutes.
If the brush happened to drip, he would incorporate the
blob into the design.
It was such a spellbinding “act” that
countless students were anxious to try the technique.
In
response, he developed a set of lesson plans and booklets
containing instructions with illustrations.
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Chapter 20
“New York, Galleries, Murdock Collections, Groz”
As Dwight delved into activities at the art center, picking
up the pieces after his long absence, the shock of Iowa's belowzero weather did not seem to faze him much, though his dead car
battery had to be replaced.
His car log records a note that in
March, he drove to New York for a week and later that spring, to
Marshalltown, Fairfield, Burlington, Oskaloosa, and in late June,
to Ames.
From New York, he wrote to Phyllis Letts (on Barbizon Hotel
stationery) something about reproductions, “Will talk to John
about the reproductions as I can see now that I'll not have time
to go into the matter this trip.
The time is going so rapidly,
and visits to the Art Dealers have taken longer than usual for
one reason or another.”
“John had got tickets for 2 shows (Follies, with B. Lillie
last Sat. Matinee; and the long O'Neill play tonight).
I spent
Sat. night & part of Sunday on Long Island with Martha Nickerson
Bolling & Jan - her husband, is in the hospital with tonsillitis
& ear infection.
We had a nice drive to call on some other
former Nebraskans, then I went to John's apt. in Brooklyn for
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supper & to show slides.
I am to show some again Fri. night at
Crossgroves in Brooklyn and at Maynard Walker's gallery in N.Y.
Sat. night after cocktails & a buffet.
I will probably finish by
putting people to sleep! Cheerio to all, Dwight.”
His second
note to her sheds light on the reproductions he mentioned
earlier.
“I met Chas. Bruchfield & wife the other day at Rehn
Gallery.
Surprise, surprise!
I got thru at galleries in time
this P.M. to stop at Raymond & Raymond for a few minutes &
selected 5 good-sized color prints they are sending on approval.
Package probably will not get there before I do but if it does,
go ahead & open it.
(Keep enclosed order sheet.)”
“The selection is rather strong on madonnas but that's what
they had the most of the best of!
I like the ‘Russian Ikon’ one
best, but maybe your church won't go for it - if not I think the
Art Center should buy it for you & me & others to see all the
time.”
“John took me to see the long O'Neill play ‘Long Day's
Journey into Night’ last night.
seen & a superb cast.
The best American drama I've
F. (Frederick) March & Florence Eldridge
(his wife).”
“Have seen some very fine things at Dealers' galleries
yesterday P.M. & today and feel encouraged that we may be able to
have a stunning show in May - to buy from.”
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“Am meeting Hans for lunch St. & maybe Letji too, I hope.
Best to all-hastily, DK.”
Dwight's piece on the Roland P. Murdock Collection, Wichita,
Kansas, that he wrote during his six-month leave, was published
that winter in Art in America magazine.
The five-page article
included a number of photographs of paintings in the collection
(black and white), and is a good example of how Dwight's
descriptions of art were delivered in his gallery talks, which
were, of course, less formal, often with bits of humor injected.
“This is THE STORY of an American Art Collection with a
purpose, formed with discrimination, and by determined planning.
To see the Murdock Collection and to know the reasons for its
choice constitutes a lesson in well considered art collecting; a
lesson, too, in the rich visual experience of seeing art quality
at its best.”
He then continued by relating the history of the collection,
that Louise Caldwell Murdock believed strongly in art, democracy,
and religion, and how she stated that, “art exists in the context
of life – it is a means of preserving life.”
Elizabeth Navas, as executor of the trust fund, chose the
first group of paintings over a fifteen-month period, which were
presented in 1941 and 1942.
Included were typical works by some
of the American “rebels in art,” such as: Eakins; Sloan; Luks;
Glackens and Prendergast; Groz; Hopper; Marsh; and by natives of
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Kansas such as John S. Curry and H.V. Poor.
(The Murdock
Collection also owns a painting by Kirsch.)
“Entrance to the galleries is by way of wide arched openings
whose wings have small groups of stimulating drawings, expressive
of the intimate and personal spirit of living artists.
This
introduction invites one to a small gallery of watercolors, also
intimate, but colorful, sparkling and varied.
Good relationships
of color, scale, and style lead the eye pleasantly from one
picture to another.
The climax in viewing this gallery is in the
watercolors of Hopper, Eakins and Burchfield.”
“After receiving this introduction, and this visual lift,
one is prepared to be studious and receptive to the central
gallery, which seems to say ‘This is our solid background of
American painting.’
In succession there, one views paintings in
groups which reveal some of the best accomplishments of Homer,
Feke, Quidor, Eakins, and Harnett, on one side; Twachman,
Cassatt, Theodore Robinson, Whittredge and Ryder on the other. .
a gallery which skillfully shows a range of styles, from studied
realism (Kuhn's ‘Bread with Knife’) to abstract art developments,
either mechanistic or free in treatment.
These paintings are
contrasted with the self-control achieved in freer experiments by
Morris, Dove and Stuart Davis.
Amazingly, John Kane's ‘Turtle
Creek Valley’ proves to be a key picture, combining as it does a
perfection of structure and design with practiced control of
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Kane's natural impulse to paint. . the remaining gallery was
entered last.
It held for me, the climax of emotional and
spiritual expression of the entire collection.
Depth of passion
and suffering. . all are gathered into this group of paintings.
Some oils here are the best achievements of our recent American
artists: Weber, Shahn and Kuniyoshi in particular.
The emotional
impact of these paintings and of Zorach's ‘Quest’ in the same
gallery, is relieved by seeing the dramatic and poetic landscapes
of Hartley, Gleitsmann and Tam; and a stark, self-controlled
Hopper titled ‘Conference at Night,’ which speaks of order and
calm.”
“Since the art works in the Murdock Collection are now
rarely loaned (especially the paintings by artists who are
deceased) it is, for us to go to Wichita to see our art wellrepresented in the heart of America, as a tribute to a woman who
pioneered in bringing art to her community.”
It is interesting to note that Dwight either knew and
visited their studios, or had met some of the well-known artists
in the Murdock Collection, as well as in collections in the Des
Moines Art Center and the Sheldon Gallery, Lincoln.
On his own
hand-written note card is a jumble of names, “Walt Kuhn, Jim
Penney, Spike Bell, John Sloan, Andrew Wyeth, Stuart Davis, Mark
Tobey, William and Marguerite Zorach, John Marin & Jr., Charles
Sheeler, Jack Levine & wife, Ben Shahn, Charles Alan, Robert
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Gwathmey, Clarence Carter, John Rogers Cox, Lyonel Feininger, Lee
Jackson, Edward Hopper, J. Lipchitz, Jose de Creeft, Chaim Gross,
George Groz, Howard Devree & first wife, Doris Lee, T. Stamos,
John Heliker and E. Navas.”
For his summer vacation in late July, Dwight, joined by
John, drove to Colorado, stopping over in Lincoln to visit his
sister, Bess.
We were especially delighted to see John, who was
by then recovering from hepatitis, and could not have and enjoy
his usual beer.
He was thin, liked his job, was fun and
entertaining with stories of New York, etc., but still had his
usual worries about income tax, deadlines, and business in
general.
Dwight presented a wonderful slide show on his oriental trip
and a “show and tell” display of souvenirs, including a small
Japanese paper catalogue containing entrancing samples of handmade gold and silver foils, and tea paper, lace and mulberry
papers.
(He gave me an extra he had that I loved.)
A ‘happi
coat,’ which he enjoyed wearing when puttering around the house,
tea set with accessories, masks, and art materials which included
the seal he used to sign his best sumi paintings.
The seal, or
ideograph, a calligraphic character of a cherry (for Kirsch), was
carved on a short round stick of bone and was pressed onto a
little tin of sticky, Chinese red paste (much like the old round
container's of women's rouge) then applied to the painting.
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While demonstrating the Japanese style of painting, Dwight
stressed the importance of “only master artists being given the
privilege of using a seal.”
For that reason, he only used it
when he felt the painting was worthy. (The seal is missing.
However, I do have his little tin of red paste.)
The two stopped over in Cheyenne and while there, John did
small pencil sketches of our two boys, Kelly, wearing a baseball
cap, and Mark, a Davy Crockett hat, charming reminders of the
reunion!
Dwight started a small, modified Japanese garden at Jo's
cabin in Big Thompson canyon, and a more elaborate effort in the
back of his home in Des Moines.
In Colorado, he transplanted
mountain seedlings, and arranged river-washed stones in a natural
setting. (I recall how he taught our boys the importance of
preventing soil erosion by leaving old, fallen trees and large,
dead shrubs in place on the mountain-side, and also instructed
the boys not to run down-hill, but run up-hill.
At their ages
they had boundless energy.)
The site of his Iowa Japanese garden was a perfect
compliment to the stand of trees in the back of the property.
Maples, iris, peonies, and many other varieties of plants and
trees flourished and surrounded his stone lantern, which rested
on a pedestal.
He also collected a few choice Japanese garden
tools, which included small pruning shears for bonsai
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cultivation.
He was a fount of knowledge on gardens of raked
sand and stone, and fountains.
small pool.
Later, John helped him build a
Inside, there was always a profusion of plants, even
in Lincoln, long before interior designers “discovered” and made
them the “in thing.”
His agrarian interests spilled over to the art center and
among the larger plants was a lemon tree.
As Peggy Patrick
tells, “After years of nurturing and standing in the wonderful
light filtering through the lobby door of the Saarinen-designed
building, the lemon tree bore a lemon, one lemon!
It put years
of its life into bearing this lemon, and Dwight gave it to me to
make a lemon meringue pie.
I do believe if anyone has given me
anything - the crown jewels or who-knows. . that the recipient
didn't accept it with more trepidation and respect, oh gosh!
What if I loused up what I could do with this lemon?
Well, the
lemon was potent, and its juice most concentrated, and I made a
lemon pie, I made several lemon pies which I took to the center,
and which were eaten with relish by the staff.
It's the only
lemon that the lemon tree gave birth!”
Dwight was again in New York in October 1957 to organize
materials for exhibitions and to confer with George Groz about
the Guest Artist-Instructor program.
Groz had written him
earlier in his distinctive handwriting, “Dear Mr. Kirsch: In
answer to your letter of Sept. 2, I wish to say that I am
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teaching at the Art Student Lg. during the coming season.
I
would have to arrange to get a leave of absence for November and
I would have to forgo my income for that time; I am also teaching
a private group at my studio which also would cost me a loss of
income.”
“As much as I would like to teach at your Art Center for a
month, I feel that I would have to get an income of at least
$1800 for that month.
Very truly yours - George Groz.”
(The
“Gs” in his signature have wonderfully decorative curlicues in
the upper half, like coiled watch springs.)
The Cowles Foundation grant must have been adequate because
Groz taught in Des Moines for most of November in studio courses
in watercolor, drawing and composition.
The classes included
general critiques of painting in all media for members, and
students enrolled in regular painting and drawing classes.
While Groz taught at the art center, Dwight had a busy
lecture schedule. The center's flyer states, “November 4 at Mason
City to speak to the Women's Club on ‘Understanding 20th Century
American Art,’ on November 19 to the Des Moines Founders' Garden
Club on ‘Japanese Gardens and Flowers,’ on November 21 at
Lincoln, Nebraska to the Thursday Morning Lecture Circle on ‘Art
and Life in the Orient,’ and on November 24 to the Dilettante
Club, November 26 to the Temple Sisterhood of B'nai Jesherum on
‘Contribution of Jewish artists.’”
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In addition to his classes, Groz was honored at a reception,
gave a slide show in conjunction with his one-man show, a slide
lecture for Iowa State students, and participated in a panel
discussion which included: Karl Mattern, Professor of Art at
Drake University; Robert W. Iverson, Associate Professor of
Social Science at Drake University and Dwight Kirsch on
“Directions in Contemporary American Painting.”
Groz could have been Dwight's second choice for the Cowles
Foundation Artist-Instructor for that year.
In his file is a
hand-written note (on Michigan State University stationery) from
Abraham Rattner, which mentions, “May 10, 1957.
your kind letter.
Many thanks for
My work as an artist-in-residence at the
Michigan State University and my own studio work are the factors
which will keep me from joining you and of accepting your
invitation to be your guest artist during the 1957-58 and '59
year.
I appreciate your consideration.
Someday I hope to visit
with you and see your work because I've always been personally
sympathetic to all you are doing and achieving.
Abraham Rattner.”
Sincerely yours,
(His writing was so distinctive – very thick,
pointy-formed letters, not unlike the broad, pointed, geometric
shapes in his painting.
His signature was very difficult to
decipher but after a good deal of study, the Abraham became
clear.
He crossed the “T's” in his last name by drawing a thick
line through the entire “Rattner” so that it looked as if he had
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crossed out a word.)
Rattner could have been successful in Des
Moines, however, Groz was apparently excellent.
In the files are several bits of correspondence - postcards
with reproductions of his paintings, a Christmas card signed,
“George and Eva Groz,” and a New Year's letter to “Dwight” (not
Mr. Kirsch), in which he thanked him for “your friendly letter
and the good news about the sales.
mysterious Asian flu. .
He came down with “this
We had a very quiet Christmas only my
son from Chicago and the daughter of close friends of ours.
Dwight, if you come east and if you have time, maybe we could
meet.
I am now teaching again at the League and you can always
reach me over the phone there on Tuesday and Wednesday.
With my
heartiest wishes for a good & happy New Year, and with
compliments and greetings to your staff, I remain very sincerely
yours, George Groz.”
In the upper left-hand corner is a tiny
drawing of a man in tails, waving a top hat with one hand,
holding a cane with the other - and Happy New Year in small
letters.
Groz and Kirsch understood one another, both Germans,
were foes of militarism.
Groz created satirical drawings and
prints attacking conditions in post-war Germany (World War 1)
that became a kind of trademark.
He became a United States
citizen in the early 30's and his bitterness was considerably
gentled over the years.
He could be embarrassingly penetrating,
according to the short piece printed in the art center flyer.
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I found a few sketchy notes Dwight had jotted on 3”x5” file
cards - probably from the panel discussion.
Jackson Pollack, etc. They like to play God.
He quoted Groz, “re:
They like to rain
down. . a potent kind of decorative nothingness.
Expressionist
wanted a difference between a painter and a space-filler.
Re:
Sweeney, etc., they are Sinbad men - they have a few magical
words.
Holding A. Barr (Alfred Barr) out the window of Museum of
Modern Art. . now you buy this Picasso!
You cannot get rid of
your forefathers, you cannot draw yes or no.
Picasso (communist)
pretends to like modern art, but does not. . even his own work.”
About himself, Groz commented that, “When I was a little boy
the first great drawing I saw was a tattoo.
Some things (in
politics) I found intolerable, but gradually tried some things I
didn't like. . Freudian explanation = painting does not hurt
victim.
Would prefer C. Greenburg to Hitler, after hearing
Greenburg, like taking a laxative, can't paint for a month!
Hitler invented the little town as art subject - which doesn't
exist any longer. . Re: Mondrian, a civil engineer, he
constructs, has a deep distrust against his hands.
be something human on the canvas.
There might
Hated the circle (a sissy).
Have to be an advanced brain to appreciate advanced art.”
Soon after Dwight returned home from Christmas and New
Year's in New York with John, he received a rare invitation from
Saratoga Springs, New York.
Elizabeth Ames, Executive Director
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of Yaddo wrote that “the Corporation of Yaddo would be pleased to
have you as our guest in 1958 for a period of two months anytime
from May to the end of the year.”
Dwight's calendar was full
that year, however, he was able to take a “rain check” for the
following year.
His mail brought further missives.
Nelson Rockefeller wrote
in reply to invitations from Dwight and James Schramm (a trustee
of the art center), to attend the tenth anniversary of the
center.
He had attended the opening and remained on the art
center's roll of members.
He wrote, “I have a long-standing
engagement in New York City on that date and thus must
regretfully decline.
I am particularly sorry about this because
of my interest in the activities of the Art Center.
wishes for a most successful affair.
With best
Sincerely, Nelson A.
Rockefeller.”
Rockefeller was indeed a busy man - it was an amusing
coincidence that he was mentioned in artist Reuban Tam's letter
to Dwight that same month, again hand-written, “539 West 123 St.,
New York, NY.
Dear Dwight, How very nice to hear from you, and I
am overjoyed to hear that my ‘Reaches of the Morning’ has entered
the collection at Des Moines.
That painting has always been a
personal favorite of mine (and of Chas. Alan's).
I remember how
the inspiration to do it came one golden morning on Monhegan
Island (Maine) after a whole week of grey and brooding weather,
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with the threat of a hurricane down the coast.
The sun came out
over rough seas, and this combination of morning sun and churning
shoal water led me into a most creative period.
I had to go
through a movement before I could say something about morning by
the sea.
When ‘Reaches’ was finished I felt very glad.
Now I'm
very glad to know that it has found its way into a fine
collection - thanks to you.
Fire out our way.
No doubt you've heard about the Big
Just in case you've missed the journalistic
details I enclose some clippings from the N.Y. Times.
Haw sad to
know that the large Monet ‘Waterlillies’ was destroyed.
Some say
it was ruined by fire and smoke, but one report has it that it
was hacked and slashed by the fireman's axes when the men tried
to gain entrance thru the large street side windows.
But what a
relief to know that the Seurats and the Gris's all escaped
damage!
I hear the Museum is now undergoing a 24-hr. schedule of
repairs, and that cinderblock walls are replacing the inflammable
stud partitions throughout the galleries.
I just saw a newsreel
shot of Nelson Rockefeller at the fire donning a fireman's helmet
and getting ready to dash into the burning tower to rescue the
fair Modern Masters.
there.
Hope you are well and enjoying your year
But you must be looking forward to next year when you'll
have more time to paint.
All our best to you.
Tam.”
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Sincerely, Reuban
Tam's reference to Dwight's having more time to paint next
year was the result of his announcement that he would retire from
his post at the art center on or before January 1, 1959.
Without
Truby at his side, he had a difficult seven years in dealing with
a board of trustees, with the daily problems that result when
people work together, no matter how congenial; coping with the
day to day frustrations of the politics and resulting stress, and
the desire of wanting to paint and not having time were factors
that forced his decision.
He had once told my parents that he planned to retire at age
fifty. . by 1959 he would be sixty.
They wondered how he would
support himself!
Before that last day, however, there was much to do.
The
art center festival was being planned, and Dwight had recently
judged the entries in a Ball State College art show in Muncie,
Indiana.
The news article states, “He has served as a one-man
juror at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, the Virginia Museum of
Fine Arts and the Grand Rapids Art Gallery.
He is also chairman
of the art section for the American Association of Museums for
1958.
He is considered one of the nation's top judges of
contemporary art.”
Dwight also did a program for the Des Moines Weavers Guild,
“Weaving in the Orient.”
Dwight himself was not a weaver, but he
was interested in the craft and told about the art of painting on
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woven fabric.
As I recall, one painted the design on the
lengthwise warp threads, then the weaver finished with the weft
work.
The result was an uneven, or softened effect.
The name
for this oriental-type of painting was something like “Chine”
(sheen-ne), and Dwight hung such a piece over his fireplace.
A
friend did the weaving portion of the project for him.
After his retirement from the Des Moines Art Center was
announced, messages came from friends and associates.
he kept was from Rose Rosenfield.
One that
“Dear Dwight, You have been in
my thoughts so often since the announcement of your resignation.
I am one of your many friends who feel a great personal loss in
your leaving the art center.
In my 57 years of residence in DM,
I have known of no one who has made a greater cultural gift to
our city than you.
In sincerity, and modesty and through
personal sacrifices, you have given to us the best that is in
you.
You have instilled in thousands who have used the art
center a growing interest in good art.
We have much to build on
because of your efforts - with my thanks for all this and hoping
that your future may bring you much happiness.
I am sincerely
yours, Rose Frankel Rosenfield.”
Those eloquent words from her were echoed by many of
Dwight's friends and family.
except for one - his writing.
We were all aware of his talents
True, he did not write books like
his friends Loren Eiseley, Mari Sandoz or Dorothy Thomas, but he
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did write many art-related articles, humorous pieces over the
years, and surprisingly enough, poetry!
In going through his papers, I found a beautiful folder
printed in grays and Chinese red - the cover, a sumi sketch of a
waterfall and a hand-lettered tribute, “To Henry Frankel - our
friend and patron - with affection and gratitude.”
The reverse
side was in Japanese calligraphy written by Mrs. Tomoko Yamamoto
for the “Frankel Terrace Dedication,” June 15, 1958.
“In memory
of Henry Frankel: the sound of waterfall may cease, but the
people of his community will never forget his humanity and
justice.”
Inside the dedication folder was written, “A NATURE WALK IN
MY MEMORY GARDEN, Lines written and read by Dwight Kirsch, and
dedicated to Henry Frankel:
As I walk from my house to the big oak tree
the living things I see are friends to me.
Rooted things, four-footed things, things on wings.
As I walk by them, some go past me.
The herbs grow close to the kitchen door.
From Florence, balm for an aching brow.
And borage for courage from Gertrude Moore.
Chives and sage; basil and thyme; Tarragon, parsley and
mint.
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Let's pluck for Alice an herb bouquet
and fresh ones for Val and Mabel as well
(to say nothing of Toney and Jay).
Up where the wildflowers bloom, on the hill,
Ground-covers from Eunice, Peggy and Bill.
Below are things brought from trips afar:
by plane from Hawaii. . Alaska,
and from Old Mexico, in my car.
On water-worn stones from Jo's mountain retreat,
I step to the corner, and there at my feet,
Are sedum and vines from Jim and Jo.
Rocks and some lilies from Jim and Do.
And bricks George hauled up on the bank.
Are rocks, all colors, from Glea and Frank.
Up the sodded steps, by the path is a thicket,
with branches and leaves that are good for classes:
burdock, cherry and Solomon's seal, just the ticket.
For Frances, Mrs. Yamamoto, and their lasses,
here's catnip for cat-loving friends; save a bit,
for two Marys and Bunny, Margaret and Britt.
Weeds here my mother once cooked, in the spring;
Lamb's quarter and sour dock; taste fit for a king.
There's some wild grapes Fred would make into wine;
And, wreathing the base of the big oak tree,
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there are myrtle and mosses for Truby and me.
Up the hill, by the path, every spring,
the bluebells from Henry's place bloom.
Each year their new growth takes more room.
Now, in June, when dry tops droop over the path
I cut them, as Rose showed me how to do...
Let's scatter some seed-heads now at the Terrace
To have Henry's bluebells there, growing anew.”
Dwight was not sentimental.
However, his poem revealed deep
feelings and layers of memories connected to his plants - his
father Fred, Truby, Jo, Miss Moore, Mabel, Florence, plus a few
newer Iowa friends.
In recognition of the art center's tenth anniversary, the
June/July issue of Iowan Magazine published Dwight's article
“Home on the Hill.”
It is an account of how he came to be a
director of an art center.
“In the course of my life a lot of
different things have caught my interest, so I have been a jackof-all-trades in Art.
But it all adds up now.
Some of the
reasons for being ready to tackle an art director's job were in
the way I was raised and grew up.”
“An Art Center is like a home of a big family with lots of
relatives, neighbors and friends.
They drop in and bring things;
but they nearly always take something away, too.
360
They are
interested in many different fields, so they usually have a good
time when they come to visit.
A friend of mine, Loren Eiseley,
also formerly from Nebraska, wrote one sentence that may be the
key: ‘Family life is a fact that underlies everything else about
a man - his capacity for absorbing culture, his ability to learn,
everything, in short, that enables us to call him human.’”
(From
“Adventures of the Mind,” Saturday Evening Post, April 26, 1958).
“In our big family, Uncle Jake was the special eyes. . He
would get me to describe a painting. . maybe that is how I
started to learn how to give a gallery talk to tell the salient
points about an art work so graphically that anyone could shut
his eyes and still see it. . I have made a living by doing
artwork of many kinds.
make a living with art.
You have to do a lot of funny things to
But most of them have added useful
knowledge and skills to prepare me for an Art Director's job.
I
have never taken courses on how to be a commercial artist, an
interior decorator, a teacher, or an administrator, yet I have
learned to do all those things, professionally, for pay.
There
were many other things I tried: designing stage sets, working for
publications (college annuals, humor magazines, brochures, and
newspapers); doing etchings, block prints, silk screen prints;
and refinishing old furniture and old picture frames.
I think
running an Art Center is more like having a notion store.
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There
is a little of everything, interesting and useful there, but at
times it is hard to locate.”
“On other days an Art Center seems more like an
entertainment racket; a circus, a side show, or a series of
‘pitch-acts’ at the midway of a Fair - to bring people in and
keep them happy.
Maybe that is why my own special symbolic
picture among paintings owned by the Art Center is Kuniyoshi's
‘Amazing Juggler.’
With gay colors and adventurous pattern, the
artist seems to be saying: ‘This act is impossible, you know, but
let's be gay about it!’
Director.
That's the way it is with an Art Center
After seven long years the old juggling act is slowing
down, and I know it.
started as a boy.
So I'm going to go back to the ambition I
I have always wanted to be an artist; and from
here on out, there may still be time. . But the Des Moines Art
Center should always be a home on the hill to a great family of
Iowans, and their friends; and I hope they will always keep it
that way.”
One of his last acts as director of the art center, of which
there is a record, was having a Picasso pastel shipped to Des
Moines.
In a handwritten letter from France, Pierre Matisse
wrote, “Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, 8-13-58.
Dear Mr. Kirsch: At the
suggestion of Mrs. Maas I have sent instructions to my office to
have the Picasso pastel in which you were interested shipped by
air-freight to you in Des Moines for purchase consideration for
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the Art Center.
The picture should be there now.
The price of
the painting was $4600, less museum discount of 15% makes a net
price of $3,900.
If you should want to communicate with me I
shall be at the following address till Sept.10th: Villa da Punta
S'Jean Cap Ferrat; 30th Hotel Lincoln 24 rue Bayard Paris; and
afterwards in New York.
Sincerely, Pierre Matisse.”
With the letter is a note in John's handwriting that the
price mentioned by Marie Maas was $2,200.
It would have been fun
to see and listen to Dwight's reaction to the Matisse quote - and
to know the value of the pastel today!
From reading Nebraska Art
Association minutes, it was common practice to negotiate prices
with dealers and artists, and perhaps that is what was done.
In his “Autographed letter file,” Dwight kept one from
B.J.O. Nordfeldt, saying, “we were sorry not to see you when you
were east last time - I can't remember now if you had just been
or just came after we had been in New York.
Moreover - when you
do come again in May I hope that we will have a better chance of
seeing you.”
“Emily joins me in our late congratulations and wishes for a
swell time Nord.”
His wife left a postscript in the margin “and
thanks so much for your nice New Year's card.
EAN.”
With no
date, it is hard to tell exactly when it was written.
Dwight wrote to Marguerite November 4th, 1958.
“Sunday was
my last day on duty at DMAC. . and a big day it was - about 2500
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attendance, mostly drawn by a flower show put on by the Florists'
Ass'n., and I gave a talk to an auditorium full of Art
Appreciation Students from Ames.
That was at the close of a
frantic week of packing and moving stuff out of office and
storerooms, a truckload mostly dumped in my garage.
Today, with
help I dug into it and started sorting and storing stuff, as well
as burning a lot of it.”
“I've planned to take this month to put my house and effects
in order, a ponderous job, judging from today's sample.
John is
still here and helping this week. . says he is going back to N.Y.
by middle of next week to hunt a job and to take care of his
affects, stored in basement of apt. building he lived in on
Remsen St., Brooklyn.
Doctor here, after going over thorough
tests, says he is O.K. to go back to work, if he gets extra rest
for a few months.
(The illness was a recurrence of hepatitis.)
He has done about a dozen oils here this summer and fall, mostly
good ones, I think.
However, he has been a boon to me as a cook,
and bottle-washer, as well as being good company.”
“I have been telling people I may go to Mexico for two
months or more, if that proves to be possible I would try to get
away before Dec. 10th and would check with you to see if I can
stop in Phillips - and if you'd be there!
Just had a letter from
Ray Ruehl - and I should want to see him in Amarillo, too.
'Twould be nice to take in some of the Posada nights at San
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Miguel and I hear there are interesting parades at Querotaro,
too.
Nickie Bolling is still in classes at S.M.A. and has been
awarded a full tuition fellowship for 1959, and a big mosaic
mural commission that will bring income and keep her busy on the
side for a few months after they have the structure ready. . the
rest of it, for 1959, has to be worked out yet but I know now
that there will be enough to choose from to keep me plenty busy
and make a fair living too.
The Yaddo invitation was renewed for
1959 but if I go it would be late summer or early fall. . Cherrio
and stuff to you and John.
As ever, Dwight.”
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Chapter 21
“Retirement, 1958: Murals, Artist-In-Residence”
Friends and relatives received handsome folders from Dwight
printed on Japanese mulberry paper, with “A SALUTE TO FREEDOM!
(1958)” on the cover.
Inside was written, “Declaration. . when
in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to review
one's way of life - and the station to which the Laws of Nature
and of Nature's God intended one, sometimes a new resolution is
the result.
In the interests of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit
of Happiness, from this day forward, I resolve to spend more of
my remaining days using my best capabilities fully, engaging in
occupations I enjoy, to wit: picture making with camera or brush.
Experimenting with many art forms.
subjects.
Lecturing and teaching art
Gardening, tree-trimming, arranging rocks.
beachcombing, collecting odd objects.
Puttering,
Seeing good friends,
relatives, former colleagues, and students, wherever they are.
Traveling, preferably at someone else's expense.
by writing, privately or publicly.
preparing it.
Communicating
Eating good food, and even
Making my own bed (or hammock), and lying in it.
Let these facts be submitted to a candid world.
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D. Kirsch.”
Leaving his art center post seemed to recharge Dwight, and
inspire him into action.
He was off to a great start with a
$1000 honorarium from Laurence Fairall, President of the Board of
Trustees of the Des Moines Art Center, who wrote, “I think you
know how much we all appreciate all that you have done for the
Art Center since you came here eight years ago.
You have reason
to be proud of the great contribution you have made to the
Center's advancement and development, and to its service in the
community.”
Few people, in those days, could enjoy a pension
from their jobs when they retired.
The $1000 was, at that time,
very generous.
He immediately gave workshops in Lincoln and Omaha, and in
March he held a one-man show in the Memorial Union Gallery, Ames,
Iowa.
According to the Iowa State Daily, “KIRSCH’S ONE-MAN
SHOWING IS 'LIFE AND EXPERIENCE..' The series of paintings on
exhibit progress in the same order of his life and experience.
They start out when he was designing stage scenery at the
University of Nebraska and continue up to some recent sketches
made of Des Moines children.
Along the way are pictures as he
traveled by the seacoast of Alaska, street scenes in Mexico City
and pictures of Colorado and Mass. vacations.
‘I like to make
use of natural materials in my work,’ said Dwight Kirsch, as he
pointed out a collage made of mica, red clay and charcoal found
in the Colorado Mountains.”
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“Marjorie Garfield, head of the Applied Art Department (Iowa
State), commented that the show in connection with ‘Focus 1959’
is a very good one.
She thought it would be very well-received
by college students because it is so ‘understandable.’
Miss
Garfield also said that having Kirsch as artist-in-residence was
the opening of a very good relationship with Iowa State.
Kirsch will be artist-in-residence in April this year.
Dwight
He will
also return to the campus in the fall.”
With Dwight basking in his new state of freedom in
conjunction with public attention, John was back in New York.
“Dear Pa, was delighted to get your birthday greetings and all,
'tho I feel undeserving of it after the long silences.
I finally
whipped the apt. into shape at least enough so there is space
cleared in the middle of debris to do such things as paint and
write letters.
Cleaning up the disorganized mess of things piled
in storage, plus what amounted to a slum-clearance project in
making this waterfront ex-hotel livable (also cat-house in the
old days, I recently learned) has been a bigger job than I
expected.
But the apartment has turned out clean and sunny and
cheerful and many of my friends like it better than the old one,
despite the smaller space.
Have refinished many pieces of
furniture, stained and varnished the wide floor boards, patched
plaster and painted, etc.
warming-up exercise.
My experience with you in DM was good
A friend took a snapshot of the living
368
room, which I will send along in the next letter.
I hope you can
stay here on your next trip with no roommate to complicate
matters.
There is some wonderfully photographable material
around, what with sea gulls in the front yard and dead end kids
swimming.
Have been plotting how to get hold of a dead seagull
to paint, but can't figure out short of mayhem how to do it.
The
building here, as somebody said, is as close to ‘Wuthering
Heights’ as you can get in N.Y.
It is more than half-empty, and
the only inhabitants are a couple of old stumblebum winoes, and
three or four genuine, real, beatniks-bearded, pony tailed,
coffee-shopped, etc.
Very friendly with late jazz sessions, and
willing to pose for paintings and certainly very paintable.
I am
planning to enlarge on the beat-generation coffee-house theme,
although the job is working out well, and, tho dull and routine,
I am able to forget it during the day.
It has been a great
feeling of liberation to have the weight of the museum neuroses
lifted off my shoulders - and to be able to wander around in the
daytime and have 6 or 7 hours of daylight free to paint the
harbor, etc. is wonderful.
It's been like getting out of prison.
I have been feeling better physically - and if I get plenty of
sleep, I seem to have re-acquired all the bounce of the old days.
Am getting to be a real weirdo-type now, what with eating yogurt
and studying Zen, as well as the liver pitch.
