The Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin & Marshall College is pleased to present the Nissley Gallery, showcasing works from the collection. The museum’s permanent collection gallery is named in honor of F&M alumnus Thomas W. Nissley ’55 and his wife Emily Baldwin Nissley, who together generously provided funding for its care and programming. Since its charter in 2000, the Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin & Marshall College has been committed to collecting significant examples of material culture and artwork that support the college curriculum. Routinely refreshed, this gallery is a broad sampling from the museum’s various core collections, including many artworks making their exhibition debut. The collection is evolving and we are deeply indebted to the many generous donors who have helped it grow into a robust teaching resource that can be used to engage with our diverse student population and the greater Lancaster community.
LOCAL ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
The Nissley Gallery will now be featuring a rotation of contemporary local artists. The PMA's first spotlight is artist Jerome Wright who is known for his figurative and abstract paintings as well as being an accomplished professional cellist. Wright was born in Richmond, Virginia before settling in Washington, D.C. While very young, he suffered domestic trauma which led to a life on the streets at the age of 13. A local church group eventually provided the support to continue his schooling and complete his high school education. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School and The Workshop for Careers in the Arts, then moved to Brazil for five years playing as Assistant Principal Cellist with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo under Maestro Carvallho before joining the U.S. Army.
After retiring from the Army, Wright lived briefly in California but eventually moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His Lancaster home has become an art and music studio, where he is surrounded by his instruments, paintings, and eclectic collection of artwork. Wright has gained national attention after a four month exhibition at the Charles Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan. His work has also been shown in exhibitions at the Charles Demuth Museum, The Ware Center, Lebanon Valley College, Harrisburg Area Community College, the Lebanon Arts Council, Lebanon Frame Gallery, and St. Luke's Episcopal Church. And his passion and talent on the cello were enjoyed by a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall when he and pianist Glenn Sales presented Beethoven’s complete sonatas on April 28, 2017.
Coming of age during the Cultural Revolution in China was challenging for artists like Zeng. Often creatively stifled, the leadership of Mao Zedong didn’t make for a suitable environment for artists. Even though Zeng’s artwork focused mainly on his love for horses, and was not politically motivated or controversial, he still did not escape scrutiny and was subjected to forced labor and internment camps. Once free of imprisonment, he made his way to New York where he taught art at Stony Brook University. His favorite subject of horses has been an important part of Chinese art for more than a millenia. He often depicts freedom and movement in his works, possibly as a reflection on the past experiences of his life.
These works are part of the larger series, The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, that depicts the iconic mountain in various landscapes and seasons. Made during the peak of Katsushika Hokusai's career, these works are agreed to be masterpieces of the woodblock prints called ukiyo-e. It was during this time that much of the ukiyo-e artwork centered around the ideas of beautiful women. Hokusai pushed the boundaries by including scenes of Japan’s landscape, animals, and flowers. The process of printing these works was done by laying the original sketch on a woodblock to be carved. After completion, the multiple woodblocks would be inked and printed
For many, the word “samurai” conjures images of a stoic warrior outfitted in his armor. This set dates to the Edo period, around 1750. An expert in samurai arms and armor speculates that the gold dragon maki-e design was applied during the Meiji period (c. 1868–1912) to make the armor more attractive to Western tourists. Suits were sold by soldiers who could no longer use them as the Meiji period of Japan started introducing Western ideas leading to the eventual disbanding of samurai. Armor became more available for Western tourists to purchase, which is how the PMA’s staff believes the suit became part of the permanent collection.
Born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, Frantz Scholder is one-quarter Luiseño, a Southern California Native American Mission tribe, and was a major influence on a generation of native american artists although he considered himself a “non-Indian Indian”. As his career progressed he went on to have multiple solo and group exhibitions, receiving a John Hay Whitney Fellowship, and accepting a position as instructor in Advanced Painting and Contemporary Art History at the Institute of American Indians Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1964. In 1970 Tamarind Institute invited Scholder to do a suite of lithographs, titled Indians Forever, the beginning of a large body of work which led to the publication of his first book, Scholder/Indians. Scholder’s continued success with lithographs, paintings, and sculpture resulted in exhibitions around the world, two PBS documentaries, multiple books, and the 2002 Arizona Governor’s award. He passed away in 2005.
I succumbed to a subject that I vowed I would never paint: the American Indian...The subject was loaded, but here I was in Santa Fe. It was hard not to be seduced by the Indian. - Fritz Scholder
Much of Inuit art follows narratives that depict traditional lifestyles and techniques for survival. Other themes are the animals of the North, the spirits of those animals, and the shamans and mythologies which were the links to that spirit world. In this sculpture, Ikiluk may have been capturing the spirit that resides in the fish of the area. Without information from the artist or an indigenous perspective, it is difficult to interpret with certainty.
