Alaska Art History Resource Library articles and essays honoring the American experience through its art

Alaska Art History

with an emphasis on representational art

Resource Library articles and essays honoring the American experience through its art:

A Northern Adventure: The Art of Fred Machetanz (1908-2002); Introduction to the Exhibition by Kesler Woodward is a 2004 exhibit at the Anchorage Museum of History with an introduction by guest curator Kesler Woodward. He says: "At the age of 94, Machetanz was a larger-than-life figure in traditional Alaska painting, a link with an earlier, heroic generation of pioneer painters. Those earliest significant painters to make Alaska their home -- men like Sydney Laurence, Eustace Ziegler, Ted Lambert, and Jules Dahlager -- worked in various styles, but they shared a romantic vision of a grand, sparsely settled, pristine country where hardy souls make a home in the wilderness by living close to the land. Their work cemented in the minds of most Alaskans, and many others throughout the world, an image of Alaskans as pioneers, and Alaska as the last frontier." Five images accompany the article

Documents and Inventions: Art from the Permanent Collection by David Mollett This brief essay accompanied the Anchorage Museum of History and Art's exhibit of the same name held April 28 through November 17, 2002. The author says: "The selected pieces all show a deep connection between the artist and subject without regard to size or historical importance. Works that artists make primarily for themselves -- not for market or a specialized audience -- truly allow for self-expression. These can often be small anecdotal works that operate at a level of success far beyond the big artistic machine. I'm drawn to the document of place, person, event, or dream more than the "masterful" object created by design. The timeless in art is best approached by establishing a particular moment that reveals a universal truth rather than a generalized statement, which often falls into the trap of cliché. That is why I have included Sydney Laurence's Chugach Mountains from Spenard and Fireweed, Anchorage rather than a view of McKinley... Throughout the exhibition, I have preferred works where the artist relaxes away from the grand construction and is motivated by pure visual interest."

Creating the Myths of Alaska: Art from the Permanent Collection; Curator's Statement by Duke Russell He says: "My imagination went wild when I was asked to do the Points of View show. My first thought was investigation! Discovering cavernous repositories of old masters. Getting lost in a sea of historic treasure. Reading ancient correspondence and translating Sanskrit. Our museum, however, is less than fifty years old. My imagination took a little turn. There is no cavern of old masters. There is a very tidy basement though, with low lighting and rows of metal walls that roll out like huge vertical files. Home for the paintings. Many famous and familiar ones. Pull out a wall and see: Thomas Hart Benton, Red Grooms, Miro. Others seem to be sidelined for a variety of reasons, including simply falling out of fashion. I hoped to bring out some of the latter to participate in this talent show, to share in a broader view of experiences. It's all interesting with the right set of eyes."

Earthscape: Artists in Alaska's Copper River Delta The Frye Art Museum presents a unique exhibition that makes a strong environmental case for preservation of Alaska's Copper River Delta. The Copper River Delta is the largest wetland on the Pacific Coast of North America. In 1995, twenty-five artists from around the world were invited to capture the unique beauty of this endangered land, among them Northwest sculptor, Tony Angell.

Eskimo Drawings The Anchorage museum organized the first-ever major exhibition of drawings by the Alaska artists who have detailed Eskimo life-ceremonies, clothing, tools and technology -- depicting their cultures from their own point of view. The museum says: "Perhaps the most surprising and delightful drawings in the exhibit are the lovely pencil sketches on the backs of census forms and other available paper scraps that were drawn by the young men who were students and apprentice reindeer herders in Cape Prince of Wales in the early 1890s. For those familiar with North American Indian art, these drawings are the Inupiaq equivalent of the famed Plains Indian ledger drawings."

Drawing Shadows to Stone: Photographing North Pacific Peoples, 1897-1902 and Objects of Northern Life The Jesup Expedition was organized in 1897 by the American Museum of Natural History to investigate the origins of the American Indian. Photography was an integral component of this foremost American ethnographic expedition, and in the space of five years, the Expedition produced 3,000 photographs of the peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America and the northeastern coast of Siberia. The exhibition presents rare views of the people of the North Pacific region at the beginning of the 20th century and explores the role of photography as a way of "collecting culture" and capturing a way of life. Accompanied by 8 photos.

Giinaquq (Like A Face): Sugpiaq Masks of the Kodiak Archipelago In the winter of 1872 a young French anthropologist named Alphonse Pinart traveled the Kodiak archipelago by kayak, assembling one of the most extensive collections of Alutiiq ceremonial masks in the world. Masks from Pinart's collection returned to Alaska last summer for the first time in 136 years to tell the Alutiiq story and inspire Alaskans to explore the rich culture of Kodiak's Native people. The exhibit wood masks and a bird-shaped feast bowl collected from villages on the Kodiak archipelago.

John Hoover: Art and Life extensive essay by Julie Decker in the catalogue for the exhibition.

The Lure of Alaska: Paintings, Watercolors, and Graphics from the Permanent Collections In addition to works by Ziegler, the installation includes paintings by the acknowledged dean of Alaskan painters, Sydney Laurence (1865-1940), as well as later artists, "Rie" Munoz (b. 1921), "Rusty" Heurlin (1895-1986), Theodore Lambert (1905-1965), and Fred Machetanz (b· 1908). As a complement to the Machetanz paintings, the museum will display for the first time the recently acquired complete set of fifty lithographs created by Machetanz Other artists included in the exhibition are "Jon" van Zyle (b. 1942), Bettina Steinke (b. 1913), and R. T. "Skip" Wallen

Spirit of the North: The Art of Eustace Paul Ziegler Ziegler, who is perhaps best known for his portraits of frontier characters including miners, priests, fishermen and Alaska Natives, came north in 1909 at age 27 to manage the Red Dragon, a community Episcopal mission in Cordova. His missionary work required extensive travel among the territory's mines and construction camps, which gave him grist for his art.

Sydney Laurence Paintings from the Permanent Collection Seven recently donated Laurence paintings are a highlight of this exhibition. The Alaska State Museum acquired five Laurence paintings from Carl Valentine, husband of the late Betty Valentine. She was a niece of former territorial Gov. George A. Parks. Parks, who served from 1925-33, collected a number of pieces of Alaska artwork and gave them to her. She asked her husband to make sure the art collection returned to Alaska, and, after her death, Valentine contacted the Museum from his home in California.

Also see Pacific Coast Painting: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington: 19th-21st Century

(above: Sydney Lawrence, The Streams Are Full of Them, c. 1915-1923, oil on canvas, 30 x 234 inches, Dallas Museum of Art, 1932.3. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)

(above: Prescott Jones, McKinley Park Station in Snow, c. 1933-43, 19.1 x 25.5 inches, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1972.95. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

(above: Vernon Smith, Foot of Glacier, Valdez, Alaska, c. 1933-43, 16 x 20 inches, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1972.28. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

(above: Arthur Kerrick, Russian Church and Three Mountains, Sitka,1938, watercolor, 18.5 x 28 inches, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1972.30. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

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