I will have a
week's vacation in September - maybe about the time you will be
369
at Yaddo or anyway in the East.
I will report your activities to
Mrs. Navas and Maynard and the Crossgroves if I see them.
So far
this seems to be a good year for us both. . and the jumping off
turned out to be a fine idea. .
Hope this all keeps up.
I was
certainly pleased with your first sample of the advertising
campaign.
It hit just the right note, and was warm and human
without being at all corny.
days.
Not many people are doing that these
Was pleased to hear that things are going off with a bang,
exhibit-wise and financially also.
Love, John.”
John's new job could have been the evening one at a bank.
His instability was becoming increasingly evident from his
letters.
Not able to withstand the pressures of jobs, having
many friends but no really close, lasting relationships, waves of
depression and lack of energy, etc., would eventually turn out to
be symptoms of trouble ahead!
Looking at a line graph showing the peaks and valleys in
their lives, the year 1959 would show Dwight at an eight, and
John a five, on a scale between one and ten.
feeling of apprehension and foreboding.
I think John had a
He was too bright to
know things were not just right - being only responsible for
himself, and having mood swings, still hoping for a bright future
with his art, but not yet succeeding had a definite effect on
him.
He was happy to be back in New York, however.
Gershwin's
“Rhapsody in Blue” was appropriate “theme” music for him then.
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Dwight's music was not quite “Ode to Joy.”
Perhaps
something more appropriate would have been Aaron Copland's
“Appalachian Spring,” for he was then commissioned to do murals
for a newly re-modeled tea-room in the Des Moines Younkers
department store.
Before he started, he drove to many towns in
Iowa and Nebraska, including Atkinson, where he spent time
painting in the sandhills.
Traveling in the midwestern
countryside always inspired him thus, choosing the wild rose as
his theme for the murals was a natural consequence, since they
were lovely, plentiful, and flourished in roadside ditches and
along railroad tracks.
The wild rose is a low, bushy plant with
single-petaled, pink flowers.
It is Iowa's official state
flower.
Dwight described his mural to old friend, Fred Wells.
“It
is very freely impressionistic, with farm landscape and sky, as
background for wild roses and grasses in a natural setting.
I
hope you can see it some day.”
Not only did the Younkers project come to Dwight, but also a
commission from Bankers Life of Nebraska to do a series of
“family” illustrations for their advertising campaign.
Entitled:
“The Good Things of Life,” he used Peggy Patrick's children as
models for the four, black and white, sumi compositions.
They
were reproduced on good, artist-quality paper and were offered as
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a set at no cost, in a series of advertisements published in the
top weekly magazines: Time, Life, and Newsweek.
The Bankers Life promotion proved to be extremely popular,
and many sets of pictures were ordered.
In fact, I was pleased
to view a set of them framed and hung on a physician's reception
room wall in Florence, Colorado (in the 1970's), and I suspect
they were used in numerous other reception areas across the
country, as well as in homes.
I persuaded our United Way board
to use one of the illustrations for the cover of our 1988
campaign folders “Years of Caring and Sharing,” which showed a
poignant vignette of a mother holding a young boy.
During his
Atkinson trek, Dwight did a workshop not far from there in
Yankton, South Dakota. This was Lawrence Welk, Bohemian polka and
German band (um-pa pa), WNAX radio country.
He had begun to
experiment with natural or native dyes and stains using plants
and other materials.
The Yankton newspaper clipping, April 24,
1959, reads, “USING MATERIALS AT HAND ADDS FUN TO ART, SAYS
KIRSCH.
Had you ever thought of instant dry milk, mercurochrome,
bluing, eggs, tea, coffee, or automobile wax as artist materials?
Dwight Kirsch, Des Moines, Iowa, freelance artist whose
illustrations are being seen currently in Time, Newsweek and Life
magazines, believes that the real fun in art is an ‘attitude of
experimentation’ and through this attitude on his part has used
all such materials to interesting advantage. ‘Experiment with
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scraps of paper, wallboards, bits of various kinds of cloth if
you haven't the regulation papers and canvas.
Try turkey
feathers, brushes made of grass, pens whittled from corn stalks
or fenceposts, charcoal from native willows.’
A slight man with
a merry glint in his eye, Kirsch charms his students with the
audacity of his experiments.
He conducted classes for the Fine
Arts Conference being held on the Yankton College Campus.”
Dwight's “natural stain and dye period” gleaned a great deal
of good publicity and fun for him.
The Des Moines Register ran
an amusing little piece in Elizabeth Clarkson Zwart's column, the
FRONT ROW, which stated, “Room Freshner: Dwight Kirsch throws an
armful of long-stemmed wild flowers into his summer-empty
fireplace.
Gradually, it dries and scents the living room.”
He
had the flowers close at hand, from his front yard!
He never lost enthusiasm for experimentation!
Certainly the
dyes and stains he cooked up and developed were nothing new,
actually some of man's earliest known self-expressions were
created by dipping their hands in the earth's pigments and
pressing them against a cave wall.
Tools and materials derived
from native plants were used by Native Americans, and our
pioneers.
The latter often lived in sod houses on a prairie
devoid of trees, especially in Nebraska when the prairie
schooners traversed the land.
373
After again spending time in Colorado, Dwight drove to New
York, his car log notes show stops in Cedar Rapids, Clinton,
Brody's Leap Plaza, Ohio Turnpike, Lackawanna Toll, Clifton
Springs, Oneida, Amsterdam (1,230 miles), Yaddo, near Saratoga
Springs, Dorset, Vt. at his friends, the Pattens, then back to
Yaddo.
Yaddo, a country estate with a wonderful Victorian mansion
set in a pine forest, a farm, gardens, etc., not far from the
racetrack at Saratoga, has been a retreat for artists since 1926.
Yaddo's owner, Katrina Trask's vision was “men and women
creating, creating, creating.”
After she died in 1921, Elizabeth
Ames became director and guiding spirit.
Dwight was in his element there, without the distractions of
cooking his own meals, or people bothering him before 4 P.M., and
with a rare chance to “do nothing, or create.”
one month.
He stayed about
Perhaps the lure of seeing more of New England, or
his urge to visit John on Fulton St., Brooklyn and his yet
unfinished Rose Room mural project were motivating factors.
We
only know that he loved it there and referred to it many times
thereafter.
He did at least one memory painting of Yaddo trees some
twenty years later.
Though I have no evidence, I am sure he was
a prolific painter while there.
He arrived home, after a few car
374
repair problems, and continued with work in Iowa, the Rose Room
and as artist-in-residence in Ames.
Not long after the return home from Yaddo, he heard from
John, a key letter, important in a series of events to come.
“November 5, 1959. Dear Pa:
letters and the news.
It has been good to get all your
As usual I have been remiss about writing.
Sorry to hear you had so much car trouble on the return trip, but
at least you made it all right.”
“You sure sound busy?
The Rose Room plans sound exciting.
Esp. the 32 ft. long panel sounds as if you are getting into the
Jackson Pollack class.
and work.
This could turn out to be a lot of fun,
Glad you have some one to help.”
“I liked your cover for the Ames program very much.
distinguished.
Very
Have shown Marie the slides, and she was quite
keen on them, esp. the one with Willard.
She wondered if she
could get a slide copy of it rather than a color print?”
“Sorry that your stay here was not a more exciting one.
didn't show you a very good time, as the saying goes.
enjoyed it, anyway.
to jazz me up.
I
But I
Have been going to the doctor for more shots
These seem to do the trick, and as long as I
return for them regularly I seem to have all the old prehepatitis drive and energy.
Without them, I go back into the old
slump.”
375
“Life goes on apace here-with the new treatment.
I am able
to do with a lot less sleep and am painting more and more
energetically.
Have received payment for one portrait
commission, which comes in handy.”
“I hope you are not swamped with work, what with the show
and rose panels coming all at once.
help, and to see the show.
the show gets.
Wish I could be there to
Will be curious to hear the response
Well, take care of yourself.
year is getting off to a good start.
It sounds as if the
Love, John.”
What medication was in those shots given to John to “jazz”
him up?
Could they have been B-complex vitamins? Most likely,
they were stimulants – amphetamines - or some type of painreducing drugs.
We now know that that was common practice then,
with the patient thinking he was getting “nutrients,” when
instead he or she was injected with drugs.
According to a
retired physician acquaintance, there was very little medication
given to a recovering hepatitis patient at that time.
My
personal belief is that whatever the substance, it was extremely
habit-forming and caused severe depression when ceased!
John mentioned “the show,” which was a father & son exhibit
at the Des Moines Art Center.
George Shane wrote the critique,
accompanied by photographs of their work.
“An unusual and
rewarding exhibition, the showing of the work of a father and
son.
This is the two-man exhibition of paintings, drawings and
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sculpture by Dwight Kirsch and his son, John.
The exhibition
fills the main gallery and offers an inspiring view of what may
come of a two-generation devotion to art.
It is interesting to
note as well that although both men paint in completely different
styles the work of each gives an immediate feeling of respect for
nature translated into art forms.
cover a span of a good many years.
Dwight Kirsch's paintings
There are the freely
conceived little portrait studies, including a study of John
reading by mellow light when a boy, back in 1936 (the little egg
tempra jewel painted at Martha’s Vineyard).
Out of another era
long ago, there are other paintings of Nebraska, above and beyond
the confines of the regionalism of that day.
They are pictures
whose rhythmic notes of color reach a pictorial achievement,
which carries through his other work in Mexico, the Orient and
the rare studies of flowers and landscapes in sumi.
John
Kirsch's paintings have a power to put excitement into everyday
things, or catch the brilliance of the cathedral's stained glass
in his religious studies.
His subjects may be a bunch of flowers
and leaves, stuffed in a vase, spontaneous and rich in color.
Again he may turn to the portrait to present almost stark
statements, with the force of German expressionism at its best.
John Kirsch's view of the bay and shoreline and the luminous sky,
nostalgic of the far-off west, are an entrancing world.”
377
The show catalogue lists John's “Bird Long Dead,” oil, 1958,
and “Dead Pigeon on Packing Crate,” oil, 1959.
Here were the
dead birds he plotted to find when he moved to Fulton Street near
the Brooklyn Bridge!
I seem to recall he asked someone in his
building to let him know in case they happened to see a dead one
- he never would have killed it!
His two sculptures in the show were: “Striped Cat,” terra
cotta, 1946 (I have his unfired study for it, and have since been
sorry I did not keep the pieces of the broken original when I
found them); and “Mother and Child” 1948, the composition of
figures “released” and chiseled from a stump of Russ Tudor's
parent's apricot tree in Lincoln.
After seeing the rough tree
stump in the Tudor's back yard, and hearing John's intention to
do a sculpture of it, I was skeptical that he would ever get
around to it, since procrastination seemed to be his middle name.
When I saw the finished piece, I was shocked and enthralled by
it.
John's December 1st letter, 1959, stated, “It certainly was
sweet of you to offer to bring me out for the show opening, and I
am sorry it did not work out.
I would like especially to have
seen all your early sand hills and other paintings from all over
rounded up together for the first time.
photographs to be taken of the show?
Are there any group
In a way I would rather see
it that way and in my imagination than be present in actuality
378
for the opening, which in a way gives me the willies, all this
public exposure of oneself.
I hope you are making some sales,
and for that matter, I hope I am too.”
“I am thinking now seriously of having a weekly session of
psychotherapy with a person who had quite beneficial results with
a friend of mine.
Not that I feel particularly booby-hatched at
this point, but there are a few things I'd like to figure out
with a little help.
This would be a quickie - a year or less,
and I can swing it financially with the raise I am expecting and
a few painting sales.
The analyst has special rates for poor
starving artists and others.”
“Don't know where you were Thanksgiving, but hope you had a
nice one.
Marie and Willard had me over for roast duck, and
Marie as usual sends her love.
You are one of her favorite
people and she thinks you are one of the few who ‘take her
seriously as an artist.’
(Apparently Willard does not at this
point!)”
“Incidentally, I wonder if you might send a few extra
exhibition catalogues, if you think about it.
would like to have one.
She among others
She also thinks you are the best around
at this time doing sumi work.”
“Life goes on.
As an aftermath of the supper at Maynard's
and the hot discussion you may remember he and Mrs. Navas had re
Prado Museum, they are no longer speaking to each other.
379
Mostly
Mrs. Navas, who was apparently upset terribly and says ‘let him
make the first move.’
It is too bad to see a friendship of so
many years standing so easily shaken, but they both become
increasingly hermit like and eccentric as time goes on.
not seen Verne and Norma since you were here.
I have
Saw the Guggenheim
Museum the other day, and the experience of viewing the interior
space certainly changes my opinion of it, while the exterior is
pretty awkward and ugly, the interior I really think is one of
the great architectural expressions in this country.
Really very
thrilling.”
“Sorry to be so poor at writing.
Is the rose panel room
coming along and do you have enough help?
What are your plans
for Christmas?”
“I really am regretful about not seeing the show, but maybe
picturing in the mind is better after all.
flattering write-up.
Thank George for the
He sure did well by us both.
Dwight did indeed finish the rose panels.
Love, John.”
The December 11,
1959 Des Moines Register article by George Shane headline stated,
“Kirsch Murals at Younkers A Milestone in Use of Art. .
Acceptance of art as a part of the commercial scene now seems to
be more common in Iowa.
Once there was a time when the painter
or sculptor seldom was called upon to lend his creative ability
to buildings or interiors.
But now, occasionally, there is some
380
example of valid art forms becoming major parts in design and
architecture in Iowa.”
“Usually the embellishment of rooms or buildings is a job
‘farmed out’ to a commercial firm that handles ‘art’ on a
production line basis and the results are garish, dreary or
both.”
“One of the milestones in the use of art comes with the
opening of the Rose Room in Younkers store here.
The room has
become an exciting visual experience through the use of two
charming murals by Dwight Kirsch, former Art Center director and
presently artist in residence at Iowa State
University.”
“The theme of the fifth-floor Rose Room, a dining room, was
conceived by Kenneth E. Hartman, Younkers decorator, and planned
by Gerald I. Griffith, Des Moines architect.”
“Two wall spaces made possible the Kirsch murals, one 46
feet in length and the other 32 feet.
Iowa's fragile, fast-
disappearing wild rose is the theme.”
“There is a weathered fence, old mail boxes and farm
buildings on the hills.
Gold leaf is flecked through the
composition and the entire concept of color is delicate and
lyrical.”
Dwight was proud of his work.
him at a time when he would need it.
381
It was a nice honor for
His letter to Fred Wells, Lincoln, mentioned the murals, and
the father and son show.
“The show of John's work and mine has
been very well-received and I've sold 17 pictures out of it
besides others as a result.
I've had clippings about
developments at U.of N., including the Wood Foundation gift - and
am very happy about it.”
No mention of John's sales, or of the one-man show at First
Federal Savings and Loan in Lincoln held that year, though his
friend, Mrs. E.M. Forsyth, owner of the bank, was fond of his
work.
Helen Haggie, for the Lincoln Journal wrote, “It's always a
joy to watch artistic progress made by a friend, so it's a joy to
visit the one-man show.
The Kirsch show includes sampling of his
work from the 1940's. . to the present.”
“And an innovation for Kirsch, who has been experimenting
with the use of natural stains, is the pressing of leaves onto
damask and rolling the color into the cloth with a corncob.
color is set with chemical solutions made by the artist.
the resulting pieces my antiques.’
work is his ‘Worm Eaten Leaves.’
The
‘I call
A delightful example of this
Oriental influence is apparent
too.”
“Questioned about it, he commented, ‘The Japanese use common
things in their arrangements.
They aim for perfection, yet
realize there is imperfection in everyone.
382
So, they do use
things that are imperfect in their art and arrangements.’
Perhaps it's the influence of Nebraska's weather that one sees in
so many of Kirsch's landscapes.
But the movement of breeze and
wind is a characteristic of most of them.”
Haggie “zeroed in” on a description of Dwight's work that
other journalists missed - “breeze” and “wind” - so very
appropriate!
Because of the Ames job and the long motor trip to Yaddo,
Dwight spent Christmas and New Year's in Des Moines.
His
Christmas card to his friends, the Lawton Pattons (Patton was a
professor of architectural history at Iowa State, Ames), was a
letter size fold-out “Returning Coals to Newcastle” - a sketch of
a landscape using watercolor, thin birch bark and a small piece
of blue slate from Vermont, where Pattons lived.
About the time Dwight was busy driving back and forth
between Des Moines and Ames, working on the rose panels, and when
John was wondering about psychoanalysis, Peggy Patrick traveled
to New York.
At Dwight's urging, she visited John.
“John was
working in a bank, and he lived in a loft in the bottom of the
last pier in the Brooklyn Bridge.
I took the subway or bus and
went over there and I was wearing high heels.
I entered this
warehouse – it was an abandoned warehouse - that's all it was,
there is no way you can glorify it in any other way, and I walked
down the wooden hallways to find the number John had given me as
383
his apartment number, having to stop because the heels of my
shoes kept getting caught in the holes in this wooden floor.
I
have never had an experience quite like it, but when you knocked
on the door of his apartment, or his portion of the loft, you
entered, then of course, another entirely magical place, with
artifacts, paintings, his easel, his creative spirit having given
it an environment all its very own.”
She apparently had a good
visit with him and was not too alarmed about his state of mind.
“Thursday, January 21, 1960, NYC.
Dear Pa: Guess I've
probably delayed writing for so long that it is too late to give
you any shipping instructions about the paintings.
Tried to call
you last Sunday night - but suppose you were in Ames or out.
First, I most certainly did appreciate all the beautiful
photographs - color and black and white.
In your usual modest
way you left out your section of the show and I would like to
have seen how it looked.
Everyone is keen on your new Japanesey
block prints, including Marie and the Kohls (whom I finally had
over for Sunday brunch a week ago).
Marie and Willard were
delighted with the collage of roses from summers past and are
going to have it framed (Hope the dogs don't chew it up first!)
by the way Willard was amazed when I happened to mention your
age.
He had thought you were his contemporary and in your
forties.”
(Dwight did “Oak Tree in Winter” in 1961, a woodcut in
cherry which is quite stunning and ambitiously intricate
384
considering how very hard cherry is to tool.
He no doubt hand-
printed a few editions, but over 600 remain which were
commercially printed, he later said, for the Des Moines Art
Center to use for a membership campaign.)
“Thanks also for the
Christmas cards and letters from Mabel Eiseley.
I was so pleased
with your response to the print book (I was almost sure you would
have it already from Tuttle) that I sent along an extra birthday
bonus, slightly used.
Hope it reaches you safely.
Hope your
holidays were pleasant and restful, and that you and Jo (Waddell)
had a good time.
Marie was wonderful to me and invited me both
to Christmas dinner and to a New Years party while Willard was in
Puerto Rico.
The N.Y. party was a real gasser - at Maya Deren's
(the avant-garde ‘veddy’ experimental movie maker - whose films
Duard and the Carmel crowd exported to Nebraska that created sort
of a sensation as you may remember.)
She has been to Haiti on a
Ford Foundation grant recently, and returned with a kind of
documentary tape recording, etc. of Haitian rituals.
Much of the
evening was taken up with her drunken rendition of the Haitian
dances (she is sort of a sexy fiftyish with a twenty-year old
Japanese composer lover.
Sort of a gypsy seeress high priestess
type with what looks like a red fright-wig, but I guess it is
hers).
The crowd was mostly very beat and arty Chas. Adams type
girls with black eyes and black stockings, etc.
Her apartment
(pad, that is) was great, and very full of Haitian drums,
385
seashells, hex-dolls, etc etc., strictly under water.
One of the
best of Marie's florescent-period paintings was hanging on the
ceiling of the bedroom.
Really very good (I wish Marie would
start painting again), heavily encrusted with sand and crud and
looking like nothing as much as a geological concretion slab of
mud from the Jurassic age.
Marie kept saying ‘but I'm afraid
it'll fall down some night and hurt somebody.’
heavy.
True, it did look
I guess you are kindred spirits - and that's why she
likes your collages so much.”
“It was fun having the Kohles over finally.
I guess they
really don't have many friends in the city and are rather lonely,
as they certainly seemed to appreciate the hospitality.
They've
invited me over this Sunday while Peggy Patrick is here - so I
can get filled in on the reports of the rose mural.”
“I guess the only instructions about shipping the paintings,
if it isn't too late, that is, concern the matter of telephoning
me first as to the exact day and if possible the approximate
hours of delivery so I can let the bozos in.
in case you've lost it is JA 2-5725.
My unlisted number
One other thing, in case
the Center did buy one of my two dead bird paintings, I wonder if
it would be possible to ship it back to me for a couple of
months.
I would deduct shipping costs from the price of the
painting. . I really think the birds are among my best and I was
counting on showing them around to a few dealers (John Clancy,
386
etc.) and to a Whitney Mus. viewing in the spring.
return it sometime in April.
about this.
I could
Would appreciate your inquiring
(Natch, I'm delighted to sell it nevertheless.)
I
thought perhaps you could keep the Parrot Tulips still life and
the ‘Autumnal Banquet’ for the rental galleries, but wondered if
you could send back the Des Moines Autumn landscape, that is
unless it leaves too much of a gap in your living room.”
“Am feeling great physically lately for a change.
So I said
to hell with psychoanalysis and bought a new low-Hi-Fi set for a
hundred bucks with my portrait money.
Have about six or seven
new paintings going and have finally got over my work block or
whatever you call it.
2 large harbor scenes, the big one of
Marie nearly finished and sort of a Rembrandty study of Willard
(with all due modesty).
Wish you could see them.
Hope you are
getting lots done and that Ames isn't too much work.
Birthday!
Love, John.”
387
Happy
Chapter 22
“John: Attempted Suicide; Dwight’s Letters to
John”
Between John's January letter and about March 19th, 1960, we
don’t know much about what happened in his life.
I do know that
he was usually depressed around his birthday March 10, and I
remember when we turned thirty how upset he was.
By age thirty-
three it didn't seem to be a big deal to me!
We do know, according to his car log, that Dwight drove to
Ames March 5, 8, and 12; had formed an American Art exhibition
for the Iowa State FOCUS series which opened March 6; was present
in the Art Shed in Ames March 8 to March 26 on Tuesdays, and
again from April 19th to May 4th.
The American Art Today show
was an exciting collection of works by Burchfield, Dove, Heliker,
Hopper, Kuhn, Marin, Marsh, Mattern, Karasz, etc., to Zorach.
Dwight was to give gallery talks March 8, 10. 11, and end with a
color slide presentation and lecture on March 15th in Great Hall,
Memorial Union.
He probably missed the lecture.
In January,
Dwight was commissioned by the art committee of the University
Christian Church, Des Moines, to design a bulletin cover.
The
committee selected, from several submissions, a design featuring
388
a cross intertwined with the letters “U.C.”
The March Des Moines
Register printed a photograph of the design and in their article
they reported that, “Kirsch expressed an interest in the
committee's effort to “provide art forms, which will further the
worship of God, and gave the painting as a token of his interest
and encouragement.”
“The picture was displayed at a church dinner. . along with
other recent art acquisitions.
Also exhibited at the dinner was
a cover design for the church bulletin by Kirsch, who had been
commissioned to do the work.”
“The watercolor ‘Hallett's Peak’ portrays the rugged
strength and beauty of the mountains.
It was made by Kirsch in
1948, from the trail to Flat-Top Mountains (above Bear Lake) at
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo.”
It is ironic that Dwight had just finished his church
commission, for he would soon need every trace of spiritual
strength he could secure as John's world suddenly came crashing
to a smashup!
It happened between March 12th and 19th in his apartment.
There was a fire!
were burned!
He had tried to commit suicide!
His paintings
All had been destroyed except for those that had
been purchased by various art galleries or private collections!
Something within John had just snapped.
He lost control.
With
superhuman power he had rammed his left arm against a brick wall,
389
shattered it, and was near death when he was rescued and taken to
Bellevue hospital!
Peggy Patrick said, “Maybe John didn't want to fight
anymore, didn't want to swim upstream anymore.
I am sure that
working for a bank was certainly not to his temperament.
I'm
sure that his life-style in 1960 didn't add anything to it.”
(It
was implausible to me that he even had the bank job – the only
explanation was being able to work at night and have daylight
hours free for painting.)
Luckily, John was wearing his contact lenses, for Dwight
told me that they saved his eyes.
He was transferred to Kings
County Hospital at some time, after which he was out of danger.
Thousands of miles from New York, I had been fighting off
either pneumonia or bronchitis, at any rate was very ill.
called me about John and I remember how helpless I felt.
Dwight
Wendy
and Kelly's birthdays were about that time, so perhaps the
preparations for those events were a welcome distraction from my
extreme anxiety.
My mother wrote me saying that, “We are
terribly concerned about John, and Dwight, too.
him.
It is hard on
It is terrible news but may not be a bad as you think. .
Dad wrote to Dwight and told him when John recovers enough we
would like to have him out here where he will have attention,
good climate, his own people, etc.
Long Pine, too.
Warren suggested his cabin in
Dad thinks John is starved for love.
390
He was
closer to Truby than Dwight, I think.
John would hold his hand tightly.
In his letter, Dwight said
We hope the next news will be
good.”
John was showered with cards and letters, but only Dwight's
and a few of Peggy Patrick's were saved.
Peggy sent cheery,
short notes on art museum postcards, and painting reproductions
by George Groz and Geroges Roualt.
One special one mentioned,
“Beautiful weather and guess what!
Kent (her son) is anxiously
awaiting ‘egg-dying night!’
Love to you both, Peggy.”
Dwight became, in Peggy's words, “sort of my family,” after
he retired.
with us.
“He spent Easters, went places with us, Thanksgiving
Easters were special because we were the only place
ever, where people sumi-inked and hand-painted their Easter eggs.
I have memories that will exist forever, as do Kathy, Kirk and
Kent.”
Dwight's letters to John, between his frequent trips to New
York are so touching and personal that even today they evoke sad
emotions and bring tears to my eyes!
His first, written on a
plane leaving New York, “Sun. April 3rd, 1960.
working out fine.
The timing is
I got checked in at the East Side Air Terminal
in time to have a good lunch, a hot turkey sandwich and
buttermilk.
The flight left La Guardia on time, at 2 P.M.
a tourist flight but very comfortable.
It is
John Carradine, the long-
faced movie actor is just two seats ahead of me; in fact he was
391
across the aisle from me on the airport bus, with 2 canes, a
steamer rug, a camera case, extra camelhair coat, and carrying
elegant panama hat (he is wearing a becoming black homburg hat).
He is dissipated looking, but interesting and has very long dark
hair; but he has a wonderful, wonderful deep voice (reminds me of
you the last few days!”
“Other passengers include mamas with squally babies, sailor
boys (gobs) traveling men, etc.
Across the aisle are two M.D.'s
with a new book on pathology illustrated profusely in color, so
it is almost like being back in the hospital again.
In fact, I
have been with you so much the past two weeks it is easy for me
to shut my eyes and think I am there, holding your hand.
I hope
you can imagine me there, too, anytime.”
“This plane stops at Chicago a while so I'll mail this
there.
If there is time I'll try to get Mary Louise (John's
cousin) on the phone, and add a line or two below.
love, your POP, DK.
P.S.
With much
I got Mary Louise on the phone.
are fine & have another new house ready to sell - Cheerio
Chin up!
They
& Keep
Due Wichita at 9:15 pm & will stay at the Allis Hotel.”
From the Hotel Allis, Wichita, Kansas, April 4, 1960, Dwight
writes, “Dear John: The plane got me in on time last night, and I
arrived at the hotel before 10 P.M.
I am up high (16th floor)
with a wide view of the city, and distant prairies.
clear breezy morning.
It is a
A message was waiting for me to call
392
Marguerite Lewis in Milford, Nebraska.
She is visiting the
Fahnestocks there and is going to Lincoln to see G. Moore and
other friends tomorrow.
So she wanted to know all about you, and
I told her you were improving.
Marguerite will go back to Texas
before Easter.”
“I am having a pot of coffee sent to the room to help me
come awake before going down to have a real breakfast and go to
the museum.
Someone sent me a big pot of white parrot tulips
with 5 stems in bloom.
It has a card that says ‘Happy to Have
You in Wichita’ - but that's all!
I'll write more later.
So I don't know who sent it.
Keep your courage up.
With much love
Your Pop DK.”
That same day he added, “At this moment I wish I were with
you and touching your hand.
But I have spent the day in
intensive work, scrutinizing nearly 100 paintings, drawings and
sculptures in the wonderful Murdock Collection.
As the museum
was closed to visitors today, I was able to concentrate and get a
lot done.
I feel that I have earned my fee, to come: $50 per
day, plus expenses.
I am going to photograph some paintings in
color tomorrow and Wed. to use for lectures and also for my
report to Elizabeth
(Navas).
As they’re such rare and well-
selected paintings, that will be a good addition to my slide
collection.
According to letters I received today, you should be
getting some notes, cards, and flowers to help keep up your
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courage and your gain in health.
zip - zip with you this week.
I hope the time will go zip -
And remember, I am with you every
moment, if you can always imagine it.
With much love, Your Pop,
DK.”
The following day he wrote, “Another day, and a good one!
It was bright and sunny here.
I have now gone over and written
brief notes about the condition of over 160 art works in the
Murdock Collection.
With more to do tomorrow.
I have color
photographs of over 30 pictures, in duplicate so Elizabeth Navas
can have one copy of each.”
“Last evening Gene Coombs, the lawyer for the Murdock Estate
took me to a good prime-ribs-of-beef dinner at the Wichita Club,
after showing me his new offices with pictures by Daumier and
others that Elizabeth helped him get and frame.”
“At dinner, I met an old friend from Lincoln, Nebr., Max
Miller, who is in business here (sells concrete products).
His
brother, Jiggs Miller, who used to be an announcer on KFAB radio,
Lincoln and Omaha, also lives here, and took me to lunch today.
He is one of my favorite people, and is rightly nicknamed ‘Jiggs’
as he looks just like the comic strip character.
With all my
love, Your Pop, DK.”
Peggy Patrick sent John a J. Villon reproduction with a
short message telling him she was getting Dwight's house ready
for his arrival.
“The weather is spring-like here and welcoming.
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The tulips are up but not in bloom yet though the crocus are
alive with their gay colors.
Take care!
Our best.
Always,
Peggy.”
From Dwight, “I got done at the museum about 3 p.m., so came
back to the hotel to rest, and sort slides to show this evening.
I am going to dinner with Elizabeth's friend, Gene Moore, the
interior decorator, and then we'll go to the Turners (her sister)
to show slides, with some other people invited in.
I took 60
color photographs. . some are details of parts of paintings, such
as the Coplys and Eakins oils.
I hope they turn out well.
I
also conferred with three younger ladies about plans for next
year.
They want me to come back about a year from now to have me
give a series of talks.”
“It is very warm here today, about 75.
I have my plane
ticket to DM for tomorrow morning and will get there at 1:17 P.M.
Enclosed is a clipping from the DM paper about the flood.
the waters have gone down by the time I get there.
I hope
With love,
your Pop, DK.”
Dwight's house was on a hill, so there was no danger of
flooding on his property, however, driving in Des Moines - having
to cross the river from downtown, and with Fleur Drive under
water and closed, getting to Casady Drive could be difficult.
His April 7th note states, “The plane got in almost on time, so I
got home by cab from the airport about 2 p.m.
395
It certainly looks
good!
Peggy Patrick had Velma Coleman here to clean yesterday
and she will come again next week.”
“It is cool and breezy but there are signs of spring.
Delicate white hepaticas (wild) pushing up through old leaves
near the front door and green leaves of narcissus and tulips
coming up all over.
I have picked some of them to bring back to
you Sat. and have my plane ticket in my pocket.
I have spent
some time going over the accumulated mail and, though most of it
is for throwing away, there are a few good letters and two checks
along with bills.”
“Peggy Patrick was here for an hour, and I gave her some
tea.
She has been a jewel, doing things for us.
I phoned Alice
Emery and Florence Shane, both very anxious for news of you.
I
am going to phone Marie Maas, hoping she has seen you-after 6
p.m.
Now I am going out to shop and mail this letter.”
“This morning, before checking out at the Wichita hotel, a
long distance phone call came from Jim Hunt. . he had had a
letter from Ken Haynes about you and was offering to help. I hope
you begin to realize how many loving friends are rooting for you
and praying for you.
I'll see you Saturday P.M.
With much love,
Your Pop - DK.”
“Memorial Union, I.S.U. Ames.
Friday, 4:30 PM April 8th.
Though I am due to reach N.Y. (La Guardia Field) in about 24
hours, I'll use this as a test case, to see if the U.S. mails get
396
it to you before I arrive.”
(His letters were sent “Air Mail
Special Delivery” an extravagance then.)
“I drove to Ames about noon, stopping for lunch at the hotel
downtown.
I spent nearly two hours looking over the photography
show and judging it.
Tonight at 8, after dinner with club
officers, I give an informal talk and critique about the
pictures.
It is a good show this year, with more color prints
than last year when I also judged it.
Weather is cooler today,
and windy but with more hints of spring, and very sunny.
Floodwaters have gone down around these parts, and Fleur drive
was reopened to traffic on Monday.”
“I talked to Marie Maas on the phone last night and she
thought you had gained a lot, and said you were eating solid
food.
For that reason and others I am very anxious to see you.
The plane is due in at 3:45 PM but I suppose it will be 6:30 or
7:00 before I can get to the hospital, as I want to check in at
the St. George Hotel first.
work out on time.
