Museum Studies Exhibition Seminar Portfolio

25
Quastler The Life and Work of G Gertrude Quastler The Life and W Work of Gertrude Quastler The L Life and Work of Gertrude Quast Restrike: The Life and Work of Ge Gertrude Quastler The Life and W The Life and Work of Gertrude Q

Transcript of Museum Studies Exhibition Seminar Portfolio

Quastler The Life and Work of Ger

Gertrude Quastler The Life and Work

Work of Gertrude Quastler The Life

Life and Work of Gertrude QuastlerRestrike: The Life and Work of Gertrude

Gertrude Quastler The Life and Work

The Life and Work of Gertrude Quastler

3. Research

4. UAG

5. Library of Congress

6. Graphic Design

7. Photography

8. Postcard

9. Flyer

10. Poster

11. Fonts

12. Labels

13. Object labels

14. Intro label

15. Other Panels

16. Title and Quotes

17. Exhibition Documents

18. Exhibition Blueprint

19. Transcriptions

20. The Exhibit

21. The Concept

22. Picking Objects

23. Gallery Layout

24. Installation

25. Final Thoughts

Contents

RE

SE

AR

CH

UAG

files

Libra

ry of

Con

gres

s file

s

4

UAG Research

Discovering the research conducted by Mary A. Schmidt author of the exhibition catalogue for the recent Quastler exhibit at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.

Speaking with collector Graham Shearing about his Quastler collection.

5

Library of Congress DiscoveriesBiography and personal relationships

Scope and visibility of her professional work

GR

AP

HI

CD

ES

IGN

phot

ogra

phy

postc

ard

flyer

poste

rfo

nts

Updating

Photography

old

ne

w

ne

w

ne

w

old

old

7

8

EXHIBITION

POSTCARD design

Wood grain textures“Counterpoint” Gallery 1 “Beach” Gallery 3

“Sadness” Gallery 2 “Exodus” Gallery 4

9

EXHIBITION

FLYER

designRice paper texture

Wood grain textureAnchor artworks

10

EXHIBITION POSTER design

*Pulling Quastler’s handwriting

King: Modest typewriter font. Used in exhibition quote panels.

Neue Haas Grotesk: Bold, ‘50s European designer font. Produced for

newsprint. Made popular by: “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012) movie poster,

American Apparel and Instagram logos. Used in this portfolio’s headers. Baskerville Old Face Regular: Transitional style font designed in 1757 with pronounced serifs. Shown to increase “agreeability” among readers. Produced for the publication of Classical works of poetry and literature. Made Popular by: Northwestern University, and the “Canada” wordmark. Used in the exhibition’s object labels, theme labels, and marketing materials.

FONTS

11

LA

BE

LS

objec

t lab

elsin

tro la

bel

poetr

y the

me p

anel

title

and

quot

es

13

Gertrude QuastlerDog , 1950Papier-mâché, cloth, and acrylic 1986.1.12

Gertrude Quastler’s explorations into an array of media are renowned. Although primarily a woodcut printmaker, she also worked in silk screen printing, monoprints, and textile work, exhibited paintings in oil, watercolor and gouache, and created sculpture of wire and wood. Many of these techniques allowed Gertrude to serially produce her art quickly and fluidly.

Despite quickly adapting to diversity and innovation in the United States, the creation of this papier-mâché sculpture exposes feelings of European nostalgia. The dog, a subject never before exhibited by Quastler, appears to be a stylistic representation of a collie owned by her family in Austria, as depicted in the photo below, one of a few childhood photos that remained in her possession at the time of her death. Although the use of papier-mâché may suggest a departure from previous techniques, the implementation of fiber is reminiscent of her early life and fashion design career in Vienna and Paris.

What images of childhood nostalgia do you still carry with you?

Gertrude Quastler

Counterpoint #2, 1951Ink and paper1985.01.009

One of two editions, Counterpoint is Gertrude’s most renowned woodblock print. This version initially began to gain exposure with its 1952 publication in the American magazine Perspectives USA as a visual aide for an article about fellow printmaker, William Lieberman. In 1954, the image captured the attention of LIFE magazine, where it was subsequently adopted for an article about the revival of Woodcut printing in North America. A copy of this print was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1952.

A second, slightly different production of this print can be viewed in the Rotunda Gallery.

14Rest

rike-

1 to

strik

e ag

ain.

2 a

new

prin

t mad

e fr

om a

n ol

d lit

hogr

aphi

c st

one,

m

etal

eng

ravi

ng, w

oodc

ut, o

r the

like

.

