the art of emprise (february 2008 :: pursuit)
Posted on 04. Mar, 2010 by Carrie in culture
words > JIM JOHNSON
Financial institutions play a big part in our lives. Banks hold our money, loan us money and generally make our businesses and personal lives possible. They also are a big part of our cultural activities, providing patronage to all aspects of the arts- music, theater and especially the visuals arts.
The Art of Emprise is an exhibition at the Wichita Art Museum (Jan. 25 through Mar. 23) that surveys the efforts of one such bank, Wichita’s Emprise Bank and the passion of bank chairman M. D. Michaelis. He has created a collection that on one hand contains a striking array of art and, on the other, represents an important resource in preserving and documenting local art history .
The Art of Emprise collection contains more than 1, 000 works created by artists who attained national, or international status and have strong ties to Kansas. This exhibit highlights 94 works by 81 artists, and makes the point that as early as the 1880s, a mere two decades after our State’s founding, artists with Kansas ties made their impact on American and international art history.
Take, for instance, Albert Bloch who was a founding member of the avant-garde German Blaue Reiter group of 1911 along with Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. His 1917 drawing, UNTITLED (BUILDINGS WITH CLOCK TOWER) is an excellent example of cubist sensibility. He taught at the University of Kansas from 1926 to 1943 demonstrating how contemporary and influential the faculties of Kansas universities have been in bringing current ideas to their students.
Other historic art periods thoroughly documented by the Art of Emprise are the Santa Fe and Taos groups of the early twentieth century. Kansas artists played a large role in these important American modernist movements. Newton born and Paris trained Albert Krehbiel was the first visiting artist of the Museum of Art Santa Fe in 1922. His beautiful fauve influenced VILLAGE CHURCH is a classic painting of the colors and architecture of this important American art scene. Other Santa Fe/Taos notables included in the exhibition are Ward Lockwood, Kenneth Adams and Wichita native Edmund Davison, as well as more recent figures like Dick Mason and John Fincher.
One cannot speak of Kansas artists without mentioning John Stewart Curry. A member of the American Regionalist movement of the 1930s, Curry is arguably the most recognized name is Kansas arts. His murals in our Topeka Capital Building and his dynamic figure of John Brown are a part of every Kansas school kids memory. Included in the Art of Emprise is his 1942 study for a war time mural. It is a classic patriotic “butter to guns” composition. Sadly the completed mural was lost or destroyed leaving this work as one of the few images remaining.
Kansas artists figured prominently in post war American art movements. Several, including William Burroughs and Bruce Conner became major figures in the so-called Beat movement of the 1950s. Burroughs is included in the exhibit with a collaborative work with the English cartoonist and printmaker Ralph Steadman. Titled SOMETHING ADDED the piece is a Steadman lithograph altered by Burroughs shooting holes through it with various fire arms. Gunplay always figured prominently in Burroughs life. Bruce Conner, who was raised in Wichita, became one of the most important independent filmmakers of the post war period as well as a world famous artist. Included in the Art of Emprise exhibit is Conner’s 1962 UNTITLED ink drawing done while the artist lived in Mexico (he left the US fearing nuclear annihilation).
Photography is an important part of the Art of Emprise collection and the show includes several internationally important photographers. W. Eugene Smith, a Wichita native, became one of America’s most important war photographers. Included here is LANDSCAPE FROM A MOVING TRAIN shot in Japan in the 1960s while on assignment from the Hitachi Corporation. Smith was noted for putting himself at risk to get a shot and spent many months hospitalized recovering from war time injuries as well as being nearly beaten to death by the Japanese mafia for his documenting the devastating effects of industrial pollution to the Japanese city of Minamata. Here he hangs precariously out of a moving train to get the shot. Gordon Parks, born in Fort Scott, likewise is one of Americas most revered photographers.
Recognized for his images for Life and Look magazines, Parks was also famous for his fashion work and was the writer and director of the 1970s feature film SHAFT. Included in the Art of Emprise is a vintage 1949 print titled FRISCO STATION, FORT SOTT, KS which appeared in Life magazine and was included in a recent Gordon Parks traveling retrospective exhibition. Other photographers included in the exhibit are noted Hollywood photographer Greg Gorman, Chicago artist Terry Evans and Kansas City’s Michael Eastman.
One of the most interesting aspects of the Art of Emprise collection in general and this exhibit in specific is how it documents the faculties of Kansas universities and colleges. Beginning with F. O. Marvin (KU) in the 1880s, the list includes Raymond Eastwood (KU), John Helm (KSU), Sue Jean Covacevich (Southwestern), Rex Hall (Emporia), Robert Kiskadden (WSU), Joel Moss (FHSU) and many others. Several artists included in the exhibit became important faculty members of other major universities outside Kansas including James G. Davis (Arizona), Kenneth Adams (New Mexico) and Thomas Coleman (Nebraska). It is important to note the quality of the teaching faculty of our universities and colleges and how they have contributed to the success of Kansas artists.
Visiting the Art of Emprise will offer the viewer several rewards. Mostly, it will demonstrate to area artists that success in the studio is possible and there is a long historical tradition to make the point. To the non-artist it will offer a wide array of artworks that highlight the modern era. To everyone, it will present the value of patronage and the benefits of having a local institution that invests it’s money to work creating a resource that educates as well as entertains.
