ISSUE 5 // 6.7.2021

Jane Peterson (American, 1876-1965), Beach Scene #2
Oil on canvas board, 16 x 20 inches

WHAT’S NEW

Hanging in the Balance

Madron Gallery’s latest show, Balancing Act, opens today. Featuring the work of contemporary Chicago sculptors Dusty Folwarczny and Marshall Svendsen, the pieces featured in Balancing Act explore materiality, memory, gravity, and place. Split between Madron Gallery (make an appointment to visit*) and outdoors on the grounds of 1750 N Kingsbury (which you can see anytime), Balancing Act runs through August 12, 2021. 

*Regarding gallery visits: Madron is following state and local guidelines for COVID-19. All of our staff is fully vaccinated (yay!) If you are, too, we welcome you to enjoy your time at the gallery without a mask.

One for the Books

We want to introduce you to Kimberly Sipek, who’s joining Madron for the summer to do a major overhaul of our art library. Kimberly was also an art history major at Saint Louis University. In addition to working at Madron, Kimberly is also the Executive Assistant at the Elmhurst Art Museum, is looking into grad programs in arts management, and has an eye towards a career in arts advocacy. We asked if she had to choose a favorite work of art what it would be — “The Arnolfini Portrait” was her pick, a painting she studied in school (and which we think is a great choice). We hope you’ll join us in giving Kimberly a warm welcome!

WHAT’S NEXT

S is for Schwartz in September

Get out your calendars: September 20, 2021 marks the opening of William S. Schwartz: Color and Coloratura, the show accompanying Madron Press’s latest release of the same name. While you got a sense for Schwartz’s brilliant color work and genre-bending style from the book, nothing compares to seeing these paintings in person. Grab a copy if you haven’t yet to learn all about Mr. Schwartz, then come to the show this fall to see the works featured in the publication (plus a few surprises) come to life.

WHAT’S THAT PAINTING UP TOP?

Beachy Keen

For Jane Peterson—who spent the early years of the twentieth century painting across England, Holland, Italy, and France, befriending the likes of Gertrude Stein—WWI was a jolt. Her preferred fishing villages suddenly inaccessible, Peterson began spending her summers along coastal New England, with a particular fondness for the fishing port of Gloucester. Beach Scene #2 is likely a work from this series of summers. In it, Peterson animates a leisurely day with bold pops of color from umbrellas and swimsuits, rendering the scene in a blazing wash of early afternoon sunlight. It has Peterson’s signature blend of Impressionist subject matter paired with modernist color blocking and formal abstraction. As one critic wrote of her paintings from this time: “Miss Jane Peterson uses strong colors and a broad brush to give the facts about docks and fishing craft and harbors in a somewhat knock-you-down fashion.”