The green grass, blooming flowers, and recent temperature increase in Minnesota has me thinking a lot about spring. Thoughts about the season were interpreted at the University Gallery in June of 1955 in an exhibit simply titled, “About Spring.”
An exhibition poster promoted the seasonal exhibition:
An exhibition publicity release from June 1955 (left) found in the gallery press books from the 1950s-60s provided a description of the exhibition:
About Spring – to July 15. A group of 40 paintings, prints, and drawings from local sources are being shown in the fourth floor gallery. Landscapes, flower still lifes and other subjects related to the season are accompanied by evocative stanzas from English and American poets. Among the artists represented are: Adolf Dehn, Leon Hartl, Louis Eilshemius, Kurt Roesch, B.J.O. Nordfeldt, Milton Avery, Marsden Hartley, and Sue Fuller as well as members of the Department of Art: Cameron Booth, Robert Collins, and Josephine Lutz Rollins. Other paintings were loaned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art and Walker Art Center.
In searching through the links to the artists’ works as represented in WAM’s collection on the Digital Content Library, I found a variety of landscapes and works of still life that could capture the essence of spring. But it wasn’t until I came across a series of landscapes by B.J.O. Nordfeldt that I found a visual representation that matches what I think spring is all about…