David Ruben Piqtoukun is from the Mackenzie Delta area in the Western Arctic. His family lived off the land, traveling to different camps before he was sent to a Canadian Residential School at the age of five. Piqtouken became interested in sculpture as an adult and his work reflects some of the beliefs and folklore of the Inuit people. The Qualupalik is a well known human-like mythological figure that lives in the water. Children are warned that if they venture too close to the water’s edge they may be taken by the Ice Crawler.
Enook Manomie was born in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, an area well known for its sculpture production. Manomie learned the art of sculpting partially from watching his father. Wildlife, in particular bears, are featured prominently in Manomie’s art and his expertise in achieving a perfect balance of the work adds to its whimsical representation of this important arctic animal.
Born on the eastern side of the Hudson Bay, Kinniksie’s sculpture of two women and a baby is consistent with the block-like artworks created by artists from these communities. This sculpture commemorates these women’s roles as nurturers, as well as their countless other responsibilities to their families, including food distribution and preparation, clothing creation, and caregiving in the community.
Musk ox are a very important part of Inuit culture, providing some communities with food, horn for crafts, and an extremely fine natural fiber called qiviuq. This soft underwool provides some of the warmest fur for its weight and is highly valued in cold climates. The imagery of the musk ox appears a great deal in Inuit crafts. The artist, Joanassie Faber, was born in Greenland before he moved to British Columbia to collect and sell Inuit art, as well as sculpt his own works.
The Shona people of Zimbabwe are long recognized for the highest quality craftsmanship in iron and woodwork. The beautiful natural stone that is available has led to incredible skill in creating sculpture. In this piece, Rukodzi depicts the traditional ‘mudzimu’ or powerful ancestor spirit elders which provide a thread of generational spiritual continuity. Whenever a Shona native is faced with serious difficulties, he or she turns at once to these ‘mudzimu’ for guidance. The spirits’ duties include the protection of the soul, peace, and welfare of the individual.
This Chimú blackware vessel features a seated figure playing an instrument, possibly an ocarina or a Yellow Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) on a block-shaped body. The spout has broken off, however, a figure of a monkey is clinging to the remainder of the stirrup handle. The vast majority of Chimú pottery is this matte black color. As the practical uses for this shape vessel would be limited, it was probably intended for decorative purposes or for specific ceremonial functions, such as grave goods.
Predecessors of the Chimú peoples, the Moche of Peru used mold technology for pottery vessels such as this piece. This allowed for finished pieces to be more widely distributed, as well as creating somewhat standardized shapes. The Moche relied mainly on slip painting and a red and white color scheme with which they depicted zoomorphic figures, warriors, and priests. Although commonly thought as being used for funerary purposes, it has been discovered in recent archaeological digs that these pottery pieces have evidence of use and repair, allowing for the possibility that the Moche used these vessels for everyday purposes.
Much of the pottery created from this area of Peru revolves around the people’s relationship with the sea. Symbolic representations of maritime elements include clam shells, geometric patterns that reflect waves, and references to sea birds and coastal animals through the decorative elements of the pottery. In this example, the crab is represented with small claws and the shape of the vessel closely models that of a crab’s shell. As with the other Chimú piece, this would have been most likely used for ritual use rather than in the household.
The ancient peoples of the Nayarit (Chinesco) region of Western Mexico practiced the tradition of shaft tombs, where family burials would be below house platforms accompanied with offerings and ceramics. This vessel depicts a woman with her hands behind her head and very carefully incised hair, indicating high status. Women are well represented in the shaft tomb art of West Mexico, reflecting their roles in the family, marriage, childbirth, and the community. Most pieces that are held today were not unearthed by professional archaeologists, and have lost their context and additional information that could have helped to better understand the culture.
This beautiful tapestry was created by weaving a palm tree fiber called raffia. Raffia is also used traditionally for mats, hats, and baskets. This type of cloth is collaboratively created. Men cut, prepare, and create a plain woven foundation cloth on single-heddle looms. Women traditionally apply the surface decoration and assemble the cloth into its final product. Design elements of Kuba textiles are created with woven, dyed, appliqued, embroidered, and cut-pile techniques. This textile is an example of cut-pile and has a design of diamond shapes in black and natural tan colors. Different patterns and colors may refer to the particular status of the owner or function of the cloth itself. The cloth can express social status, wealth, and personal states of transition. This more basic style could have been used for trade for goods or sold.
This type of pulley would have been used on single-headed looms to create traditional tapestries. It eased the movements of the heddles in separating the warp threads to allow the shuttle carrying the weft thread to pass through. Pulleys made by the Senufo people of West Africa often feature a stylized hornbill bird. The hornbill is one of the animals the Senufo associate with the creation of the world.
