John Edward Thompson (1882-1945) was called the “Dean of Colorado Painters,” a title later given to Vance Kirkland after Thompson’s death. 

Thompson was born in Buffalo, New York and first studied art there and then in New York City. He moved to Paris in 1902 and remained in Europe until World War I brought him back to the United States. While in Europe, Thompson traveled widely and lived for a year in Holland, but France was his base. He studied for three years with Percival Tudor-Hart, a great color scientist. Thompson saw the Paul Cezanne retrospective in Paris in 1907 and changed his own paintings as a result of Cezanne’s use of geometry and color.

When Thompson returned home to New York in 1914, a railroad agent recommended he move to Pine, Colorado, because of the fine quality of mountain light. While in Pine he painted this painting:

Landscape
1914
oil on panel
12 x 12 in.

He returned to Buffalo with his new wife in 1915 to teach, but came back to Colorado two years later.

 
Pine, Colorado
c. 1917
oil on canvas
8 x 12 in.

In Denver, Thompson made a splash when he took part in the controversial, landmark exhibition held in 1919 at the Denver Public Library. It was innocently called the Twenty-fifth Annual Exhibition of the Denver Art Association (renamed the Denver Art Museum in 1923) but was nicknamed the “Denver Armory Show,” a reference to the 1913 New York Armory Show. The 1919 exhibition was the first time modern art was collectively displayed in Denver. It caused a scandal, but Thompson persisted along with other modernists who championed the cause.

In 1923 Thompson began working with an architectural firm and completed many decorative paintings and murals in Denver office buildings and homes. From 1924 – 1929 Thompson taught at Chappell School of Art at 13^th and Logan. In 1929, Chappell School was purchased by the University of Denver and Vance Kirkland was hired as Director of the school.  Thompson continued to teach at D.U. until his death in 1945.  Thompson is one of the many Colorado artists who worked and studied abroad and in the eastern United States and elsewhere, enriching our state with the latest international directions. He, along with Robert Graham, was a teacher of Clarence Durham (significant Denver Artists Guild painter) and Frank Vavra (one of the 15 Colorado Artists).

There is a tribute to John Thompson on Kirkland Museum’s lower level through the end of July 2011. Though he died before the formation of 15 Colorado Artists, he is Colorado’s first truly modernist painter, and we honor his contribution to modern art in our state.

It was creeping inexorably across America—modern art! An alarm was sounded by Rocky Mountain News columnist Lee Casey on 11 February 1948:  “The influence of decadent Parisians…Picasso and Cezanne…has even been felt in the West. Santa Fe has been damaged by it and Denver has not wholly escaped the blight.”

Eleven Denver newspaper articles in 1948 trumpeted the conflict between “conservative” and “radical” artists. These debates climaxed with the break from the 20-year-old Denver Artists Guild by a group of rebel artists calling themselves 15 Colorado Artists. The modern group requested and got a separate, simultaneous exhibition adjoining the Denver Artists Guild exhibition at the Denver Art Museum, 3 December 1948 to 1 January 1949. Newspaper headlines blared: “Time for Showdown in Artists’ Range War” and “Modern vs. Traditional Painting Inspires Denver Artists’ Schism.”

Although the avant-garde 1913 Armory Show in New York had a profound impact on American academia and some artists and dealers, there was generally a strong resistance to modern art until after WW II in America. Thomas Hart Benton rejected the New York—Paris art scene and moved back permanently to Kansas City, Missouri in 1935. He and other regionalists concerned themselves with developing an American artistic identity without relying on the European styles in vogue at the time. Yet modern art styles eventually became established outside New York as this exhibition demonstrates.

On May 5^th, the Kirkland opened 15 Colorado Artists—Breaking With Tradition, showcasing the founders of “the 15″—Don Allen, John Billmyer, Marion Buchan, Jean Charlot, Mina Conant, Angelo di Benedetto, Eo Kirchner, Vance Kirkland, Moritz Krieg, Duard Marshall, Louise Ronnebeck, William Sanderson, Paul K. Smith, J. Richard Sorby, and Frank Vavra. Works by all 15 artists have been located, several from the 1948 exhibition. Interest in modern art had been growing for some time in Colorado but in 1948 it came to a head. Lines were drawn in the sand of art styles. People came in droves to the two dueling exhibitions, people took sides, arguments ensued and artists called each other names—which were printed in the newspapers. It was a magical, seminal moment in Colorado art and emblematic that modern art was becoming widespread in America. Even more extraordinary, modern art would command attention in the same city where the big winter event, since 1906, was the National Western Stock Show.

 —Hugh Grant, Founding Director and Curator

15 Colorado Artists—Breaking With Tradition

May 5 through July 31, 2011 

Burlesque (1947) by Angelo diBenedetto

Save 20% on selected items!

Shop the Kirkland’s gift shop and you’ll find a wide selection of gift ideas that are perfect for your mom—and many are on sale. Save on ceramics, accessories and more. Shop now for the best selection.

And children (over 13) can bring their moms to Kirkland Museum on Mother’s Day for free!

Remember a Kirkland Museum Membership makes a great gift for Mom.

Come to Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art during Doors Open Denver (April 16 & 17 from 10a.m.-5p.m.). All tickets are available at Kirkland Museum (1311 Pearl Street) this year, NOT at Union Station. Tickets for both Saturday and Sunday’s tours can be picked up beginning at 10a.m. on Saturday. There are only 20 tickets per tour and they’ll be given out on a first come, first served basis. Each person can pick up two tickets for two tours per day.

The tour schedule is (same Saturday and Sunday):
Kirkland Museum Highlights:
10:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m.

