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There must be something inherent in human nature that inspires the need to collect certain objects beyond those needed for survival. Part of it might be the need to seek commonality with others or to declare a unique individuality or to cling to the nostalgia of youth or want to be surrounded by pretty things or to cling onto the possibility that “this stuff will be valuable someday.”
The hunt for seashells, sports paraphernalia, Pokemon cards, stamps, rare coins, action figures, antique tools, old LPs, comic books, Corningware, celebrity autographs or almost anything else, and the devoted curation and display that often follows is a source of delight and pride.
And then, there are those individuals who collect art, including my wife Elizabeth and myself. There are hundreds of works of art — drawings, paintings, prints, sculptures, and more — in our modest home. Quite a few are ones that either she or I created.
Many were swaps with fellow artists. Others were gifts. A fair number were purchased and some were privately commissioned. They are the most precious things that we own. That doesn’t mean that they have any significant monetary value. But they certainly enrich our existence in truly meaningful ways.
The New Bedford Art Museum is currently presenting “The Homecoming,” a display of 25 works in a variety of media — the first in a new series of exhibitions focused on the interests and proclivities of eight South Coast art collectors who have generously chosen to share some favorites with museum patrons. The inaugural presentation is intentionally eclectic, ascribing to no particular theme. Future installations will focus on certain artforms or common themes, to include modern and contemporary photography, Edo-period Japanese art, and nautical subjects.
“The Homecoming” is an unexpected and delightful mingling of works by a number of art history world heavyweights (including Mary Cassatt, Kathe Kollwitz, Francis Picabia and Leonard Baskin) and others, who have created work no less visually intriguing or emotionally packed. It includes some whose names are lost to the passage of time and hence, sadly only identified as “Unknown Artist.”
Cassatt (1844-1926) was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and moved to France in 1874, where she counted Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro as colleagues and mentors. In 1892, She wrote “If I had not been absolutely feminine, then I have failed.”
She is represented by “The Crocheting Lesson,” a drypoint print depicting a mother and a young girl with her head pressed against her shoulder, being taught the basics of a skill that would have been referred to as one of the “womanly arts” back then. It is a simple image of a private moment of maternal affection.
Kollwitz (1867-1945) was born in what is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Following the death of her son in World War l, her profound grief and mournfulness fueled a rugged determination, noting that she had “no right to withdraw from the responsibility of being an advocate” and that it was her sacred duty to “voice the sufferings of men.”
Her 1908 etching “Die Gefangenen (The Prisoners)” is a timeless depiction of broken and desperate men, caged-like animals, broken and bound and cuffed. It is eternal. It could be the First World War, or a concentration camp or a Soviet gulag or a contemporary ICE holding facility.
Baskin (1922-2000) taught printmaking and sculpture for 20 years at Smith College in Northampton. His 1959 “Angel of Death” is a large stark black-and-white woodblock print, appropriately intimidating, with great feathered wings. One can almost feel the vengeance of an angry god.
On a much lighter note, there is an ink and watercolor illustration by Picabia (1879-1953). “Spanish Lady” is as delicate as a secret whisper. A pale woman with bright blue eyes and the faintest suggestion of a mischievous smile is both charming and wistful.
Margery Ryerson’s “Child In Yellow” (c. 1930s) and Jean Nutting Oliver’s “Portrait of A Young Woman” (c. 1899) are well-done and admirable paintings, typical of their respective eras.
There is a handsome untitled “relief painting” of a great fish navigating a tumultuous wave created in the late 1800s by Leander Allen Plummer II and A.G. Grinnell.
An untitled watercolor by Alice Marion Curtis (c.1870) is a wonderful curiosity. Rendered in such a manner as to take on the appearance of a sepia-toned photograph, it features a dozen or so men on a beach lulling about another man atop a horse, while a boat sails in the distance. No explanation is necessary. Sometimes one needs to let the mystery be.
Painter Julian Underwood, a professional architect and for some time, a member of the Board of Trustees at the former Swain School of Design, is represented by “Roque Harbor, Maine.” The quiet and contemplative watercolor was done in 1986, making it the most contemporary work in the exhibition.
The second most contemporary work is likely Richard Merkin’s 1983 “Perelman in Morocco,” an intriguing pastel illustration featuring a figure in a white cloak, looking a bit like a mockup for a scene in a James Bond film. Merkin (1938-2009) taught at the Rhode Island School of Design for 42 years. And here’s a fun fact: he was featured on the cover of the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, positioned between Fred Astaire and a “Vargas girl.”
Varujan Boghosian (1926-2020) was greatly influenced by Surrealism and Dada and his “The Pearl,” a wall-mounted assemblage of wood, metal and fabric, reflects that. He once said, “I don’t make anything. I find everything.”
Among the remaining works in “The Homecoming” are some created by unknown artists and among them are some fascinating works. One of the paintings, which appears to be unfinished, is titled “Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb” but the identity of the artist remains a mystery.
There is a terrific little simple still life of a brown jug and a half-dozen apples (artist unknown). There is a painting of a narrow village street with a church in the distance with what may or may not be a semi-obliterated signature in the lower left corner. And there is a “primitive” landscape oil painting featuring a fox with a dead goose dangling from its jaw, while her pups hover by, ready to eat. There are others, all worthy of time and contemplation.
In an era of big name artists and cults of personality and quick turnaround sales, it is too easy to be cynical. But that said, I doff my metaphorical hat to the anonymous octet of collectors who collect what they like and grow to cherish even more and are yet magnanimous enough to share with their community.
Kudos to them all.
“The Homecoming” is on display at the New Bedford Art Museum, 608 Pleasant St., New Bedford through March 29.
Don Wilkinson has been writing art reviews, artist profiles and cultural commentary on the South Coast for over a decade. He has been published in local newspapers and regional art magazines. He is a graduate of the Swain School of Design and the CVPA at UMass Dartmouth. Email him at dwilkinson@newbedfordlight.org