Let us hope my schedule continues to
With much love, Your Pop, DK.”
After about a week in New York with John, he wrote an
amazing letter, April 17, from Chicago.
“Having a handy table to
write on, I'll start this here and mail it on arrival in Des
Moines.
In case this smells a bit beery, it is because I am
having the one here that I missed getting in Brooklyn with lunch.
This is a place a half-block from the airport building-with very
397
dim lights so I can barely read the gags on the napkins, but some
of them look clever enough that I'm sending it on for you to use
to while away some time, and test your vision.
the plane dinner menu-very good!
lunch too.)
Also, enclosed is
(Of course I had chicken for
It was a good flight, right on time, mostly flying
above spectacular clouds, with sunset light on tops of
thunderheads.
I took some color photos that should be good.”
“It was a strange and wonderful coincidence having Al
Kalenberg and his friend come along just as I was negotiating the
turnstile at the St. George subway, so they helped me down with
my two bags.
He said he was coming to see you and would also
call at times during the next few weeks.”
“The last eight days have been one of the best times of my
life, since the wonderful days in June 1926 in Paris, when you
were conceived.
I hope these were good times for you too (both
of them) - or at least memorable.
I will doubtless hear you
calling for me sometimes in the night; and will reach out my hand
and hope you can feel my touch from afar.
Pop.
DK.
With much love, Your
Keep your courage up!”
None of the Kirsches, nor Kellys could bear maudlin
conversation or syrupy, sentimental writing.
Dwight's letters to
John are tender and caring, yet have bits of humor or other
touches of day-to-day activity that cut the sweetness.
Perhaps
that is a mid-western, or “puritan, pioneer-type” characteristic:
398
to be there for a loved one, but not to the point of stickysweetness so that survival instincts are destroyed.
Somehow, Dwight mustered enough courage to keep on with his
teaching schedule and offer John strength at the same time.
He
continued with a letter on April 19th, “I am getting ready to
drive to Ames to start on the job again.
day and a half at home.
in the budding stage.
It has been a precious
Spring is in the air though it is still
The Ames Faculty Women's Club came down by
chartered bus yesterday - about 35 of them, and were here from
2:30 to 4:00 P.M.
They seemed to have a fine time romping all
over the place, inside and out, after I gave a short informal
talk.
They brought coffee and cookies to serve, and also a
present for me - a de-luxe set of small garden tools, stainless
steel with teakwood handles, and in a Tennessee Mountain basket.
I have done a bit of scratching around outdoors, very satisfying;
and gathered branches & wild flowers for 4 arrangements.
Also I
used special healing-tree paint on some flowering crabs, where
the rabbits chewed off the bark at the end of our long winter.
Maybe I should save some to use on you!!!
Everyone asked
anxiously about your state of health so I can assure you that you
have plenty of Iowa mothers.
I have been re-working income-tax
figures until I am blue in the face, but it certainly paid to see
that C.P.A. in Brooklyn @ $10.00.
It looks now as if I'd have
over $500 credit to apply on 1960 tax.
399
I have the figures all
ready to copy in Ames and mail in one day late.
I should have
had you write me an excuse - but anyhow I'll make the most of an
attached note telling of your critical illness.”
“The outdoors is so wonderful now, I hope to spend a lot of
time enjoying it, and only wish I could be home longer but will
be back Sat. P.M. to Tues. A.M.
I wish I could bottle some of
this good spring air and smells and bird-noises up and send them
to you.
I am having spring salads with bits of fresh dandelion
leaves, tarragon, chives, sage & mint, with the lettuce.
I have
rounded up a batch of paperback books to send you from Ames, as
well as the other pair of glasses.
enjoy the leisure while you can.
POP.
Take Keer o' yer' self &
With much love, as always, Your
DK.”
The Ames job as artist-in-residence was a godsend to Dwight,
income-wise, and for distraction from concern about John.
It was
hard for him to drive back and forth, to leave his beautiful home
and garden; doubly hard without Truby to welcome him back after
each trip.
From Ames he wrote, “I have been busy, in a leisurely
sort of way, since I got here Tuesday P.M.
Yesterday it was
mostly deskwork, so I finished the income tax papers.
Then I
came to the ‘Art Shed’ to round up supplies and to practice
painting in watercolor for a program I gave last evening.
It was
a demonstration of watercolor and sumi, for an honorary
fraternity of Architecture & Landscape architecture students &
400
faculty members - about 30 of them were present.
We met for an
informal banquet at a good eating place west of town, called ‘The
Broiler’ and we had charcoal broiled steaks, baked potatoes &
other good things.
I gave my program there after the dinner.
is lovely spring weather here this week.
It
This afternoon I am
having the first studio workshop group meet at the Art Shed.
I
intend to start them doing landscapes and spring flowers (so I
can do some of them as demonstrations, too).
It is wonderful to
be on this well-landscaped campus in spring - and I am taking
walks a good bit of the time when I can.
I finally got some
paper-back books & your glasses packed & wrapped for mailing - in
3 separate packages, so they may reach you at different times.
I
am going back home right after noon Saturday & will be there
until Tues. A.M.
Wish you were here - and I hope you are
progressing each day, and singing too.
With much love.
Your POP
– DK.”
Two days later, April 23, Dwight was back home.
“The
afternoon has gone by, with leisurely puttering in the yard and
woods, going through the mail (see two letters enclosed) fixing
and eating lunch (mostly asparagus and salad) and napping.
Now I
am going out to the Super-market (the new Dahl's store on Fleur
Drive) and to mail this.
As it has been warm spring weather a
couple of days (up to 87 in Ames yesterday) the leaves and spring
401
flowers are popping out in a hurry, including many colors of
violets on the bank by the front door.”
“I got some things to plant in the Japanese garden, at Ames
nursery yesterday = 2 peonies (a tree peony that is budding
already - and is supposed to have salmon pink double blossoms;
and a ‘fern peony’ that has fringy leaves, and dark red flowers).
Also a dwarf cherry tree, supposed to stand our hard winters.”
“George Shane phoned this P.M. and said Florence has been
quite sick with a “nervous stomach” and had to go to the
hospital.”
“I intend to phone Marie or Margaret H. tonight to see if I
can get any news from them about you.
I do miss you and hope you
have been all better every day.
The time is going fast for me
and I hope it does for you too.
With lots of love.
Your POP –
DK.”
Dwight’s April 25th letter to John talked about yard work.
“Weather like Hawaii here, and I worked outdoors in shorts & Tshirt most of yesterday and this morning.
I got a few little
trees & perennials transplanted, some dry leaves and grass raked,
and the herb garden is cleaned up and three short rows of annuals
planted (seeds) earlier then usual, for me.
Now it is raining
and I am about to go out to do errands, including leaving the
laundry, and going to the Art Center to see Phyllis Letts.”
402
“Florence Shane phoned yesterday.
She is feeling better,
and wanted to ask about you and sends her very best.
There is a
chance that Felicia and Ray may stop over in New York on their
way back from Belgium about May 12th-14th.”
“Ken Hartman (Younkers' decorator) also phoned, and sent
their warm regards to you.
call to her Saturday night.
I hope Marie told you about my phone
I didn't give her much news about
me, as I was so busy asking about you.
It sounds as if you are
coming along well, and I'm interested that you have a roommate
now.
I hope you got the paperback books I mailed from Ames.
With much love.
Your POP, DK.
I have been getting about 10
hours of sleep each night at home & I hope you sleep a lot too.”
Back in Ames, Dwight held “Consultation Hours.”
“Two old
duffers actually came in to consult me; but mostly it was an
afternoon of straightening up the place and putting clean paper
on the table tops, so will be ready to start work to-morrow.
It
has been a nice, brisk breezy sunny day, everything looking fresh
after the rain.”
“I found a couple of photos to send you, while hunting for
some other things, for your tape-up gallery.
I also found a few
more choice paperback books that I'll try to get ready for
mailing tomorrow.”
“This week I expect to get some pictures mounted for the
exhibition in the Union Gallery May 5th thru the 8th.
403
This will
include the best stuff produced in the Art Shed under my
direction in the past year; and some of my own things done while
in residence on campus.
wishes.
Phyllis Letts also sends her best
She is going for part of her vacation to visit her rich
sister in Florida starting in about a week.
DK.
P.S.
With love, your POP.
A letter from Margaret Haynes telling all about her
visit to you last Friday is interesting and encouraging to me.”
Again from Ames, “I'll dash off a few lines before ambling
over to the Art Shed for this evening's workshop session.
It had
been a busy enough time rounding up work done in the Art Shed for
a big show we have to put up next week.
Also there are lots of
individual criticisms to give on work that amateurs are bringing
in.
Yesterday, 3 P.M. I showed slides of the Murdock Collection
to a small advanced group in an Aesthetics Course, taught by one
of my ‘fans,’ Jim Hartman.
I gave a running commentary on art
values vs monetary values of art on the market.
Also late
yesterday I had a small group for landscape sketching.
It was
too cold to sit outside much, so we took a nature walk with
frequent stops and did quick pencil sketches of trees to take
inside and do in watercolor from memory.”
“Three ladies here from Cherokee, Iowa (friends of Frank and
Glea) who were in my classes last May, are here attending a twoday intensive course in landscape planning.
There is always
something interesting of that kind going on here at Ames.
404
Another week is buzzing by for me - and I'll be driving home
Saturday noon for the weekend.
day!!
With love, Your POP.
I wish you well and better every
DK.”
Back again in Des Moines Dwight wrote, “..the afternoon has
passed rapidly, looking over mail that came; gathering some fresh
flowers for arrangements in the house; and herbs for a salad with
my late lunch.
It is cold but clear, after yesterday's rain, so
the indoors (and furnace heat) seems good.
In the mail a lovely
card (with bamboo ink drawing reproduced) from Florence Byerly,
who had evidently been in Cleveland.
I enclose it for your
‘gallery.’”
“Also, late P.M. a telegram delivered here says that Gifford
K. (my oldest brother and your uncle) just died this morning details to follow by letter.
I am sad and sorry, though in many
ways he has been the same as dead (or ‘un-dead’) to me since the
summer of 1937 when we saw him in Sheridan, Wyo.
(In the mental
hospital.)”
“Peggy Patrick is having me do a sumi-brush drawing for the
cover of the Des Moines Community Playhouse production of
‘Teahouse of the August Moon’ so I have to bat out a sketch
tomorrow, as well as matting a few pictures for the show at
Ames.”
“I am going back Monday about 11 A.M. in order to get the
show hung at Ames.
People there have been helping with mounting
405
and matting, like beavers, and the stuff done looks pretty good.”
(He did not use a fancy mat-cutter, just a mat knife, and
sometimes a single-edge razor blade.)
Gifford's daughter, Mary,
wrote me later, that when her father died, they didn't hear a
word from Dwight.
I am not surprised, for he was too caught up
in John's illness to be able to cope with more misfortune.
This
follows his continuing pattern of “ignoring a problem and it will
go away.”
In his May 2nd letter from Ames he wrote, “I got to the
campus before noon today.
After lunch we worked on getting
pictures arranged and hung in the Union Gallery.
willing helpers most of the time.
Had 8 or 10
So we got everything up on the
walls and it looks fresh and sparkly.
One section has some of
the best things I have done on the campus.”
“But most of it is by students, faculty members, faculty
wives and townspeople who have been working with me at the Art
Shed the past year.
I think there has been some real progress,
and there is great variety in the work.
Last evening I phoned
Marie Maas again and she reports you have made further progress.
This afternoon a wire from your hospital came, about doing more
work (surgery) on your left arm.
I do hope everything comes out
well, and only wish I could be there to hold your hand.
However
it won't be so very long now until I will be on the way.
I hope
406
to get plane reservations to come in on the night of Tues. May
10th.
With much love, your POP. DK.”
Peggy Patrick said the top portions of John's arm were
completely disconnected and broken.
His elbow was also damaged.
Two days later from Ames, he wrote to John, “The crab-apple
blossoms are coming out on Casady Drive. . I got 8 more kinds of
seeds planted in short rows, herbs, salad greens, and flowers.
So if it rains, as they say in the paper, maybe the stuff will
come up and be nice this summer.
I drove back to the campus this
P.M. and had some people to see at the Art Shed.
I have some
interesting items to enclose - letters & photo from JoAnn & Kelly
Alexander (sent first to Brooklyn and forwarded to Des Moines)
(Kelly was 10 years old, then) and the new D.M.A.C. bulletin.
sure to read ‘the fine print’ I have marked.
Be
I have your check
for the 2 pictures ($225.00) and will bring it along for you to
see, and endorse, and will start a new nest egg for you.
a plane reservation for next Tuesday, May 10.
plane times. . so it won't be long now.
I have
They have changed
I felt as if I made
contact with you last night in some good dreams.
With much love.
Your POP, DK.”
The following day, Dwight wrote another letter to John,
“This is ‘Boy's Day’ in Japan, and I have a fish-kite flying for
you in the Art Shed here as someone reminded me, who saw it this
afternoon.
I'm still busy putting up student work and mine, for
407
people to see when they visit all over the campus the next few
days.
This annual celebration is called ‘VEISHEA’ and there will
be a big parade of floats Saturday A.M.
It rained in hard
downpours today so everyone is getting anxious about the weather
for the parade.”
“Some waggish students put a package of soap flakes into the
fountain just in front of the Union Bldg., a great improvement,
the 4 crouching Indian Maidens by Chris Petersen are very dull.
Now they look as if they are blowing bubbles.”
“This may remind you of Aunt Ethel - with all the clippings,
but there isn't much news otherwise - except that I am counting
the days until I get to see you; and hope you are working hard at
getting well.
With much love, your POP.
DK.
Now to put the
feedbag on at the cafeteria & then to the Art Shed for an evening
session.
I got a good check today for my work here up thru last
Saturday.”
And, on May 7, Saturday 1960, he wrote, “Your clipping
bureau reporting again – with enclosures.
After a Thurs. night
of cloudburst and hail storm, and cold, windy rain all day
yesterday, it has become cloudy, brisk with enough sun to make
the parade this A.M. an exciting bit of impressionism.
I
photographed some of it, and the campus, before the parade
started, so maybe can show you some color slides.
But I found
the best and most comfortable point for viewing was in my 4th
408
floor room on the side facing ‘Union Ave’ where the parade came
by.
It is a spectacle of fresh joyous youth I wish you could
see, with dozens of high school bands, each with baton-twirlers
and fancy leg-work, plus the floats on the general theme of
‘fairy tales & fiction’ with many Disneyish subjects such as the
tortoise & and hare, the big bad wolf & the 3 little pigs, but
also Robinson Crusoe, Jonah & the whale, etc.”
“Now I have an afternoon program to give at the exhibit of
work done under my direction.
nights.
Then home again for Sunday & 2
I have to drive back Mon. late A.M. to take down
exhibits and pick up some of my stuff to take home.
Then by
plane to N.Y. Tues. P.M. so it won't be many days now until I see
you.”
The following letter was Dwight's last to John before flying
to New York to bring him back to Des Moines to recuperate at
Methodist Hospital.
“May 9, 1960.
Yesterday P.M. I got back
home about 6:00. So there was still good light and time to browse
the outdoors. . & continued today with some clean-up work,
scratching out dead grass & leaves and pulling weeds.
There was
apparently little or no hail damage here last Thursday night as
no damage to leaves or flowers is apparent.”
“2 fat bunnies were cavorting this morning & started
approaching the herb garden, so I went out & tried to scare them
away (like the old farmer who chased Peter Rabbit), but they
409
didn't scare much, so I stopped and talked to them friendly
like.”
“The wild crab apple buds and blooms are pink and ‘purty’
now, and in fact the whole thing in nature today is sheer joy.
This P.M. Jean Trabold came out to see me briefly.
You will
remember her as the tall dark girl with very deep voice (bass,
almost) who was an art major at Nebraska the last year or two we
were there.
She is from Omaha, and worked there some after
graduation, then taught 2 years at Kenosha, Wisc., where Kady
(Faulkner) is - and now teaches art in the Art Museum School at
Ft. Wayne, Ind.
She is in Des Moines for a personal interview,
applying for a job in Drake University's Art Dept.
She knows
Betty, of course and so is eager to come here and I hope it works
out.”
“Margaret Haynes phoned this P.M.
Though she has not been
to see you last week (because Ken has been laid up from a fall)
she had talked to Marie and reported on you - which did me good.”
“This is Mothers Day, regardless of commercial build-up, it
is one of our better institutions.
I have thought a lot of Truby
and of you today, and feel strongly that she is watching over you
today and until I can get there to be with you again.
As it will
only be two days from now that I'll be getting in, this will
probably be the last letter I'll send you this time.
410
I'll bring
along some little things, including some fresh blossoms and maybe
some herbs.
Until then, with much love, Your POP.
DK.”
Peggy Patrick was contacted by Dwight when John was close to
being released from the Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, and
she arranged for an ambulance to pick him up from the plane and
transport him to Methodist Hospital.
He was never to return to
New York!
John sent me a precious small, line drawing he did on a
scrap of paper for my birthday, signed “J.K. May 15 1960.”
A
note at the bottom written by Dwight states, “A sprig of myrtle
in bloom that I brought from home.”
welcome presents I ever received.
I think that was one of most
About a week later, he had
Dwight sent me, “Another drawing from the Kirsch Kings County
Studio, Brooklyn.”
Inside the folded paper, he had drawn a
rough, wobbly-line caricature of Dwight smoking a pipe and
holding a brush, titled: “DK By J. Kirsch.
May 22nd 1960.
With
love from John.”
John started a note on the back with “Dear JoAnn:” and was
completed by Dwight.
“We are heading home by jet plane from here
to Chicago Thursday AM May 26th.
Hospital, Des Moines.
letter.
John will be in Iowa Methodist
C/0 Dr. John Kelley.
Thanks for your last
DK.”
My parents drove to Des Moines that July.
My mother wrote
me from there: “John looks good, weighs about 120 lbs. and is on
411
a high protein diet.
His arm is out of the cast but in a sling
as it needs therapy for circulation.
It is swollen some & stiff.
It was terrible when they removed the cast, & it has been off
only two weeks.
He was delighted to see us!
Florence Byerly of
Better Homes & Garden dropped in as we were cooking dinner (we
brought trout & Dwight said they had just mentioned they wished
we would).
She is a world traveler, home decorator for B-H., and
a noted photographer.
Anyway she stayed for dinner & invited us
on a tour of B.H. printing plant and for lunch at the home
office.
We watched the Aug. issue being printed & you will find
her by-line in color.
plant.
The Meridith Publishing Co. has quite a
Of course Dad was in his glory.”
“I wish you could see Dwight's Japanese garden!
accomplished gardener in her own right.)
(She was an
He was glad to get the
rocks but you can't imagine the beautiful rocks he has from
Vermont to Calif.
I met a famous B.H. flower arranger and judge,
who came over to speak to Dwight.
place.
He is giving us a tour of his
It has some poison ivy in the wooded area.
He has many
Japanese dishes, vases, pots & I find quite a few books &
magazines on Japan, gardening and even the language.
Huge surprise!
Love, Mom.”
John wrote me, “Dear JoAnn: Auntie Bernice
just got through twisting my arm (the good one) and talked me
into writing you my once a year letter.
is more like it.)
(Once every two or three
We were sure glad that your folks could make
412
it over here.
I guess Aunt Bernice told you about our busy day
running ten miles through the Better Homes & Garden plant.
You
would have got a big kick out of the two-story press and room
arrangements for photographing.
Tonight we are having a color
picture show of all the old sand hills pictures and the ones of
you and Warren and me and Grandma's garden.
Don't you wish you could be here?
‘hoom bean.’
beer again.
I almost feel like a
It is so wonderful to get out in the air and drink
(Papa used to smuggle me wine in the hospital but we
were afraid the Methodists at Iowa Methodist Hospital wouldn't
approve).”
“Dr. John Kelley turned out to be very likeable and is a
good surgeon by reputation - the day after he performed bone
surgery on me he came in and said he was glad to see I was still
around, since I had stopped breathing under the anesthetic and
turned a beautiful shade of purple.
handy with the oxygen tank.
I'm sort of glad that he was
I felt fine the next day though, and
wouldn't have known the difference if he hadn't mentioned it.”
“They took the cast off last week - and I guess I won't need
any more surgery, hallelujah.
I was lucky that the bad arm
didn't come out shorter then the other one, although the humerus
(if you remember your anatomy) has sort of a beautiful S curve in
it and sort of a lump above the elbow.
a physical therapist.
I have the nicest gal for
She turns on this radiant smile and says
413
‘this doesn't really hurt now, does it?’ while she practically
dislocates my shoulder.
I guess it will take about six months of
hot water whirlpool baths and therapy before it will be in
working condition again.
operation.’
Well, enough on the subject of ‘my
I sure appreciated all your nice letters while I was
in the hospital.
Tell Kelly I got a kick out of his note, too.
We wondered if we could talk you into coming back to Atkinson the
end of August to see the sandhills and soak up some rest.
I sure
would like to see you this summer.”
“My best to Fred and the kids.
sometime soon.
I hope we get to see you
Love, John.”
Dwight drove John to Atkinson in late summer to see the
sandhills.
He had an extra good look at them that trip because
his car log reads he was stuck twice on Charley Peterson's ranch
south of town.
I am sure my mother was in heaven cooking all
sorts of wonderful food for them.
She loved baking rolls,
cinnamon and parker house, apple pies, cookies, etc., and that
time of year the garden tomatoes, sweet corn and other fresh
vegetables and fruits were in their prime.
The trout my dad and
Warren caught out of the cold sandhills ponds had an
unsurpassable flavor, and were also a treat for the two guests.
From Atkinson, they drove out to Colorado to Jo Waddell's
cabin, to Cheyenne to see us, and then back to Iowa in time for
Dwight to hang an architecture show in Ames, September 15th.
414
He
wrote me, “I trust you assumed we got home O.K., though you did
not hear from us.
We stayed overnight Fri. at North Platte. .
got home about Sundown, 6:30 P.M. Sat.
It was cool driving both
days, but John was on the sunny side of the car Sat. and got a
little warm.
The mileage was about 650 mi. from Cheyenne, less
than I figured at first.
We came a good way, avoiding big city
traffic, via Grand Island, & south Omaha Bridge, on highway 92
after leaving U.S.30.
(No interstate highways, yet.)
The last
day of the trip was tiring to John and he has slept and slept
since.
However he has roused enough to get himself some meals
and help in the kitchen.”
“The little trees & plants (from Colorado) seem to have come
through fine and it is cool here, now too = in fact, drizzling,
today.
I've been busy getting the exhibit ready for Ames and
will spend tomorrow there arranging & hanging it.
I did take
time to repack the car, do some weeding & trimming, and to do a
little more with my dye-stains - including some choke-cherries
here, enough for some juice, or wine (cough syrup?) or jelly.
I
am discovering again how much work there is in keeping up a
house, and shopping for it.
I've had a man here today washing
windows - guess that brought on the rain.
I do thank you for
your hospitality and good cookin' - and hope you made out O.K.
with your family houseguests who followed us.
best to all the family as ever, Dwight.”
415
With love and our
In trying to correct a depleted bank account due to the
extra expenses of medical bills, plane trips to and from New
York, and dealing with the cost of day-to-day living, Dwight was
forced to seek more money. In addition to the Ames job he did
workshops in the towns of Marshalltown, Maxwell, Ankeny, Boone,
Waterloo, Griswold, Grinnell, etc., thus John was left to his own
devices.
The neighbors were good company for him, and as he gradually
grew stronger, he began to draw once more.
He strengthened his
injured arm by hanging in their stairwell on the round, steel
stair railing, and he busied himself with household chores.
He
was a very good cook, and did a bit of gardening, loved to read,
play the piano, classical guitar (from his stay in Mexico), and
sing.
With Dwight away with their only car, John was confined to
the neighborhood, unless he was invited by a friend to accompany
them.
He led a lonely life, especially during those first months
back.
416
Chapter 23
“Recovery, Estrangement, Reconciliation, Mural”
My family agreed that we should invite John to stay with us
for a few weeks when he became stronger.
We had only a three-
bedroom house in Cheyenne, and with no guest room, I fixed a
comfortable, private section of our basement for him.
He needed to feel useful again, and so I became his art
“agent.”
I spent many hours calling friends with children and
lined up appointments for small portraits to be done in French
pastels.
I was careful not to book him too heavily because the
work could be tiring, and we needed time for fun and leisure.
The boys were in school and Wendy was about two years old.
John
liked most of his subjects and when I picked him up from the
various homes, he was full of gossip he had gleaned.
He knew
immediately which child was spoiled, but he managed to cope with
them, as well as with difficult mothers.
He charged about $50
for each portrait; was proud to earn over $600 during his stay.
I was thrilled for him, it was a badly needed boost to his
confidence and morale, and was relieved that most of my
friend/clients were delighted with their original drawings.
417
My friend, Helen Wolin, had him do her portrait in oils and
I often wonder what happened to it because she was slightly
displeased with the work. (She died about three years afterwards,
and I have always hoped her family appreciated having that lovely
remembrance, for she was an unusual, lively, wonderful woman, and
devoted mother.)
John taught me how to make pizza from scratch.
Huts then!)
(No Pizza
Between the pizza making, and cooking his favorite
stuffed cabbage rolls, my kitchen was a disaster area.
He
dripped wet spoons, sopping wet dishcloths; and there were dirty
pots and pans, spilled flour, etc. No matter - he was great fun
and I was glad to learn new recipes, since that was my “hate to
cook” period.
And he helped with dishes!
dishwasher then.)
Book” in paperback.
(No automatic
Later he sent me Peg Bracken's “I Hate to Cook
It became our on-going joke.
We shopped, took the kids for rides and had long discussions
about religion, philosophy, art, etc., carefully avoiding painful
subjects that could cause stress.
John's only comments in
reference to the fire and attempted suicide were his terrible
nightmares, which were so awful he hated to go to sleep at night
and would read until very late, then nap during the day.
The entire experience of being around a family and enjoying
the western environment did wonders.
about Wyoming people.
There is a direct honesty
Their word is good!
418
And that glorious
open plateau where Cheyenne is situated, with the big sky, (over
6000 feet altitude) is a tonic for the soul!
One feels free and
exhilarated, on top of the world!
We had only one bathroom and though it was not occupied when
he could use it, John would not take a tub bath.
We gently
hinted, and he washed, but he gradually became quite “gamey.”
He
wore a white handkerchief or sometimes a white rag around his bad
arm just above his elbow, perhaps to hide the bump, or a sore. We
never knew his secret and did not ask about it.
I kept his
clothes clean and left it at that.
One day as little Wendy sat in her high chair, we introduced
her to a paint brush and a cup of water.
For two hours, she was
so enchanted that John quickly captured the moment with a
charming portrait, on light salmon-pink pastel paper, of her in
the act of painting.
A perfect background for her auburn hair,
dark brows and lashes, and creamy skin.
Once we took her to town with us and became so engrossed in
our conversation that suddenly she was gone!
After looking all
around, there she was, blithely walking down the street in the
right-hand traffic lane.
I was horrified and still feel a prick
of guilt!
John was fine with our children.
However, he was a bit
awkward, not knowing exactly how to play with them.
419
We did a lot
of singing even without a piano, and there were always card games
- rummy, hearts, etc.
After several weeks we sensed it was time for John to leave
us.
My parents advised it and drove to Cheyenne to collect him.
It was heart wrenching.
However, he was in high spirits.
Perhaps he realized that if he had stayed longer there could have
been jealousies for my affection between our boys and the two
adult men.
While in Nebraska with my parents and brother, John helped
out by reading proof for my dad in the office of the Atkinson
Graphic.
He was very skilled and enjoyed doing it, and it made
him feel useful.
He “did” the local social scene with my
unmarried brother who still lived at home, and became well
acquainted with his friends.
Warren's cabin near Long Pine was a
great haunt - beautiful pine trees, a stream for fishing (except
John didn't fish), a dance pavilion where one could buy beer, the
cabin for napping, playing poker, and yard for grilling steaks
and trout.
John would have been content to stay indefinitely, and so
would have Dwight, however, the workload gradually became too
much for my mother, who was not exactly an Amazon-type.
know she had a heart problem at that time.)
(We now
The “women's work is
in the home” still applied, though John helped where he could
with cooking, by making his bed, etc.
420
My mother did the laundry,
ironing (no wrinkle-free then), grocery-shopping, yard work,
cleaning, and she helped in the office writing news items,
answered the phone, etc.
After about two months, she began to complain to me that
Dwight did not want the responsibility of John, and that “he
should face up to his duty!”
She had not read those touching
letters he wrote to John, and did not perceive the love Dwight
felt.
She only knew she was exhausted!
Finally, my dad was forced to ask Dwight to come for John.
He was miffed.
commitments.”
“No time to care for him with work-shop
However, my dad persisted.
That request was
against his nature and it was painful for him, but when he used a
certain tone of voice, one knew he meant business.
his duty” and drove to Atkinson for him.
Dwight “did
My mother reported that
Dwight left in a huff, but he soon got over his snit and was
appreciative for their help.
Back in Des Moines, John seemed better equipped to cope with
life.
Certainly, the doctors gave him proper medical attention
and obviously needed to concentrate on the immediate issue, but I
wonder if they questioned his mental condition and the actual
cause of the fire episode?
Today, a mental evaluation with
follow-up psychiatric therapy coupled with medication would be
the norm after a strong suspicion of suicide, and should have
been then.
421
He soon began to organize home art classes for adult
students and at the same time, Dwight carried on with his Art
Shed classes.
There was a gradual increase in the indulgence of
alcohol - especially beer. However, Dwight also loved early
morning coffee laced with brandy.
The art classes were fun for John, but he needed help with
organizing, as his neighbor, Patricia Dinnen noted and wrote, “I
shall never forget the day John was holding a class at the house.
So many more people came than he expected that he couldn't handle
them all, so he asked me to help someone who was a first time
painter. . never had even held a brush before.
I did what he
asked and after about an hour I was aware that Dwight had been
watching me.
I almost fainted, and thought ‘What am I doing
teaching in such company?’”
Early on, Pat had asked Dwight to do portraits of her boys
and after looking at one she had done of her son, Steve, she
wrote, “Dwight said, ‘You don't need me.
This is a very
sensitive drawing.’ Such a compliment made me feel accepted and
appreciated, both as an artist and a woman.”
“John and Dwight came to our house frequently for Christmas
dinner.
John was quite a good cook.
One year he brought over
creamed onions au gratin and a carrot concoction with honey and
brown sugar.
He used to eat tuna fish out of the can.
Dwight
was always making up batches of natural stains from milkweed
422
pods, flowers and berries in his yard, and John often mistook the
stain batches cooking on the stove for a batch of soup.
One year
he made raspberry liqueur with the berries we bought from the old
Italian lady who walked door to door with her wares,
shortchanging everyone on the street.
vodka and the fermented berries.
We loved it.
He used
We all pitched in on the
expenses.”
“Another time John called and told me to come over
immediately, ‘Dwight's elderberry wine is ready for the tasting.’
I went ahead of Jim (her husband, then).
glass full of the stuff.
faint.
I took one sip and thought I would
It was the worst tasting stuff imaginable.
Dwight were delighted in their's.
glass.
John gave me a smoky
Jim came in.
He let out a terrible yell.
John had mixed up the bottles!
John and
John gave him a
Dwight had made vinegar and
He said that I was either too
polite or the stupidest woman he had ever met.”
As John would say, “life went on.”
letters.
I kept in touch with
Being a Depression child, I had learned not to count on
very much, and also to take with a grain of salt, promises made.
When he left Cheyenne, John had said he wanted to give me a trip
to Des Moines, so I was shocked and speechless when the train
ticket actually arrived in the mail.
The week in Des Moines
might as well have been a week in Paris, John had arranged seven
days of parties at night spiced with a couple of daytime tours of
423
Ken Hartman's interior design jobs.
Of course, I took little
Wendy, who was happy to be entertained by “Uncle Dwight.”
We viewed the Des Moines Art Center, met wonderful friends
and associates, art marvelous food, and drove out to our former
classmate's old Iowa farm.
The place must have been owned by
morticians, for we walked on stepping stones of old misspelled
graveyard markers to their creek.
Old trees, green lawns, green
fields seemed the norm as opposed to our high plains yuccas,
scrub oak and sparse turf in Wyoming.
We had coffee with neighbors, Pat Dinnen and Corine Cumins.
Corine swore I had an Irish accent, which amused me, and Pat was
sort of glamorous to me, and fun.
I did not notice how very
“high” John was, I was only thrilled with the attention and
excitement, having never experienced such a glorious time.
John seemed to have a “thing” for Pat, though I wasn't sure
what he had in mind.
She was a pretty, little, dark-haired young
mother and I decided she had enough spunk to take care of
herself.
She later told me they first met when John was still
working at the Museum of Modern Art, and in introducing himself,
he told her he was psychotic and would she like to go with him to
the Blue Goose Bar?
(A haunt of the local gay community.)
He
trusted her, and even brought over a gay friend to meet her.
never confided that compartment of his life to me, knowing how
424
He
naive I was, he knew I would be unable to comprehend his
proclivities.
As he did with me, John loved watching Pat work in her
kitchen, would help out while raving about the “joys and beauties
of Mom working in the kitchen.”
He had watched Truby, too, as
she prepared her especially healthful meals, how-ever her baking
skills did not measure up to my mother's.
Her pies made from the
Dutchess apples growing in Grandma Kelly's yard, with a crust
made of leaf lard, were the best in the world.