Architects in the Kirkland Museum Collection:
11:30 a.m. or 2:30 p.m.

100 Years of Art at 1311 Pearl Street:
12:30 p.m. or 3:30 p.m.

Built 1910-1911, Kirkland’s historic art school and studio building is the oldest freestanding art school building in Colorado. It is Denver’s oldest commercial art building and second oldest in Colorado–after the Van Briggle Memorial Pottery building in Colorado Springs. The Kirkland’s architectural style is Arts & Crafts. The building’s original architects were Maurice Biscoe and Henry Hewitt. Architects of additions to the building are: Carl A. Groos (1971 storage room and kitchen for Kirkland Museum); Stafford Clark (1989 Director’s office); Chip Melick, AIA, Rachel Lawrence and Sarah Boulet (1998-99 main museum addition).

Herman (Cas) Casagranda was born in 1917 in Ouray, Colorado, the son of an Austrian immigrant miner. He attended East High School and the University of Denver, and taught art and art history in the Denver Public Schools for thirty-one years. Casagranda was especially drawn to medieval imagery. He built a family chalet in Frisco, Colorado, which was decorated with his own medieval themed artwork, including a knight. Casagranda worked in a wide variety of mediums but is best known for his enamels.

Enamel is created by melting powdered glass as a coating onto metal, glass or ceramic. The colors are created by grinding colored glass or by mixing clear glass with minerals or metal oxides. The ground glass can be applied as a powder or a paste onto the surface to create a design or image. Different colors of glass cannot blend in the same way that paint can to create new colors or tones, but through a trick of the eye similar to the effects of pointillism, the illusion of a blended shade can be created by mixing tiny particles of different colors in the same area. Famous uses of enamel include Fabergé’s eggs and Art Nouveau jewelry. It is also extensively used on functional objects such as pots, cast iron bathtubs and kitchen appliances.

Herman Casagranda
Clown With Wand
undated
Enamel on copper
6 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches 

Kirkland Museum has four Casagranda enamels on view with other enamels from our collection in the lower level corridor. One piece on view in the lower level, “Clown With Wand” is an example of Casagranda’s interest in medieval characters. The clown has both opaque and translucent elements.  One of the abstract Casagranda enamels (on view on the wall in the lower level) used to hang in Vance Kirkland’s kitchen.

Herman passed away April 3, 2011.

Tonight (Wednesday, March 9th) at 6PM

Photographing Warhol: Forum with John Bonath, Valere Harris Shane, and Mark Sink + Turn-About is Fair Play: Documenting Andy Warhol, an opening presentation by moderator Elliot King. The event is free and open to the public.

The Myhren Gallery reminds us: “This evening’s event is both a photographic investigation and a post-Warhol reunion. It opens with a presentation by art historian Elliot King, who writes that “As a photographer, Andy Warhol was keenly aware of the camera’s power to disseminate a desired image.  He was also apt at breaking down others’ constructed ‘images’, through his documentary films, photographs, and, most especially, his ‘screen tests’ – silent film ‘portraits’ executed between 1964 and 1966.  In the uncomfortable space of staring blankly into the camera for several minutes, Warhol’s subjects frequently dropped their pretensions, and yet Warhol himself remained ever in character, both in front of and behind the camera. Through examples of the screen tests and photographs included in the exhibition, Elliott King provides an historical background for the unique experiences and reminiscences of three Colorado photographers – John Bonath, Valere Harris Shane, and Mark Sink — whose documentary photographs turned the camera’s unflinching eye on the most elusive of Warhol’s subjects: the artist himself.”

Warhol in Colorado (the exhibition) continues at the Myhren Gallery on the University of Denver campus through March 13th.

2121 East Asbury Avenue
Denver, CO 80210
(303) 871-3716

www.du.edu/art/myhrengallery.htm

“Andy Warhol brought people together in ways that fueled their enthusiasm for art. His prowess at networking and finding commonalities inspired Denver University’s Myhren Gallery to create a show enriched by the enduring connections Warhol made when visiting Colorado in the late 70s and early 80s. Warhol’s use of photography was a central tool that enabled both his art and social relations. Warhol in Colorado features the collection of Warhol Polaroids and silver prints gifted to the University of Denver by the Andy Warhol Foundation in 2008. Images by Colorado photographers (John Bonath, Valere Harris Shane and Mark Sink) who photographed the artist in New York and Colorado in the 1980s, turn the camera on Warhol himself.

Complementing the photography are iconic hand-finished works by Warhol drawn from Colorado collections, such as complete sets of the 1972 Mao series and 1981 Myths series. Warhol’s prolific output of works relating to music is represented in screen prints of Mick Jagger, record album covers and magazines. Posters, works on video and assorted ephemera add further context of Warhol’s Colorado connections.”  Curators: Dan Jacobs & Rupert Jenkins.

Andy Warhol's iconic Souper Dress

Kirkland Museum has loaned several objects, including a signed Campbell’s vegetable soup can label and the iconic Souper Dress.

Through March 13.  Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, 2121 E. Asbury in Denver. 303.871.2846. www.du.edu/art/myhrengallery.html

We were thrilled when Greg Moody from Denver’s Channel 4 came to visit the Kirkland yesterday. He got quite a workout from seeing all 3,300 objects on view (yes, I think he looked at and counted every single one!). He especially seemed to enjoy the paintings in our very big elevator! Who ever said that traveling between floors should be boring? Come to the Kirkland to see what all the excitement is about. We’re open from 11AM-5PM Tuesday-Sunday with tours scheduled Wednesday-Saturday at 1:30PM. 

Here’s a link to Greg Moody’s piece.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/02/16/moody-kirkland-museum-a-hidden-treasure-in-denver/