75 Fun Facts: David Smith, Philip Guston, Eduard Steichen at the Institute

Posted by Mary Murray on April 11th 2011 | 0 Comments

Tags: Institute

On January 17, 1947: Sculptor David Smith spoke here about his work (by 1950, the Museum owned Smith’s marvelous The Letter). Later that same year, Philip Guston, who was at the time the head of the painting department at Washington University, St. Louis, was visiting artist between November 2 and 14, 1947. The Museum now owns two Guston paintings, The Porch, 1947, and Table at Night, 1975.

Philip Guston

December 10, 1948: Eduard Steichen, director of the Photographic Department at the Museum of Modern Art, presented a lecture “In and Out of Focus,” about the Institute’s current exhibition of the same title. Eight years later, April 29 through May 21, 1956, the Institute hosted the Museum of Modern Arts Family of Man exhibition, which was organized by Steichen. Photographer Minor White was a guest lecturer.

Painters Jack Levine and Ad Reinhardt were jurors for the 18th Annual Exhibition of Central New York Artists. This choice for jurors makes me wonder about how the review process went. Both were interesting artists, but Levine pointed a very critical eye at corruption in his works and Reinhardt composed formalist canvases with titles like Nine Shades of Black.

A report from the 1952-1953 Yearbook: “Music of the People, a series of the music and dances of some of Utica’s many national and racial groups, was introduced in the spring of 1953. Designed to bring to the whole community the cultural resources and traditions of the smaller groups within it, the series was presented through the cooperation of the musicians and musical organizations of Utica’s Welsh, Polish, Arabic-speaking and Negro populations.”

The exhibition What is Industrial Design? was on view from March 14 through April 25, 1954 and was a showcase for 25 products designed and manufactured in Utica.

The Artshop opened in fall 1955, offering art magazines, postcards, greeting cards, educational toys as well as original works of art.