When we were little, my mother gave us soft lumps of dough,
from her large batch, and we made little rolls of our own.
They
turned a ugly gray color from our small hands and they were hard
when baked, but we loved them.
Her strips of cinnamon/sugar
piecrust baked until golden and flaky were special, and John
gobbled them with us.
(He had perfect teeth only two cavities in
his life and seldom ate sweets.)
As an adult, he must have known
that he would never enjoy the happiness of what we called a
“normal married life,” perhaps he satisfied that yearning by
observing surrogate “wives” - aunts, cousins, friends.
That following summer, our beautiful “baby” cousin, Brenda
Kelly, who was then in her twenties, joined John in Des Moines.
Our good mutual friend, Gene Livingston from Atkinson had
recently lost his wife and John decided he would introduce him to
Brenda, “to raise his spirits.”
He was also enchanted with her,
425
no doubt thinking that since she was a relative, being with her
was a “safe and fair refuge.”
John, Gene and Brenda drove out to visit us in Cheyenne and
take in Frontier Days.
rented motel rooms.
Our house was “home base.”
However, they
We found a sitter for our children during
nighttime events, but included them during the exciting rodeo,
parades, picnics and a few short trips in the countryside.
The
bars downtown were layered with cowboys (real and fake); Oglala
Sioux Indians including Princess Blue Feather, came down from the
Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, set up their teepees out on
the rodeo grounds, and danced in the downtown street at night;
the Ft. Carson Cavalry equestrian and donkey units rode in from
Colorado Springs; and there were free street breakfasts every
morning - along with scattered beer cans and half-empty liquor
glasses littering the area.
An environmental hangover!
Needless to say, the entire “scene” was electric with
frenzied excess!
Rounding up our group became complicated, by
John's childhood habit of lingering in the bathroom and making
everyone wait.
After just so long a time, I would get impatient
with him and begin to ask him to “hurry.”
It was easy to assert
myself after lots of practice sending the children off to school,
and I sounded increasingly like a fishwife.
Truby.)
426
(Shades of Aunt
John's “control act” did not improve, though we all kept
pressuring him.
In spite of that minor detail, we all had a
glorious time, none of us noticing how our badgering affected
him, and how unstrung he was becoming.
We were too blind and
wrapped up in our own good times to be sensitive to his, now
obvious, manic-depressive behavior.
To us, it was only “Frontier
Days” wildness.
None of us wanted our fun to end, so Gene, Brenda and John
invited me and the children to accompany them to Atkinson and
extend the party.
My parents had no idea we were coming.
distance phone calls were not widespread then.
Long-
It was
thoughtless and inconsiderate of me to assume we would be welcome
with open arms.
Perhaps I can blame my youth, but the truth is
my mother had just completed a difficult project.
True to her
concentrated and exhausting bursts of a few days of energy, she
had overextended herself and was in bed recovering.
Brenda
stayed with her grandparents, the MacDowells, and John on Gene's
ranch about nine miles south of town.
I felt very guilty when my dad explained the situation to
me, and did everything I could to ease the cooking and general
workload.
My mother gradually rallied and recovered and I busied
myself taking the children swimming, etc.
Brenda, in the meantime, having grown up in cities, loved
Atkinson's ranch country, remembering her mail route trips with
427
her grandfather as a youngster.
She adored horses, sunbathing,
and was becoming attracted to Gene's ranch, and Gene.
She and
John managed to spend more and more time out there alone,
unchaperoned, than was considered “proper” in that Bible-belt
town of Atkinson.
John was enchanted with her and hovered around like a puppy,
so much so that my parents became concerned about her reputation.
Complicating the situation was the custom of waiting a year
before forming a new relationship after a spouse died.
Gene was
expected to follow the “rules,” and Brenda was expected to
comply.
The tension grew!
car.
My dad and Brenda had long talks in the
He thought she had not received the right sort of guidance
while she was growing up, and felt responsible for her wellbeing.
My parents began to blame John for the “romps in the sandhills.”
Nothing unseemly really happened, but my mother became more
furious by the minute.
Dad had a newspaper to print and was not
able to quell her determination to “straighten out” the
situation.
I suppose I was a helpless pawn.
It all happened one lovely, warm afternoon.
Mother stated,
“I'm going to put a stop to all this, get in the car, we're going
out to Gene's ranch!”
Like a little girl, I did as I was told,
but had terrible misgivings.
I could not stand up to her or
428
cross her then.
nothing.
Sometimes it’s easier to just go along and say
On reflection, this is often a serious mistake!
She drove up to the ranch yard where Brenda was sunbathing.
We got out of the car.
Mother had her hands on her hips in her
usual confrontational pose when she was on a “tear,” and she
began to talk to John in her demanding, aggressive voice.
“You're spending too much time out here without being chaperoned!
It doesn't look right!
People will talk!”
(Her sharp tone
caused such a muscle contraction in my stomach that it was many
years later before I realized its cause.)
When John heard her, it triggered the slow fuse already
burning within him from our needling. His normal, gentle, manner
was quickly transformed; his blood pressure rose; his face began
to turn red, and he suddenly exploded in such a rage of
expletives toward her that we were all paralyzed.
She was “a
high-handed, Puritan, hypocrite, totalitarian.”
Characterizations of people he hated!
The outburst was a deadly shot. It might as well have been a
bullet!
My mother went into extreme shock and was unable to
function - to drive, cook, talk, and felt violated, humiliated
and very frightened.
She had never been talked to that way.
She
had no idea how serious John's manic-depression was, even though
it was not that long after his suicide attempt.
429
We also did not
know she (also) suffered from a mental difficulty which would
manifest itself later when my dad died.
The entire episode was over in a flash.
within minutes.
We left for town
Later, after eating out in a restaurant (a rare
occurrence for us), we returned to the house and discovered that
John had been there, had taken my portrait, and had torn the one
he did of my brother.
It was always a mystery to us why he chose
to attack it since Warren had been working and had nothing to do
with the episode.
We were terrified he would come back that sleepless night
and set fire to the house, or harm us.
(I suppose, on looking
back after so many years, the ‘I should haves’ still haunt me.)
Dad called my doctor-cousin in Omaha, who said it sounded like
schizophrenia.
We later learned John had driven to Omaha in the
old lemon of a car (a Mercury Monterey) he had recently bought
from my new sister-in-law, Mary (Brooks) Kelly.
The car broke
down on the way and to further complicate his dilemma, his
glasses were broken and he could hardly see.
He left my portrait
with his artist-friend, Leonard Theissen (I never saw it again,
though asked him about it not long before he died), and we think
he spent the night at Cedric Hartman's place.
able to get back to Des Moines!
430
Somehow he was
Gene and Brenda were married that next spring, after Gene's
numerous courting trips to Chicago.
They have a wonderful family
of three boys (Dana, Shawn and Thad), all now adults.
Fred found a better job in Omaha and we left Cheyenne.
I
found work as an interior designer in the commercial department
of Orchard and Wilhelm, but had a constant fear of running into
John since I had heard he was in and out of Omaha.
After about two years of silence and hurt, I realized I
could not bear the stress of John's and our estrangement.
I knew
he must have felt the same, and I wrote him a long, loving letter
saying there was too rare and wonderful a connection between us
that should not be broken.
It worked, and we were again in
contact with each other.
During that time frame (1962), the Iowa State Daily carried
an Art Shed story, which included a full page of photographs of
the students - some working with Dwight.
“Portrait painting will
begin next week at the Art Shed under the direction of Dwight
Kirsch, artist in residence. . At these informal sessions, Kirsch
demonstrates different techniques and media and criticizes
individual projects done at the shed.”
One of his students who
had been with him for three years was Mary Miller from Boone,
Iowa.
She was an especially talented professional artist and
Dwight gave her a one-woman show in the Gallery, Memorial Union
in Ames, October.
431
John made trips to Omaha when Dwight conducted art workshops
out of town, and when his Art Shed classes had a break.
drove over to Des Moines.
I often
Later, I learned from Pat Dinnen that
during our “silent” period, Pat, Dwight, and John had thrown a
“portrait show” at her home for the art elite in town.
“Dwight
was also very instrumental in introducing me to the ‘powers’ in
the Des Moines art circle.
He proposed me for Artist's Equity
membership back in the days when it meant something to be invited
into it.
We had a lot of parties with people like George and
Florence Shane, and Karl and Mary Mattern (who taught at Drake
University).
Mary was the perennial belle of the Ball.
couldn't stand that stuff.
Dwight
I always thought John had a greater
sensitivity as an artist than his father.
This may not be fair
to Dwight, but I believe that others shared that opinion even if
not much was ever said about it.
John's work had a mystical
quality that went beyond the actual representation of the objects
or persons he painted.
The creative process is still such a
mystery to me that it boggles my mind.
But John and Dwight and I
were all so used to it that I guess we took it for granted that
everyone worked in the same milieu.”
Pat continued, “Dwight was often very philosophical about
the way people behaved.
put up with a lot.
being bossy.
He had a great deal of patience. . and
I do not recall him putting anyone down or
He wore his Japanese Fireman's coat around the
432
house (with great ease and grace) as he puttered with his plants,
and his sand-raked herb garden, and he talked to the cats.
didn't care for something, he simply ignored it.
John, of
course, did not have Dwight's calm acceptance of life.
be driven to paint sometimes in a frenzied way.
If he
He would
Much as though
the muses were on him and he could not help it.”
John did a gorgeous portrait of Pat, wearing a yellow dress,
a very large, full-length work on canvas.
“It was a muggy,
humid, cloudy 100 degrees in the shade day when John worked on
it. I stood in the studio in my bare feet grumbling like a little
kid because he made me stand so long.
His phone kept ringing and
every time he went to answer it, I would paint on the thing.
When it was finally finished I told him what I had done.
threw a screaming fit.
“Find it,” I said.
“You can't do that!
He couldn't.
remember the area I worked on.
He
It is UNETHICAL!”
I can't either, now, although I
The hands in the portrait are
John's, not mine, as mine are “bonier.”
When he worked on my
portrait he and Dwight had several heated discussions about it.
John was into his child-woman phase so he portrayed me that way.
Little girl figure, which Dwight felt was too naive.
So did I.”
“I used to help him grade his students at Grandview College
and sometimes go on field trips with them.
I also coached him in
his lines when he played one of the Fathers in ‘THE FANTASTIKS’
at the Drama Workshop down at the Unitarian Church.
433
John was
very good in his part as he had a good voice.
At night in the
summer when all of the windows would be open, he would sing
German Leider and he could be heard throughout the neighborhood.”
(After he became an adult, his singing often yielded a tragic
tone that brought tears to my eyes.)
Teaching at Grandview College was not satisfying to John.
In fact, he hated the job.
He had uninspired students who, no
doubt, needed his classes as a requirement for graduation, or who
wanted an easy course.
depression.
Their attitudes compounded his
His notes show a class listed as: “Art 21,
Elementary Education.
The bibliography for the course includes
‘Art Through the Ages, Helen Gardner’ (the very text Miss Moore
used in our Art History classes at the University of Nebraska);
‘Art Education in the Public Schools,’ Ralph Walker; ‘Creative
Teaching,’ Victor D'Amico, etc.,” and notes outlining age levels
in which one could introduce appropriate media and sources of
inspiration for young pupils.
For instance, “pre-school and
kindergarten age children are in a natural, abstract period
during which the child plays with color and design instinctively
and needs little guidance.”
John's depressed state of mind shows in his “Man and the
Arts” course notes.
“I think most of us fail to realize, unless
we've made a study of prehistoric and primitive man, that part of
Man's equipment, among Man's most basic instincts, outside of
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self-preservation and Reproduction, is the impulse toward Art;
ritual Drama, the dance-music.
Unfortunately, the opportunities
to express these happy instincts today are for the most part
denied the average individual, buried somewhere beneath an
avalanche of smog.”
John could not project the “joy” in his art
history classes that Miss Moore did in her's.
Though art history
was a requirement for an art major, we all wanted to be there,
not like his indifferent Grandview College students.
Peggy Patrick said, “During the years that John was back in
Des Moines, though he emerged from this world of despair on
occasion, he taught a short time at the art center, but it was
easier for him to live in his own isolated world, a world in the
house on Casady Drive, where, out of love, or closeness, or
whatever, John and Dwight on a 24 hour basis, lived a life of
despair.
It was a life, if I had called at anytime that they
were there, and was told that they had done each other in, I
wouldn't have been surprised.
I don't mean done each other in
out of revenge or hate, or anything, but done each other in
because they had gotten into a corner, and neither one of them
had the strength to pull the other out.
They both needed
strength and neither of them could give it to the other, they
sapped at one from the other, perhaps out of love.”
Dorothy Peterson, an adult art student of their's during the
years at home wrote, “Though Dwight was a very bright man, well-
435
versed in many fields, he never seemed to admit the reality of
John's emotional illnesses.
There had been a terrible episode
before we knew him (the attempted suicide), but Dwight seemed to
regard these illnesses as no different than an appendicitis or
pneumonia.”
When John and I were together, we could confide some of our
innermost secrets, and I remember how he would express anger at
“papa” for what had happened to Truby.
He had the impression
that Dwight was to blame for her illness and death.
tried to discourage that unfair accusation.
Of course, I
He was so sensitive,
and sometimes felt that his parents had been too hard on him.
In
truth, Truby and Dwight were extremely broad minded, though they
expected great things of him, and Truby did not hesitate to speak
her mind or argue about a point in question.
I do remember an “episode” which occurred between John and
another boy in junior high school, but at the time I didn't
understand the problem and didn't hear much of John's complaint.
I only recall hearing Truby tell John not to associate again with
the boy.
It did not work, for they remained friends.
She
obviously suspected then that John was veering toward
homosexuality.
People used to say that domineering mothers caused
homosexuality, in fact, my mother was firmly convinced Truby was
the reason John was a “sissy.”
I credit Truby for accepting John
436
as he was and encouraging him in expressing his talents in
singing, art, literature, etc.
piano as his voice coach.
She spent countless hours at the
Her love for him was unconditional,
and Dwight concurred.
One must consider the time in which they lived: when a
mental illness or the phenomenon of homosexuality manifested
itself, a person who sought treatment ran the risk of not being
hired for a job.
The same held true for alcoholism.
People were
fired because of it instead of being sent to treatment centers.
An alcoholic was considered a loser and “weak.”
Men running for
political offices dared not admit they had sought therapy from a
psychologist, it was a hushed affair.
That there was a genetic reason for most of John's mental
problems is a near certainty.
Dwight's two sisters and his
brother, Gifford, suffered mental illness, and our mutual
Grandfather, Silas Warren Kelly, had an alcohol problem before
they moved to Atkinson in the early 1900's.
It is not surprising that Dwight began to increase his
drinking when John came back home. They both loved their beer!
Of course, the alcohol compounded John's depression.
When in
that state, he sat around all day, listless and with a sad look
on his face, sometimes reading, sometimes playing the piano and
singing a moody song, with a can of beer at hand.
437
I found a poem written on lined tablet paper in his
handwriting.
It sounds like a song:
“He's Gone Away.
I'm goin' away for to stay a little while,
But I'm coming back, if I go ten thousand miles.
Oh, who will tie your shoes?
And who will glove your hand?
And who will kiss those ruby lips when I am gone?
Look away, look away over Yandro.
He’s gone away for to stay a little while,
But he’s comin’ back, if he goes ten thousand miles:
Oh its pappy’ll tie my shoes,
And mammy’ll glove my hands,
And you will kiss these ruby lips when you come back.
Look away, look away over yandro.”
Attached to the poem is a list of some of his favorite
songs, no doubt for the guitar: “Malaguena,” “Green-sleeves,”
“Black; Black,” “Turtle Dove,” and “Molly Malone.”
When I visited them, I noticed Dwight slipping brandy into
his morning coffee and, as Dolly Page, his assistant at the Art
438
Shed wrote, “I had to watch him very closely during evening
sessions after he had ‘too much juice’ to quote him.
When he
gave his demonstrations to the students, I had to cover up as
best I could his behavior in front of the students.”
Thankfully, the drinking was not out of control and he was
able to function, paint, drive, conduct classes, fulfill special
art projects, and carry on as usual.
Late in 1963, Dwight was commissioned to do a mural on a
bank wall.
His letter to his friend, Antoinette Kraushaar, the
well-known gallery owner in New York, spelled out a few concerns
that he had, “Having had a message from and about you recently,
through Mary Mattern, I feel the urge to communicate with you
again.
Besides, I have need of some specific information, which
you can give, if you are willing.
Questions are enclosed, as
well as a stamped return envelope, so it may be easier and
quicker for you to reply.”
“This concerns a bank mural commission for which I've done
preliminary sketches.
The bank is in Oskaloosa, Iowa, some
seventy miles from Des Moines.
Though it is not a big city,
Oskaloosa is wealthy and prosperous, in the center of rich
farmlands.
People there are art-minded, and there are several
fine homes, including two designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.”
“The first contract for this mural job came to me through
Betty Lubetkin, of the Lubetkin Gallery in Des Moines, my local
439
dealer (I have one in Omaha now, too), so far Betty has done
nothing, since the original contract, about this job, except to
have her attorney draw up special contracts with me, and with the
bank.
We have met to discuss these contracts, but I have signed
nothing as yet.”
“With your experience in having your artists do murals, I am
sure you can tell me some things I need to know.”
“I should tell you that Betty L. gets the usual 1/3 of sales
prices on pictures sold through the gallery.
demanding) 20% commission for this mural job.
She is asking (or
This is high, I
think, unless she does more for me (such as paying for
photographs, issuing publicity, etc.), and in view of the fact
that her overhead is much lower here than if she were in New
York.”
“I will keep your answers to questions in confidence, as you
direct, except for my dealings with Betty and her attorney.”
“Betty Lubetkin had a good year for the start, with a profit
to show, above expenses.
Since reopening in September, she is
not doing so well, apparently.
Persistent rumors are going
around to the effect that she intends to sell the gallery, or
that someone else had already bought into it.
This is
questionable, from a personal standpoint, because Betty divorced
her husband lately, and is now engaged in a lovely courtship,
they say.”
440
“I just heard, indirectly from Jim Schramm, that Edith
Halpert has sold her gallery.
I am not surprised, but wonder who
got it?
This is already too long, but
Lee Nordness, maybe?
thanks, in advance for your help.
I am busy, busy, busy.
Always, Dwight K.”
Miss Kraushaar answered, “Dear Dwight: It is good to hear
from you.
I just missed you in Lincoln - had a glimpse of you on
the street as I came into town from the airport, but you
apparently left shortly after.
I enjoyed my visit and it was
good to see so many of the pictures you had selected.”
(The
University of Nebraska Galleries and N.A.A. and Hall
Collections.)
“The Dealers Association did a survey of its membership as
it relates to dealings with artists, and I have worked on your
questionnaire the part about commissions.
I have not had too
many, but in each case we have deducted the expenses before
figuring the commission.
This seems to be standard practice,
since expenses can be high.
In most cases I find it ends up
being about 10% or slightly more, of the full price.
There is
not too much that a dealer can do once he has brought the artist
and the client together, other than helping with the financial
arrangements, but if anything goes wrong, the dealer can be of
great help, and I think the artist is in a better position with a
dealer back of him.”
441
“Generally the client prefers to take care of the publicity,
especially when it is out-of-town as mine have been.
The fact
that the artist has completed a successful mural is of great help
in obtaining other commissions, and I am sure that any dealer
would make full use of it.
As to feeling that a dealer out-of-
town is entitled to less commission because his overhead is
lower, it is probably a fact that his gross business is much less
and in a way he needs to make more on the single sale.
Most of
them have a pretty rough time and do a good deal of spade work.”
“As far as I know, Edith has not sold her gallery; only the
building, and I have only heard speculation about what effect it
has on her way of operating.”
“Do hope everything continues to go well.
John.
Best to you and
Sincerely, Antoinette.”
Dwight replied, “..For now, to help me meet current expenses
(trips to Oskaloosa, color film and processing, art supplies, and
for my time), I would ask $200 now, as a retainer, to be applied
on the above amount.”
“I would quote an estimate for the completed mural when I
submit a finished sketch, by the end of the month.
With thanks
and best wishes, Sincerely, Dwight Kirsch.”
Dolly Page mentions that some of the Art Shed classes were
stopped during work on the Mahaska State Bank mural.
The layout
and preliminary work were done in the Art Shed and the cartoon
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figure of Chief Mahaska was done the same size as the finished
mural.
“Tiny holes were poked in the paper and then charcoal
dust used to reproduce the outline on the mural wall. . Oskaloosa
was once the home of Chief Mahaska and the representative white
bird flying about the silo (an equivalent panel to the chief)
represents the chief's favorite wife, White Bird Flying.”
The
mural, 70 feet long and 79 inches high, was painted on hand-woven
Belgium linen, to provide texture and prevent future cracks from
marring the surface.
gold leaf.
Materials include casein tempera colors and
According to the brochure published by the bank,
Kirsch worked from a scale drawing, his sketches and color
slides.
He painted during banking hours, giving the public an
opportunity to observe an artist at work.
His assistants were:
Mrs. John (Diann) Campbell of Oskaloosa; Peggy Patrick; and a
very talented Korean student, Kim Chung Yul.
Dolly said that
Dwight was encouraging the student to change his engineering
major to art and study in Chicago.
As Dwight discovered many years earlier in Atkinson when
Helen Snyder told him he should “move the church” in his
painting, people who watched him in Oskaloosa “contributed” to
his design by asking for a fire plug near the band shell.
Dolly
said he was “amazed and disgusted” when the requests were made.
“It seems at that time all fire plugs were made only in
Oskaloosa, so he finally gave in a painted one but he also
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threatened to paint a dog, as Dwight said, ‘Fire plugs form two
functions.’
The handsome mural was a success, and as was his
custom, Dwight sent the colorful brochures to relatives and
friends.
We were pleased to receive one and were properly
impressed.
I have always yearned to go to Oskaloosa to view the
original, maybe some day!
Dwight sent a brochure to Marguerite Lewis along with a
condolence letter when her husband, John, died.
“Dear
Marguerite: It was good to get your letter in yesterday's mail,
and your handwritten note, but sad to hear about John's leaving
us.
It should comfort you to know he had a full life, sharing so
many things with you; and that you had that last wonderful trip
together.”
“I enclose a copy of the illustrated brochure about the bank
mural I did last winter and spring, to give you an idea of what
it is like.
The colors in the reproduction are paler than in the
original, so there is more contrast and richness on the wall.”
“I am sending a momento, on Japanese paper, made in an
impressionistic way, with some of my natural stains, cooked up
from flower petals and plant materials, some are noted on the
back of the sheet.
This is of similar nature to the one I sent
Trank, but all the cards and things I sent people were slightly
different and individual.
I also wrote notes or letters to send
with most of them - to renew old friendships.”
444
“I am enjoying staying home for a while and it has been a
mild winter, for the most part.
around the house.
There is always a lot to do
Among things accomplished lately (after 12
years) was getting up the 2 star-shaped lanterns, of glass, tin
and lead, that John got in San Miguel long ago.
They are in over
the stair hall, and make a wonderful light on John's crucifix.
With all my affection and sympathy, Dwight.”
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Chapter 24
“Adult Classes, Inge, D. Peterson, Iowa State”
Fate played a part in one of my many trips to Des Moines
during those retirement years, and what seemed like an absentminded act on my part turned out to be a delight and a
revelation, an act of Providence!
I was near Red Oak, Iowa when I realized I had left my money
home.
Instead of turning back, I stopped in Red Oak to borrow
five dollars from our good friends, Ann Gray and her son, Bill.
Because of Ann's multiple sclerosis, they had left Omaha.
Bill
was Kelly's buddy and almost seemed one of the family.
During my
brief stop, a neighbor came in and we were introduced.
In the
ensuing conversation I casually mentioned where I was going and
was surprised when the neighbor let out a gasp when she heard the
name “Dwight Kirsch!”
Inga Chase had a heavy German accent and I wondered how she
could have heard of Dwight?
This is her story: “I lived in
Germany in my younger years, and on our farm our elderly
grandparent received a lifetime subscription of the Nebraska
Farmer Magazine.
When it came every month, all chores could
stop, and we'd all sit around the table and listen to Grandpa
446
tell about Amerika, and how wonderful it was over there.
The
middle pages were always torn out for me - Teen Topics, by “Aunt
Alice” (Louise Evans Doole, Editor), featured articles by young
readers, Pen Pal addresses, and the usual letter to teens from
Aunt Alice.
Amerika.
I pored over every word of it, and dreamt of
Some day, I knew I might have the chance to visit my
Aunt and Uncle in Amerika, it was a dream only half believed in.
Certainly I had no reason to believe that it would ever come
true.
I wanted to be an artist, but what a laughable ambition
that was - I was a farm girl doing chores, with rags wrapped
around my feet instead of stockings.
I wore my father's cast-off
army underwear, complete with a slit in front, in lieu of slacks
or warm clothing of my own.
We were displaced persons (after
World War II), lucky enough to have a grandpa who lived on a
farm, and who let us crawl in with him ‘until things got better.’
Germany was thrust back into the middle ages.
doctors, no dentists, no schools.
No shops, do
We just crawled into some hole
away from the bombed city, and waited.”
“One day there was a letter in the Nebraska Farmer from a
man named Dwight Kirsch.
He wanted to further rural Nebraska Art
talent, and in his capacity as Head of the University of Nebraska
Art Department, he was calling for rural Nebraskans to send in
any art work they had done - prizes would be given, and the
winning entries would be featured in the Nebraska Farmer.”
447
“I still don't know what persuaded me to send in two little
pen sketches.
I sent them to Aunt Alice, telling her in halting
English that I some day wanted to be an artist.
I was fifteen at
the time, and had four years of grade school, lived on a farm in
slum conditions, and for miles around there was no one who
painted, so I don't know why I sent the sketches in, but I did.”
“Mails took a long time in those days.
I had almost
forgotten I had sent anything in, when an official letter arrived
from the Nebraska Farmer, with a two dollar cashiers check in it,
a personal letter from Aunt Alice (that was worth more than the
check to me!
And my parents were awed - a CHECK!
prize with my scribbling!
In Amerika, yet.
I had won a
Grandpa translated
the letter, which encouraged me to keep painting.
This great
man, Dwight Kirsch, had said to the committee: ‘I know she is not
technically a Rural Nebraskan, but her sketch shows talent let's send her a small check and an encouraging note anyway!’ and
they did.”
“I'd give anything if I could have held on to the check.
I
passed it on to my parents, and since it was worth a lot in
German Marks, they used it for something or other.
It paid me in
another way, though. . my parents talked it over, and decided
that if an Amerikan News Paper and a great man in a University
thought I had enough talent to get paid for one of my
scribblings, well, then they would not discourage me any longer.
448
From that moment on, my life drastically changed.
I soon was
allowed to take a position in a household in Hamburg, Germany,
which enabled me to attend evening sessions at an art school
there.
My uncle in Amerika thought maybe he could use me in his
store. . and filed necessary papers for my immigration.
Four
years later I actually met Aunt Alice, who became my Amerikan
Mother.”
“Mr, Kirsch had moved to Des Moines where he was head of the
Art Center, and such a ‘GREAT MAN’ that I was content to think of
him as a benign figure from afar, but it never occurred to me to
go to Des Moines to visit him.
Through a set of unusual
circumstances I met his niece, who made a trip to Des Moines with
me, during which I was either tongue-tied or talked too much, I
took in all sorts of impressions about him, his life style and
his paintings.
I still remember how much we had in common.
I
was a science fiction buff, and he had some very unusual Ezekiellike visionary paintings.
He was a Mystic, I am sure.
I now
live in a small house that is very similar to his house in Des
Moines.”
“I am so awed by the fact that his life had a great impact
on me and on my developments, as an artist, as a Christian.
We
should be consciously aware, at all times, of the impact our
lives are having on others, especially young people.
I get
letters and visits from unlikely, starry-eyed, would-be artists
449
all the time now - and I drop everything and sit down and answer
them.
What would have happened to me, as an artist, if it hadn't
been for Dwight Kirsch?”
Inge said that the Hitler time was hardly designed to give
God credit for anything, her parents raised her to be an
agnostic.
She gives Dwight credit “for being God's instrument”
and that he would have laughed at the idea.
However, she felt “he was very spiritual in his whole being.
. always listening with an inner ear.”
“I can still, in my mind's eye, look up from the sofa where
we were sitting (in his Des Moines house) and see the weaving
grasses of his lawn.
He had let his lawn grow until it became a
sea of grass, and it was wonderful.”
“He would have been amused, too.
when he told of his visit to Japan.
It impressed me so much
He told me, that all his
life he had wanted to go to the orient and eat and paint and live
in that inner atmosphere. . he laughed about it, telling me that
when he got off the train, word had gone out that a ‘great’
American Artist was coming, and he was cocktail-partied and run
around until he got sick of it and went home!
He was a
Midwesterner in the very best sense of the word, a farm-bred boy
who could spot a phony a mile off, and it horrified him when he
had to mingle with fawning people, and be deferred to, and he
hated anything that had to do with “playing the ART game.”
450
Unfortunately, Inge never met John, who was either in
Broadlawns Hospital or the state mental hospital in Clarinda,
when she visited Dwight.
She would have understood John!
Dwight's burden with John's problems was heavy not only
cost-wise, but emotional.
idea of writing.
It is no wonder that he dropped his
He often called me and asked if I could meet
him when he visited John in Clarinda.
He never told me what
initiated the admission; whether John was violent (which I
suspect), or so depressed he was again suicidal.
Grandview College came to an inevitable end.
with the dreariness.
Teaching at
He could not cope
Little “events” such as meeting Inge helped
Dwight, and the adult art classes and Art Shed were his
salvation, whereas John’s lack of stability was another matter.
John began to teach adult classes at home.
Pat Dinnen
mentioned that he was on valium, and I know that at times he took
lithium.
His hospital treatments were not prolonged enough to
make a long-lasting difference, as Peggy Patrick said, “as soon
as he seemed better, Dwight would bring him home.”
Being home
was comforting, but there was no real structure in his life
style, no realistic goals - his concerns over world situations
over which he could do nothing, access to alcohol, and in his
view, no meaning to life.
Since he enjoyed the group of home
workshop students, Dwight turned them over to him.
451
Dorothy Peterson wrote, “John seemed to enjoy being with the
group, and did some competent teaching.
He stayed right with us,
and now and then would start some of the group on analyzing a
noted composition for space and balance, or quick drawing
exercises.
He was unhurried, and a gentle critic, trying to say
only what would not discourage the student from trying again.
John told us that when he was a child, Dwight had been a harsh
critic of his artwork.
John had been so sensitive at seeing his
father mark up the paper on which he had painted, that never
would he make a mark on a student's paper.
Evidently they had
recently discussed this, for sometimes Dwight would say, in
answer to our request for criticism, ‘John doesn't believe in my
marking corrections on your work - unless you give me
permission,’ and he would chuckle, as we generally gave it.”
“Having the two Kirsches in the same house during our
workshops was a real bonus - two teachers and two critics and two
friends, each so different from the other, all for the price of
one.
Their fees were so reasonable that they were not doing this
just for the money.”
“The two Kirsches were artists to the core. That they were
so different made it easy for us to realize there must have been
clashes of temperament between father and son in John's youth.”
I remember John's explosions of temper when he was not
satisfied with his work, and Dwight's loud expletive-spouting,
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but I do not recall serious clashes.
John's former neighbor-
friend, Mick Putney, said John told him it was hard to break ties
and move out of the home when “One has parents who give you so
little to rebel against.”
John's letters seem to echo this
observation.
Dorothy Peterson continued, “Once when three of us wanted to
try sculpturing a head, John got Dwight to be our model, while
John supervised our work from time to time.
Dwight enjoyed
modeling for us, and passed the time telling stories.
One was
about the time when he and two other young art students were
making a plaster cast on the face of a farmer - and not till they
got the plaster on his face did they realize they had forgotten
to put Vaseline on the poor fellow first!”
“Though Dwight stayed in his chair most of the time he was
modeling, his head kept moving, looking at each of us, and our
‘heads,’ or at the group up in the studio, or lighting his pipe,
match after match after match.
We were amateurs, and were
frustrated that he kept moving.
We remembered that he once told
us he wants his models to move, for then he gets a fresher, more
lively painting or sculpture.
get just that.
We knew he was clever enough to
But we struggled.
My ‘head’ went through
suffering stages of looking like a thin Abraham Lincoln, to a fat
Winston Churchill, to a Roosevelt. . till one day, it was Dwight
453
Kirsch!
Enough so the Dwight was pleased, and I won an award
with it at an Amateur Iowa Artists Show.”
“John wanted someone to try to make a plaster cast by making
a rubber mold of our clay head.
I was game to try.
John didn't
know and we didn't know just how to do it, so we went ahead and
experimented.
If it worked, the mold could be stretched and
pulled over the dry clay chin, nose, ears, etc. in one piece,
otherwise, a plaster mold would have to be made in several pieces
and rejoined for pouring the plaster cast.
Later we learned that
if I had had a smaller clay model, and not a life-sized head, it
would have worked fine.
hilarious time we did.
But then, we never would have had the
I put on coat after coat of the liquid
rubber; then coat after coat of the rubber plus a filler, to make
the mold thicker and stronger.
I let it dry and heat dry as the
label on the rubber product had advised.
It took a lot of
tugging and a few slits on the neck to get the mold off the head,
but it seemed O.K.
Then several of the group got into the act,
trying to figure how to support the mold while pouring the
plaster.
