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Anne Steele Marsh
Quartet
ca. 1940
Wood Engraving
16.5 x 21 in (41.91 x 53.34 cm)
Anne Steele March (1901-1995) and her husband, James both served as the first board presidents of the Hunterdon County Art Center (later called the Hunterdon Art Museum). She worked in oil paints, watercolors and wood engravings. For years, she and her husband ran the James R. Marsh & Company, which manufactured the gates at Sarah Lawrence College. They also created wrought iron works such as decorative gates for estates and wall sconces for churches. She is the daughter-in-law of artist/ muralist Frederick Dana March and the sister-in-law of noted painter Reginald Marsh. His work is downstairs on a column by the Library entry.
Barbara Madsen
Off Kilter II
2008
Photogravure
3.25 x 3.25 in (8.26 x 8.26 cm)
Yes, this includes a picture of a real bug. Can you name this insect?
Barbara Madsen is currently an Associate Professor of Print at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Madsen's art is held in many collections including the New York Public Library, New York; the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; the Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Novosibirsk, Russia; the Guanlan Art Center, Shenzhen, China; and the University of Sharijah, Sharijah, United Arab Emirates.
Thank you to Benjamin J. Dineen III and Dennis C. Hull for the generous donation of this work.
Two Figures (aka Rabbi and Wife)
ca. 1960s
Pen and Ink Drawing
26 x 19 in (66.04 x 48.26 cm)
Thank you to Carol Adler Trust for the generous donation of this work.
Chakaia Booker
Untitled
2011
4 Block Wood Cut with 65 Piece Chine Collé.
20 x 25 in (50.8 x 63.5 cm)
The piece is produced on various papers: Somerset Velvet, Gampi MM20, Kitikata, Torinoko, and Thai Mulberry. It was printed by Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop and the printers who contributed are Phil Sanders, Sam Chun, and Chris Dunnett. The production of this print required 20,000 pieces which all needed to be cut, stored and registered before going through the press. It was the 2011 Presentation Print for the Print Club of New York.
Donald Baechler (b.1956)
The Long and The Short
2004
Twenty-one color silk-screen collage, Edition of 60
32 x 44 in (81.28 x 111.76 cm)
Thank you to Benjamin J. Dineen III and Dennis C. Hull for the generous donation of this work.
Born in Harford, Connecticut, Donald Baechler was the second child to Quaker parents. By the age of five, he had developed an interest in drawing and painting. His artistic talent was largely influenced by visits to Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, and especially the works of Andy Warhol. Baechler received his formal education in Art at the College of Art, Maryland Institute in Baltimore, MD, from 1974- 1977, and later at Cooper Union, New York. In 1978, he enrolled in a two-year course at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Frankfurt, Germany. Baechler returned to the United States at a time when the Neo-Expressionist movement was gaining popularity among American artists. He greatly contributed to this movement by incorporating Pop imagery, symbols, and commercial icons into his works, and he is famous for this work. Some permanent collections that hold his works are the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; the New York Public Library; and the museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Erena Rae (1941-2006)
And Every Number Has a Name
2000
Hand-pulled linoleum cut with digitally printed typography
11 x 10 in (27.94 x 25.4 cm)
The Names Project is an AIDS memorial quilt that includes over 48,000 three-foot by six-foot memorial panels for individuals who have died of AIDS. The quilt began in 1987. Sections of the quilt have been displayed all over the world.
The artist wrote, “The art that moves me most is art that points out unfair or unethical practices in today’s society– especially practices which have become so routine that either they go unnoticed or they are assumed to be ‘normal.’ My social conscience (the feminist part, at least) was bortn the moment by first-grade teacher announced that the word ‘he’ was a neutral pronoun. I sensed right away the implications (and unfairness!) of my little brothers getting to own such an important word; and since that time I have noticed again and again that it is a very short– and inevitable– step to go from excluding a whole group of people in word, to excluding them in deed.”
Thank you to Benjamin J. Dineen III and Dennis C. Hull for the generous donation of this work.
Eric Avery
Galveston Local Warning
2008
Linoleum block print on handmade hosho paper, AP
4 x 5 in (10.16 x 12.7 cm)
In 2008, Hurricane Ike devastated the Galveston, Texas area. At that time, Eric Avery was a doctor and printmaker working there. His studio was destroyed. He said on National Public Radio, “I’m going to go through it one more time. And if we get a big flood again or a hurricane comes again like this, I mean I’ll clean up that mess. But, you know, I’m 60. I love Galvestone. I love riding my bike around and the restaurants. I’m close to work. But I can’t keep going through this. So I’m going to give it one more shot. And then I’m out of here.” He has since retired and lives in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Thank you to Benjamin J. Dineen III and Dennis C. Hull for the generous donation of this work.
