Summer Reading
William S. Schwartz: Color and Coloratura delves into the vibrant and wide-ranging oeuvre of a man who helped define what it meant to be a twentieth century Chicago artist working during the tumultuous period encompassing the Jazz Age, Clutch Plague, and Second World War. From his early years as an opera-singing Russian immigrant who shocked instructors with his unprecedented palettes, to his later, more mature explorations in form and abstraction — particularly his famed Symphonic Forms series — William S. Schwartz: Color and Coloratura traces the winding journey of a prolific and unapologetic artist through in-depth analyses of more than 20 of his genre-defying paintings and lithographs.
Jerome Myers (1867-1940), Houston Street, 1908, oil on canvas, 24 × 19 inches
No one quite knew what to do with Jerome Myers in 1908. It was a year full of markers of success for the artist—his first solo exhibition at Macbeth Gallery, the Met at his door angling to acquire one of his paintings. But though he was undoubtedly of Ashcan ilk with an artistic beat encompassing the Eastern European and Italian immigrant communities of Manhattan’s rough and tumble Lower East Side, people couldn’t seem to find any agreement on just how Ashcan Jerome Myers really was. The Met declined his painting after some deliberation (too dark, too gritty, too Ashcan), only to pick it up four years later and decide that, wait, never mind, this would actually be a perfect addition to the permanent collection. Robert Henri, meanwhile, leader of the famed and controversial Ashcan clan “The Eight,” refused to include Myers in that group’s inaugural 1908 exhibition (at—you guessed it—Macbeth Gallery). Why Myers was left out remains up for debate (especially since he was friends with several of The Eight’s members), but some speculate it was because Henri found his work too tidy, too sentimental. In other words, not Ashcan enough.
Read more about Jerome Myers here.
Madron Gallery’s in-house press publishes high-quality art books that focus on the lives and works of influential, lesser-known modern artists, particularly those with a connection to Chicago. To place orders shipping outside of the continental United States, please contact the gallery at (312) 640-1302.
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