We rigged up a big pail, with sand on the bottom, on
which we placed ‘poor Dwight” as we called it.
Three or four
were to pour sand outside the mold while I poured liquid plaster
inside, to equalize the pressure.
hurriedly added vermiculite.
They ran out of sand and
After the proper time, as we
started to remove the mold, we were excited.
454
This would be an
easy way to make plaster casts of our models.
I could make a
Dwight for everyone!”
“Then our spirits drooped.
broke into a laughing session.
looked like a fat pig!
We took one look, and all of us
The head was so distorted it
Those sharply chiseled features of Dwight
Kirsch were lost in a swollen, squinty-eyed blob.
We tried two
more times, and got two more pigs.”
“I had too much effort invested in those casts, to throw
them out.
So it was then that I learned some real sculpturing.
I reshaped those heads as though they were rough hunks of wood or
stone - and ended up with three pretty fair likenesses of
Dwight.”
“I hesitatingly offered one to Dwight.
He was very honest
and frank, and could have refused it with no qualms.
But he not
only accepted one, but suggested I paint it black, then put on a
coat of green and rub it off, to give the appearance of weathered
bronze.
He kept it on his piano as long as he was in his house.”
“In spite of the fact he welcomed us in his home twice a
week, Dwight at other times guarded his privacy and independence.
And we did not overstep that schedule.
He did not permit even
the U.S. Postal Department to dictate to him; sometimes he would
not go down to his mailbox at the end of the drive for days!
was courteous over the phone, but did not use it for any idle
chatter.”
455
He
“We became almost a family.
John.
The group could be chummy with
He delighted in our helping him do some of the
housecleaning.
That was his share of the housekeeping.
And we
felt it was part of our responsibility to help clean, for we did
our share of messing.
Once we had a “cleaning bee,” and showed
up with mops and brooms and cleaners, making an hilarious day of
it, with our sack lunches and coffee.
that day.
Dwight was gone much of
When he came home, he expressed appreciation for the
cleanliness and orderliness we had achieved, but he was a little
embarrassed by having these “students” (some as old as he) feel
they had to be a cleaning gang.”
“Dwight's job was cook, and he was an expert, a gourmet.
One December, we turned our last workshop of the year into a
feast - at Dwight's suggestion.
famous stuffing.
He fixed the turkey with his
The rest of us brought other dishes.
He and we
truly enjoyed that cooperative meal.”
“During break one day, John, in a very pleasing voice, sang
several lullabies I had composed, as I accompanied him on the
piano.
John glowed with pleasure, and so did I.
Dwight was
visibly moved, saying softly, “I have not heard him sing for
years.”
“The little nude John had modeled, we called ‘John's nude’
and several of us did that.
painting of his nude.)
(Dorothy gave me her lovely little
We used our fellow ‘artists’ as models,
456
some painted the interior scenes of the studio; someone, the hall
looking out to the big oak tree.
to the house.
I painted the outside entrance
An interesting sidelight on that painting was that
I had to make a decision about whether I would paint the door in
the color I imagined it to have been originally, or in the
weather-beaten color it was now.
I decided that I was not a good
enough artist to get by with the grayed, faded look as it was.
I
felt I could better get across the feeling of the place before
the years had weathered it.
the color of the door!
Dwight said ‘This is interesting,
When we built this house, I dug up red
ochre from the back yard, and used it for the pigment on the
doors.’
The pigment I had used was Liquitex Red Ochre!”
“After another serious emotional illness, John could not
bring himself to paint again, though he resumed our workshop.
We
were patient, giving subtle encouragement, and finally were
relieved as he gradually started putting a few lines on a paper
to explain something, then a few brushes of color, until he was
putting up an easel and doing the same still life of fruit as
some of were doing, and sketching the same models. Our joy was
complete when one day, he stopped with his brush in mid-air and
said ‘how good it is to be painting!
fun it was.
I had forgotten how much
So much more fun than playing bridge.
something to show for it afterward, too.’”
457
And you have
The home art classes were a stabilizing force in John's
life, though they couldn't overcome his depression.
Dwight’s Art
Shed job and his frequent workshops in the region left John with
his nightmares, the loneliness, and the silence in a house full
of memories.
He was so affected by the untimely death of Marilyn
Monroe, that it became an obsession with him.
with me for years.
He talked about it
He also neglected to take his lithium much of
the time when he was home from intervals in the hospital.
Dwight's success with a new commission toward the end of his
Art Shed teaching could have had an effect on John, too, since he
was left alone a good deal of time.
Dwight's assistant Dolly
Page wrote, “The Iowa State Art Committee realized Dwight's days
at the Art Shed in Ames were limited because of John's illnesses,
and if his drinking problem continued.
However, the committee
wanted something permanent of his work besides the painting
purchased by the newly formed Art Collection Committee.”
“Kildee Hall had just been built and there was need for a
mural just inside the front door.
Dwight submitted his first
idea - quite far out with chicken wire which was rejected by the
Committee and he was told in early fall to select a new design.
The size of the area was very difficult and each Dept. Head of
the College of Agriculture wanted their own corn or horse breed,
etc. on that mural.
It was an extremely difficult task but Jan.
458
was fast approaching and work had to be started on the mural to
be finished by early June.”
“I was at home when Mrs. Garfield (Head of Applied Art at
Ames, and Committee chairman) called me that day saying Dwight
was in no shape to present his plans to the Committee.
Could I
please get over to the Union, get him to our home and she would
cancel the Committee to meet again in January.
With the help of
Ione Orlovich we did get him home (to his room in the Union) and
had some tea and stayed with him until he sobered up enough so he
would be able to drive home to Des Moines.
He asked me to
research the history of Iowa State as fast as I could.
I
completed that assignment and together we began blocking out the
areas for the mural.
There was no order for linen, and there
were no frames built, all Dwight had ready were materials.”
After a great deal of cooperation from Dolly's husband, who
was business manager and purchasing agent at Iowa State, and Art
Shed students, the linen was ordered, frames built and placed,
stretching done, final acceptance of the design made, and the
work begun.
By that time Dwight had straightened himself out.
Later, the Des Moines Register printed a color picture of
the mural for its cover, with a story: “Rural Iowa's past and
present and the many ways in which Iowa State University has
aided agriculture are depicted in the mural on today's cover by
Dwight Kirsch of Des Moines.
Kirsch explains that the 8 by 10
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foot painting reads like a book from the upper left across the
top and then below the diagonal, with each section representing a
chapter in the development of Iowa agriculture.
left is a herd of buffalo.
three covered wagons.
At the upper
To the right of the herd can be seen
The wagons are on a road leading past a
flock of sheep and an old show ring with several horses in it.
These symbols represent the beginnings of Iowa rural life.”
“The Iowa State University seal is in the center of the
mural.
Everything below the seal has to do with Iowa State
research and contributions to agriculture.
mural is a quill and a bottle of ink.
At the right of the
Kirsch says these
represent a flashback to the early days - the signing of the
Morrill Land Grant Act in 1862.”
“Acrylic paints, which were new, but in gouche colors, were
toned down with Dwight's natural stains.
Texture on the barn and
bridge was achieved by coating a board in acrylic gel medium and
pressing it on those areas.
Sand was mixed with gel to form
concrete; gum wrapper foil (Reynolds Wrap was not soft or pliable
enough) used on the windmill; feathers of the chickens and the
egg shell were done with many layers of Japanese rice papers.”
To mark his final association with Iowa State University,
Dolly continued, “A banquet was held for Dwight in the Oak Room
of Memorial Union honoring him for all he had done in his years
at Iowa State.”
One of his outstanding contributions to the
460
university was working with Marjorie Garfield to bring together
the Departments of Applied Art, Architecture and Landscape
Architecture into a new College of Design, which is housed in its
own building.
Page mentioned that Dwight was very close to the Fishers
from Marshalltown and he helped them every time they made
acquisitions of their impressionist collection.
She said that,
“their collection when I left Iowa (1980) was rated the finest
impressionistic collection west of the Mississippi.”
In March 1965, Dwight received a letter from Fisher on the
letterhead of the Fisher Governor Company, manufacturers of
automatic control equipment.
“Dear Dwight: It will soon be time
to make another presentation locally of another painting.
This
time it is a Pissarro - a snow scene - and it's beautiful.”
“I would like to arrange this presentation in a somewhat
different routine than in the past, so far as the audience is
concerned, at least.
We are holding our Company anniversary
celebration May 17, 18 and 19, at which time our sales
representatives will bring their wives from all over the United
States and outside of the United States.
I would like to have
the presentation made during or after a luncheon on Wednesday,
May 19, and I would like to include as many as possible of the
members of the local Art Association.”
461
“I have always enjoyed your commentary, and I believe that
you, too, have enjoyed discussing the local collection from time
to time.
I hope you will consider and find from your calendar
that you are available to come and lecture once again in our
behalf.
Please let me know if you can arrange Wednesday, May 19.
Cordially yours, Bill.”
Dwight noted on the letter that he would arrive May 19 about
11:30 A.M. at Fisher Community Center.
In Dolly Page's account,
she said that Dwight's painting “Zinnias” was purchased by the
Fishers for the Marshalltown Art Center, and when she left Iowa
in 1980, it was hanging on the wall next to the receptionist.
Dwight used fine Japanese watercolors purchased at the Iowa State
Book Store, along with his own opaque white.
462
Chapter 25
“John: Dinnen, Clarinda, Inheritance, Death”
John was deeply interested in religion, though he was never
a member of a church.
Ritual seemed to comfort him.
The Roman
Catholic Church fascinated him and he attended Mass a few times
with Pat Dinnen - even expressing an interest in joining.
She wrote, “John was so afraid that something would happen
to Dwight and insisted that I had to be responsible for him if it
did, because I lived across the street.
I loved John, and
treated him like one of my kids or an old friend and was never
sure just where he was with me, but I didn't think too much of it
until the time when John started going off to the deep end.
Finally things got out of hand and there was no choice but for me
to stay away.”
Once when I met Dwight in Clarinda to visit John, he had
just had an encouraging session with his psychiatrist, who had
told him he could look forward to having a wife and family.
This
made him ecstatic, and I shared his joy, and with private
misgivings wondered if that was a wise thing for the psychiatrist
to say?
Or, perhaps John encouraged him to say it!
463
One June day in 1967, I received a call at work (Dana,
Larson, Roubal, Architects) notifying me that my dad had suddenly
died of a heart attack while he presented a lady from Atkinson an
Ak-Sar-Ben “Good Neighbor” award.
I knew he was to do the
presentation and hated having him do it, since he had had a
previous attack and public speaking made him nervous.
I almost
called and pleaded with him not to do it, but then that could
have caused him stress, too.
The family gathered, his brother's,
Tabor and Eric came, but Dwight and John stayed home.
We all
understood!
John wrote me that July.
“Dear JoAnn, Your nice letter
arrived after the 4th (zip code is slower than Pony Express), and
it was wonderful to hear from you.
sooner.
Forgive me for not writing
You have been on my mind a lot, but as with you, it has
been difficult for me to sit down and write what I have felt.
You have had such a rough time and have faced up to things so
bravely, considering all that's happened, that it is hard to find
words that could help comfort you.”
“I feel bad about not being able to attend the funeral,
because then is when I knew you would need shoulders to lean on.
I was all set to go up with Tabor, but apparently he and Vernie
whizzed on through and we never heard from them.
of getting wires crossed, I guess.
464
Just a matter
But I hope you will
understand and know that my heart was with you and Bernice and
Warren; and let them know, too.”
“I am feeling more full of oats, but slowly.
A month ago I
would have felt pale green at the end of the trip with Tabor
(though I am still gnawed with guilt and regrets about not making
it).”
Tabor drove fairly fast.
“I've been teaching privately since late June and besides
keeping me on my toes and out of the doldrums, it brings in
enough money to keep going this summer.
Fortunately, my bank
account shows no signs of anemia, and I think by Labor Day I'll
be on the job market with a degree of zest.
better than I have in a long time.
badly run-down and depressed I was.
Actually, I feel
I didn't realize how really
Brenda with her super-
intuition was right when she saw me last fall.
I guess I was
running on my last resources all through last year.
look and feel less like a zombie.
Anyway, I
These classes at home are so
much fun after the pressures teaching ‘last chance’ Junior
College age types at a school with no money or equipment, that I
wish I could go on with it selling paintings. . But that is sort
of a pipe dream since there is not enough money in a town this
size.
Well-we'll see what next fall brings.
It will be sort of
exciting, because you know what it's like to be stuck in a rut
with no future.
Not good for the morale at all.”
465
“I'd love to get over to visit you when classes are over.
Maybe some weekend in August?
I'll call and see what your plans
are. . Much love to you and the family.
John.”
He came over to Omaha, we went out to a nightclub, and he
taught me some of the new dance steps, the “twist” was the rage,
but I never seemed to get the right swing.
fun.
No matter, it was
We went to the Joslyn, Crossroads Mall, and Chris's Drug
Store where we enjoyed cokes, and where he insisted I buy new
make-up.
He said I looked like a “Frau,” and gave me lessons on
applying eye shadow and how to use cover-up near my eyes so that
I would look younger, etc.
It was like old times!
John did not mention his “other life” - his forays to the
gay bars; coming home beaten up; his wild parties at home.
One
particular time he invited the entire cast (all homosexual) of a
local play over to the house.
He made total sense when we were
together, and certainly did not seem to be mentally ill!
The following year I heard from Dwight that John was back in
the hospital.
“Dear JoAnn: This is in answer to your good letter
to John, of Jan. 23rd.
day he got it.
He saved it for me to read to him, the
He was especially interested in your tale of Ced
Hartman's new ‘scheme,’ (Cedric had formed an architectural firm
in Omaha) and your comments about men and their confidential
reminiscences to you.”
(Being a good listener, I heard many life
466
stories from men, strangers sitting next to me on airplanes, for
instance.)
“John had the flu a week ago Sun., has looked ‘blooming’
since then, except that he had ‘pink-eye’ and was wearing an eyepatch over one eye, which he said people at the hospital thought
made him look more romantic.
They are treating his eye with
lotion and salve.”
“Unfortunately, John has had a set-back over the past week,
so I have no idea when he might get home now.
I could notice
several signs last Sat. that things weren't going just right - he
was more emotional, and had written a sort of crazy note for me
to give Pat Dinnen (I destroyed it).
It is so hard to reach
either of his two special doctors, and to get any definite
information about John's progress recently, but I keep trying.”
“Your reference to becoming 40 or more recalls an item in
last Sunday Register's Magazine section, ‘When I was 40 I knew
this was the best part of life.
I lived it and savored it
consciously, aware that this must be the height of experience, of
personality, of living for what I wanted to contribute to in
effort, in resources, in emotion, in totality,’ by Marcia
Davenport.”
(I think I was upset about turning forty, his quote
helped.)
467
“Oh, well!
A new career ahead.
69th and I don't feel any older.
I had a birthday Sunday, my
I'll keep in touch, with love,
Dwight.”
Fred traveled in Iowa and always stopped to see Dwight and
John when he was in town.
When John was home between hospital
stays, they would go out to eat, Dwight was usually busy, out of
town, or wished to stay home.
John loved hearing news of our
family, so they always had plenty to discuss.
Once they tried a new restaurant, gave the waitress their
order, and talked for over an hour before they realized no one
had brought food.
It seems the cook had quit, but none of the
patrons had been notified.
At that time, Des Moines, like
Lincoln, was not known for good eating-places!
Another time,
they ordered pizza to be delivered at home, on Casady Drive, but
the delivery boy couldn't find the house, which was tucked away
from the street behind a sea of grass, shrubs and trees.
By the
time he found it, the pizza was very old, and cold!
John's setback was alarming to us.
Dwight was very upset
and wrote, “This is a follow-up letter of two days ago, to say
that John is being transferred.
He will be at the State (Mental)
Hospital in Clarinda, which is in southwest Iowa, about 130 miles
from Des Moines.
It is a bigger institution than Broadlawns, and
has a good reputation.”
468
“Apparently the psychiatrists and social workers here think
John needs a change, and will more likely to improve at another
place.
He said he was beginning to get bored at Broadlawns, and
is taking the change better than I expected he would.”
“I was crushed when I heard of the possibility of this move,
partly because Clarinda is so far away I could not hope to drive
there to see him more than once a week.
However, he can receive
mail there, and I intend to write him about twice a week.”
“I do hope his early recovery is possible, and will hope for
the best.
I know he has had good care at Broadlawns, and expect
he will at Clarinda.
I have been busy rounding up new clothes,
etc. to take to him this afternoon.
With love, Dwight.”
My mother had cleaned out her closets and decided to give
some of dad's clothes to John, if he wanted them, since they were
about the same size.
His shoes were very narrow, as were John's.
I drove over to Clarinda one cold Sunday with the things.
delighted.
He was
We had a great time visiting and catching up on
gossip and news.
Kelly was then in the Air Force Academy Prep
School and John was especially interested in his progress.
When
it was time to go, I found that I had locked my keys in the car.
John was resourceful enough to find a coat hanger and he managed
to unlock it, despite the bitter cold.
We laughed about my
absent-mindedness, and I said that I should be there in the
hospital with him!
469
Money was scarce, and Dwight was desperate and thought I
should be able to use his pictures in my work.
Money from his
art commissions and Social Security was not enough.
As an
interior designer, I worked on many commercial jobs, which
included rooms needing something on the walls.
Trying to please
clients, architects, pressures of deadlines, and coping with a
very small salary did not combine to create ideal conditions at
times, but I did try my best for our clients, and Dwight.
Those
were the days of “hard-edge” abstract, very large paintings, and
architects wanted that style for their boardrooms and reception
areas.
Dwight sent me boxes of paintings.
I showed them to my
boss, clients, and I also took some of his lovely leaf and flower
prints over to the Peacock-Wilson Interiors to show Jessica.
He
wrote me, “I think the big one, ‘Air View Wheat Fields, southwest
Nebraska’ should look fine in that new building - for scale,
colors, and subject matter.
I freshened up some of the colors
that had toned down, using coats of clear polymer spray, and one
coat of polymer matte varnish.
I repainted the border and edges,
after repairing places and edges with thin Japanese paper. . so
all the front and back are waterproof - and it would not need
glass.”
“Although the celotex panel is warped somewhat, it would
straighten out if the picture is framed (use moulding 2” wide or
470
wider) and a plywood backing used.
these.
Hope you can market some of
Hastily, D.K.”
The painting looked good in the boardroom, but the clients
did not seem to be art-minded (as Dwight would say), and did not
wish to spend the money.
The art market appeared to be at a low
ebb in Omaha, and then, too, it was impossible to sell a work
that my architects found unfavorable.
They liked Knoll's bright
blue and red, and abstract design things, not Dwight's style of
art, his subject matter, and lovely and subtle mix of colors.
Another time Dwight wrote me demanding action on pictures he
had sent.
“Goodness knows I need the money, with high bills for
insurance, taxes and heating having come due..”
Those pleas cut through to my heart, I felt so guilty in
letting him down knowing that during the cold winter his pipes
had frozen; thawing snow had dripped water into his fireplace;
and in addition, the two suffered colds - by then, John was again
back home.
It was a hard time!
My mother was near collapse over trying
to adjust to being alone; my children were teenagers and needed
attention, not to mention demands of my job.
Still those days were not without some recognition and
compensation for Dwight.
The Des Moines Register ran a story in
1968 about the Iowa State Fair, with awards for the art show made
471
by Dwight Kirsch.
There were more than 500 entries, from which
he selected 201 to go on exhibit.
Another newspaper story mentions that Kirsch work was
included in the “North Iowa Collector's Show” in Mason City, and
a Nebraska story announcing that Dwight had donated a painting to
the Willa Cather Memorial in Red Cloud, Nebraska, along with
additional artists including Grant Reynard, Kady Faulkner and
Elizabeth Dolan.
Dwight said he knew Willa Cather's sister at
the university.
On the occasion of his 50th anniversary class reunion from
the University of Nebraska, Dwight drove to Lincoln and later
wrote that he enjoyed seeing old friends, mentioning a few that I
knew from school, “Freda Spaulding, and her sister, Grace, Betty
Aasen Kjelson and her husband Lee, her sister ‘Hink’ Sahs, their
mother, and Weldon Frankforter.”
While in Lincoln, he took his sister, Bess, out for a long
ride, which pleased her.
By then, she was a tiny, bird-like lady
who still had lots of spunk and sparkle.
Though she wasn't my
aunt, I felt as though she was, and later visited her in the care
center when I was in Lincoln.
Dwight said of the anniversary, “I made some little folders
with natural stains and leaf prints - similar to the one
enclosed, then each of us in the 1919 class signed up on sheets
of paper that were folded and put inside, to keep as a momento.
472
(I still have one he had kept.)
John and I are O.K. and fairly
busy, enjoying the cool climate and our park-like yard.”
He again asked for action on pictures he needed to sell.
The 50th anniversary from college, and the honors Dwight received
helped his ego but not his bank account.
He was given special
recognition by Nebraska's governor in 1967, during the state
Centennial Celebration and was presented the award in a large
ceremony in Lincoln.
Johnny Carson and various dignitaries were
on the stage with him, along with others honored.
Nothing from
the ceremony was saved, though Dwight’s watercolor “Ridge of the
Blowout, Nebraska Sand Hills,” painted in 1935, was selected and
combined with a group of paintings by Nebraska artists in a
traveling exhibit, which toured the state that year.
Kelly
graduated from Benson High School in Omaha that same night and I
had to turn down Dwight’s invitation to join him in Lincoln.
Sharing his honor with family would have been very meaningful for
him especially since John was unable to go.
Luckily the painting
survived and we later purchased it and continue to enjoy viewing
his conception of the ‘magnetic’ Nebraska sandhills.
Though he did not apply for a writing grant, he did receive
a grant from the Iowa Arts Council in the summer of 1969 to do a
workshop near Oskaloosa at the Nelson Pioneer Farm and Crafts
Museum.
His classes were on creative design; watercolor and
sumi; making stains from plant materials and using them for
473
decorative compositions on paper or fabric; and dyeing wool yarns
and warp paintings.
Dwight's painting of a cornstalk, which appeared on the
cover of the Des Moines Register magazine section, highlighted an
article on the workshop.
The painting was done on Japanese
mulberry paper with natural stains from leaves, nuts and flowers.
He used a copper pot on a portable heater to cook the plant
material for stains, a mortar and pestle for grinding, wooden
spoons and jars of stain from leaves and flowers.
It was a
wonderful experience, with flocks of interested people gathered
around him.
It was like being on stage giving a live performance
and he thrived on it.
The following spring, he wrote, “My latest project!
I have
a further grant coming up for several other Art Work-shops in
Iowa, for 1970-71.
“Did you ever succeed in selling either of
the wall pieces I sent you?
I have a nibble on the woven one.
If you don't sell either-please send back, to reach me by May
14th.
With my love, Dwight K.”
He wrote me a thank you letter February 2, 1970, “This is to
thank you for the beautiful kimono you made for me, it reached me
last Thursday A.M.
It made up into a stunning thing - due in
large measure to your skillful matching of the Pattern - and the
good sewing job.
I am glad you double-stitched the center back
seam, as that is where it gets the most strain when I sit down.
474
(This came a day after my birthday, a fine present).”
He had
given me a tiny sketch on how to make an authentic kimono, and a
length of narrow width blue and white cotton fabric from Japan.
“I modeled this new ‘creation’ for John's students last
Saturday A.M. and they got a big kick out of it.
for re-sewing seams of the old kimono.
Thanks also,
Though it is well-worn
(or badly worn) and full of burn holes from my pipe-smoking, I
can wear it some more.”
“John and I are coming along OK, he has 2 classes a week at
home and is starting 2 more a week for 10-week session of Adult
Education classes.
I'll have one of these each week, too.
(Painting in sumi.)”
“Through the kind help and suggestions of your mother, I am
selling a good watercolor (done in 1937) for the Atkinson
Library.
grove.)
(A country road scene on Highway 11 with a cottonwood
Blanche Spann Pease is paying $100 for it, as a memorial
to her mother.
I am sending along in the same package 2 other
watercolors of the old days.
I thought that Bernice, Warren and
Mary would enjoy seeing them and might sell one?”
(My mother
sold at least one to a doctor and his wife.)
“One is of an old jadey-patched pink house, (Mrs. Tushla's
house) with the yellow family home of the Dickerson's (my
mother's family home, now torn down) in the background.
The
other, a smaller vertical, was done one morning at sun-up in the
475
sandhills.
It shows Warren, as a small figure sliding down the
inside of a big blowout.
You may recall I took you 3 kids out
before the crack of dawn one time, and it was great!
(Yes, I did
remember that glorious time, and much later, painted my own small
watercolor of it from memory for a friend.)
you his best and thanks again.
John says to send
With love, D.K.”
The Atkinson Graphic printed an item about the Kirsch
painting, which depicted the John J. Dvorak farm.
Blanche Spann
Pease was a gifted writer from a farm near Atkinson, and my dad
helped her get a start by publishing her “Mrs. Atkinson Farmer”
column in the Graphic. Her identity was kept secret for a time
possibly to see how successful it might be.
secret was out.
It was, and the
She published favorite recipes and household
hints and I remember how amused I was when she gave instructions
on how to fold the newly marketed fitted bed sheets.
In those
days ladies still ironed pillow slips and tops of sheets, cloth
napkins, etc.
Later, Blanche became well known in the state for
her “Lines from the Little House” published in the Omaha WorldHerald and her fans often drove to the Pease farm to visit her.
John came over to Omaha the summer of 1971.
He and Dwight
had just been notified that they would receive about $40,000
worth of blue chip GTE stock from Dwight's cousin, Millie
Scheetz's estate.
She was the eccentric lady Dwight visited in
California during his trip to the Orient - the one who was
476
shocked that he smoked a pipe and drank beer.
They were the only
members of the Kirsch family she liked and thus honored.
The
inheritance saved Dwight from financial ruin, and they were
naturally elated.
So was I!
The Omaha stay was uneventful except that I tried to wean
John away from his beer with iced tea as a substitute.
very bloated, which alarmed and worried me.
He was
Why I did not take
the initiative and get him to a doctor in Omaha, I don't know,
except that I was reluctant to interfere.
from heart disease did not occur to me.
That he was bloated
I simply thought the
condition was from beer.
During the visit, John was not his old self.
No trips to
the Joslyn or to the mall, just a few short drives.
He told me
about his painting again, but his general behavior was lethargic,
and so we simply talked.
On one of the drives, he asked, “Do you mind if I live
nearby you folks if anything should happen to Papa?”
I, of
course, answered in the affirmative and could feel his relief.
When he left, he promised to give up alcohol and take his
medication.
That was the last time I saw him!
Dorothy Peterson remembered, “John was intrigued with a card
I had sent him from the Prado Museum in Madrid.
For a little
incentive, I gave him some linen canvas and took over a bunch of
pitchers, vases, etc., from which he might choose the articles as
477
models for his painting.
Imagine how good we felt when he got
out his staple gun and the linen canvas, gave us a lesson on
stretching canvas, and proceeded to paint on this large canvas,
his version of a line-up of interestingly shaped objects, most of
which he found in his own cupboard, in the manner of the Prado
masterpiece!”
“In the fall of 1971, he painted on wood, the autumn foliage
in the woods he could see from their back windows.
It was a gold
and brown and sage green and burnt sienna, a color we teased John
about.
It seemed to be his favorite color; he suggested it for
under painting; he used it in other ways; and it happened to be
the color of his hair.”
(He used it for his portraits of me,
also.)
“At a workshop on October 21, John gave me such good advice
on how to correct a problem on my portrait of our daughter,
advice that relieved my despair of it, that I said ‘Oh, John!
could hug you!’
I
I was old enough to be his mother, so I didn't.
But he grinned, so happy that he helped someone over a rough spot
in her work.”
“Early the next morning, Dwight called me and said, ‘In the
night, John got up, blacked out and fell, and died!
call the students?’
Will you
We were not too surprised, for some time, he
had shown the edema of a heart insufficiency.
But how saddened
we were to lose this gentle talented person with so many
478
problems, some of which he seemed to be resolving.
JoAnn Alexander came to help Dwight through it all.
His cousin,
She, also an
artist, arranged a handsome spray of leaves from their backyard
woods, full of burnt sienna (with one special touch of red), the
ones he had just painted.”
I had not seen the painting on wood, it appeared later, but
I was sure the leaves on John's coffin were appropriate.
Walking
around Dwight's grounds, with the woods in back, supplied more
than enough beautiful fall-painted branches.
A hothouse floral
display would have been completely inappropriate for John, and
Dwight.
Tabor and Vernie came from Chicago, and Brenda from
Atkinson.
When Dwight called, he did not want me to come
immediately, but to wait until the services the following
Tuesday.
He said that John had gone for groceries that day and
had a bad cold.
I suppose I was not surprised, but the fact of
it brought on floods of tears, until I managed to compose myself
at the motel before facing people.
Mercifully, the service in
the funeral home was short and rather informal, with Dwight
wandering around shaking hands and greeting friends.
Dorothy wrote, “With no service planned at the grave,
Dwight, on the spur of the moment, took off his familiar beret,
and felt moved to say a few words of loving good-bye to his son.
And we who were there were also moved.
479
(Tabor also made
appropriate remarks.)
We students had prepared the house, and a
tea table, so Dwight's friends could visit him in his home after
the funeral services.
That day he showed his appreciation with
unusual emotion and affection.”
Tabor took pictures, one of me sewing and trying to patch a
very worn club chair in the living room.
around!
I could not just sit
Dwight in a rather drunken condition, tried to sign,
with little success, one or two of John's paintings he gave to
family members.
When we all left, we wondered what he would do,
how could he cope?
There did not appear to be a thing any of us
could do!
Many years later, while reading John's death certificate, I
learned he was suffering from cirrhosis, along with a bad heart,
which explained why he was so swollen.
Dorothy Peterson remembered, “John and Dwight and we had
planned an art show of our works at the West Side Library for
October 30.
We all decided we should go ahead with it, include
works John had recently painted, and make the show our memorial
to John.
People said it was a good show.
Several remarked that
there was such a diversity of styles, that both John and Dwight
evidently encouraged their students to find their own style, and
not copy teachers.
That was true.”
“I was amazed to hear Dwight Kirsch’s voice on the telephone
after John’s death informing me he was taking over John’s classes
480
the very next week,” wrote Sylvia Shapiro.
“His strength and
endurance at the time of the tragic and sudden loss of his son is
something I will never forget.
He was bound to put John’s ‘house
in order’ and go on with whatever commitments John had made.
This slight, aged, mild mannered man and superb teacher was
indeed a great among men with great spiritual strength which
filled all of us in his presence with inspiration, respect and
love for him.”
In his own notes on John, Dwight wrote, “John continued
teaching intermittently until October, 1971.
During this period,
he did some of the best painting of his life, largely in acrylic.
Formerly he had painted in oils or gouache, sometimes casein, and
in ink for drawings.”
“After John's death on October 22, 1971, I received nearly a
hundred cards and letters of sympathy, from all over, California
to New York - from John's former classmates and students, and
from many of my friends in Nebraska and Iowa, as well as
relatives.”
He wrote me in November, “Dear JoAnn: Thanks for your note
and for the check for John's Memorial Fund (at the Des Moines Art
Center). . it now totals nearly $300, and I am planning to give
some 4 art originals, and will offer about 3 of John's recent
works.”
481
“I am slow at sending thank you notes, but the funeral home
furnished folders and envelopes, like the ones enclosed.”
“The Memorial Show (see clipping) was wonderful, 19 of
John's pictures plus 6 owned by other people, over 80 pictures by
John's students and some sculptures = 1 wood carving and heads of
me by 3 students (casts).”
“I am going to drive to Indianola this month to start Art
Workshop classes there.
They are to be spread out over 2 weeks,
but groups are driving up here to meet at the house four
afternoons.
It is close (about 30 miles) but I'll stay overnight
at a motel there after night classes, as I do not like to drive
at night.
My best to all, and thanks for everything. Dwight.”
482
Chapter 26
“Cats: D. Peterson, P. Patrick, Classes, Hospital”
Most of the time while we were growing up, John had a cat,
so it was not a surprise to learn they again had one.
Dorothy
Peterson said, “Some kind friend gave the Kirsches a Siamese
kitten.
They enjoyed the care and affection they got from, and
gave, the beautiful little animal.
and they called her Sumi.
Dwight sketched it in ink,
We all sketched her.
Then someone
made a great mistake and gave them another kitten, a male
Himalayan they called Maximillian - Maxie for short.
long, some of us were sketching six cats!
Before
My painting was of
Maxie and the four part Siamese kittens cuddled on a pieced wool
comforter.”
“Since it takes immaculate housekeeping to keep a house
odor-free with only one indoor cat, anyone could foretell
disaster; for they practically ignored housecleaning.
They had
been able to slide by with a smallest amount of the housekeeping
they thought was worth bothering with.
interests.
care.
They had more creative
The house was well designed to need a minimum of
But by the time of the entrance of the cats, the men were
483
no longer hiring a woman to come in and clean; they were saving
money, and had more privacy by doing their own cleaning.”
I bought cleaning supplies and tried to tidy up after John's
funeral - the old refrigerator, with the insulation falling out
of the freezer unit, that made such odd noises that Dwight said
it “talked,” was a challenge, and I wasn't keen on eating any
food in it.
That next year Kelly ran in the Drake Relays for the Air
Force Academy.
We stopped to see Dwight and were bowled over by
the cat odor in the house.