Palace de la Concorde
2002
Photograph
24 x 23 in (60.96 x 58.42 cm)
What does this photograph of Paris at night have to do with New Jersey?
The artist Godon Parks (1912-2006) has ties to our state. According to the biographical timeline on the artist’s website https:/www.gordonparkscenter.org/Gordon-parks, Parks worked in New Jersey in 1945, when he was hired by Standard Oil of New Jersey for the ‘Standard Oil Photography Project.” His job was to take pictures of small towns and industrial centers.
The project was intended to document the lives of oil industry workers. Other photographers who also worked on the project included Russell lee, Esther Bubley and John Vachon.
Parks was a writer, filmmaker, photographer and musician. He also co-founded Essence magazine. He is most famous for his photojournalism work for Life magazine where he was the first Black staff photographer, and for his work chronicling the Civil Rights movement. He was also the first African-American to direct a major Hollywood production, The Learning Tree, a memoir of his youth. You might be familiar with Shaft, a film he directed.
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Medals)
Metal
12.5 x 16 in (framed) (31.75 x 40.64 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Antiphonal Music Page)
Ink on Vellum
29 x 21 x 2 in (73.66 x 53.34 x 5.08 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled
Ink on Vellum
19 x 15 x 1 in (48.26 x 38.1 x 2.54 cm)
Gregorian Chant, also known as plain chant, developed over a long period of time in the Middle Ages. Its creation was historically attributed to Pope Gregory the Great (ca. AD 540- AD 604), but recent scholarship attests to a number of influences from different music schools which were to be found throughout Western Europe. Technically, there is no harmony in Gregorian chant. It consists of one line sung as a solo or by any number of people. Today it can still be heard daily in Roman Catholic monasteries and convents.
The two items in our exhibit represent classic examples of pages from antiphonaries (books of sacred music) used either during the Roman Catholic Mass of the Liturgy of the Hours. The oldest, printed on vellum (sheep skin) in Bologna in 1480, features illuminated capital letters in red and blue. The other, said to date from the 16th century, is simpler and probably comes from Spain.
The small engraving of Dom Prosper Gueranger features commemorative medallions from the Benedectine Monastery of Solesmes, France. Dom Gueranger and his community of Benedictine monks are credited with the revival and standardization of Gregorian Chant in the 19th century. Today, most recordings of chant are made by groups that use many of the methods and texts championed by Dom Gueranger and the monks of Solesmes.
Thank you to Clifford Brooks for the generous donation of this work.
Moonbathers
2006
Pastel and Oil on Paper
48 x 72 in (121.92 x 182.88 cm)
Thank you to Annina Nosei for the generous donation of this work.
Jan Wurm
Lear and His Fool
2011
Oil on Canvas
18 x 24 in (45.72 x 60.96 cm)
In William Shakespeare's play, King Lear, the Fool is one of the few who dares to speak the truth to the King. He is the only person who is not punished for speaking the truth.
It's frequently said that people continue to read Shakespeare because he writes about people, and people don't change. In everyday life today, how easy is it to speak the truth to those in power? How important is it?
Thank you to Mark Wurm for the generous donation of this work.
Leonard Baskin (1922-2000)
Jan van de Velde, ca. 1970-1980
Etching and Aquatint on Woven paper
29.5 x 22 in (74.93 x 55.88 cm)
Jan van de Velde (1593-1641) was a master engraver. Leonard Baskin admired and collected his work. Baskin was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, educated at Jewish Religious College, and also later studied at Yale University (1941-43). In 1949, he received his BA degree from the New School for Social Research in New York.
While at Yale, Baskin founded Gehenna Press, a private press that specialized in producing fine prints, including woodcuts, lithography, and etching. He won many awards for his prints, including the gold medal of the National Academy of Arts and Letters. His artwork is in permanent collections of major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Vatican Museum, Vatican City, Italy; and the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.
Michelle Doll
Family (JMA1)
2014
Oil on Canvas
40 x 46 in (101.6 x 116.84 cm)
Hudson County artist Michelle Doll earned her BFA from Kent State University in Ohio in 1999 and her MFA from the New York Academy of Art in New York City in 2006. She has exhibited her work in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe. Her studio is in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Funding this work was made possible by the American Library Association’s Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), which awarded Hudson County Community College’s Library at 71 Sip Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey, the 2016 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award. Thank you to the ACRL for this honor.
