TOPEKA – Works by a native of Topeka and pieces from a
family collection will be featured exhibitions at the
Mulvane Art Museum from Oct. 6 through Jan. 27, 2013.
Both exhibits will
open with a reception
from 5 to 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 5.
The influence of
the Southwest is a theme in “Capturing the Spirit: Prints by Kenneth M.
Adams.” Born in Topeka, Adams began art studies in 1913 with
George M. Stone, who was a local artist. He later studied at the
Chicago Art Institute, the New York Art Students League and
spent time in academic training in Europe. While studying
with Andrew Dasburg in Woodstock, N.Y., he became acquainted
with Cezanne, Picasso and the Cubists. In 1927, Adams
relocated to Taos, N.M., where he became the final and
youngest member of the Taos Society of Artists and taught at
the University of New Mexico. Adams distinguished himself
from other Taos artists by responding to the humble dignity
and culture of the Spanish and Indian people of the area. He had a fascination
with the uniqueness of their everyday lives in the fields,
irrigation ditches and building their adobe homes. An inward
appreciation of common things and ordinary people is
strongly suggested in his most successful pictures that
captured the spirit of the people and the place where he
lived in New Mexico. He
died in Albuquerque in 1966.
The prints, which are part of the Mulvane’s permanent
collection were donated to the Mulvane Art Museum in 1964 by
Herbert Spear, in memory of his wife, Mable, the sister of
Adams.
“Lasting
Impressions,” are works on loan from the Pruitt Family
Collection. Stephen W. and Mary M. Pruitt, of Overland Park,
Kan., began collecting in 1989 with their first fine art
purchase -- a dark and mysterious 1890 landscape etching by
the German artist Franz von Stuck. Neither one of them had
ever taken a course in art history, nor had spent so much as
an hour inside a commercial art gallery. But there was
something about that print that seemed to reach out and
touch them. It was, as Martin Krause, curator of prints,
drawings and photographs at the Indianapolis Museum of Art,
said at that time, "a great place to start building a
collection."
The Pruitt family has
shared their love of collecting with the general public for
almost 25 years through 11 museum exhibitions across the country. The collection, which
features works from the 1500s through the 1900s, includes
pieces by Thomas Hart
Benton, Childe Hassam, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Anders
Zorn, John Sloan, Felix Buhot, Erich Heckel, Albert
Belleroche, Peter Ilsted, Frederick Sommer, Imogen
Cunningham, Wynn Bullock, Camille Corot and Grant Wood.
Stephen Pruitt will present a discussion on collecting art,
"Masterworks on Main Street," at 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 11 at
the Mulvane Art Museum.
The Mulvane Art Museum, ArtLab and gift shop are open
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday
through Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free. The
museum is closed major holidays.
The Mulvane is located on the campus of Washburn
University, at 17th and Jewell Streets. Free parking is
available directly to the west of the Museum. Call
785-670-1124 or go to washburn.edu/mulvane.
-30-
Dena Anson, 785.670.1711
