[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

HAMBLIN SMITH, M. J. (1871–1936; British)

The Goatherd

four-color woodcut / 10.5 inches by 9 inches / #6 of 50

ca1920

Some of the collection’s artists seem to come in pairs. Such is the case with British artist M. J. Hamblin Smith. But this also forms an interesting pair with the goats rendered by Kay Nixon (Kathleen Irene Blundell-Nixon).

[From the community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

GERITZ, Franz (1895-1945)

Mt San Jacinto

1927

color woodcut / 9 inches by 12.25 inches / unsigned proof

“Franz (Frank) Geritz, painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, and educator, was born in Budapest, Hungary on April 16, 1895. He immigrated with his family to the United States in 1909 and his education continued in the public schools of Philadelphia and Chicago. Geritz worked for the Pullman Company in Chicago before moving to Northern California. In 1921, he graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland where he was a student of Perham Nahl, Xavier Martinez, and Frank Van Sloun.

“Between 1920 and 1923, Geritz supported himself by freelancing for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, and the Los Angeles Examiner. By 1922 he was living in Southern California and began a ten-year career of teaching block printing at the University of California Extension, Los Angeles. In November of that year his article “How to Make Block Prints” was published in California Southland. In 1923, an Exhibition of Block Prints and Etchings by Frank Geritz was on view at the Los Angeles Museum in Exposition Park between September 13 and 31.

“He was a member of and exhibited with the California Society of Etchers, the California Printmakers, and the Oakland Art Association. In 1926, he showed in the Print Rooms of the Los Angeles Museum along with Loren Barton, Grace M. Brown and Francis W. Vreeland. He won a bronze medal for his color block prints at the San Diego Pacific Southwest Exposition and his color block print Mono Lake was selected in 1927 for the 100 Prints of the Year exhibition. In 1934, Geritz created a handful of block prints through the Public Works Administration and, in 1939, his work was included in the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco.

“After moving to Los Angeles he met musician Josephine Heintz and they married on March 26, 1927. Geritz explored the western states and rendered the splendor of Yosemite, Shasta, Mono Lake, and Zion in his block prints. He also worked in portraiture and created many block prints or etchings of friends and local personalities including Arthur Millier, Perham Nahl, Edward Weston, Xavier Martinez, Emil Oberhoffer, Margrethe Mather, Ramon Novarro, and Georges Baklinoff.

“His work is represented in the collections of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Brooklyn Museum, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Library of Congress, San Diego Museum, and numerous county and city libraries within California.

“Franz Geritz died in Los Angeles, California on November 27, 1945.  His death was linked to a boyhood injury.” — from Annex Galleries website.

[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

BARTLETT, Dana (1882–1957)

Canal in Venice

ca 1920-1930

color woodcut / 12.5 inches by 10 inches (image)

Dana Bartlett, painter, printmaker, teacher, and gallery owner, was born in Ionia, Michigan on 19 November 1882. He studied at the Art Students’ League in New York with William Merritt Chase and Charles Warren Eaton.

Bartlett established a studio for a few years in Boston before moving to Portland, Oregon where he worked as a commercial artist for the Foster-Kleiser Company. For a short period of time he had a studio in San Francisco but in 1915 he opened his studio in Los Angeles. In 1924, Bartlett traveled to Europe where he studied with Armand Coussens in Paris and upon his return he joined the staff of the Chouinard Art Institute.

He was a member of and exhibited with the California Arts Club, the California Watercolor Society, the Laguna Beach Art Association, and the Print Makers Society of California. His work was included in the Painters and Sculptors exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, he exhibited at the Stendall Gallery in Los Angeles, and a solo exhibition of his work was mounted at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in December 1927. The following spring he opened the Bartlett Galleries which specialized in sketches and small paintings. Bartlett served as the seventh president of the California Art Club in 1922 and he founded and served as first president of the California Watercolor Society.

Bartlett’s work is represented in the Boston Public Library, Huntington Library, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles Public Library, National Gallery of Art, Sacramento State Library, and the Southwest Museum.

Dana Bartlett died in Los Angeles, California on 3 July 1957.

This delightful small print was found on the boulevard during Spring Clean-up Week in 2004. One person’s “trash” in another’s treasure.

[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

ABELES, Sigmund (born 1934)

Drawing of Young Woman

conté crayon on paper / 22.75 inches x 17.25 inches

ca 1970-1990

Abeles is an American artist, New York-born and raised in South Carolina.

“In my art, the depiction of the human figure is everything.”

Was born in New York City and raised in South Carolina.  He is a noted printmaker, painter and sculptor who is best known for his work with the human figure.  He studied at the University of South Carolina, Brooklyn Museum School, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and Columbia University. He has taught at Swain School of Design, Wellesley College, Boston University School of Fine Arts, University of New Hampshire and the Art Students League of New York.  His work is in the collections of many museums including The Museum of Modern Art; The British Museum; The Brooklyn Museum; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; National Academy of Design; and New York Public Library.