The Excellence in Academic Libraries Award Program is a national award that recognizes an outstanding community college, college, and university library each year. This award recognizes the accomplishments of librarians and other library staff as they come together as members of a team to support the mission of their institution. The mission of Hudson County Community College is to provide high quality educational opportunities that promote student success and are accessible, comprehensive and learning centered.
Miriam Cassel
Travelogue
1990
Collage on Paper
8.875 x 6.5 in (22.54 x 16.51 cm)
Thank you to Henry Scholder and the late Renee Fotouhi for the generous donation of this work.
Sequential X
1972
Screenprint
33 x 26 in (83.82 x 66.04 cm)
Thank you to Carol Adler Trust for the generous donation of this work.
The Yellows
1968
Acrylic on Canvas
37 x 36 in (93.98 x 91.44 cm)
Thank you to Carol Adler Trust for the generous donation of this work.
Robert Natkin (1930-2010)
Prince Brickner
1969
Acrylic on Canvas
87.5 x 78 in (222.25 x 198.12 cm)
Robert Natkin was an abstract painter who was born in Chicago. For Natkin, who grew up in a poor, violent and mentally unhealthy family, painting became a way to make a beautiful home for himself in the world. This work comes from a series he painted, called the “Apollo” series where everything was painted in stripes. If you are interested in this work you might enjoy the documentary made by Peter Fuller of the BBC about Natkin called, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. It is available for free on YouTube. Natkin’s work is in the collections of major art museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
Who was Prince Brickner? The writer Richard P. Brickner, a Guggenheim Fellow, was the son of two psychiatrists: Dr. Ruth Pilpel Brickner and Dr. Richard M. Brickner.
Robert Natkin’s therapis was Dr. Ruth Brickner, and the artist became close friends with the writer. This is likely an abstract portrait of Richard P. Brickner.
According to Brickner’s obituary in The New York Times, Brickner was, “a novelist, memoirist and critic known for his fictional and nonfictional explorations of an automobile accident that left him permanently paralyzed… Mr. Brickner’s memoir, “My Second Twenty Years: An Unexpected Life” (Basic Books, 1976), recounted the aftermath of the accident, which took place shortly after his 20th birthday, when he was a student at Middlebury College. Mr. Brickner, who was paralyzed from the chest down, used a wheelchair for the rest of his life.”
Thank you to the Carol Adler Revocable Trust for the generous donation of this work.
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Red Wing 1407)
Ceramic
2.25 x 11 in (5.72 x 27.94 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Roseville 379)
Ceramic
7 in (17.78 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 1878)
Ceramic
6 x 6 in (15.24 x 15.24 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 1878/m)
Ceramic
5.5 x 6 in (13.97 x 15.24 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 1878 S)
Ceramic
6 x 6 in
(15.24 x 15.24 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 1878)
Ceramic
6 x 6 in (15.24 x 15.24 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 2001 12" B)
Ceramic
4 x 13.5 in (10.16 x 34.29 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 2091)
Ceramic
3 x 4 in (7.62 x 10.16 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 2091)
Ceramic
3 x 3.35 in (7.62 x 8.89 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 2091)
Ceramic
3 x 4 in (7.62 x 10.16 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 2091 B/7)
Ceramic
2 x 7.5 in (5.08 x 19.05 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 2091/B)
Ceramic
2.5 x 7.5 in (6.35 x 19.05 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 2091 w/candle holder)
Ceramic
3 x 4 in (7.62 x 10.16 cm)
Artist Unknown
(Untitled Stangl 2091)
Ceramic
3 x 3.5 in (7.62 x 8.89 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 3250)
Ceramic
2 x 3 x 7 in (5.08 x 7.62 x 17.78 cm)
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 3283 7")
Mid 20th Century
Ceramic
2.5 x 7 in (6.35 x 17.78 cm)
Thank you to Benjamin J. Dineen III and Dennis C. Hull for the generous donation of this work.
Stangl was a New Jersey pottery factory of note during the 20th century.
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 3283)
Mid 20th Century
Ceramic
2.5 x 7 in (6.35 x 17.78 cm)
Thank you to Benjamin J. Dineen III and Dennis C. Hull for the generous donation of this work.
Stangl was a New Jersey pottery factory of note during the 20th Century.
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl 3890)
Mid 20th Century
Ceramic
7.5 x 8 in (19.05 x 20.32 cm)
Thank you to Benjamin J. Dineen III and Dennis C. Hull for the generous donation of this work.