It was so awful that we could smell
it all the way home to Omaha and even taste it.
years, I can still “smell” it.
After twenty-odd
Fred continued to call when he
went through Des Moines, but usually Dwight suggested they meet
at a restaurant instead of the house.
One of the last times Fred
visited Dwight at home, he found him sitting in his chair
drinking beer, smoking his pipe, and staring at the snowy, nopicture TV screen, in kind of a stupor.
Peggy Patrick remembered, “When I took Dwight to the grocery
store, he would fill his cart with leeks, cat food and beer.”
One of Pat Dinnen's boys was over to the house helping one day
and saw Dwight feed his cats, then lick the spoon after he
scraped the can!
In 1974, a wonderful event occurred for Dwight.
He was
honored by a joint exhibit at the Des Moines Art Center and the
484
Sheldon Gallery in Lincoln called “The Kirsch Years,” a
celebration of his 75th birthday!
The Kellys and Brenda drove to
Lincoln from Atkinson, and I went over from Omaha for the opening
on February 24th.
My mother worried that Dwight wouldn't have on
a clean shirt and tie, however, he looked fine - a slightly
disheveled suit with a nearly clean red tie, and of course, his
black beret.
Looking back, it is funny, my mother worrying about him in
Lincoln, while Peggy Patrick worried about the same thing in Des
Moines - that he wouldn't have on a clean white shirt.
She said,
“He was a little crumpled, but Dwight always had a sort of
crumpled look so that wasn't too bad, and it was a lovely day,
and he did remember everyone (his mind was sharp).
I offered to
drive him to Lincoln and Mary Mattern chose to go along.
By this
time both of them were slightly hard of hearing, and what with
the roar of the car motor and so on, and the two of them talking
constantly and concurrently the entire way over and the entire
way back, they got increasingly incensed with each other because,
one was not listening to the other, neither of them aware that
the other was talking, tho it was a perfectly delightful
experience, it was one of the longest days I have ever spent in
my entire life. . but the incredible tales that they told, the
people who'd crossed their paths, the artists they knew, the
485
students they influenced, the mark they left on two museums, it
was truly a remarkable day.”
The “Kirsch Years, 1936-1958.
A Testimonial Exhibition” was
an assemblage of the paintings and sculptures from the permanent
collections of the two museums during the time Dwight was there.
The exhibition catalogue states: “Mr. Kirsch served both
institutions at a point in their respective histories when the
foundations of acquisition policy were being laid and it is
evident that they were well laid.
of this transition in both museums.
Mr. Kirsch presided over part
It is hard for us to
remember the shock waves, which resulted from the acquisition of
paintings by Hartley, Kuniyoshi and Marin, but we are now
grateful for these paintings.
They are the sounding board
against which our current acquisitions are tested.
That they do
not diminish in their resonance is evidence of how well they were
chosen.
In both cases, his knowledge and taste are conspicuously
evident, a matter for our continuous appreciation and
congratulations to him on the occasion of his seventy-fifth
birthday.
James T. Demetrion, Director, Des Moines Art Center;
Norman A. Geske, Director, University of Nebraska Art Galleries.”
In a letter to me, Dwight wrote, “Thought you might like to
have the enclosed clipping from the Des Moines Register.
beautiful show - ends here February 10.
It is a
Some items will not go
to Lincoln - large Goya oil and Rodin sculpture and only 2 of my
486
own pictures (6 are shown here).
They also include some 30 of
the Truby Kelly Kirsch collection. . including one of John's and
a watercolor by Truby (these will not go to Lincoln).
Lincoln on February 24 (a Sunday) in early p.m.
there and hope you can, too.
Opening at
I hope to be
Love, DK.”
Mabel Eiseley wrote Dwight February 6, 1974, “Dear Dwight,
Mary Mattern sent us one of the announcements of ‘your’ show at
Des Moines and Lincoln, and she also wrote us to say that the
show is very very beautiful and that it demonstrates for all time
what your contributions to the two institutions have been.
would have loved to see it.
How I
I remember how skillfully you worked
at Nebraska to get the authorities to buy the right things for
the collections and with what finesse - you arranged for the
exhibitions.”
“As I'm sure I've told you before I feel that I owe you a
great debt of gratitude, for you opened so many windows for me.
Working with you was a joy which I shall never forget.”
“We go along as usual.
busy as ever.
I have leisure now, but Loren is as
He hopes to continue until 70, and if his health
continues to be satisfactory I'm sure he will.
He is as
intellectually eager as ever, and gets excited about new ideas
and insights.
His poetry has been going well and he has been
giving some readings here and there.
I do not go with him on his
trips for they are generally one-night stands and I would only be
487
an impediment on such frenzied journeys as he often makes.
But
he always telephones me on arrival, and sometimes afterwards, to
let me know how things have gone.
This I appreciate since it is
always something of a worry to have him start out on one of these
trips so fraught with transportation and other uncertainties.”
“As far as you're concerned I'm sure you're still busy too
with your painting and lectures.
This reminds me to tell you how
frequently your sandhill painting, which hangs in our living
room, is admired.
Most recent of the admirers were Patrick
Young, science writer for the National Observer, and his wife,
who came to interview Loren.
I don't know whether you saw the
article or not - it was in the Jan. 26th issue of the Observer. .
Loren is (and I am too) also very fond of the pastel of the
seashells, which you gave us.
We treasure your work and glow
with pride when it is admired.”
“You may not know that Agatha Bell remarried.
reaction was, how could she!
My first
But I do understand her loneliness.
She is going to California to live.
We have not met her husband
but a mutual friend tells us he is a ‘nice guy.’
More important
- Spike's work was shown at the Museum of the City of New York
(5th Ave. at 103rd St.) and the exhibition aroused a good deal of
favorable attention, including a notice in the New Yorker (‘Talk
of the Town, Nov.26, 1973’).
Agatha is going to continue to push
Spike's work and is going to change galleries.
488
Apparently
Antoinette Kraushaar did little or nothing for Spike.
The new
gallery will be Hammer-Knoedler and I believe there is to be a
big “opening” of the Bell show sometime in the early fall. . The
New Yorker mentioned Spike's paintings as memorializing a
“vanished city.”
I remember that you once said his work would be
important historically.
And we loved him.
We own two of his things which we love.
Our love to you.
We think of you very often,
warmly, Mabel.”
During that cold winter, Dwight called me one day to tell me
that his sister Bess had died and would I meet him in Lincoln for
the services?
He had arranged only a simple graveside ceremony
at Wyuka Cemetery in the Kirsch family plot.
I remember noticing
Dwight's mother's name on her headstone, “Lovie Gifford Kirsch,”
and Dwight said “my grandparents were so much in love that they
gave my mother the name Lovie when she was born.”
Aunt Bess had
been in the nursing home for a number of years, and earlier had
been in and out of a mental institution.
Dwight had cared for
her and must have felt both sad yet relieved at her death.
She
had an unfortunate early marriage, spent the best years of her
life while she was still very attractive caring for Uncle Jake.
Then she had thick dark hair, sparkling brown eyes and beautiful
white skin, yet it appeared she had no chance for a life of her
own. There was never a word of complaint.
489
After we parted, it did not cross my mind that it would be
two years before seeing Dwight.
Fred's parents had both died,
and we decided to leave Omaha's climate and move to Canon City,
Colorado.
We were baffled at what we could do about Dwight - but
couldn't very well interfere, after all, he was not an uncle by
blood, his mind was good, and he was strong-willed concerning his
preferred life-style.
We did nothing but send him our new
address.
Dorothy Peterson commented, “After John was gone, things
were even more difficult for Dwight; yet even more he held on to
his privacy.
We knew he saw he could no longer ignore the task
of housekeeping.
Yet it seemed he didn't have energy or money to
do something about it, and he was embarrassed at having us see
the situation any more, even though the group had dwindled down
to the old faithful.
After we took a bunch of garbage bags one
day, wanting to help take out to the street some of the sacks of
garbage and cat litter that were stacking up on the stairs, he
said ‘No.
Just leave the bags.’”
“We were not surprised when he called early in 1974 and said
he was going to have classes at Whittier School.
“There are too
many complications to have them at home.”
“He could not drive his car anymore.
We were glad of that,
for his fenders were all dented and crumpled, and we feared that
his luck would run out some day when he would be looking at the
490
sunset or the clouds instead of where he was going in the parking
lot.
So we made a schedule for taking turns to get him to and
from Whittier School.”
“After that summer of 1973, never would he invite us, or
anyone else to my knowledge, into the house.
Not even when it
was my turn to take him home one day from Whittier, after he had
a fainting spell in class, in March 1975.
He refused in
insistent terms (the only time he was really cross) to go to the
hospital to be checked.
He said he hadn't had much sleep, for he
was up in the night trying to get his furnace to work, and he got
cold.
So I asked a man in the class to follow me, to be sure I
wouldn't have an emergency.
Dwight would not let us go in with
him, said he was OK, and promised to call us that night and the
next morning.”
“Later, I called his neighbors, two young men who were
friendly with him, and asked if they would help us check on
Dwight.
They said they had been taking him to the grocery,
except for times he took a taxi.
carry things in for him.
take care of them.’
But he would never let them
‘Just leave them at the door and I'll
They said they wanted to help him in any
way, but did not want to affront the man's dignity by forcing
their help on him.
anything wrong.
They took my number to call if they noticed
They did not call, and things seemed to be as
491
usual.
Since Dwight had always been jealous of his privacy, this
was not untypical.”
“Most people did not know of the cat situation.
So Dwight
was getting a reputation of becoming a recluse, and unsocial.
That was not the case.
He finished out both Spring and Fall
classes at Whittier in 1974 and 1975 in friendly good spirits as
usual, doing interesting demonstrations and good critiques.
However, we guessed it was only in our classes that he was doing
creative work.
We feared that watching TV and fixing his meals
were taking most of his time and energy.
new full white beard accentuated that.
for a cough.
He seemed older, but a
He seemed well, except
But he always had a cough, apologizing for it by
saying ‘I guess I should give up smoking my pipe, but..’
then he would try to light it again.
more matches than tobacco.
And
We teased about his smoking
On our last class of the season, on
Nov. 7, 1975, we all took special cookies, served coffee, and
made it a party.
We said good bye to him, with ‘see you next
year.’”
Dorothy Peterson received a call on Saturday, December 20,
from a nurse who had been a talented member of their workshop
saying, “We have Dwight here in our hospital.”
Peggy Patrick picked up the account.
“That December, it was
late on a Friday afternoon - after 4 o'clock, I got a call from
the sheriff's office.
The Iowa Power and Light man had gone out
492
to the house and found things in such very bad array that he felt
somebody should be called.
The sheriff did go out and Dwight
came to the door and said ‘Thank you for being concerned about
me, but everything is perfectly all right,’ and went off, but the
sheriff knew that things weren't all right, but also there was
nothing they could do.”
Investigation showed them that he used to be a director of
the very prestigious Des Moines Art Center, and somehow they got
my number and called me, as I was someone who knew Dwight.
“There's no heat in the house and we didn't think he's had
anything to eat for a long time.
It's cold, and it's going to
get down to zero tonight, and we think that he might even not
make it through the night if he stays in that house, which is
what he wants to do.”
“I said why don't you take him to the hospital, why don't
you get him out - why don't you take care of him?
‘we can't unless someone commits him.’
I tried to reach my attorney.
And they said,
It was a very hard hour.
I couldn't, I didn't know what
kind of legal things to do. . by this time I am divorced, by this
time I'm by myself, and I knew that my acts are only accountable
to myself.
But I wanted to know what I should do, and I couldn't
reach anyone, so I knew I had to make a decision and so they said
to me, “we'll stay down here 20 more minutes if you can get down,
it was after 5 o'clock.
So I went down to the courthouse.
493
The
legal work for what I did was to commit Dwight to Broadlawns
Mental Institute Health Care Unit. . I don't like the word
‘committed’ it sounds like a punishment.
What I did know now was
to give him the opportunity to live that last part of his life
out with dignity and grace.”
Dwight had been burning furniture and wood paneling in the
fireplace to keep warm.
He had frostbite on his hands and feet
and probably would not have lived more than a few hours.
It is
obvious he was suffering from hypothermia, and in that state
people can do crazy things, without proper food and warmth, one
loses touch with reality.
In this situation, even an intelligent
man like Dwight had no sense of lucidity.
Dorothy Peterson continued the story, “On Sunday, as I was
getting ready to go to see him, Dwight called me and asked if I
would do some little calling jobs for him, such as cancelling his
Register and Tribune newspapers. . He said,
the hospital.
“I am pleased with
The doctors have been giving me good tests for
heart, and everything else; the food is good and I have a clean
room, it is a pleasant place and the nurses give me good care.”
“When I told him I was ready to go to see him, he said ‘No,
if you do those things for me you don't need to come today.’
smiled to myself.
He was back in charge!”
“Broadlawns loved him. . he did portraits of patients,
portraits of the staff, they adored him,” according to Peggy.
494
I
“There are things that Dwight did that I'm sure are still hanging
there.
And nurses and patients, and people he helped by simply
being there.
And during that time (10 weeks) he pulled himself
together, and he knew that there was a reason to go on.
Art
supplies were gotten for him, contacts were gently made with the
outside world.”
During this same time, because of a crisis in our family,
our daughter, Wendy, and I were temporarily back in Omaha so she
could finish high school.
I found a job with Gary Goldstein's
architectural firm working on the tornado-damaged Temple Israel.
We hadn't heard from Dwight at Christmas time, or even New
Year's, which is when he usually sent one of his hand-done cards.
Something told me things were not right with him and I
called from work.
His phone had been disconnected.
The only
other place I knew to call was the art center, hoping someone
there would still know about him.
Luckily, Peggy was there.
Dwight had lost our Colorado address; they had been searching,
but couldn't find me!
After leaving the office in tears, I drove over to Des
Moines, I think Wendy stayed with a friend or her brother, Mark.
So much had happened to us since that September, that this was
overwhelming.
My mother was in the Good Samaritan Home in
Atkinson and then my Uncle Dwight! They say things happen in
threes and this was the third!
495
By the time I got there in January, Peggy had hired two
responsible young men to clean out the house and save art objects
and other things of value.
She told of going into the house, and
afterward had to see a doctor for burns on her face from the urea
fumes from the cats.
The men who cleaned had to wear respirator
masks and protective clothing.
They hauled out over thirty
truckloads of beer cans and other rubbish.
The Humane Society
tried to round up the cats and lost count at about thirty-three.
They had used the entire house as their litter box.
I went over to the house and found John's “Mother and Child”
apricot wood sculpture just outside the front door, which had
been left unlocked.
I was told it was of no value because of its
condition, I said nothing but felt otherwise.
Apricot wood is
dense and whatever oil John had used for finish, after the
ravages of cats and weather there was no lasting harm, though it
did require a good share of elbow grease and fresh air to
eliminate the obvious. With great difficulty I lifted my precious
cargo into the trunk of my car.
content to rest on our buffet.
“Mother and Child” now seem
Our Colorado climate suits it
after a careful application of pure beeswax.
I looked in the kitchen cupboards and drawers and found Aunt
Truby's ribbed, clear, Depression glass plates, and her silver
plate flatware.
The sterling silver bowl given to Dwight by the
Nebraska Art Association was on the counter, black with tarnish.
496
In the master bedroom, I knew where Aunt Truby had kept her
jewelry.
Yes, her things were resting in the partially hidden
drawer under the top of her dressing table, untouched by the cats
- her diamond ring; her onyx and silver Mexican broach and
earrings; her copper/brass pin from a crafts-person at the art
center; one Phi Beta Kappa key; Delta Phi Delta pins and keys;
her college sorority pin; Dwight’s black Kosmet Club pin; Aunt
Bess's diamond ring; etc.
(The seven pins and four keys were
mounted on a hand woven, wool upholstery sample and framed for
him for a special event.
He apparently did not care for the
frame color and later repainted it, but typically said nothing.
I smile when I look at it.)
At Peggy's house, in her basement, I went through piles of
Dwight's papers and paintings, and in the shuffle, while sifting
through a box I found a discharge paper from the United States
Army, 1918!
Dwight in the army?
believe our eyes.
Peggy and I could hardly
Of all people, who would have thought of him
in a uniform, or holding a gun!
At first we didn't realize he
had been in the service just as a student, but when we told him
about it, he said yes, he had been in the Student Army Training
Corps in the university, and remembered “the eats were good.”
That piece of paper counted!
I took some of Dwight's things to Atkinson for safekeeping,
checked on my mother who was recovering from a stroke and heart
497
attack, and soon returned to Canon City with Wendy.
I had
finished my work on the temple and Wendy finished her high school
through the University of Nebraska Extension Division.
Dwight's own relatives, for one reason or another, could
not, or would not take responsibility for him.
should not have that burden.
him live near us.
We knew Peggy
Fred and I agreed to try and have
We wondered what we might be getting into!
A new Veteran's Nursing Home was nearly finished near
Florence, Colorado, just ten or twelve miles from Canon City and
a friend and I had driven over for the groundbreaking ceremony.
It was to open that winter, and would be a perfect place for
Dwight to live, if they would accept someone from out of the
state, and if he agreed.
I filled out an application, was
interviewed, and anxiously awaited an answer.
ret., helped us. Yes, they would take him!
Major Moore, USMC
I asked for a private
room, knowing he required privacy, and he was assigned one near
the reception area, boardroom and front office.
In the meantime, Peggy was still his conservator.
She had
found unpaid bills, uncashed checks, including those from Social
Security and no doubt a dividend check from the GTE stock Cousin
Millie left him, etc.
In her letter to Norman and Jane Geske,
Peggy wrote, “It's time I gave you a progress report on Dwight.
I have been so involved being ‘mother’ for the past months that
498
there has been no time to post you.
We have made progress,
however, and on all fronts!”
“Physically he is worlds better!
15 pounds heavier, clean, eating, etc.
Frostbite under control,
Even have had the beard
and hair (both white/gray) trimmed and at his request!
sketching & painting again!
He's
He left the hospital 2 days ago
(February 20, 1976) and I just put him on a plane to Colorado
where he will visit his favorite niece, JoAnn Alexander, and look
over the retirement situation there.
I have sold the house, am
still weeding through the salvageable art works (much was not never trust some thirty cats!).
He willingly (actually
relievedly) made me legal conservator so I have some basis on
which to operate.
The story will have a happy ending!
Mentally
he is very sharp!
Only this house situation is blocked out. .
Will let you know if he decides to stay there or if I go on a
hunt up here!
Peggy Patrick.”
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Chapter 27
“Colorado: 1976-1981; Travels, Painting, Death”
During the few weeks he stayed with us in February, 1976,
Dwight wrote, “Dear Marguerite, I was delighted to get your note
- don't know how you managed to trace me down, I suppose through
the D.M. Art Center.
Peggy Patrick has been a big help to me,
and has been court-appointed as my “conservator.”
selling my house in D.M.
That includes
There has been a bid, but the deal has
not gone through.”
“I flew from D.M. to Colorado Springs last Thursday.
JoAnn
and her husband, Fred, met me at the airport and drove me here about an hour's drive.
You probably have been through Canon City
on your way to Santa Fe and Taos years ago.”
“The Alexanders built a nice modern house here over a year
ago, designed by George Haecker of Lincoln - but a lot of JoAnn's
ideas went into it.
I am doing some art projects here, some
experiments with native materials that JoAnn is helping to do.”
“I did a lot of pictures at the hospital in D.M.
Nurses and
art friends brought me art supplies.
I worked mostly in pastel
and charcoal, sprayed with fixative.
I did portraits of patients
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and nurses, flower studies - then got into watercolors and
acrylics, working from memory of Hawaii, Bali, Japan..”
“Now, as to the future.
I had thought of going on to
Tuscon, where Lyda Dell Burry Sigler and Don and their daughter,
Dottie, have moved, from Hannibal, Mo. - until April or May.”
“Meanwhile a new U.S. Veterans' Nursing home has opened up
near here, so they made a tentative application for me.
There
are more restrictions there than I like; but I may try it out for
a month anyhow.
After all, I would not be isolated.
Besides
JoAnn and Fred and daughter Wendy (the 2 older boys are away
elsewhere), I have Truby's older brother and his 2 sons (Eric and
Todd Kelly) and their families who have ranches not far away.
I'll try to let you know what transpires.
With love, Dwight.”
In his February 25th letter to Dorothy Peterson, he wrote
from Canon City, “Dear Dorothy, My plane trip to Colorado was
right on schedule.
JoAnn and her husband Fred met me at the
airport in Colo. springs then we drove here - about an hour's
ride.
Canon city is in the foothills.
Pike's peak is barely
visible from the outskirts; and to the west, mountains of the
Sangre de Cristo range.”
“We have been on several interesting drives, including those
out to ranch homes of my other relatives-in-law, my brother-inlaw, his two sons and their families.”
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“JoAnn and I are also getting into some art projects with
natural materials.
Stains (including some from wilted red
carnations, and from black walnut hulls).
Also some mixtures
from red earth, of which there is a lot along the roads nearby, &
leaf prints.
I have been doing some work in pastel & charcoal, a
colorful dried flower bouquet that JoAnn fixed; and smaller
pictures from memory, of mountains and clouds.”
“We had some snow here the morning after I came.
They had
more farther north and on the western slope of the mountains. .
Now as to what I do next.
We have investigated the U.S.
Veterans' Nursing home. . My relatives could come to see me any
time as they have no special visiting hours, as Broadlawns does.
With my best to all, Dwight K.”
To Lynn Trank, he wrote on March 27, 1976, “Dear Lynn, Twas
mighty glad I was to get your letter, about two weeks ago, and it
brought me luck, too, as you will read below.”
“Between you and Marguerite, I have had more letters, etc.
from Tom McClure, a broadside from his gallery in Chicago, and a
good hand-written note from Kady Faulkner, still living in an
apartment overlooking the lake, with a woman friend.”
“Since March first I have been living in a new place, which
may be my ‘home’ for some time.
It is a Colorado State Veteran's
Nursing Home (I'll give full name and address at end of this
letter).
This is about 12 miles from my niece's home in Canon
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City.
This is a modern building, all on one floor, meant to
house about 120 ‘patients’ - but as yet only some 50 people, four
women, and the rest men.
Most of them are pitiful - only about 8
or 10 walk without a cane or wheel chair.
of nurses and doctors, which they get.
meals, etc.
They really need care
Also beds, laundry,
It is a pretty good deal, only $240 per month, which
is less than my Social Security check per month.”
“Because the place was not nearly full, I got one of the
four single rooms - most of them have two beds each, with
lavatory and adjoining toilet.
My room is near the main
entrance, with a lounge, where I can smoke my pipe (but not in my
room), and read, or write letters.
There are color T.V. sets.”
“My room has good light and lots of wall space, where I can
tape up my pictures to study them.
While I did portraits and
flower studies in the Des Moines hospital, I have not done any
here; but mostly things from memory and imagination.
Especially
from memories of things seen on good trips I've taken with my
niece and nephew. . mountains, cliffs, clouds, trees and
interesting effects of color and light.
Lately, my pictures have
taken a turn toward more abstract, decorative, ‘designey’
expressions.”
“The most exciting and productive art-wise, was a 35 mile
trip to the little town of Westcliffe - at the foot of part of
the Sangre de Cristo Range.
There the mountains were snow-
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covered, with blowing snow on the peaks.
I asked my nephew to
stop the car on a hilltop with a good view, and so I made a quick
sketch with a ballpoint pen on the back of the envelope your
letter came in,-delivered to me that day.
From that I have
developed three different versions, a pastel on blue-gray toned
charcoal paper, a watercolor, and a large vertical on thin
Japanese paper (same as the sketch I am enclosing) - in sumi and
some acrylic white.”
(The large vertical painting has been
gracing our stairwell wall for many years and it is still
exciting plus the bonus of good memories of that little ride.
There was no wide turnoff on that road into Westcliffe but when
he asked Fred to stop-it was a bit risky.
That happened often
with him, but the results were worth every gamble.)
“As I want to keep the original sketch, I made a tracing on
Japanese paper in sumi and a little white to send you with my
thanks.
I want to get a Polaroid camera so eventually I can
photograph some of my pictures to send people.”
“I've been taken on other interesting trips - to Denver some
200 miles (actually about 120), and to Pueblo - only about 35
miles.
I believe Katherine Schwake Stone lives in Denver - also
Betty Quinton.
Denver again.
So I'll try to get in touch with them if we go to
With my best to y'all.
As ever, Dwight K.”
An April letter, again to Dorothy, mentions, “art materials
are expensive, as I am discovering by buying them myself.
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Such
as $3.50 for a palette knife for painting.
There are some
outlets for exhibiting and selling work here.
One is a new place
to open soon - as the store in Canon City where I have been
buying art supplies.
framing, too.
They sell on 20% commission, and do
The local art association also has an art center
gallery where they show and sell work by local artists.”
“Now let me thank you for several things you have sent me.
The address book (with enclosed note) is very handy.
to it addresses of people who write me.
She is near Denver.
I am adding
Among them Anita Wilson.
Also got your long, newsy letter - with
color photos of my pastels = much better than your first batch.”
“Now I need some more white soft pastels sticks.
find a place to get them.
reimburse you somehow.
If you can
I'd appreciate it - and would try to
I did buy a small box of Grumbacher
pastels - but with only one stick of white. . With my best to you
and to friends of mine you may see.
Dwight K.”
The store he mentioned was probably Art Works, a small,
charming gallery/shop owned by Cara Donovan and Kathryn Adams
from 1977-1980.
Dwight had shown some of his work there, because
when a tragic fire destroyed their place, including all the
beautiful art works, Dwight was relieved that none of his things
were there.
Since she is an artist, Cara was especially
interested in Dwight’s work when he was alive.
505
That April, I talked to the editor of the local newspaper,
and as a result, she drove out to the nursing home and
interviewed Dwight.
He wrote to Dorothy and Marguerite telling
them about the same news, “The enclosed clipping shows me and
some of my work done here - in a pretty good interview.
By
coincidence, in the same paper is a story about the frightening
thing that happened to JoAnn Alexander, my niece.
I saw her
yesterday = she is getting along O.K. and is in good spirits.
She doesn't stay alone or go out alone as yet.
I have seen her
since her return from plastic surgery at Colorado Springs. . I
think she will make it after all, as she has courage.”
(I was
violently attacked and left for dead by an intruder in our home.
. was in intensive care, etc.)
“The Alexanders took me on a long trip two weeks ago that
provided subject matter, via pencil sketches done on the trip.
From these I have made eight pictures.
This trip was south and
west, to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument.
On the way were
great views of the west sides of the Sangre de Cristo mts.
About
your note of long ago - I did go to Bali for 4 or 5 days in Nov.
1956.
With overnight stops in Jakarta.
In Bali I stayed at the
Bali Hotel in Dan Pasar, and had good tours, to see native dances
and stunning views -including the high volcanic peak - Gunung
Hgung.
I was also invited to lunch at the home of an artist
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(Belgian), who had married a beautiful Balinese dancer at Aanur
Beach.”
Dwight's letters speak for themselves, telling of his
activities in and around his new “home” in Florence.
He was a
regular visitor in our home, and he especially appreciated
joining us for meals - usually on Sundays and holidays.
We began a tradition that endured until his death, the
“Great Beer Smuggling Caper!”
I took him two six packs every
week, carefully concealed in a brown paper grocery sack.
On
leaving, he gave me his empty cans, again carefully hidden.
I am
sure the authorities must have known what we were doing, but they
said nothing.
He was discrete when he drank them, always
covering the can with a cloth, and, since I had never read the
rules of the place, I could honestly plead ignorance.
I figured
if he managed to live through the cat-pollution in his Des Moines
home, two six-packs would probably be good for him and make him
happy.
He was often so anxious to drink a can, he would politely
“dismiss” me after the delivery.
In fact, we had at that time, a
nice but talkative neighbor who would corner people, but Dwight
simply turned his back on him when he got bored, and walked away
saying nothing.
It was a great day when Peggy Patrick's shipment of Dwight's
belongings arrived in Colorado.
It was an enormous task for her
- there were paintings, boxes of papers, his mask collection,
507
African figures Loren Eiseley had given him, Mexican dishes,
Japanese teapot and cups, sake cups, family albums, etc., and his
prized desk.
His room at the nursing home was large enough for
the handsome piece (after I spent a few days cleaning off cat
residue).
He was especially happy to see the little tempera
painting of John, “Lamplight at Quitsea,” his study for “Frost on
the Hills,” and a small watercolor of a haystack near Atkinson,
and he immediately hung them in his room.
He needed a small portable table for painting, and we found
that a TV tray was perfect.
The adjustable bright yellow study
lamp was a great help to him, also, and I now use it.
We usually went on an excursion every week.
important for him to get out and about.
I felt it was
There are ample sites
that offer artistic inspiration within a radius of 35 miles of
Florence/Canon City.
They were delightful little trips.
However, at first I came home sick after inhaling pipe smoke all
afternoon.
I didn't have the heart to ask him not to smoke in
the car, so I opened the windows, which helped a bit.
Gradually,
he got the message and only lit up his pipe when we stopped,
which was often.
My one concern was my fear that he could easily fall while
taking pictures with his new Polaroid, since he often got
perilously close to drop-offs, like Auntie Mame's Beauregard.
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His guardian angel must have been looking out for him because my
fears were unfounded.
“Florence, Colo., Aug.12, 1976.
your newsy letter of August 2.
Dear Marguerite: Thanks for
Since I wrote you last, I've had
a 2-week stay in D.M. early June.
Part of the occasion was to
attend an outdoor Art Fair June 5th in the park back of the Art
Center.
Several of my former students were there to help show
and sell some of my pictures - mostly old-timers retrieved from
my house, which has been sold.”
“They did fairly well with sales (even at low prices).
The
total more than paid for the trip, art supplies, new clothes and
I bought a good model of Polaroid Land Camera to take color
shots.
There, on trips - I have used instead of sketches; and I
also take pictures of my paintings for reference.”
“Now I am getting ready for another plane trip - starting
next Sunday, the 15th - 10 days in D.M. and 4 days in Lincoln on
the way back.
The special occasion in D.M., August 17th is an
honor to be bestowed on me (and) 6 other ‘senior citizens’ for
accomplishments and leadership in the Arts.
The affair is
sponsored by the Iowa Arts Council and the State Governor.”
(The
governor presented him with a large, handsome silver medal
attached to a red, white and blue ribbon, which he later wore on
special occasions.
In her letter of 1982, Mary Steinberg, a
former adult student, said Dwight stayed with them during that
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trip – “we drove to Johnston north of Des Moines, Pioneer Feed
company has a lot of land in this area they use for experimental
purposes, maintaining beautiful fields of hybrid corn.”
On his
Polaroid shot of the painting “Iowa Corn”, is his notation
‘Aug.’76, Des Moines, completed June 25, ‘81’.
She and Dwight
took trips to Iowa State after he had left his ‘Artist-inResidence’ stint. – “I had to chuckle, we would go into the
‘back’ area, restricted to employees of the college book store,
and ‘find’ all these beautiful rice papers, supplies, etc., he
knew where to find everything because he had placed the original
orders.
The bookstore employees seemed to be completely unaware
of his presence, and offered no resistance to his seeking out his
own supplies and needs.
It was amusing, he had an air of
authority about him and no one questioned it.
I loved it!”)
“I don't expect to be here too long in Sept. after my
return.
JoAnn's husband (she's OK now), Fred got a new job in
Hutchinson, Kansas - he works on the road selling office
equipment and supplies, which he did in Omaha.
I wouldn't want
to be here without them near - though I hope to find a good
retirement home in Kansas or someplace.
With my best, Dwight.”
Moving to Kansas was out of the question for me, and I
regretted having Dwight worry about our uprooting him.
He
continued with a later letter, “Your good letter was awaiting me
on my arrival back here August 29th.
510
I addressed and stamped the
envelope shortly thereafter.
But I have gone thru a long period
of not writing letters until December.”
“I'm still here at the same place!
not to move to Kansas.
The Alexanders decided
Fred A. didn't like so much traveling and
neither of them liked Kansas.
They already had a lot of their
household effects packed, and the house was up for sale.
If it
is sold, they might move to Colorado Springs and Fred hopes to
get into selling real estate.”
“I still continue to paint a variety of things, largely from
Polaroid photos I take, instead of using sketches.
In Lincoln I
saw a friend of yours -assistant to Norman Geske - who met you in
Turkey or Lebanon?
With my best to you'all, Dwight.”
At first glance, the Canon City/Florence area would appear
to be devoid of many cultural activities, however, Dwight soon
found that was not true.
Thanks, in part, to Marge Christie, a
mover-shaker in art circles in southern Colorado, the Canon City
Fine Arts Center was thriving.
Each year they held a juried,
statewide Blossom Festival Exhibit.
By a quirk of fate, Marge
had attended a workshop lecture in Colorado Springs a number of
years earlier (about 1947 we think) on “How to Form a Community
Art Center,” and she still had her notes.
Dwight Kirsch!
The lecturer was
She respected him, and his work, introduced him
to Canon City art people and encouraged him to show his
paintings.
Fremont Center for the Arts can boast that it is the
511
oldest, continuously operating art center in the nation.
The 53rd
Annual Blossom Festival Art Exhibit was held May 2001.
There was not a lot of money to spend on frames and art
supplies at first.
(I even made him a portfolio covered with
brown/black/silver wallpaper with twill tape ties.)
We had to
wait until I could be appointed conservator because I was
spending a good deal of my personal funds on extra “frills.”