Among the Yoruba people of West Africa, individuals or groups seek solutions to serious problems through Ifa divination. Ifa is a Yoruba god of divination, and the boards have abstract carvings of the face of Eshu on the rim, the trickster and messenger to the god. During the process of divination, the diviner manipulates palm or kola nuts and records the resulting pattern in cassava meal spread out on the carved board. The god Ifa was consulted before major events, such as an important journey or the birth of a child. These boards can also serve as covers to bowls holding kola nuts.
Kola nuts are a type of caffeine-containing seed from an evergreen tree found in the rainforests of Africa. These nuts are part of the traditions of the Igbo people, who offer them to guests as a gesture of welcome and goodwill. This bowl would have contained the nuts on the top and the removable lid covers a compartment that holds palm oil or a hot pepper sauce to be eaten with the nuts.
Mexican artist Jesús Guerrero Galván, was born in Tonalá, Jalisco. After studying at the Fine Arts School in San Antonio, he returned to Mexico in the 1930s, where he had become a major figure in the Mexican muralist movement. He was influenced by Italian painting, Jalisco folk art, and Mexican culture. In addition to his murals, Galván painted portraits with an emphasis on motherhood. Although the subject matter in Tempestade is unusual for him, Galván maintained recognizable details, including the heavy contrast between dark and light, in this landscape.
Angelina Medina, a member of the Bear Clan at Acoma/Zia/Zuni, and has been active in creating stunning works of art made from clay since about 1983. Her work, concentrated on hand made polychrome jars, effigy bowls, clay sculptures, as well as jewelry and painting, has earned her a number of prestigious awards throughout the Southwest. This small figure was created by Medina to honor and represent Mother Earth. The figure is created without the use of a wheel or mold and then the clay is mixed with kaolin. After firing and sanding the work is burnished with a smooth river stone. The designs along the hem of the figure are traditional Acoma patterns.
Self-taught American visionary artist Mary Frances Merrill created works using everyday materials at hand. Living in a housing project she had limited materials to choose from: chewing gum, linoleum, make-up, jewelry, and scraps of fabric, among other materials. The work of those without formal artistic training, often because of economic, racial, or geographic circumstances, is sometimes referred to as folk art or outsider art. Merrill produced a variety of works throughout her 30-year career, but had a long struggle with an anxiety disorder that kept her from social situations. Creating artwork was a coping technique.
This boldly colored sculpture was one of Hutson’s earliest ventures in turning a two-dimensional idea into a three dimensional work of art. Much like the translation of Hutson’s drawings to sculptures, the preliminary ideas for Summer 1966 went through varied iterations on paper. As an early and experimental work, Summer 1966 steps out of the restrictions of Color Field art and into innovative territory, and demonstrates Hutson’s curiosity of color and form.
During his career as an artist, Hutson traveled extensively in Europe, India, and Africa. During one of his trips to Senegal, he visited the island of Gorée, where there is a memorial for people who suffered and died as a result of the Atlantic Slave Trade. The “House of Slaves”, built in 1776, was a holding center for enslaved African people to be exported and the last doorway that they walked through before boarding the ship was called the “Door of No Return.” Hutson’s work was inspired by the colors and emotions he experienced when witnessing this space.
This Israeli artist is known best for his optical impactful prints, sculptures, and kinetic artwork. Many of his prints play with colors and lines, creating what has been named an “Agamograph,” and appear to shapeshift before a viewer’s eyes. “My intention was to create a work of art which would transcend the visible, which cannot be perceived except in stages,” Agam said of these works. These pieces create depth and illusion through the use of color and space.
Vivian Springford, an American abstract painter, was active in the New York art world during the 1950s through the 1970s. While Springford started her career in portraiture, she soon ventured into abstract expressionism drawing inspiration from Chinese calligraphy, Taoism, and Confucianism, but by the 1970s Springford had developed her own individual color field painting style. Her technique of using thinned paint on a raw or thinly-primed canvas led to the creation of her own style of stain painting. Her work may look simple but it is quite difficult and time consuming to get the desired pattern and concentrations of pigmentation. While Springford continued to paint through the mid-1980s, she led a very solitary lifestyle and became more isolated as macular degeneration caused eventual blindness. Due to her family’s wealth, Springford did not have to support herself by selling her art and instead stored many of her works in her studio in Chelsea. Today, Springford’s works are again being more widely exhibited, celebrating her distinct style of painting.
Springford once said that to her, painting was an attempt to identify with the universal whole..."I want to find my own small plot or pattern of energy that will express the inner me in terms of rhythmic movement and color. The expansive center of the universe, of the stars, and of nature is my constant challenge in abstract terms.”