“His prints, drawings, paintings & sculpture are a body of work which is significant for an inherent sense of beauty and passion, as well as exemplifying a mastery of craft and technique.  His accomplishments have been shaped by an enduring regard for humanistic values as he conducted a never ending search to learn more about his life and his art.”  — Robert M. Doty

“In a time when many artists try their best to be abstract, obscure, and detached from human suffering and human efforts, Sigmund Abeles has the courage to portray real people and even to tell a story in the way artists did for generations. His roots are attached to the soil.”  — Issac Bashevis Singer

Abeles is represented in the collection by a few prints, etchings, but this is the sole drawing.

[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

BROOK, Stephen (born 1957; British)

“Winter Light”

oil on board / 6 inches by 6 inches

2019

Another small work by British artist Stephen Brook, “Winter Light” is a fragment of London’s Trafalgar Square.

This work was also an anonymous gift to commemorate the student-faculty exchange program between Northwest Iowa Normal School and Millstone-Jennings College, Greenbridge, Essex, UK.

[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

ALEXANDER, Jean Dryden (1911-1994)

“After Frans Hals”

unsigned / date unknown

Oil on canvas board / 13.8 inches by 9.7 inches

Jean Dryden Alexander was the youngest daughter of watercolourists Robert Graham Dryden Alexander and Effie Alexander. Born in 1911 in Essex, her artistic influence stemmed from her parents and their artist circle of friends, who included Hercules Brabazon Brabazon and Sir George Clausen. The whole family spent as much time as possible painting en plein air around Essex and its coastline. Jean was educated at Queen Anne’s School, Caversham and studied art at Chelmsford Art School (1928-1931). She won a scholarship to the Slade School of Art (1931-1935). Exhibitions Include: The Royal Academy, The New English Art Club, The Society of Women Artists and The Whitechapel Art Gallery.

The fine portrait above is copied from an original by Dutch artist Frans Hals (1582-1666) and comes from the Art Department at NITC. It may have been acquired by Karl Wasserman for use as a teaching tool. The original is shown at left — a detail of “The Regents of St Elizabeth’s Hospital of Haarlem” (1641):

[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

STEWART, John Ivor [1936-2017]

Geometric Composition

oil on canvas / 15.7 inches by 28.2 inches

ca1970

Maureen and William Bendix built a mid-century Modern home in the Riverside Addition on the west edge of the city and furnished it with pieces which quickly became classics. Today their home would be featured in Modern magazine as a de facto museum for the period—were it still intact. The Bendixes have passed away and their daughter Estelle Bendix Morreau lives in Tucson, Arizona. But we have the benefit of four mid-century Modern artworks she has given in her parents’ memory.

How the Bendixes became aware of British artist John Ivor Stewart (a near contemporary of Maureen Bendix) is a mystery. They became enthusiastic collectors of his work, however, acquiring four works, this being the largest and most abstract of them. Stewart came to artistic maturity during the 1950s and his work — especially this composition which strikes one as a city scape — retained a mid-century sense.

“[John Ivor Stewart] studied at Belfast College of Art 1956-60, Reading University for his ATD in 1960, and later the Cardiff College of Art for his ADAE 1973-74. He was a founder member of the Society of Botanical Artists 1982, and was elected a member of the Pastel Society in 1987. He won the Major Prize as a non-member in 1986 and twice again as a member in 1992 and 1997.”

[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa.]

PLATT, John Edgar [1886-1967]

“The Giant Stride”

1918

color woodcut in eight colors / 6 5/8 inches by 16 3/16 inches / xxi from an edition of 150

[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa.]

JANOWITZ, Joel [born 1945]

Teapot

monoprint on paper / 29 1/2 inches by 41 1/4 inches (plate)

1989

Joel Janowitz was born in 1945 in New Jersey, and lives and works in Boston, MA. Janowitz’s work has been exhibited in 1973 Whitney Biennial, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Osaka Foundation of Culture in Japan, the Drawing Center (NYC) and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. His paintings, prints, and drawings can be found in the collections of major museums, colleges, and corporations in the US.

Janowitz can also be found in the collection of Agincourt’s restaurant The Periodic Table. It was purchased during a buying trip to the East by restauranteur Rosemary Plička and is on loan to the Community Collection.

[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

COOPER-BROWN, M. [active 1900-1925]

Return of the Fishing Boats

ca1925

color woodcut / 6 5/8 inches by 6 3/8 inches (image) / no edition

M. Cooper Brown is listed in three annual exhibition catalogues of the Royal Academy of Arts (1904, 1905, and 1907), each entry bearing an atmospheric title: “Sunset”, “Evening, “Sunrise”; each of them a watercolor, though none were illustrated. The artist’s address is given as 98, South Hill Park, Hampstead. Beyond those few facts, we know nothing else.