Gertr

ude Q

uastle

r was

an ar

tist of

excep

tiona

l abilit

y who

se wo

rk wa

s coll

ected

by nu

merou

s pub

lic art

muse

ums in

this c

ountr

y and

inter

natio

nally

in he

r lifet

ime. D

espite

this, v

ery litt

le is k

nown

abou

t he

r work

today

, just 6

0 year

s afte

r her

death

. Rest

rike: U

ncov

ering

the Lif

e and

Work

of Ge

rtrud

e Qu

astler

is inte

nded

to re-

presen

tQua

stler’s

art, ut

ilizing

conte

mpora

ry his

torica

l persp

ective

s and

ne

wly d

iscov

ered a

rchiva

l mate

rials i

n orde

r to pr

ovide

a fres

h und

erstan

ding o

f this a

rtist.

The M

useum

Studie

s Sem

inar c

lass is

prou

d to p

resen

t this e

xhibi

tion, w

hich d

raws o

n the

Unive

rsity

Art G

allery

’s perm

anen

t collec

tion o

f 150

Qua

stler w

orks, d

onate

d by P

ittsbu

rgher

Johan

na

Zimme

rman

, the a

rtist’s

sister-

in-law

, after

the a

rtist’s

death

. Doc

umen

ts unc

overe

d this

fall fr

om

Quast

ler’sp

apers

at the

Librar

y of C

ongre

ss inc

luding

photo

graph

s, pers

onal l

etters

and o

ther

corre

spond

ence,

journ

al entr

ies, an

d poe

try ha

ve be

en in

corp

orated

into

the ex

hibitio

n as w

ell. Th

ese

artifa

cts ar

e bein

g pres

ented

for th

e first

time, a

nd pr

ovide

addit

ional i

nsigh

t into t

he life

and c

areer

of thi

s cele

brated

artist

.Fou

r main

them

es are

the fo

cus o

f this e

xhibi

tion: B

iograp

hy, Pr

ocess

, Poetr

y, and

Inter

nal St

rugg

le. Alt

houg

h man

y aspe

cts of

her li

fe are

still u

nkno

wn, m

uch c

an sti

ll be le

arned

abou

t how

Qua

stler’s

status

as a r

efuge

e, her

travel

s, her

life-lo

ng th

irst fo

r learn

ing, an

d her

chron

ic illn

ess aff

ected

her a

rt. Th

e artis

t’s int

erest i

n the

writt

en w

ord, es

pecia

lly po

etry, i

nspire

d and

stimu

lated

muc

h of h

er wo

rk.

Her in

tensiv

e focu

s on p

rocess

and e

xperi

menta

l tech

nique

s offe

rs a de

tailed

look a

t the s

kill, ti

me, an

d pe

rsiste

nce r

equir

ed to

prod

uce th

ese w

orks, p

articu

larly h

er wo

odcu

ts for

which

she w

as be

st kno

wn.

Quast

ler’sh

ealth

issues

sometim

es res

ulted

in w

orks fo

cused

on da

rker su

bject m

atter,

and r

eveal h

er use

of ar

t mak

ing as

a the

rapeu

tic too

l. We in

vite y

ou to

explo

re the

se ga

lleries

and c

onsid

er an

ew th

e ach

ievem

ents o

f this f

orgott

en ar

tist.

This

exhi

bition

was

orga

nize

d by

the H

istor

y of A

rt &

Arch

itectu

re’s

Mus

eum

Stud

ies Se

min

ar cl

ass

and m

ade p

ossib

le wi

th th

e gen

erou

s sup

port

of Th

e Fin

e Fou

ndati

on; th

e Offi

ce of

the C

hanc

ellor

, th

e Sch

ool o

f Arts

and S

cienc

es; an

d the

Hist

ory o

f Art

and A

rchi

tectu

re D

epar

tmen

t of t

he

Unive

rsity

of Pi

ttsbu

rgh.

The s

how

is co

-spo

nsor

ed by

the E

urop

ean

Union

Cen

ter of

Ex

celle

nce/E

urop

ean

Studie

s Cen

ter EU

CE/ES

C.

Spec

ial th

anks

to Ja

net M

cCall

, Exe

cutiv

e Dire

ctor,

Socie

ty fo

r Con

tempo

rary

Cra

ft an

d ins

tructo

r of

the M

useu

m St

udies

Sem

inar

; Uni

versi

ty Ar

t Gall

ery C

urato

r Isa

belle

Cha

rtier

, and

grad

uate

teach

ing a

ssista

nt A

nnika

John

son f

or th

eir gu

idanc

e and

supp

ort o

f thi

s Mus

eum

Stud

ies p

rojec

t. W

e also

ackn

owled

ge, w

ith gr

atitu

de, th

e adv

ice an

d assi

stanc

e of G

raha

m Sh

earin

g, Ch

uck B

iddle

and C

once

pt A

rt Ga

llery

, Nata

lie Sw

eet, a

nd M

aria

Castr

o.