Born and raised during the Great Depression, Sheba Sharrow, daughter to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, developed a style of artwork that was grounded in the humanist tradition. Her paintings and prints reflect her passion for social justice and awareness of the human condition much like noted early 20th Century artist Käthe Kollwitz, to whom her style and subject matter was often compared.
This exquisite example of an inspirational verse in the fraktur tradition highlights many of the common themes of this type of artwork. Vivid flowers, hearts, and eagles can be seen with scrolling vines framing the words. Although not verified, recent research has pointed to the possibility of this artist being Henry Lehn (Southeastern Pennsylvania, 19th C) based on other work in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s permanent collection.
My friend is mine and I am his. Your blood, Lord Jesus, is my ornament. Yes, if I sank into you, then the father can not find my sins, nor me the sinner. Then I will want to abide in you and enter heaven joyfully. Don’t be afraid! Lo, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all peoples. Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth and goodwill to men.
A longtime resident of Lancaster, Kermes was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to Greek parents. Trained in industrial design, he was also a skilled artist who focused on folk scenes based on Shaker and Amish culture.
This needlework is an example of the incredible work that young girls were completing at the Young Ladies Academy, now named Linden Hall girls’ seminary based in Lititz, Pennsylvania. This particular silk embroidery depicts “Palemon and Lavinia” from the poem The Seasons by James Thompson. There are only a few of these examples of this pattern known, and this one remained unsigned by the young artist. The painted background and faces of the central figures was probably done by Samuel Reinke, a Moravian minister. Schools such as Linden Hall taught young women about fine needlepoint, music, writing, and reading. The establishments assisted wealthy families in educating their daughters in the aspects they believed would serve them well in married life and affluent society.
Sophia Meylin, only 14 years old when she completed this sampler, would have used this textile to demonstrate her skill with a needle and thread. Attending a formal school to learn this craft could indicate that she came from a more affluent family. Other samplers, also in this pattern, name Mary Reed (c. 1762–1829) of Lancaster, who mentioned “Needlework of all kinds, and plain Sewing” when advertising her school in Lancaster’s Intelligencer & Weekly Advertiser on May 12, 1807.
This sampler is covered with various motifs that were popular in Lancaster County in the 19th Century. This mix of alphabet, verse, and imagery would have been useful for Mary to apply to her textiles for identification and demonstrate her needlework skills. Most likely learned from her mother or aunts rather than a formal school, researchers can see family similarities in both designs used as well as entire samplers themselves.
Internationally known for his talent in turning and carving duck decoys, R. M. Mitchell created thousands of decoys during his lifetime, starting as a hobby in 1924 when his funeral business was slow. Decades into carving, his signature on the bottom of the bodies signifies a very high quality and collectible decoy. The Animal Trap company, now renamed Woodstream and located in Lancaster, has been in business for 150 years, specializing in trapping, pest remediation, and other outdoor recreational activities.
This coffee and tea set was used by Dr. John Watson, a prominent doctor in Lancaster County and one time owner of the currently named Cameron Inn in Donegal. This exquisite set was designed and created by silversmith and jeweler John McMullen who was born and lived in Philadelphia his whole life. His work is collected by other institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.
Miss Katharine T. Eichholtz, granddaughter of Jacob Eichholtz, donated this painting of Edward Clark, the bootjack, and the knife that had been used for a rudimentary painter’s palette. Jacob Eichholtz was a prominent painter from Lancaster who traveled between here and Philadelphia taking commissions from wealthy regional patrons. Although taught under great American painters such as artist Thomas Sully, Eichholtz never reached the same level of success. He mainly worked in portraiture, many of which still remain in Lancaster County. This work of Edward Clark is described in publications as, “An Englishman, friend and neighbor of the artist.”
A native Pennsylvanian, Lloyd Mifflin grew up in Columbia and is celebrated for his poetry. His love of painting started at an early age, studying in Philadelphia with Thomas Moran (1837–1926), a painter and printmaker known for his landscapes of the American West. Many of his paintings are landscapes that include the Susquehanna River he grew up on. He eventually turned to poetry and wrote at a frantic pace. Many of his poems were illustrated by his longtime friend, Moran, and are held in the Phillips Museum of Art’s permanent collection.
Ann Wyeth McCoy, youngest daughter of famed artist, N.C. Wyeth created watercolor paintings that capture the calm and bucolic nature of eastern Pennsylvania. Raised in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, McCoy was also well known for her piano compositions, creating songs based on artworks and poetry.
A lifelong Lancaster resident, Brumbach’s versatile styles of painting range from realistic landscapes of the city and county to mixed media abstraction. This work highlights Brumbach’s ability to depict urban and rural scenes with incredible skill.
Gallery photographs by Deb Grove, F&M College Staff Photographer. Design by Janie Kreines, Curator of Academic Affairs & Community Engagement.