But
no matter, he was off to a flying start.
During his years at the Veterans Nursing Home, the
activities director and others were helpful in acquiring frames
and other materials he used for his pictures.
The Director of
Social Services, Katheryn Bair (who later purchased one of his
Taos paintings), and many of the nurses admired him and
appreciated the many paintings he hung on the corridor walls and
they also brought him flowers to paint.
In 1976, Dwight turned
out about 78 paintings and the following year, he surpassed that
by ten.
His media included water color, sumi, gouache, acrylic
(usually white and metallic gold), charcoal, Conte crayon,
pastel, and natural stains and dyes, all on various papers
including heavy water color paper, charcoal, Japanese and Chinese
mulberry, and fabric of linen and unbleached muslin.
His entry for the 1977 Blossom Festival Exhibit was a
colorful gouache in a linear/abstract design painted on a piece
of antique linen drawn-work tablecloth I gave him.
512
He called it
“Amerindian Echo.”
The design could have been inspired by the
pattern in the drawn-work, and the colors he used were unusual
for him; vibrant bitter greens, tones of orange and gold, with
little jewels of magenta and turquoise.
A month after the 1977 Blossom Exhibit, Marge Christie
arranged a one-man show at the Canon City Fine Arts Center,
complete with printed invitations which were sent to his friends
and former students.
A number of them drove from Colorado towns
and cities to see him again - Edgar Britton, and Betty Lamb
Quinton and her husband, and many others swarmed through the art
center, and our house.
During that time Harry and Dottie
Hawthorne, who are still active art patrons in Canon City,
invited Dwight and the cream of our local social scene to a
lovely party at their home.
He was very gratified and pleased
with the attention –loved the ‘refreshments’ and was definitely
in his element.
His sumi demonstration at his show was done in the
traditional manner of the artist sitting on a floor mat in front
of a roll of rice paper, brushes carefully placed along with the
stick of sumi on the small stone reservoir.
His gallery talk was
interesting and spiced with observations on style, color, subject
matter, of his work; proof that he was still capable, and
creative at age 78!
Could anyone ask for more?
513
When helping students during workshops he would make remarks
similar to those of Robert Henri, his old teacher at the Art
Students' League, “Never go outdoors to do a painting until you
have absorbed all the beauty you can see.
looking, then begin your study.
When you are finished
Observe nature to its fullest.
Do not be too clean with yourself and your art materials.
Until
you learn to relax and get dirty you can't express yourself.
Study the artists of the past and learn from them.”
He never forced his style on students; instead he worked to
bring out their unique talent.
and make your painting sing.”
“I hear the tune, now continue
Later, when he saw progress, “it
sings!”
Every year he chose at least two pictures for me to have
framed for the Blossom Exhibit, and the annual Regional Show.
There was no guarantee a person's art would be chosen by the
jury.
However, at least one of his was always picked.
There
were about 250 entries in the Blossom show each year, with about
150-160 chosen.
In 1981, Dwight was given a “meritorious award” for a small
self-portrait (8” X 10”) done in pastel, charcoal and gouache on
watercolor paper.
The prize was $100, a nice compliment for an
eighty-two year old.
ribbon.
paint.
Along with the check, was a purple rosette
I was amused when he toned down the rich purple with
It was just like him to “fix” something with which he was
514
not comfortable; he often went over frames I had selected (like
the framed Phi Beta Kappa key, etc.)
My mother warned me early on that I must be careful not to
let Dwight take advantage of me.
I knew what she meant and hated
to limit myself, but heeded her advice and tried - sometimes with
success, to be careful.
It was a huge temptation not to throw
myself into doing art with him more than I did.
Our kitchen was
already cluttered with infusions of dye made from flowers,
cooking walnut hulls, etc.
Ochre paint made from red earth had
to be strained (through old panty hose), and mixed with milk and I soon discovered – oil of cloves, to cut the sour odor.
The
red earth came from a little drive to Westcliffe on the
Hardscrabble Road.
Many paintings were done as a result of that favorite jaunt,
one of which is a prize.
He loved windmills but one of the most
unique was standing alongside the road to Wetmore (which is just
a few miles south of the Veterans Nursing Home and on the way to
Westcliffe).
It stood tall, and was a bit tattered but the top
few feet of the shaft was bent 45 degrees creating a cantilever the vanes proudly perched at the tip.
Water was pumped by the
windmill’s power into a concrete tank for the cattle.
captured the scene for posterity because that wonderful
contraption has since been torn down.
515
He
With the permission of the lawyers, I gave myself a small
allowance to cover the costs of our rides, lunches, and minor
expenses.
It proved to be a wise move because I never resented
having to spend time or money on him - indeed, it was a real
privilege to be around Dwight.
complained, or was cranky.
He was always interesting, never
It bothered him when it was time to
repaint the walls of his room, because all his pictures had to
come down, but he got over it.
The Polaroid film, and later the film for his Kodak
Instamatic, amounted to a considerable, and noticeable expense.
The judge, when he reviewed the conservatorship each year, seemed
alarmed until I explained that the film Dwight used was for his
work, and was a very good investment.
In addition to his normal
picture taking, he often shot a progressive sequence of a
painting in progress, as well as shots of finished pictures for
study, correction, and for sending to galleries and friends.
Dwight was an avid reader and thanks to the mobile library,
he had a good supply of material in addition to a few art books
he had me order from the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
He no
longer needed glasses, and he re-read many of his favorite
classics: James Joyce; Dickens; and mysteries, etc.
He read
magazines and clipped interesting pictures, soaked unusual labels
off bottles (Japanese beer), and made notes on subject matter he
intended to use.
Luckily, his 1956 Orient trip slides had been
516
saved from the cats, and he enjoyed reviewing them and did a few
pictures, using them to jog his memory.
Alas, his vast
collection of glass slides, which he kept in a case in his
bedroom, disappeared.
As Peggy wrote to Norman and Jane Geske,
“never trust some thirty cats.”
In 1977, he sent Mabel Eiseley a shot of a self-portrait he
had just finished and she replied, “Dear Dwight, It was a joy to
receive your letter and photo of your charming self-portrait.
I
must say your beard is very becoming - you look most
distinguished.
As I study the picture I recognize the Dwight I
knew in spite of the beard.
You still look remarkably young.”
“You may be interested in how your friends have borne the
years, so I'm enclosing a snap taken over a year ago by no one
less then Douglas Faulkner whose under-the-sea photographic books
grace many coffee tables.
He came, at his own behest, to take
some pictures of Loren, most of which Loren disliked.
The one
I'm sending you is not the best of the lot, but the others got
away from us.
Loren was released from the U. of P. Hospital
March 8. . and was promptly hauled in again on March 14th..”
She
went on to describe his illness at length, while lamenting the
difficulty she had traveling to and from the hospital on public
transportation to visit him.
He died July 9th, 1977.
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“It is good to know that you are well and so delightfully
engrossed with your beautiful work.
love.
Loren and I both send our
Do write again, Mabel.”
Dwight was seldom ill.
He had a few colds, developed
arthritis (his hands were gnarled), and had terrible teeth, which
we had replaced with dentures after he nearly choked on a piece
of chicken on a bus trip to Santa Fe.
How he escaped adverse
effects from breathing urea-laden air for years is a mystery.
Perhaps he gradually became immunized as the cat population grew,
or, we decided, the immunization coupled with the gallons of
alcohol he consumed acted as a preservative!
1978 was a banner year!
Activity included Dwight's
inspiring trip to Hawaii, resulting in his most prolific year of
painting - over 146 pictures named and numbered in his little
tablet.
Because he so loved Hawaii, I arranged with a travel
service a two-week vacation/tour using the dividend money earned
from the GTE stock.
It was money well spent!
He visited the Turnbulls again, sent many post cards to
friends, took tours and shot numerous photographs.
To Dorothy
Peterson, he wrote, “Stayed three nights at this hotel - 6th
floor in the picture.
Am here with a tour group from Pueblo.
We're going to the third island, Maui for three more days.
Sensational flowers and trees everywhere - good food and
especially the Kona (native) coffee.”
518
Later, he wrote, “I took
some 200 Polaroid color photos and did some sketching.
From
these I have done about 25 paintings since my return.”
The Hawaiian trip opened the floodgates of Dwight's creative
juices.
He eventually painted over 75 or 80 pictures on the
subject, everything from the “Tree Fern Forest, near Kilauea
National Park,” and “Old Rusted Anchor on Beach near LahainaLanai in background,” to several “Fern Grotto” works (one of
which was done on fern inlaid paper), including “Figurehead from
Whaling Ship, carved oak Polynesian Maiden.”
With his portfolios bulging and feeling the need to show and
sell work, Dwight wrote to Mary Mexiner at Iowa State.
After
hearing from her, he replied February 1979, “I'm delighted to get
your letter and the flyer; and to learn there is a place to show
work in the new Design building.
June would suit me fine, and
some of the alumni, or former staff members might remember me, or
my work.”
“It would be best to send separate pictures from here, as
the show in Lincoln is not to start until May 15th or so.
(It
will be at the Nebr. Wesleyan Uni. in a suburb of Lincoln,
University Place.
A former student of mine from Uni. of Nebr. is
in charge there, Jeanne James).”
“I have plenty of work here and at my niece's in Canon City.
It would all be matted and labeled as to title, medium and price,
519
24 or so.
Judging from former experience in shipping pictures, I
think shipping by bus, fairly early in May, would be best.”
“There are two of my paintings at I.S.U. that might be
added, if they can be located, a horizontal watercolor of the Big
Thompson River, Colo., that I gave through Clair Watson when I
was back in June 1976.
The other is in sumi on Japanese paper,
of Aspens in Colo., given in memory of a faculty wife who was in
my first Art Workshop group at I.S.U., 1959/1960.
Graduate Dean's office the last I saw it.
It hung in the
Please let me know if
the authorities approve the idea of showing my work so I can
proceed to get things ready.
With my best, Dwight K.”
His Iowa show in the College of Design included Colorado,
New Mexico, Hawaiian and Japanese subjects, as well as the selfportrait (done in Colorado) mentioned in Mabel Eiseley's letter.
He did a humorous Santa Claus/self-portrait one year in
watercolor and white chalk; his beard whiter, but Santa's arched
eyebrows left no doubt about his identity.
Many years earlier, Dwight had photographed Loren Eiseley,
and Mabel's October, 1979 letter mentions, “Dear Dwight, It has
taken me all too long to thank you for giving permission to use
that beautiful picture of Loren on the book of poetry, ‘All the
Night Wings.’
(The picture is of Eiseley standing hatless, with
an Indian blanket draped around his shoulders, taken about 1935
or 1936.)
There seems something almost symbolic about that.
520
You
and Truby (and John, bless him) were always such wonderful
friends and we had such good times together. . I'm interested in
the book you're contemplating.
all is going well with you.
It could be fascinating.
Do hope
Love, Mabel.”
The book she mentioned could have been either the Kirsch
family history or his autobiography.
I urged him, as did John
when he was alive, to put his experiences down on paper, and he
got a start with his outline.
him, but he did not use it.
I bought a small tape recorder for
After several interviews with his
friends, I discovered that most people do better if asked
pertinent questions about themselves, and only then do they begin
to open up and remember, forgetting the running recorder.
Mabel's last letter to Dwight was dated September 22, 1980,
“Dear Dwight - After suffering twinges of conscience far too
long, I swore a great oath that if I did nothing else today I
would write to you.
The matter uppermost on my mind is my
failure to tell you, long before now, what real joy I experienced
on receiving those perfectly beautiful watercolors, enclosed in a
post-Christmas letter sent early in January.
On first seeing the
one of the mountains, I cried out to an empty room ‘This is what
I've been missing!’
And the smaller version of flowers and
foliage, in such delicate ‘Kirsch color’ was, and is, an
increasing delight.
I felt a kind of Joie de Vive in both
sketches, and do every time I look at them, which is often.
521
I
have shown them with pride to friends who know you from my
mentions of you and from seeing either work or yours, which I am
fortunate in having.
I cannot thank you enough for having
remembered me so beautifully.”
“On receiving a note from Lyda Sigler after her visit with
you sometime in early spring, I telephoned her. . Lyda said she
had not heard from me since Loren's death. . I was struck with
her continuing enthusiasm and her pride in some of the students
trained under your direction in the good days of the Dept. of
Fine Arts.
(Nebraska)
Her enthusiasm and pride were catching -
but later I felt very angry at the lack of recognition you and
teachers such as Lyda had received from the University, and how
callously it accepted the bumptious ignorance and selfaggrandizement of those who followed you.
When I get appeals for
money I'm inclined to remember some of those things.
I am
exceedingly grateful for what some of my teachers gave me, but
for the institution which exploited and underpaid them I have
little affection.”
“Well - at least I've given you something to do - trying to
decipher my handwriting.
And perhaps it isn't worth the effort.
But I did want you to know how much it has meant to one to have a
personal glimpse of you through your very, uniquely beautiful
art.
I hope you continue to feel well and to continue to enjoy
that pleasant part of the country in which you live.
522
Fondly,
Mabel.”
Fred, Dwight and I went to the opera in Santa Fe on a
tour bus, and on our side trip to Albuquerque, saw Marguerite.
As we ate in a little restaurant in Old Town, Dwight laughed over
something, in his unique and delightful “whooping/cackle.”
Immediately, a man walked over to out table to greet him - John
Pryor, who also knew Marguerite.
He had no idea Dwight was in
that part of the country, but he could not mistake the sound of
his laugh.
Pryor later wrote
“I was taking a sumi painting
course at Joslyn Museum, Omaha, he offered in which I, for one,
for the first time in quite a long while, found it a delight
again to attack a large sheet of paper and to be so vigorously
and enthusiastically encouraged and instructed, by a very fine
artist-teacher.
Architects are often in need of such help; it's
like getting re-oriented, breaking away from one, to the
detriment of the artistic aspects of the profession.”
“Initially I was afraid we might not get into sumi at all.
He had just returned from Japan and the first day was a brief
discussion of the course but in the main it was occupied with a
thorough explanation of the act of pruning, which had obviously
way-laid and bewitched him.
He had learned much from a Japanese
gardener, but then he soon demonstrated he learned more from the
sumi painters.
So it was really great.
experience.”
523
I cherish that
“On another occasion, when he was heading the Art Museum in
Des Moines; it was at his home. . He delighted in being the
scourge of the neighborhood with his front yard, property line to
property line, covered with a vigorous, waving stand of arm-pit
high prairie grass. . Thus this splendid artist, gardener,
humanist showed himself to me and then to Nancy and me, to our
benefit.
Thanks, John and Nancy Pryor.”
Rose Reynolds, another former student, saved her notes and
worksheets from the Joslyn 1961 workshop and graciously sent them
to me.
Dwight taught her in a design class in 1926 or ‘27.
She
graduated in 1929 and became “a self-taught medical illustrator,
with the help of the anatomy and medical school MDs.” Her
position was Technical Artist in The Anatomy Department of the
College of Medicine in Omaha.
I had helped Dwight at the Joslyn
in 1970 for his workshop was on using natural stains, and I
recall meeting Rose, who was again present for his classes.
While observing surgical procedures at the college, she drew and
painted detailed illustrations to be used in the college.
She
helped form the national Association of Medical Illustrators in
1945.
Like John Pryor, it was good to break away from day-to-day
detailed work and have someone like Dwight encourage and instruct
in a ‘free’ media.
Rose wrote about – “going to a walnut grove
in north Omaha to gather walnuts for stain.
I have hanging on my
wall my very own stained print, signed ‘D. Kirsch – 1970’.”
524
Dwight agreed with her “that there comes a time when one, to be a
really GOOD artist, has to have a fundamental knowledgeable
relationship with what he is expressing . . not just a
relationship which generates a product which looks good to most
other people.”
Such brief “touches” with former students, colleagues, and
old friends meant the difference between a “good time” and a
momentous event for Dwight. Receiving unexpected letters from old
friends was a joy, too.
Dorothy Thomas (Buickerood), who wrote
him in 1980 when she was 81, recalled the photograph he took of
her in 1935.
Marguerite had come across a bundle of old letters
she wrote to her when they were “teachers in far apart western
Nebraska outposts-and they brought back to her those times and
the young things we were.
Rose O’Neil, in a verse of tender
humor, remembers us –
A few there are who live, alas
And they were far from here,
Who know how young and dear I was
When I was young and dear.’
Yes, I’m still writing.
Presently I’m rewriting a book about my
friendship with Frieda Lawrence, as I came to know her in the
decade between 1935 and 1947.
I write verse and short stories
too – And since that painting class, I paint in watercolor too.
525
You might ask your librarian to order from Curtis Publishing
Company, the book Great Love Stories From The Saturday Evening
Post, a choice of 20 stories from the past 50 years of Posts,
only three by women and one by me.
“Looked back on, my life seems so brief, and on the whole, happier than that of most artists.
We are such a yearning lot!
I am still eager for the morrow and to be at something I want to
do! ..I dream on and make some of the dreams come true.”
I do not remember Dwight mentioning Dorothy’s amazing
letter.
She told him that she and her husband of twenty-two
years were still building their house themselves!
He knew the
most fascinating, unusual and talented people!
The 1981 Nebraska-Iowa trip we took would be his last.
He
so cherished the memories of seeing familiar places - the
Nebraska State Capitol building, the University of Nebraska
campus, Iowa farms, various Des Moines buildings, that he painted
a few, including “Farm near Waukee, Iowa,” “Corn Panel,”
“Interior-Des Moines Civic Center,” “Air View with Circles,”
“Reflection, Nebraska State Capitol,” “Reflection-Wallace
Building and State Capitol, Des Moines, Ia.,” and “Iowa Corn.”
Earlier that summer, while I was in Mesa, Arizona caring for
my grand-daughter, Maureen, he wrote me, “Fred brought me beer
yesterday evening, and reported he'd had a card saying you got
there safely.
(We always smiled at the “beer run” requests.
526
Once, Wendy and her cousin Brooks John Kelly took him brandy.
He
was so thrilled with it, and anxious to open it (which he would
not do in front of them), that, after a brief tour of the
facility and his art, he promptly ushered them out with his usual
“Cherrio.”)
“I've been getting a lot of painting done - including
finishing up some started long ago.
Enclosed are color shots of
several, mostly “seconds” so the colors are not quite true.
I
found a frame with gold on mouldings the right size for my King
Tut number, and canvas board to mount it on, leaving 1” margin
all around, painted a grayish green-gold.
Now it looks more like
a mural than an easel painting, much admired where I hung it on
the corridor wall opposite my door.
(I had ordered a catalogue
on the King Tut exhibit for him when it was shown at the
Metropolitan Museum in New York.
His painting is a beautiful
composition of symbols, designs, two Egyptian figures and
hieroglyphics in luscious golds, red-oranges, blues, greens and
gray; 18” X 23” horizontal.)
Latest is the one of the Arkansas
Valley, from picture taken 3 weeks ago on morning before parade.”
(Canon City's Blossom Day parade, which he loved.)
“I still have 3 paintings I started some time ago, to be
completed.
With love to all, Dwight.”
The last trip to Santa Fe resulted in an increased
production of paintings, doing ninety-six in 1980, and over one
527
hundred in 1979.
He wrote Marguerite about the Schoenberg opera
we all saw, “I found it a very inspiring trip - partly by seeing
you and your artistic place, and the Pryors, too.”
“The Schoenberg evening at the Opera was unforgettable.
Anticipating that the sets and lighting would be special, I took
a sketchbook along.
Enclosed are Polaroid photos of three
results (the #3. ‘Moon, Clouds & Lombardy Poplars’ sketched at
intermission).”
(I stood with him during the break while he
sketched that spectacular view of the trees silhouetted by a
silvery full moon.)
“The music was expressive.
for the most part.
Short piece #1 woodland by moonlight, woman
finds her husband's corpse.
fright and horror.
New to my ears and discordant,
Her fine voice expressed anguish,
#2 was a comedy, in English - Bright colored
costumes against black and white sets - with mechanized parts
that swung at times.
#3, Jacob's Ladder - a chorale led by
Gabriel - large men's chorus.
One female vocalist with
penetrating voice, expressing agony, travail, etc.
and cloud effects at end (ascent to heaven).
Fine light
“I am sketching
like mad from other sketches and photos from trip.
With love,
and thanks, Dwight.”
It was a busy time for us.
He showed paintings of the Santa
Fe trip, Hawaii, etc. in the lobby of the local savings and loan
528
company, thanks to Frank Romanick, an officer of the bank who was
also our tour conductor on trips to Santa Fe and Central City.
We were also getting ready for his Fall show in Fremont,
Nebraska, thanks to my aunt, Hazel Dickerson Purtzer, who was a
member of the Fremont Fine Arts Center.
She helped make the
arrangements for the show, which was hung in their fine, new
center.
I drove to Lincoln, arranged for Dwight to fly there, where
I met him.
Having a car enabled us to go to the Joslyn in Omaha,
explore the Lincoln campus and Sheldon Gallery.
Visits to the
gallery brought back memories of the opening, when he was invited
to speak, an emotional occasion for him.
At the Joslyn, we
happened on two of his very old friends, the Maryott sisters.
They could not believe how he had changed - at first they thought
he was Uncle Jake resurrected, with the gray beard and hair.
At
the time, I did not know how far back their friendship extended and later learned it was over sixty years.
Dwight had made a diagram of how his paintings were to be
hung in the Fremont gallery for his show, and his directions were
followed.
Dwight.
The show was an enormous success and was wonderful for
People came over from Lincoln, Omaha, Lexington, etc.,
including the Maryotts, Leonard Theissen, Phyllis Campbell Aspen,
Dr. Don and Joan Harvey, and many, many former students and
former associates.
The Fremont people positioned a large,
529
decorative chair toward the front for Dwight to “hold court,” and
he did just that.
At the right moment in the gathering, he made
a fine gallery talk - he was again in his “element!”
Dignified,
wise, and enlightening.
After the opening, we met at the home of the Art Center
president, for a small party with the board members.
He gave
them a great deal of advice on administering a successful art
institution, even suggested a good process for refinishing the
hardwood floor.
their collection.
He presented them with one of his paintings for
(And years later, my aunt wondered if it was
still there?)
The paintings, many matted for the I.S.U. show, included
“Wild Canadian Rye,” “Cement Plant, Portland,” “Goatherd Seeds,”
and “Snow in My Courtyard,” from Colorado; “Tower, Museum of Fine
Arts Santa Fe,” “Indian Pottery and Weaving, Museum of Fine Arts
Santa Fe,” and “Tourists at Governors Palace, Santa Fe,” from New
Mexico; “Big Old Banyan Tree, Lahaina, Maui,” and “Tropical Fish
in Hotel Lobby, near Kona,” from Hawaii; and even a few of his
older Nebraska paintings.
From Lincoln, Dwight flew to Des Moines for another happy
reunion with his former adult students.
was especially memorable.
One of the reminiscences
Ione Olovich wrote that she and
Dorothy Peterson, and several others were on a “special trip to
the Des Moines River where Mary Miller caught a small fish.
530
She
and the rest of us made fish prints on the rocks. . another time
he (Dwight) had made tea eggs for us to enjoy.
A new experience
for most of us. . He gave so much to us when he was at Iowa State
as artist-in-residence.
A few of us were privileged to work with
him on preparation for the mural in one of the buildings on
campus (Kildee Hall).”
When we went off on a trip, Dwight would always manage to
“disappear” from me for a few hours.
I suppose I thought he
needed my supervision, but I soon learned that he loved exploring
on his own.
Those little side trips on foot usually included
popping in the local liquor store or bar.
I could tell he had
had a nip or two because he would begin to talk, and sometimes
laugh, in a very lusty, loud voice, not his usual quiet,
dignified delivery.
Usually the disappearing “acts” were no problem, but when he
returned from the Hawaiian trip, his tour plane landed in Denver
for a stopover and to change planes for Colorado Springs.
The
people in charge could not find him in Stapleton Air Terminal and
finally the plane left without him.
Since I was visiting family
out of state, Fred drove to Colorado Springs to meet him.
He met
every incoming plane until two in the morning, when only the
janitors were there, and finally gave up and drove the fortyeight miles back to Canon City.
We later found out that Dwight
took a taxi from Stapleton in Denver all the way to Florence -
531
very expensive!
And he never explained!
We still laugh about it
and are sure he slipped into a bar and lost track of time.
A
lady who was on the tour with him wrote me a “hate” letter,
wondering why that “poor man's relatives couldn't bother to pick
him up!”
Indeed!
Sometimes my projects inspired Dwight.
One day I was trying
to remember how to draw the “Golden Mean” and asked him about it.
He showed me and then did an interesting “Composition with Scurve and Spiral” using natural stains and black Conte crayon and
white chalk on Japanese paper.
His last Christmas was celebrated by doing a stunning “All
About Christmas,” a gouache (18” X 24”) of an impressionist-style
Christmas tree, which we enjoy every year. An amaryllis he
received for Christmas was the subject of two or three paintings,
one, special little “jewel” (5” X 7”), was done in acrylic on
canvas board in red-oranges with a blue background.
Not only did
he remember botanical names for plants, he seemed to have a
mystical affinity for their flowers.
He “understood” them and
expressed that feeling in his work.
Nurses at the Veterans Home brought Dwight flowers from
their gardens.
He even included one of their names in a title
“Six Tulips from Alice Lewton,” a watercolor, gouache, and pencil
lines on Strathmore paper.
532
I took him for a little drive around Canon City on Easter
Sunday, about 1980 or 1981, to see the gardens and flowers.
We
passed one nice bed of flowers next to a house, and he asked me
to stop.
I thought he wanted to photograph them as usual.
No!
That time he got out of the car, walked over the lawn to a white
lily, picked it, came back, got in as if he had done nothing
wrong, and as if he owned the place!
I was speechless - wondered
if anyone saw him, and quickly drove on.
they missed their lovely blossom!
Later, I wondered if
Privileges of the elderly!!
He did a lovely little painting of Easter lilies soon after - the
pilfered flower served as model.
The 35th Blossom Days Art Exhibition, 1980, displayed two
Kirsch paintings: “Balloons and Clown-Blossom Day Parade”, and
“People at Booth - Colorado State Fair.”
The latter is now in
the permanent collection at the local art center.
I had bought
him d'Arches watercolor paper and he was so pleased “it just
paints itself, it is so wonderful to work on.”
The fun
“Balloons” painting was done on that paper (14” X 20”), and it
now hangs in our little grandson’s (Alex and Sean's) room.
The Canon City Daily Record published an interesting and
complimentary story about Dwight and his long career, written by
Dorothy Parker, April, 1981.
“He entered a self-portrait in the
upcoming Music and Blossom Festival Art Show for which he has
been named a meritorious award winner.”
533
(McDonald’s sponsored
the $100 award).
“Kirsch drew the painting by looking into the
mirror, explaining that it is a reverse image of himself.”
She mentioned that he was “recently named an honorary member
of the Iowa Museums Association.”
The small self-portrait and a
shot of him in the local art center was run along with the
article.
We had Dwight over for Father's Day that last year and when
driving him back, we visited, as usual.
I must have mentioned my
dad, because Dwight, in a soft, wistful voice said, “I was a
father once.”
It was heart breaking to hear that statement.
I
reminded him of the happy times all of us had when Truby and John
were with us. Several times that year, Dwight mentioned having
“bad dreams,” and he appeared troubled by them.
It was unusual
for him to share such a confidence; his vision was so strong that
he recorded what he “saw” in a painting he named “The Power of
the Hand, night image.”
It is a design of a rough hand wearing a
ring, the collage of natural-stained gauze adorning the fingers,
gouache, with metallic acrylic and chalk, 7” X 14” vertical.
He
painted another bad dream, “Night Image-Cube, Waste Basket and
Rubber Glove,” a watercolor with texturing, 12” X 18” horizontal.
A third mystical piece, done with wax-crayon resist and gouache,
he called “Moonlit Clouds.”
Several other pictures painted at
the time also show demons and monsters in cloud formations.
534
Our drives are recorded in his list of the resulting
paintings - one need not look at a diary or old calendar to track
our activities.
We drove to Colorado Springs to the Flea Market
in the auditorium, Old Colorado City, the Citadel Shopping
Center, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, etc., that year.
After each
trip, a painting was presented to all who would view it.
That August, friends from Kansas stopped just as Dwight and
I planned to take a tour bus to see “Ballad of Baby Doe” at
Central City, Colorado.
I was about to cancel my reservation and
stay home to entertain my guests, but Dwight, in an unusually
demanding voice insisted I join him.
I followed his orders!
He had used that same tone of voice on me only once before,
when he asked me to take, and keep, several portfolios of his
paintings.
It happened to be an inconvenient time with other
people in the car, but he persisted and won!
(Later the lawyers
had to be convinced they were a gift).
Central City proved to be wonderful - picturesque, the opera
delightful in that famous, old opera house, the weather perfect
and on the way back, a special stop at Coors Brewery in Golden.
Naturally, the brewery offered a special appeal for Dwight - free
samples of beer!
bonus.
A tour with huge, copper vats on view, was a
He took pictures of them and did a handsome gouache,
“Copper Vats at Coors Brewery, Golden,” 18” X 24” vertical.
535
One would think that with all the experiences Dwight had,
and with his seemingly limitless imagination, his creativity
would never run dry.
I found a little snip of paper in his desk,
“What will I paint next?”
Or perhaps was he merely eagerly
anticipating his next adventure with a brush?
Other scraps
listed appealing subject matter.
He changed late that summer.
He was suddenly enshrouded
with an aura much like a dark layer of under-painting on a
canvas.
Brighter colors may have been brushed over it, but bits
of the gloomy ones emerged, then receded.
He seemed worried,
and frightened.
Fred and I took him to the Colorado State Fair, which he
loved.
It was hot, he had difficulty walking very far, and so we
took it easy and only hit the highlights, which always included
the art show, and the quilt and craft exhibits (see #78, 1981,
“Quilts at the Colorado State Fair”).
Cooler drives to Westcliffe produced “Sunday P.M. at
Westcliffe” (gouache w/Chinese white on Florentine paper).
We
also went to Colorado Springs and to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.
We rode the zoo tram, along with visiting Linda (Kelly's wife)
and little two-year-old, Maureen.
She was fascinated, as we all
were, with the giraffes, and with “Uncle Wight,” who had a
natural appeal for children.
His last, unfinished painting was
536
of those giraffes (#81, 1981) and was part of Maureen’s high
school graduation gift (1997).
The Florence Pioneer Days managers sell booth space for
crafts, etc., each year.
Dwight decided it would be a chance for
him to display pictures, and I set them up beside a chair for
him.
Those two September days were especially hot and I worried
that it would be too much for him.
required 4 P.M. closing.
We did not stay until the
Fred and I took him home where it was
cool, and were relieved that he seemed fine.
That next Wednesday in Colorado Springs, where I worked in
an interior design shop, I received a call from the nursing home
telling me that Dwight had fallen off his chair in the dining
room and was taken to Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs.
I
rushed over and was assured by the doctor that his condition was
not serious, but that they would do some tests.
Thursday evening Fred and I decided we should drive over to
visit him.
I took him a sketchpad and pencils, which he
requested, and he was cheerful and had eaten a good supper.
I
told him the doctor wanted to have a pacemaker inserted and that
he would probably be in the hospital about ten days.
strange, horror-stricken look on his face and gasped.
He got a
I
reassured him, saying it was a minor operation, and not to worry.
The doctor was optimistic.
537
Three hours later, after we returned home, we were called by
the doctor with the surprising news that Dwight was dead.
I was
totally shocked, because I fully expected him to last as long as
Uncle Jake (who lived to be ninety-nine).
I then remembered
those premonitions and dreams he'd had, the odd paintings he'd
made, and realized that he knew!
We collected his things from the hospital, the little sketch
book had been used earlier that day, a drawing of the tree
outside his window which was signed and dated “September 25,
1981, DK.”
I quickly leafed through some of his paintings to find one
that would reproduce well, when printed in black and white.
We
used “Mountain and Sky” (a sumi and gouache, vertical), on the
cover of a memorial folder, instead of the standard funeral home
pictures, and which I felt were not appropriate.
people listed in his address book.
We sent them to
They were used at the lovely
memorial service Peggy Patrick arranged at the Des Moines Art
Center, and for the small service we held at the nursing home.
I
again found and used beautiful autumn leaves, golden aspens, and
placed them with autumn mums from my garden.
Dorothy Peterson wrote a comforting letter stating,
“Soldiers may die with their boots on; or cowboys, in the saddle;
he died with wet paint in his brush.”
538
Marguerite had written to her good friend, artist Lynn
Trank, about our going to see her at her place in Albuquerque.
(When we went to Santa Fe.)
about Dwight.
He replied, “Thank you for writing
It is a real comfort to know how productive and
happy he was after he moved to Colorado.
He is a part of so much
that I know and appreciate about life and art.
wonderful to me the time I cracked my ankle.
He was so
We all went to
Colorado and I certainly lost all sense of pain and discomfort.
There are so many things that I recall with pleasure and
thankfulness.”
Dwight Kirsch finished eighty-one pictures in 1981 and lived
to be eighty-two.
two!
Coincidence?
The unfinished “Giraffes” would make eightyJohn's last request took a strange turn!!!
He had asked to live near us “if something happened to papa.”
In
retrospect, John and Truby’s spirits most certainly gave Dwight
sustenance during his life without them.
They are together at
last, and I state that without their ‘help’ I could not have
finished Dwight’s “My Life in Art.”
