New Wichita Art Museum exhibit features ‘superstars’ of early modern art

The Wichita Art Museum is pulling out some rarely seen works by well-known early modern artists, such as Edward Hopper and Alfred Dove, from its collection for its next featured exhibition.

Done on paper, these works are rarely seen because they’re more fragile than other works and won’t last long if displayed for lengthy periods.

Light is their kryptonite. And once the colors fade, they’re gone, said WAM curator Tera Hedrick.

“Works on paper are the most fragile medium compared to an oil painting or a bronze sculpture,” Hedrick said. “Works on paper are really supposed to be, at a maximum, spending only a third of their life being seen and the other two-thirds of the time, they’re supposed to be tucked away. They’re supposed to be resting in the cool and in the dark. That’s what makes this exhibition special.”

The WAM works — which Hedrick calls the “superstars” of early modern artists in WAM’s collection —will be displayed along with works on paper by another leading artist of the 20th century, Alfred Maurer, in “Paper Dreams: Alfred Maurer and American Masterpieces.”

The exhibition opens Saturday, Oct. 15 — when admission is free — with artmaking activities, live jazz, a dance performance and tours. There also will be a mini used-book sale going on.

Maurer’s work is from the Weisman Museum in Minneapolis. WAM and the Weisman both have prominent American art collections along with another connection: WAM emerita director Patricia McDonnell had been a curator for the Weisman Museum.

Maurer was an American painter who hobnobbed with artists in Paris at the end of the 19th century — “like all the cool kids were doing, going to galleries and Parisian art school and being exposed to European modernism,” Hedrick said.

That influence can be seen in how Maurer’s art started changing from his earlier years when his work was much more realistic and precise. While his art wasn’t accepted critically or commercially at the time, he’s now among those superstars Hedrick referred to.

“Paper Dreams” will include 27 of Maurer’s works on paper.

The entire exhibition can be considered a foray into art history from about the beginning of the early 20th century to the early 1940s when American artists were experimenting and reflecting the changes going on in society around them.

WAM’s stellar collection of early modern work stems from the fact that its co-founder Elizabeth Navas was shopping for art to start WAM at the time these contemporary artists were on the scene.

Navas was a friend and professional colleague of Louise Murdock who had donated her money to start an art museum in Wichita. For nearly 20 years, up until WAM opened in 1935, Navas was creating the foundation for the museum’s collection, which now numbers well over 10,000 pieces.

With the reputation Navas had helped establish with the collection, other benefactors started donating works from that time as well.

The watercolor by John Marin that will be displayed in the exhibition was donated by artist Georgia O’Keeffe; Arthur Dove’s son donated pages from his father’s sketchbook.

The majority of the WAM works in the exhibition are watercolors, with 29 pieces being displayed. The other works are prints, photogravures and a few ink drawings and pastels, Hedrick said.

The exhibition will close Jan. 23.

Art historian Stacey Epstein, who specializes in 20th-century American art and is the leading authority of Maurer’s art, will give a free lecture as part of WAM’s Wooden Lecture Series on Nov. 30. Epstein co-curated the Maurer portion of the exhibition and wrote a book on Maurer, “Alfred H. Maurer: At the Vanguard of Modernism.”

WAM exhibit: ‘Paper Dreams: Alfred Maurer and American Masterpieces’

What: an exhibition of rarely seen paper works from the collections of the Wichita Art Museum and the Weisman Museum in Minneapolis

Where: Wichita Art Museum, 1400 W. Museum Blvd.

When: Oct. 15-Jan. 23. Opening reception activities on Oct. 15 — when admission is free — include artmaking, live entertainment and tours. WAM hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays, closed Mondays.

Admission: free for all visitors on Saturdays; $10 adults; $5 for ages 60 and up; $3 college students, youth ages 5-17; free for children under 5 and WAM members.

More information: wichitaartmuseum.org or 316-268-4921