Mildred C. Jones: Self-portrait, 1942. Oil on canvas.
His name may be on the building — because he helped to fund it. But money is not the only reason it’s called the Walter J. Manninen Center for the Arts.
“Investing in Art: Friends and Family,” an ongoing exhibition at Endicott College’s Heftler Visiting Artist Gallery, shows the profound work of four artists. Most of the works are taken from Manninen’s personal collection.
Paintings from Theresa Bernstein, Debbie Clarke, Mildred C. Jones, and Joy Dai Buell are highlighted. The emphasis is on portraiture, but these works branch out into multiple subjects, with multiple stylistic approaches as well.
Manninen has described his collecting as a financial investment — thus, presumably, the title of the exhibition — but his taste and choices reveal someone attuned not only to the rich legacy of Cape Ann artists, but to an overall sense of adventure and technical depth in painting. Each of these four artists has a bold concept of what they want to portray — all different as well, and spanning more than a century of artistry.
Theresa Bernstein (1890–2002—yes, those dates probably correct; she may have been even older) intersected with Cape Ann’s flourishing art and social scene of the mid-century. She worked mainly in New York, living there with her husband, the artist William Meyerowitz. (They were also aunt and uncle, and quite close, to pop singer Laura Nyro.)
Bernstein’s work on view here shows a flash of the Ash Can School that she was associated with — scenes from the city, drawn with seeming haste, capturing the energy of living around so much activity. The paintings are hardly abstract, but not captured with precision either. The idea is to show real life, with a nod toward the vibrancy of the scene. A portrait here — “Rena Lieberman” — has the same enthusiasm as well.
Mildred C. Jones’s work stands out, even among these four bold artists. Works in this exhibition are mainly portraits (with some views of Cape Ann land- and seascapes), and they are profound.
Jones (1899–1992) worked prolifically in London, New York, Cambridge, Mexico, the Virgin Islands and in Rockport, specializing for a time in children’s portraits. She built an impressive body of work.
Her paintings here include a riveting self portrait (oil on canvas, from 1942); another oil, “Woman in Blue with Basket,” which looks back to Van Gogh and Manet, and forward with deep psychological insight; and another loving work simply titled “Portrait in Green Jacket.”
Her technique appears simple, but rewards close examination. The sitter gets portrayed — not the artist’s notion of the sitter — even in the case of her self-portrait.
Debbie Clarke’s portraiture breaks the mold. Multiple works use foil or metallic elements, but the compositions attract attention. “Natasha” — oil, foil, and chalk on canvas — is a work that arrests the viewer entering the gallery, and demands examination. Another portrait, crayon on glass (the subject is Rev. Wendy Fitting of Gloucester), uses entirely different media, but similar insight in composition.
Joy Dai Buell’s works range farther than the other artists, in ideas. Some clever and humorous multimedia (“Captain Windy,” “Flying Carpet,” both with handmade paper); two works from a fantasy set (“Conversation Series #1 and #2”); and geometrically rich landscapes (like “Little River”) all hint at a sweep of artistic approaches.
The unifying feature that links these diverse artists: the collector. These works sit organically in a gallery that owes its creation to the artists who made the work, and the collector who supports them now — in multiple fashions.
“Investing in Art: Theresa Bernstein, Joy Dai Buell, Debbie Clarke, Mildred C. Jones,” runs through Oct. 11 in the Heftler Visiting Artist Gallery, 406 Hale St., at Endicott College. For more information visit www.endicott.edu or call 978-232-2655.