The End
539
Epilogue:
A Fremont County Regional Art Exhibit was held October 11th
thru 24th, 1981 (sixteen days after Dwight’s death).
I entered
Dwight’s “People at Booth-State Fair” in his memory, not
realizing that the local entrants might perceive it as an
improper thing to do.
Out of 121 paintings entered in the show,
his won “1st Place Professional.”
Feathers were ruffled. However,
I did not gain from it as the $15 prize money had to go to the
estate.
Later, the Canon City Daily Record reported, “The painting
‘People at Booth: Colorado State Fair,’ the last finished work by
F. Dwight Kirsch, was donated to the Canon City Fine Arts Center.
The piece was donated in his memory by his niece, JoAnn (Kelly)
Alexander, after his death on Sept. 25, 1981.
In a letter to the
director (Chuck Morris), Alexander said, ‘It was his custom to
present one of his paintings to an art center or museum which was
of special interest to him.
The Canon City Fine Arts Center gave
him a one-man show in 1977 and the directors and various board
members were kind to him during the nearly six years he lived at
the Colorado State Veterans Home in Florence.’”
540
(Fittingly
enough, the director of the Fremont Center for the Arts is Ann
Jennings Kelly, a Grand-niece of Dwight and Truby Kelly Kirsch.)
Editor’s Note:
For many years (1981-2001) I watched (and encouraged) JoAnn
Kelly Alexander develop the manuscript outline for this book
(using an ancient word processor).
During this time period, I
had many talks with JoAnn about her dream of (one day) finishing
this book, and was tremendously elated when she asked me to help
her do the editing.
After moving all the files over to my
computer (2001) (from 14 floppy disks - the text of which had
absolutely no formatting..), I very quickly realized that I would
have to retain all grammatical colloquialisms presented in our
reference material (letters, news articles, etc.).
Thus I have
endeavored to let this story (finished April 2003) tell itself in
the protagonist’s own words.
For more info about Dwight Kirsch, or to purchase the
“Dwight Kirsch Art Gallery On CD-ROM,” please visit our website
at www.dwightkirsch.com.
Enjoy!!!
541
Index
29th and Randolph Street
57th Street, New York City
Aanur Beach, Bali
Aasen, Betty
(Kjelson)
Abel, Louise
Acacia Park, Colorado Springs
Adams, Charles
Adams, Georgia
Adams, Phillip
Adams, Kathryn
Addison Gallery
Afognak Island, Alaska
African-American Art
Ainsworth, Nebraska
Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs
Ajootson, Mr.
Ak-Sar-Ben
Alan, Charles
Alaska
542
Albright, Ivan
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Alexander Brook
Alexander, Fred
Alexander, Hartley Burr
Alexander, Kelly Day
Alexander, Linda Cox
Alexander, Mark Warren
Alexander, Maureen Cox
Alexander, Mrs. Nellie
Allen, Clara Marie
Allensworth, Mary Helen
Alpha Rho Tau
Alpha Sigma Phi
Amarillo, Texas
Amateur Iowa Artists Show
Amecameca, Mexico
American Art Magazine
American Association of Museums
American Federation of Arts
American Legion Gallery, San Francisco
Ames Faculty Women’s Club
Ames, Elizabeth
Ames, Iowa
543
Amsterdam, New York
Angle, Mrs. Everett
Ankor-Wat, Cambodia
Antelope Park
Appeson, Sarah
Archie, David
Archipenko
Architecture Department, UNL
Arkansas
Art Center School, Los Angeles
Art Club, UNL
Art Digest Magazine
Art Students League, New York
Asherville, North Carolina
Association of Medical Illustrators
Astaire, Fred
Atkinson Graphic
Atkinson High School
Atkinson, Nebraska
Atlantic City
Audette-New York Studio
Austin, Darrell
Awgwan Magazine, UNL
Bach, Otto Karl
544
Bach, Richard (“Jonathan Seagull”)
Bacon, Helen
Bacon, Peggy
Badlands, South Dakota
Bahl, Enold
Bair, Katheryn
Baker, Gene
Baker, Nina
Bali
Ball State College, Muncie, Indiana
Bankers Life of Nebraska
Bankok
Barbizon Hotel, New York
Barbour, Edwin H.
Barker, Jim
Barlow, Violet
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
Barr, Alfred
Barrymore, John
Bartlett, Fred
Baur, Jack
Baur, John I.H.
Bear Lake, Rocky Mt. National Park, Colo.
Bear, Donald
545
Beatty, Ethel
Beckman, Max
Belgian Foundation
Bell, Agatha
Bell, Spike
Benson, Ben Albert
Benton & Schreiber
Benton, Thomas Hart (“Lonesome Road”)
Bessey, Charles E.
Beverly Hills, California
Biddle, (“Frieda Lawrence”)
Big Thompson Canyon, Colorado
Bishop, Ben and Fran
Black Hills, South Dakota
Blackbird Hill, Macy, Nebraska
Blanche, Arnold
Bliss Collection, New York
Borgenicht Gallery
Borger, Texas
Borgman, Dean
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Boswell, Peyton
Bouche, Louis
Boucher, Chancellor
546
Boyle, James
Brackett, Elizabeth
Bradley Ave., Cheyenne
Brainard, Minnesota
Bridgman, George B.
Britton, Edgar
Broadlawns Hospital, Des Moines
Broadway
Broady, Dr.
Brock, Miss Henrietta
Brook, Alexander
Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn, County Hospital
Brooks, John Woolson
Brownsville, Nebraska
Bruce, Carol (“Pal Joey”)
Bruchfield, Charles
Bryan, William Jennings
Bryce
Burlin, Paul
Burlington, Iowa
Burnett, Chancellor
Burry, Lyda Dell (Sigler)
Burton, Eloise
547
Burton, Scottie
Burwell, Nebraska
Buster Brown Camera
Butterfield, Ted
Byerly, Florence
Cadmus, Paul
Calder, Alexander (“Sandy”)
Calder, Sterling
Campbell, Mrs. John (Diann)
Campbell, Phyllis (Aspen)
Canada
Canci, Terzo
Canon City Fine Arts Center
Canon City, Colorado
Capitol Beach, Lincoln
Captain Silas Warren Kelly
Carey, Miss Bloss
Carmel, California
Carnegie Corporation
Carradine, John
Carson, Johnny
Carter, Clarence
Casady Drive, Des Moines, Iowa
Cassett
548
Cather, Elsie
Cather, Willa
Catholic Church
Cavell, Edith
Cedar Breaks
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Central City, Colorado
Chadron State College
Chagall
Chago
Chamberlain, Glenn
Chang, Mr.
Channing, Carol
Chaplin, Charlie
Chapman, Nebraska
Charles City, Iowa
Charlot, Jean
“Chateau Kirsch”
Chautaqua
Chavez
Cherbourg, France
Cherokee, Iowa
Cherry, Herman
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Colorado Springs
549
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Chiang, Mme.
Chicago & Northwestern
Chicago Art Institute
Chief Mahaska
China
Cholula
Christie, Marge
Cincinatti
Citadel Shopping Center, Colorado Springs
Citron, Mina
Claire, Ina
Clancy, John
Clarinda, Iowa
Clark, Rose
Clemens, Atwood
Cleveland, Sally
Clifton Springs, New York
Clinton, Iowa
Co. F, 59th Illinois Volunteer Infantry
Coady, Pat
Cochran, Governor
Coffin Collection
Coleman, Velma
550
College of Medicine, UNO, Omaha
Colorado College
Colorado Springs Fine Art Center
Colorado State Fair, Pueblo
Colorado State Veteran’s Nursing Home
Conklin, Clara
Contra, Sister Mary
Coombs, Gene
Coors Brewery, Golden, Colorado
Copland, Aaron
Coply
Corn Crib (UNL)
Corn, Mrs. Marjorie
Cornelius, Mary
Cornhusker State
Corpus Christi, Texas
Cortissoz, Royal
County Hospital, Brooklyn
Cowles, Fleur
Craig, Fritz
Cranbrook
Crawford, Edwin
Crockett, Davy
Crossgrove, Roger
551
Crossroads Mall, Omaha
Crozeo, Jose Clemente (“La Bandera”)
Crusoe, Robinson
Csoka (“Preview”)
Cuernavaca
Cumins, Corine
Cunard Line
Cunningham, Harry
Currier & Ives
Curry, John Steurart (“The Roadmenders”)
Curry, Kyle
Curtis Publishing Company
D’Amico, Victor (“Creative Teaching”)
d’Harnoncourt, Rene (“Ronnie”)
Dahl Store
Dali
Dana, Larson, Roubal, Architects
Dane County, Wisconsin
Dann, William F.
Daumier
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Marcia
Davies, Arthur
“Da Vinci” (Kady Faulkner’s cat)
552
Davis, Gladys Rockmore
Davis, Stuart
De Creeft, Jose (“Jaunito”)
de Jong, John
de Kooning
Del Norte, California
Delta Phi Delta
(art honorary)
deMartini, Joseph (“The Gray Horse”)
Demetrion, James
“Demon” bunch
Den Pasar, Bali
Denver Art Museum
Der Harootian
Deren, Maya
Des Moines Art Center
Des Moines Rotary Club
Des Moines Weavers Guild
Des Moines, Iowa
Dexter’s Blacksmith Shop
Dickens, Charles
Dickerson, William A. (grandfather)
Dinnen, Patricia (Pat)
Djakarta, Java
Doezal, Doris
553
Dolan, Elizabeth
Donovan, Cara
Doole, Louise Evans (“Aunt Alice”)
Dorset, Vermont
Douglas, Aaron
Downtown Gallery
Drake Hotel, Chicago
Drake Relays
Duff, Mr.
Duffy, Edmond
DuMond, Frank Vincent
Dvorak, John J. Farm
Eakins, Thomas
East Side Air Terminal, New York
Eastwood, Raymond
Edee, Allen
Edmiston, Mrs. A. R. (Alice)
Edmundson Art Center, Des Moines
Edmundson, J. D.
Eilshemius
Eiseley, Loren (“All the Night Wings”)
Eiseley, Mabel Langdon
Elephant (Morrill) Hall
Ellen Smith Hall
554
Ellis, Don
Ellis, Marion Hatten
Elm Park Methodist Church, Lincoln
Emery, Alice
England
Epworth Park, Lincoln
Erickson, Roy
Estes Park
Europe
Evans, Inez
Evergood, Phillip
Everingham, Lola
Fahnestock, Betty
Fahnestock, Chick
Fahnestock, Joe and Gretchen
Fairall, Laurence
Fairbury, Nebraska
Fairfield, Iowa
“Family of Man” show
Far East
Faucet
Faulkner, Douglas
Faulkner, Kady
Faulkner, Mrs. E.J.
555
Faulkner, Paul
Fauves (show)
Feininger
Feldenheimier, Mary Louise
Feragil Art Gallery
Fiene, Ernest (“Hunter in Red Shirt”)
Fisher Governor Company
Flansburg, Harry
Fleur Drive, Des Moines
Florack, Wendy Alexander
Florence, Colorado
Folsom, Ruth Whitmore
Fonda, Henry
Ford Foundation
Forrest
Forsyth, Mrs. E.M.
Fossum,
Syd
Fossum, Bunny
Fowler, Frank
Fragonard
Francis, Al
Francis, Gretchen
Frank Romanick, USN ret.
Frankel, Henry
556
Frankforter, Glea
Frankforter, Weldon (“Frank”)
Fremont County Regional Art Exhibit
French Riviera
Frontier Days
Ft. Dodge, Iowa
Fujiyama, Japan
Fullerton, Gail Jackson
Fulton St., Brooklyn, New York
Gainsborough
Gardner Cowles Foundation
Gardner, Helen (“Art through the Ages”)
Gardner, Paul
Garfield, Marjorie
Garrison, Gene Cotton
George Haecker
Gere, Maril
Germany
Gershay, Eugene
Gershwin, George
Geske, Norman
Gifford, Joe
Gifford, Rex
Gikow
557
Gilbert
Glackens, William (“Mahone Bay”)
Gleitsmann
Gleneagles Hotel, Singapore
Golden Bough Circle Theatre
Goldwater (Chirico’s writings)
Gottelieb, Adolph
Goudy, Fred (“Goudy” typeface)
Goya
Graham, Martha
Grainger, Mrs. Harry
Grand Canyon
Grand Central Art Galleries
Grand Rapids Art Gallery
Gray, Ann
“Great American Thing”
Great Plains Art Collection
Great Sand Dunes National Monument
Greenburg, C.
Greene
Greenwich Village, New York
Greenwood Park, Des Moines
Gregory, Wayland (“Ichabod Crane”)
Griffith, Gerald I.
558
Grinnell College, Iowa
Gris
Griswold, Iowa
Gross, Chaim
Groz, George
Grummann, Dr. Paul H.
Guadalajara, Mexico
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Gunung Hgung Volcano, Bali
Gustavson, Chancellor
Gwathmey, Robert
Haggie, Helen
Haiti
Hall, Frank M. Trust
“Hall of Mirrors, Kirschshire by the Sea”
Halpert, Edith
Hals
Hamburg, Germany
Hammer-Knoedler
Haneda U.S. Air Field, Tokyo
Hannibal, Missouri
Hansen, Bob
Hartley, Marsden
Hartman, Cedric
559
Hartman, Ken
Hartwell, Florence
Harvard
Harvey, Joan Neuenswander
Hatfield, Betty
Hatten, Marian (Ellis)
Hawaii
Hawthorne, Dorothy (Dottie)
Hawthorne, Harrison (Harry)
Hayden, Sara S.
Haydon Club
Hayes, Bartlett
Haynes, Ken and Margaret
Hayworth, Rita
Hazen, Bruce
Heliker, John (“Mediterranean Landscape”)
Hemp
Henkle, James
Henri, Robert (“Pink Pinafore”)
Henry, Everett
Henzlick, Dean
Hicks, Clifford
Hidalgo, Mexico
Hillis, Newell Dwight
560
Hinkle, Jim
Hitler
Hobbs, Leota
Hodgell, Bob
Hoffman, Larry
Holt County, Nebraska
Holtz, Jean
Holtzclaw, John B.
Homestead Act
Hong Kong
Honolulu, Hawaii
Hope, Henry
Hopper, Edward (“Room in New York”)
Hotel Proa
Hotel Sutter, San Francisco
Houser, Lowell
Howard, Richard F.
Hubbell, Fred
Hutchinson, Kansas
Iceland
Immaculate Heart College, California
Imperial Palace, Tokyo
Indian Reservation, Macy, Nebraska
Indiana
561
Indianola, Iowa
Indonesia
International Art Exposition
International Exposition of Art, Venice
Iowa
Iowa Arts Council
Iowa City
Iowan Magazine
Ishikawa, Joe
Italy
Iwizht, Frederick
Jackson, Cable
James, Alexander
Janis Gallery
Japanese House, Museum of Modern Art
Java
Jefferson County Fair, Nebraska
Jidai Matsuri Festival
Jim Crow Car
Jonah
Jorgenson, Mrs. Mina
Joyce, James
Kabuki Theatre
Kane, John (“Turtle Creek Valley”)
562
Kansas City Art Institute
Kantor, Morris
Karasz
Karfiol, Bernard
Kawasaki, Dr.
Kearney Art Fair, Nebraska
Keck, Mr.
Kegon Waterfall, Japan
Keisman, Kate
Keller, Henry (“Lake Louise”)
Kelly, Ann Jennings
Kelly, Bernice Dickerson (Mrs. Ralph J.)
Kelly, Brooks John
Kelly, Mary (Mrs. S. Warren)
Kelly, Ralph John
Kelly, Silas Warren
Kelly, Tabor
Kelly, Vernie
Kelly, Steven Warren
Kenosha, Wisconcin
Kilauea National Park, Hawaii
Kildee Hall, Iowa State University, Ames
Kingman, Gene
Kings County Hospital, New York
563
Kirkpatrick, Verna
Kirsch, Bess E.
Kirsch, Edna Josephine (“Pat”)
Kirsch, Emma Louise
Kirsch, Fred
Kirsch, Gifford Karl
Kirsch, Hollis Harlan
Kirsch, Jacob (“Jake”)
Kirsch, Lovie Gifford
Kirsch, Phillip Karl
Kirstein, Lincoln
Klee, Paul (“Seeking Balance”)
Klein, Will
Koerner, Henry
Kohle, Mr. & Mrs.
Kokes, Gary
Korea
Kosmet Club, UNL
Koss, George
Kraushaar Galleries
Kraushaar, Antoinette
Kuhlman, Miggie (Hansen)
Kuhn, Mr. and Mrs. Walt
Kuniyoshi, Yasuo (“Room 110”)
564
Kunz, Bessie
“Kurushe-Sakurs”, Mr. Cherry (Kirsch)
Kuttler, Dorothy Baroch
Kyoto, Japan
La Guardia Airport, New York
La Jolla, California
Lackawanna Toll Road
Ladd, Mrs. C.F.
Ladd, Sarah
Laging, Barbara Mills
Laging, Duard
Lahaina-Lanai, Hawaii
Lake Patzuaro, Mexico
Lamb, Betty (Quinton)
Lammel, Jeanette O., F.A.S.I.D.
Lancaster, Burt
Landgren, Marchal E.
Lansansky, Mauricio
Laredo, Texas
Larsen, Jack Lenor
Lattner, Martha
Laudermilk, Jerome
Laurentians
Lawford, Mr.
565
Lawrence, Jacob (“John Brown” series)
Le Rossignol, Dean
Lechay
Lee, Doris
Letts, Phyllis
Levine, Jack (“Pensionnaire”)
Lewis, Marguerite
Lewiston
Lewton, Alice
Lexington, Nebraska
Lily, Bea
Limon, Jose
Lincoln Artists Guild
Lincoln Camera Club
Lincoln General Hospital
Lincoln High School
Lincoln Telephone Company
Lincoln, Abraham
Lindbergh, Charles
Lipchitz, J.
Living Pictures
Livingston, Brenda Kelly
Livingston, Dana
Livingston, Gene
566
Livingston, Shawn
Livingston, Sidnee
Livingston, Thad
Long Island, New York
Longman, Lester
Lotto, Mr.
Love Library
Love, Mrs. Don
Lubetkin Gallery, Des Moines
Lucioni (“Arrangement in White”)
Luks
Lux, Gladys (“Stratosphere”)
Maas, Marie
Maas, Willard
MacCauley
Macdonald, Kenneth
Madison Ave., New York
Madison, Wisconsin
Mahaska State Bank, Oskaloosa, Iowa
Mailol
Main Street, Atkinson
Major Moore, USMC ret.
Maldarelli
Mallot, Betty Reed
567
Manhattan
Manilla, Philippines
Marin, John
Marini, Marino (“Horseman”)
Marsh, Reginald
Marshall, Mary Ann (Soderholm)
Marshalltown Art Center
Martha’s Vineyard
Martin, Keith
Marunochi Hotel, Tokyo
Maryott, Alma
Maryott, Florence
“Maryott, Mother”
Mason City, Iowa
Masterson, Coach Bernie
Matisse, Pierre
Mattern, Karl
Mattern, Mary
Mayberry, Nebraska
“McCarthyism”
McClure, Tom
McCreary, Blanche
McDermott, Wynona (Crossgrove)
McFee, Marguerite
568
McFie, Elva
McGuire, Dorothy
McIntire, Robert
Mechlin, Miss Lelia
Melissa, Aunt
Mesa, Arizona
Messer, Tom
Methodist Hospital, Des Moines
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Mexico City
Mexiner, Mary
Meyer, Mrs. Elizabeth
Michigan State College
Middle Eastern Décor
Miko Air Base
Milford, Nebraska
Mill Valley, California
Miller & Paine Department Store
Miller, Jiggs
Miller, Mary
Miller, Max
Miller, Mrs. Don
Mills, Leona (“Tony”)
Missouri
569
Mondrian
Monet (“Waterlillies”)
Monroe, Arlo
Monroe, Marilyn
Montgomery Ward
Montreal
Moomey, Bill
Moore, Gene
Moore, Gertrude
Moore, Henry (“Draped Reclining Figures”)
Morelia, Mexico
Morley,
Mrs.
Morrill Hall, UNL
Morris, Chuck
Morris, Kyle
Morris, Wright
Morrow, Andrew
Mossman Place, Lincoln
Motherwell, Robert
Moy
Mr. & Mrs. Harrison (Harry) Hawthorne
Mt. Paracutin, Mexico
Muir, Sarah T.
Mulvane Art Center, Topeka, Kansas
570
Muncie, Indiana
Mundy, Louise Easterday
Murdock Collection, Wichita
Museum of Modern Art
N.A.A. (Nebraska Art Association)
Nash, Katherine
National Observer Magazine
Navas, Elizabeth H.
Nebraska Farmer Magazine
Nebraska History Magazine
Nebraska State Historical Society
Nelson Gallery, Kansas City
Nelson Pioneer Farm and Crafts Museum
Neseth, Eunice
Netherlands
Neuenswander, Claudia
(Beck)
Neutra, Richard
New England
New Home (School District 36)
New York Metropolitan Museum
New York School of Fine and Applied Art
New York Times
New Yorker magazine (“Talk of the Town”)
Newsweek Magazine
571
Niagara Lithograph Company
Nickerson, Joan
Nickerson, Martha (“Nickie”)
Nielson, Mr.
Nikko, Japan
Nishibori, Professor
Noble, Margaret
Noble, Mary
Noguchi
Norall, John
Nordfeldt, B.J.O. (“Rooster”)
Norman, Oklahoma
North Platte, Nebraska
Northeast Hall, University of Nebraska
Notre Dame
Noun, Louise
O’Keefe, Georgia
Oakdale, Nebraska
Oaxaca
Occidental College
Office of Civilian Defense D.C.
Oglala Sioux American Indians
Ohio Turnpike
Okada
572
Oklahoma City
Old Colorado City
Oldfather, Dean
Omaha World-Herald
Oneida, New York
Orient
Orlovich, Ione
Ortlip, Willard
Osaka, Japan
Oskaloosa, Iowa
Osver, Arthur
Owens, Robert
Page, Dolly
Painted Desert
Painter, Carl. W.
Parker, Louise
Parker, Paul
Pasadena, California
Patrick, Peggy
Patton, Mr. & Mrs. Lawton
Pawnee City
Pawnee County
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Pease, Blanche Spann
573
Pelican Lake, Minnesota
Pennsylvania
Pereira, I. Rice
Perlin, Bernard
Pernas, Frances
Pershing, General John
Pershing, L. (“Dear Mr. Smythe”)
Peru State Teachers College
Phi Beta Kappa
Phoenix
Picasso, Pablo
Piedmont
Pierce, Bob
Pierce, Waldo (“Black-eyed Susans”)
Piloty (“Wise and Foolish Virgins”)
Pioneer Feed Company, Johnston, Iowa
Pioneers Park
Pippin
Pismo, California
Pittsburgh
Point Lobos, California
Polk, Marguerite
Pollack, Jackson
Pomar, Don Felipe
574
Pontocho, “Double Pink”
Poor, Henry Varnum (“Self Portrait”)
“Porchy and Bath”
Porter, Grace
Potts, Helen and Ada
Pound, Olivia
Pound, Roscoe
Powell
Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain
Pratt Institute
Prendergast, Maurice
Princess Hotel, Bankok
Princeton
Provincetown, Mass.
Pryor, John
Pryor, Nancy
Pryor, Phil
Puebla
Pullman Car
Purtzer, Hazel A. Dickerson
Quebec
Randolph Street, Lincoln
Rathbone, Perry
Rattner, Abraham
575
Raymond & Raymond
Red Oak, Iowa
Reed, Carolyn
Reese, Elizabeth
Rehn Gallery
Reiss, Fritz Winold
Remsen St., Brooklyn
Renoir’s “Clown in White”
Reynard, Grant
Richmond, Virginia
Ricter, F.K.
Rightez, Chick
Robinson, Boardman
Robinson, Edward G. Collection
Robinson, Marvin
Robinson, Theodore
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Laboratory of Anthropology
Rockefeller, Nelson
Rogers, Myrick
Rogers, True Gingery
Rose Room, Younkers Store, Des Moines
Rose, Mary Louise
Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota
576
Ross, Barbara
Ross, William E.
Rothchild, W.L.
Rudelan, Andree
Rudge and Guenzal (former store)
Ruehl, Ray
Rushville, Nebraska
Ryder
Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, France
Sakae, Japan
Salt Creek, Lincoln
Sample, Paul (“Miners Resting”)
San Diego College
San Francisco
San Luis Potosi, Mexico
San Miguel de Allende
Sandoz, Mari (“Old Jules”)
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Fe
Saratoga Elementary School
Saratoga Springs, New York
Sargent
Saturday Evening Post
577
Saunders, Bonnie
Scarvaliogni, Concetta
Schaupp, Zora
Schmidt, Katherine
Schnakenberg, Henry (“The Sea Shell”)
Schnase, Mary Ann
School of Fine Arts, UNL
Schwake, Katherine (Stone)
Schwartz, William (” Tents of Illusions”)
Scottsdale
Seacrest, Mrs. Fred
Segal, Vivianne
Semler, Mrs.
Sen Rikyu
Seurat
Seward, Nebraska
Seyler, David
Shanafelt, Marjorie
Shane, Florence
Sheffrey, Irmel
Sheldon Gallery
Sheldon, Frances
Shell Beach, California
Sherwin-Williams
578
Shikoku Island, Japan
Sidles, Fred
Sierras
Sigma Delta Chi
Sill, Bob
Sioux City, Iowa
Siporin, Mitchell
Slaughter, Betty
Sloan, John
Sloane House, New York
Small, Hannah
Smith, Jean
Smith, Linus Burr
Snyder, Helen
Soby
Society of American Fakirs
Soga, Mr.
Soranson, George
South Dakota, Black Hills
South Pacific
Southwestern Germany, Sweibruken, Saar
Soyer, Raphael
Sparhawk-Jones
Spaulding, Freda Stuff
579
Speicher, Eugene
Speidel, Mr.
Speier, Paul
Spieler
Spruce, Everett (“The Desert”).
St. Louis
St. Matthew’s Church, Lincoln
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Stamos, Theodore (“Scar Thread”)
Stanton, Edith
Stapleton Air Terminal
Starr, John
Starzinger, Vincent
State College, Pennesylvania
Staten Island, New York
Stegner, Joe
Steiglitz, Alfred
Stein, Gertrude
Steinhauer, Nebraska
Stellar, Miss
Stepanek, Orin
Stephens, Thomas (“Dwight D. Eisenhower”)
Stevens, Samuel
N.
Stillwater, Oklahoma
580
Stockman’s hotel
Stuart, Rosalie (Franklin)
Student Army Training Corps
Stuff, F.A.
Stuff, Grace
Stuff, Marjorie
Sturm, Justin
Sugar Hill, New York
Sumner Street, Lincoln
Swan Lake, Nebraska
Sweeney, James Johnson
Sweet, Fred
Takarasuka, Japan
Tallcorn Hotel, Marshalltown, Iowa
Tam, Reuban
Taos, New Mexico
Taylor, Francis Henry
Taylor, Richard
Taylor, Robert
Teal, Dr. and Mrs. Fritz
Teal, Gretchen
Temple Theater, UNL
Temple, Shirley
Temuzanchate, Mexico
581
Theissen, Leonard
Thomas, Cynthia
Tierney, Elizabeth
Tilley, Lew
Tobey, Mark (“Icon”)
Tompsett, Miss Ruth
Topeka, Kansas
Trabold, Jean
Trank, Lynn
Trask, Katrina
Tudor, Russ
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Turkey Creek, Pawnee County
Turnbull, Murray
Tushla, Mrs.
Twachman
“Twentieth Century American Painting”
United States Army
United States Land Office
University Christian Church, Des Moines
University of Indiana
University of Michoacan, Morelia, Mexico
University of Nebraska Student Union
University of Oklahoma
582
University Place Art Gallery
University Place, Lincoln
Utermeyer, Louis
Vahle, Mrs.
Vahle, The Rev. W.G.
Valentin, Curt
Valentine, Nebraska
Valentino, Rudolph
Van Denbark, Melvin
Van Horn
Van Weerin-Griek, Hans
Van Weerin-Griek, Letji
Vance, Mrs. Nellie Schlee
Varga, Margaret
Veishea Festival
Venice, Italy
Ventura, California
Veteran’s Hospital
“Victory Garden”
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Virginia Museum Quadrennial Exhibition
Voltz,
M.G.
Wada, Mrs.
Waddell, Dr. Wayne & Jean
583
Waddell, Josephine (“Jo”)
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Walker Avenue, Lincoln
Walker, Maynard
Walker, Ralph
Walthill, Nebraska
Walton, Marion
Wasey, Jane
Waterloo, Iowa
Waugh, Sam
Weaver, Florence
Weber, Max (“Moonlight”)
Weeping Water, Nebraska
Wells, Fred
Wesleyan University
West Point
West Side Library, Des Moines
Westbrook, Dr. Arthur E.
Westcliffe, Colorado
Wetmore, Colorado
Wheelock, Warren (“Paul Revere”)
Wherry, Kenneth
Wherry, Ronald
Whistler
584
Whitham, Anne
Whitney Museum
Whittier School, Des Moines
Whittredge
Williams, Tennessee
Wilson, Will
Wisner, Nebraska
Witte, Miss Ella
Wolcott, Jody (Carson)
Wolfe, Lynn Robert
Wolin, Helen
Wollcott, Dr. Oliver
Wood, Grant
Woods, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas
World War 1
Worth, Peter
Wright, Russel
Wyeth, Andrew
Wyeth, N.C.
Wyuka Cemetary, Lincoln
Yaddo, New York
Yaichi, Kasube
Yale
Yamamoto, Mrs.
585
Yankton College, South Dakota
Yenne, Herb
Young Men in America
Young, Patrick
Younkers Department Store
Yucatan
Yul, Kim Chung
Yule, Lena (Kirsch)
Zastera, Trudy
Zion
Zorach, William (“Adam”)
Zwart, Elizabeth Clarkson
586
Illustrations (Paintings listed herein are by Dwight Kirsch
unless otherwise noted-all paintings as well as all photographs
used herein belong to the Kirsch Estate.)
Front Cover
1.
1
Frederick Dwight Kirsch as a boy of 11,
sitting on a tree stump near ‘Clay Hil’ where he
made marbles and bas relief of Indians, near the
farm in Nebraska where Dwight grew up; black and
white photograph: 1910.
Front Inside Cover
1.
2
Kirsch Self-Portrait In Mirror; black and
white photograph taken by Dwight Kirsch of his
watercolor painting: early 1930s.
2.
Kirsch Self-Portrait; watercolor (Won Hon.
Mention): 1980.
3.
Aloha Sunrise (Near Airport, Hawaii);
watercolor: 1978.
4.
Kirsch Painting A Portait Of Peggy Patrick’s
Children For “The Good Things In Life,” Bankers
Life Series; black and white photograph: 1959.
587
Back Inside Cover
1.
608
Kirsch, With Self-Portait; black and white
photograph: 1980.
2.
Abstract Impressions; watercolor: 1978.
3.
Yucca Demonstration Painting; watercolor:
1977.
Back Cover
609
1.
Lamplight-John Kirsch At Quitsea; oil: 1936.
Plate A
591
1.
Kirsch, Senior At Lincoln High School,
Lincoln, Nebraska; black and white photograph:
1915.
2.
Kirsch, Senior At University Of Nebraska-
Lincoln; black and white photograph: 1919.
3.
Dwight and Truby Kirsch-Recently Married But
Just Before Leaving For Europe; black and white
photograph: 1926.
4.
Dwight And Truby Kirsch-One Year Later With
John-Christmas Card; black and white photograph:
1927.
Plate B
1.
592
Kirsch starting a sumi; black and white
photograph: 1957.
588
Plate C
1.
593
Dwight and John Kirsch After John Came Back
From NYC (Note Eye Makeup) For Christmas; black
and white photograph: 1961.
2.
John Kirsch, Des Moines, IA; color
photograph: 1968.
Plate D
1.
594
JoAnn With Pearls, by John Kirsch (John and
JoAnn were both still in High School and were
about 18 years old); oil: 1944.
Plate E
595
1.
Main Street, Atkinson, NE; oil: 1940.
2.
Calico Corn; watercolor: 1939.
Plate F
1.
596
Grove Of Trees At A Park In Lincoln, NE, by
John Kirsch; watercolor: 1943.
2.
Sandscape; watercolor: 1942.
Plate G
1.
597
Sculpture At Sheldon Art Gallery, Lincoln,
NE; watercolor: 1980.
Plate H
1.
598
Corn Panel; watercolor: 1980.
589
Plate I
1.
599
Tree; sumi: mid 1960s.
Plate J
1.
600
Small Watercolor Of A Farmhouse; black and
white photograph: mid 1930s.
2.
Abstract: Murry Turnbull’s Studio;
watercolor: 1978.
Plate K
1.
601
Night Sky With Moon And Clouds; watercolor:
1981.
2.
Sunflowers At Sunset NW From Colorado Springs
Veterins Home; watercolor: 1980.
Plate L
1.
602
Untitled Iris; watercolor: 1981.
Plate M
1.
603
Three Sunflowers; watercolor: 1977.
Plate N
1.
604
Three Columbine Flowers; watercolor: 1977.
Plate O
1.
605
Painting Mural, Kildee Hall, Iowa State
University; black and white photograph: 1965.
2.
Stained Glass Display, Bedalah; watercolor:
1979.
590