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The Many Faces of Cleveland:
A Century of Portraiture
March 1 through April 27, 2002
In
an exhibition that might well be termed the most eclectic of the year for
the Cleveland Artists Foundation, The Many Faces of Cleveland: A Century
of Portraiture will present an exciting visual anthology of portraiture
produced in Cleveland over the course of the last century. The exhibition
will be displayed salon style and will showcase the various ways in which
portraiture was interpreted by artists from this region from 1900 to the
present. Over 75 works by 50 artists will be included. The curator of the
exhibition, Marianne Berardi, the newly appointed director of the Cleveland
Artists Foundation, will present a gallery talk at 7:15 pm during the March
1 opening reception. (left: Rolf Stoll, Portrait of a Woman (Alice
Stanger), oil on canvas, Collection of Donald Boncela)
While not intended as an exhaustive presentation of this
vast subject (such an effort would require at least three times the exhibition
space), this exhibition offers an opportunity to explore an extensive range
of work by many of the region's most celebrated and distinguished artists
who worked in the genre. Included, too, are several lesser-known artists
as well as those who had once enjoyed greater reputations but who have faded
from the artistic spotlight. Notably, this exhibition of over 75 works focuses
upon the work of artists for whom portraiture was not an occasional sideline,
but rather a specialty, or at the very least, an intensive focus of their
art for a period of time.
While the exhibit will, by nature of its subject, have
an obvious historical element, it will not be organized in a rigid chronological
manner from the early Cleveland School efforts to more contemporary interpretations
of the subject. Rather, the presentation underscores the aim of the show,
which is to explore the ways in which portraiture was studied, practiced,
and interpreted by artists who lived and/or worked for a time in this region.
To this end, the exhibition will be organized into several
specific thematic categories suggested by the body of work itself, rather
than the other way around. These include the following: the traditional
formal portrait; the self-portrait and surrogate self-portrait; the casual
(genre) portrait which blurs the line between portraiture and other subjects
such as landscape and interior scenes of everyday life; portraits of artists
by other artists; the historical and/or posthumous portrait; the symbolic
portrait; and the cartoon and caricature. (right: Douglas Utter,
Portrait of C. M., 1999, oil and mixed media on canvas, Collection
of the Artist)
In terms of sitters, the show will be a virtual pictorial
history of the art world of Cleveland, as well as the famous and infamous
in politics, business, culture, philanthropy, and entertainment. A few of
the well-known sitters include Dr. Paul Rea (first director of the Natural
History Museum of Cleveland) by Alexander Warshawsky, Henry Bailey Turner
(first director of the Cleveland School of Art) portrayed in a bronze bust
by Alexander Blazys, John "Jack" Roper (a well-known columnist
for The Cleveland Press and a past president of the City Club of
Cleveland as well as a charter member of their "Soviet Table")
by Abel Warshawsky, and Berenice Kent (a colorful local art and antiques
dealer) by Phyllis Sloane.
Oil and watercolor painting dominates the show in terms
of media. However, prominent examples of work in sculpture, printmaking,
drawing and photography are included as well to present a fuller picture
of the ways in which portraiture was explored.
And since portrait drawing and
its closely connected discipline of anatomy drawing formed an integral part
of the artistic curriculum at the Cleveland School of Art (Cleveland Institute
of Art) -- where many of the artists in the exhibit taught and/or trained
-- there will be a didactic section for the exhibition illustrating the
academic method of capturing a likeness and rendering the human body. Student
notebooks and sketchbooks will be shown. (left: Frederick C. Gottwald,
The Dreamer, 1918, oil on canvas, CAF Collection)
A sampling of artists represented in the exhibition include,
among others: Elmer Novotny, Edith Stevenson Wright, Abel and Alexander
Warshawsky; John Teyral, Hazel Janicki Teyral, William Sommer, Paul Travis,
Donald Boncela, Kim Schoel, Alexandre Iacobleff, Gloria Plevin, John Csosz,
Douglas Max Utter, Shirley Aley Campbell, Viktor Schreckengost, Rolf Stoli,
Sander Vago, Phyllis Sloane, Marsha Sweet, Wray Manning, William Zorach,
Edris Eckhardt, William Edmonson, George Admomeit, Natalie Grauer, Anna
Arnold, Charles Murphy, Ann Caywood Brown, Kathleen McKenna, Eileen Ingalls,
Avis Andres, Jose Cintron, Jean and Paul Ulen, Nancy Bunch Sheridan, Kalman
Kubinyi, Ron Johnston, Louise B. Maloney, Alexander Blazys, Alice Sands,
Dorothy Rutka, Willard Combes, Clara Mclean Sargeant and Frank Wilcox. Many
of the works chosen for the exhibit were shown in the Cleveland Museum of
Art's May Shows, and represent some of the finer achievements by the artists.
Work for this exhibition is drawn from private, public, corporate, educational
and government collections.
rev. 3/1/02
Read more articles and essays concerning this non-profit
source by visiting the sub-index page for the Cleveland
Artists Foundation in Resource
Library Magazine.
For further biographical information on selected artists
cited above please see America's Distinguished
Artists, a national registry of historic artists.
rev. 11/20/10
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