Bert Gallery

On Friday, April 11, 2008, Paula Martiesian, active painter in Providence with a twenty-year history of involvement with the local arts community, shared her personal memories of Gordon Peers in an interview with Catherine Little Bert. Martiesian became a good friend of Peers and spent much time with him during the last fifteen years of his life. This interview compliments the Bert Gallery exhibition, Painter Gordon Peers (1909-1988): Transformation During the War Years. Click here to download.

Interview with Jason Stieber, Director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts Library & Research Center

What better way to celebrate Women’s history month than listening to our latest Bert Gallery podcast on the Clara Database of Women Artists launched by the National Museum of Women in the Arts Museum (NMWA), located in Washington, DC. Celebrating their twentieth anniversary, NMWA (www.nmwa.org) has a remarkable archives dedicated to documenting the achievements of women artists. Recently, they were gifted an important collection of letters by Frida Kahlo.

Recently Catherine Bert interviewed Jason Stieber the Director of the NMWA Archives on the Clara Database, a unique interactive database containing authoritative information on 18,000 women visual artists of all time periods and nationalities. The information in Clara is drawn from the materials in NMWA’s extensive Archives on Women Artists.

Both Clara and the Archives on Women Artists are works in progress. They are continually adding records for new artists and updating information on existing artists. Click here to download the Clara Database Podcast.

Cultural Awakenings in Rhode Island 2008 by Catherine Little Bert
Interview with James Montford, Director of Bannister Gallery at Rhode Island College
Friday February 1, 2008

James Montford of Bannister Gallery discusses the lives and work of African American artists Edward Bannister, Wilmer Jennings, Nancy Prophet, and Frank Alston with interview Catherine Little Bert. This interview complements the Bert Gallery Exhibition Struggle, Strength, and Dignity: Opportunities for 20th Century Artists in Providence and coincides with Black History Month. Download the podcast here. Visit the Bannister Gallery website here.

An Essay by Catherine Little Bert

Antonio Cirino was born in Italy in 1888, immigrated to Providence at age two and was raised among the bustle of Atwells Ave, the center of business and culture for Providence’s Italian population in the early 20th century. A colorful and confident personality, he amused many and enraged others in his lifetime. In 2008 it is his iconic repertoire of paintings, be it the woods of Lincoln, Rhode Island, the little church spire in East Providence or the fisherman in their picturesque old wooden boats in Rockport, that solidify his legacy as a painter. Cirino integrated readily into the Rhode Island community. In a 1980 article he remarked, “Nota Bene! Though I am a native of Serino, Italy, Province of Avellino, I bear the tradmark, ‘Made in the U.S.A.’, because of the influence that public education had on me, kneading me for the life to come.” The artist attended Providence Technical School, graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1909 and received a Bachelor’s of Science Degree from Columbia Teachers College in 1912. Then the young man went directly to the Rhode Island School of Design to teach jewelry design commencing a thirty-five year teaching career. He co-authored a significant textbook, Jewelry Making and Design with A.F. Rose.

While the number of Italian Americans swelled in Providence from 18,014 in 1894 to 42,044 in 1920, Cirino selected an uncommon path compared to fellow immigrants from his generation. He distinguished himself with a college degree and teaching position in higher education. Cirino, however, always had a driving passion for painting and in the 1920’s began to summer in Rockport where he became one of the founding members of the Rockport Art Association. Rockport became not only an important summer refuge for the artist but a location where he would produce his most important canvases. Critical acclaim would follow along with acceptance into the Salmagundi Club in New York City in 1926 and the Providence Art Club. His fluid painting technique showed a keen understanding of composition and skillful craftsmanship in manipulating oil pigments, especially in the fluttering and lively effects of light reflecting off water. A keen student of nature, Cirino painted outdoors for his entire artistic career. He was a kindred spirit to the Impressionists and focused on his personal interpretation of the subject. In 1949 the New York Times wrote of one of his paintings, Mooring Place “one of the more honest and sensitive examples of this genre.” Throughout his life Cirino not only refined his painting craft but also understood that to insure his legacy he needed to actively promote his work and document his achievements. He did this by winning prizes in juried exhibitions, earning favorable critical reviews and placing his work in important collections. He dedicated much of his energy to achieving these goals and received over seventy- nine prizes for his paintings including the gold Medal of Honor by the Rockport Art Association and the Hope Show prize from the Butler Institute of Art in Youngstown, Ohio. His work is included in numerous collections such as the RISD Museum of Art, Dayton Art Institute and National Academy of Design.

As if these accolades were not enough, he assembled his own account of his successful art career in three detailed volumes, giving great insight into his perceptions as a painter. In the opening pages of his third and final volume of 1981 he reflected, “When painting with a lion’s heart and in deep fervor, I wandered through the labyrinths of life, the country side, yea the wood interiors, mountain passes and the shores of the rivers and ocean and running streams conjuring up new worlds of beauty, ideas without ancestors, fact and fancies that stirred complacency and composure all this while in a world of facts or hard realities…” This diminutive figure, with his imposing personality started off in the Federal Hill neighborhood teeming with vendors selling their goods in push carts and the sounds of live chickens and rabbits in wooden cages and went on to achieve great success in the world of art. Upon his death he left the majority of his paintings to the Salmagundi Club in New York City and the Rockport Art Association, two institutions he felt critical to his growth and success as an artist. In addition, he established the Antonio Cirino Memorial Fund at The Rhode Island Foundation to provide scholarships for those pursuing graduate degrees to teach art. Three paintings by Antonio Cirino are included in the Bert Gallery exhibition Struggle, Strength and Dignity. The artist is a fine example of how Italian Americans from Rhode Island journeyed beyond the societal mores of the day establishing successful painting careers in the 20th century.