Stangl was a New Jersey pottery factory of note during the 20th century.
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl Pottery)
Mid 20th Century
Ceramic
4 x 2 in (10.16 x 5.08 cm)
Thank you to Benjamin J. Dineen III and Dennis C. Hull for the generous donation of this work.
Stangl was a New Jersey pottery factory of note during the 20th century.
Artist Unknown
Untitled (Stangl Terra Rose 3414)
Mid 20th Century
Ceramic
5.5 x 14 x 9 in (13.97 x 35.56 x 22.86 cm)
Thank you to Benjamin J. Dineen III and Dennis C. Hull for the generous donation of this work.
Stangl was a New Jersey pottery factory of note during the 20th Century.
According to the Stangl Factory website (https://www.stanglfactory.com), the company that made most of the pottery in this display case started out in Flemington, New Jersey in 1814 as Hill Pottery. At that time, the company made practical items like drain pipes, storage crocks, and jars. After Abram Fulper bought the company in the 1860s, the company remained in the Fulper family for generations. Fulper’s great success was a “germ-proof” water filter machine. (Before refrigeration, every household needed to have a way to keep water from developing bacteria.) Fulper’s grandson, William H. Fulper II, started making art pottery in 1909. In 1910 he hired Martin Stangl, a ceramic engineer, to develop new shapes and glazes. By that time, pottery was made in Flemington and in Trenton. By 1924, Stangl was vice president of the company. In 1935, he helped open one of America’s first factory-outlet stores. Over the next few decades, the company sold dinnerware and artware in over 3,000 American department stores, gift shops, and jewelry stores. The company name changed to Stangl in 1955. Most of the pottery in this case was made by Stangl from the 1950s-1970s. The exceptions are the reddish strangely shaped bowl by Red Wing (Minnesota) and the yellow, flower-shaped vase with the green base by Roseville (Ohio). According to Susan Tunick, author of Terra Cotta: Don’t Take It for Granite, American pottery factories flourished in the early 20th Century when architects needed terra-cotta tiles for building facades, but when architecture turned toward glass-sided buildings in the mid-20th century, the factories could not survive on just the revenue from dinnerware and art pottery like you see in this case. The Stangl company went out of business in 1978.
Thomas McKean
Welcome to Jersey
2009
Digital Print, Edition of 300
7 x 9.5 in (17.78 x 24.13 cm)
Printed at the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey
This piece was commissioned by the Brodsky Center of Innovative Editions, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and printed by them in an edition of 300.
Thomas McKean has exhibited his drawings, constructions, and collages in many New York galleries. His current work consists of collages and constructions made out of one material: the New York Metrocard, and have been featured in The Huffington Post and The Gothamist. His illustrations have appeared in The Nation and Food and Wine, among other magazines. Also an author, his latest book, A Conversation with Ruth Pitter, was published in 2010 by the Happen Stance Press, Scotland. Thomas McKean lives and works in New York City.
Willie Cole
Man, Spirit, Mask
1999
Man: photo-etching, embossing, and hand-coloring.
Spirit: Screenprint with lemon juice and scorching and hand applied heat gun.
Mask: Photo-etching and woodcut.
38 x 25.25 in (96.52 x 64.14 cm)
Collaborators: Randy Hemminghaus and Gail Deery.
Produced at the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions at Rutgers University, NJ.
Given by the Adler Jarach Fund of Equity Foundation through the HCCC Foundation Acquisition Program.
Willie Cole
Por La Mesa de Mi Abuelita, BAT
2007
Pigmented cotton linter and polyester yarn with embossing
40 x 80 in (101.6 x 203.2 cm)
Printed and published by The Brodsky Center
Collaborator: Anne Q. McKeown
Can you see the patterns in the spokes of the wheels? Can you see the grandmother? How about the irons? From a distance, this work looks quite different than it does up close. What do you see?
Thank you to Anne Queeny McKeown for the generous donation of this work.
Artist Unknown
Urdu Manuscript page
ca. 19th Century
Colored inks on paper
14 x 10.5 in (framed) (35.56 x 26.67 cm)
This poem is composed by an Iranian famous poet of 12th century “Abol-aala Ganjavi” who was the teacher and father-in-law of the famous Iranian poet “Khaghani Shervaani.” When Khagani became famous he ignored his professor so Abol-aala felt offended and composed this poem to satirize him.
Thank you to Clifford Brooks for the generous donation of this work.