15

Restriking PoetryLike the visual arts, the written word has pervaded every aspect of Gertrude Quastler’s life. Handmade creations such as handwritten birthday poetry, and woodcut printed greeting cards were among her favorite gifts to give. In casual correspondence with friends, intimate letters to her husband Henry, and professional contact with galleries and buyers, Gertrude commonly chose old-world pen and ink over typeface and phone call.This affinity with the literary crafts extended far into the lives of her friends. Gertrude and Henry held weekly poetry gatherings, inviting many of their closest friends from the University of Illinois, along with renowned Shakespearean scholar, Charles Shattuck, to sketch and paint social works of art inspired by open readings in their Urbana home.We invite you to continue in Quastler’s tradition and “restrike” poetry inspired by Quastler’s works of art. Simply use the materials provided to reimagine her artistic vision through your own words and experiences. When you are done, tack your completed poem near the work or works that inspired you.

Uncovering QuastlerResearch for this exhibition was conducted in both the

archives of the University Art Gallery and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Although the UAG’s holdings include dozens of letters of correspondence between Mary A. Schmidt, author of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art’s Quastler retrospective catalogue, and various friends of the late artist, the largest quantity of Quastler’s personal documents exist at the Library of Congress.

These documents include letters of submission (and rejection) to and from various galleries and museums, birthday and holiday cards, poetry, love letters, family photographs and much more. These artifacts open a window into the life and context of the artist, her professional goals as well as her personal relationships, and provide an unedited autobiography written and read in her own handwriting.

Various facsimiles of these documents are on view throughout this exhibition. We invite you to search through these letters and files as we have and discover the artist on terms invisible through her art work alone.

*Thes

e lab

els w

ere m

odifi

ed fo

r exh

ibiti

on

"It brings art history alive when you deal with those kinds of sources."

-Mary A Schmidt

"Her work betrays the physical suffering that must have been a part of her life every day. The more of Gertrude's work that people can enjoy, the better, because it is pleasurable. It is happy."

-Mary A Schmidt

"Quastler is by no means alone among artists in that she and her work slipped from sight with her death. The chance translation of her work to Pittsburgh and its dispersal, partly preserved them but partly concealed them"

-Graham Shearing

Quastler carved her first woodcut in 1950 using an "old crate and some scalpels" from her husband Henry.

-B. Monica Klippstein

"Neither my wife nor I can think of any couple we've encountered more indivisible"

-Richard Diebenkorn

"Henry was a bit of a loner and Gertrude painted and did her prints with almost no sources of appreciation or encouragement"

-Richard Diebenkorn

"What Henry 'Did' was a mystery to all f us. But we, including Henry, took this for granted."

-Richard diebenkorn

"Gertrude did not "teach" -she encouraged, suggested, and criticized."

-E. der Mateosian

"My work is meant for my contemporaries. It should decorate a room, give some fun and some pleasure. It should tell about the things I love, like trees and open fields, the movements of people, the expression of a face."

-Gertrude Quastler

”"When I fall in love with a new subject I explore it thoroughly in many, many drawings until the shapes I have seen in nature are completely absorbed. Only when the impressions have been distilled and clarified do I start painting, carving, or print."

-Gertrude Quastler

"Dear Miss Dickinson: Thank you for your letter of May 27. Let me answer your last question first. We are American citizens since 1945, -as I have never painted in Europe I think, I should be called an American painter."

-Gertrude Quastler

EX

HIB

ITIO

N

Exhi

bitio

n Bl

uepr

int

Tran

scrip

tions

DO

CS

18

19

“Maps are not funnyWe want to pin

That gigantic [view]To a definite point in the landscapeThat way it looks more like a game

And that does goodTo our haunted souls”

Tra

nscriptions

EX

HIB

ITIO

NTh

e Con

cept

Picki

ng O

bjec

tsGa

llery

Layo

utIn

stalla

tion

21

Concept

Picking Objects 22

23

Ga

llery

La

yo

ut

INSTALLATION

24

Final Thoughts From scouring the Library ofCongress for a “Big Idea” to thedeinstallation of the final print,Restrike: The Life and Work ofGertrude Quastler has been anenlightening and educational pre-professional adventure.

The success of the show is due toour teachers and mentors JanetMcCall, Isabelle Chartier, andAnnika Johnson, as well as myDocumentation group membersKatherine, Ryan, Deanna, andDanny, and my curatorialteammates Mariah, Michaela, andSarah.

Special thanks to Graham Shearing; TheFine Foundation; the Office of theChancellor, the School of Arts and Sciences;and the History of Art and ArchitectureDepartment of the University of Pittsburgh.The show was co-sponsored by theEuropean Union Center ofExcellence/European Studies CenterEUCE/ESC.