An Essay by Catherine Little Bert

The legacy of African American artists has become an interest of scholars in the last forty years. Prior to this time there is a scarcity of documentation and research. Rhode Island has four significant late 19th and early 20th century African Americans who spent time in the state and achieved national recognition, Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828 – 1901), Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (1890 – 1960), Wilmer Jennings (1910 – 1990) and Frank Alston (1913 – 1978). In the current Bert Gallery exhibit, Strength, Struggle and Dignity, examples of Jennings and Alston are on view through March.

The Rhode Island College has been one of the important educational institutions to highlight the achievements of African American artists. First with dedication of the Rhode Island College Art Center as the Edward M. Bannister Gallery in 1978 and then with the opening of the exhibit Four from Providence: Black Artists in the Rhode Island Social Landscape. The college has partnered with the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society to organize exhibits and stimulate research in this most important area. A pod cast will be posted soon with the Director of the Bannister Gallery, James Montford on the Bert Gallery website discussing African American artists from Rhode Island.

As an African American artist it must have been a particular challenge to reside and build a career in the former slave trade of Rhode Island. Edward Bannister succeeded and one of his major triumphs came when he received the bronze painting medal at the 1876 Centennial in Philadelphia. He became the first African- American artist to receive a national award in 19th century America and he promptly sold his painting “Under the Oaks” for $1,500 to an enthusiastic Boston buyer. Bannister then joined fellow artists Stetson and Whitaker to found the Providence Art Club in 1880, the second oldest art club still in existence. Examples of Bannister’s work are in the collections of the Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island College, Rhode Island Historical Society and the Providence Art Club. Bannister has been included in major exhibitions with catalogues such as David Driskell’s Two Centuries of Black American Art; Linda Hartigan of the National Museum of American Art’s Sharing Traditions: Five Black Artists in 19th Century America, 1985; Corrine Jennings’ Edward Mitchell Bannister, 1992 and Juanita Holland’s Edward Bannister, 1993.

Nancy Prophet
Nancy Prophet stands out as remarkable woman artist, the first African American woman to secure a Rhode Island School of Design degree in 1918 and then onto Paris study at the Ecole des Beaux- Arts from 1922 – 1932. While in Paris she exhibited in five highly competitive Salon exhibits only to return home to secure many stateside exhibitions including being among the sculptors exhibited in the Whitney Sculpture Biennial and Harmon Foundation Exhibition. From 1933 to 1944 Prophet headed the Sculpture Department of Spelman College. Currently, an important exhibition of her work is on view at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Hale Woodruff, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet and the Academy. Locally, the sculpture of Nancy Prophet is in the collection of the Rhode Island School of Design and the Black Heritage Society. Blossom Kirshenbaum and Jane Lancaster, both scholars living in Rhode Island, have published in depth articles on Nancy Prophet.

Wilmer Jennings
Wilmer Jennings was a talented printmaker who moved to Rhode Island after graduating from Moore-house College in 1933 where he studied with Hale Woodruff and Nancy Prophet. He also studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design with John Frazier. In the mid 30’s, he worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) both in Atlanta and Providence where he became most famous for his black and white wood engravings. Jennings was widely exhibited between 1933 -1942. Jewelry design became his focus in the mid 40’s and he settled into a 45-year career as a designer and innovator in the Rhode Island jewelry industry.

Jennings prints are in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Newark Museum, and Atlanta University, Rhode Island School of Design, National Center of African American Art, Smithsonian Institution and the Rhode Island College. Wilmer Jennings’s daughter, Corrine Jennings, is a prominent art dealer who is the Director of the Kenkeleba House in New York City. On exhibit at the Bert Gallery are two engravings by Wilmer
Jennings “Fisherman” courtesy of Kenkeleba House and “Blind Alley” on loan from the Bannister Gallery, Rhode Island College.

Frank Alston
Frank Alston, Jr was born in Providence and attended the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 1937. He was known as a painter, lithographer and etcher. He exhibited widely in the 1940’s at Atlanta University, National Gallery, New York World’s Fair, San Francisco Golden Gate Expositions, Corcoran Art Gallery and the New York Historical Society. He worked for many years as a designer in the Army’s Institute of Heraldry. Upon retirement from the army he worked for the Howard University Art Gallery.

In the current Bert Gallery exhibit is an example of a woodcut that Alston executed in his early career while at Rhode Island School of Design. He came under the instruction of the innovative print maker Eliza Gardiner. A tough taskmaster, Gardiner kept in her own collection works by prized students. Alston’s image of a thoughtful young woman was a “keeper” for the teacher’s collection. For more information on these artists visit the Rhode Island College Archives.