Surrealism was explored in the Midwest as a dreamlike and domestic embrace of the subconscious. The Surrealist circles around Chicago considered realistic and psychic subject matter in a way that was both meticulous and deeply unsettling, blending the local with the fantastical. Though never a formal movement, the traditions of Midwestern surrealism and magical realism include the works of many notable artists, such as Gertrude Abercrombie, Julia Thecla, Harold Noecker, Ivan Albright, Dorothea Tanning, and John Wilde.
John Wilde (1919-2006), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was known as a painter, renowned draftsman, and master of silverpoint.
“His meticulous drawing and candid portrayals of the human figure are suggestive of fifteenth-century Flemish and Italian Renaissance art. The element of fantasy in his art also joins him to older northern European traditions. His renderings, however, of living forms that do not seem drawn from nature and his illogical juxtapositions of objects place him within the context of Surrealism and Magic Realism, whose incongruous dream worlds he admires. His art of improbable situations nonetheless explores the most traditional of themes in Western art: love and death.”
(Quoted from the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art)
We were honored to treat a painting by Wilde recently: a heavily detailed still life titled Walter's Oddment Arrayed, painted in 2002.
The painting prior to treatment.
The painting arrived at The Conservation Center framed and was removed from its frame for examination. It was executed on a ¾” thick plywood panel. An inscription on the back of the panel read, Walter's Oddment Arrayed/ John Wilde 2002. A label from Spanierman Gallery was also on the back of the panel.
The gallery label verso.
The panel appeared to be prepared with an artist-applied white ground. The paint layer was characteristic of oil that had been moderately applied. There was an area of small abrasions along the bottom center. The painting seemed to be varnished with a natural resin. Silver accretions from the frame were present along the top and upper right. A light layer of surface grime was noticeable on the painting. The frame was generally in good condition with minimal scratches and abrasions.
Our conservators carefully began treatment. The painting was photographed for in-house documentation before and after treatment. It was surface cleaned to remove grime using appropriate aqueous solutions. The reverse of the painting was cleaned of grime using a textile sponge. Inpainting was carried out in areas of abrasion using reversible conservation paints. A final coat of varnish was applied to integrate the surface gloss. Scratches and abrasions to the frame were retouched where deemed necessary. The piece was reinstalled into the existing frame to conservation standards. An archival backing board was attached to the reverse to provide additional protection.
The painting after treatment.
“Walter” refers to Wilde’s fellow artist and frequent collaborator, Walter Hamady (1940-2019). Hamady was a book artist who worked with various writers and artists to create editions exploring the aesthetic potential of their works. Wilde assisted on several projects for Hamady and eventually produced several oil paintings based on his personal journals from the mid-eighties. Hamady also made box assemblages with found objects. Walter’s Oddment, Arrayed, and another piece from the same year, Walter’s Oddment, Muddled, are paintings Wilde made of items Hamady collected to be used in his box-making. Though serious in their work, the friendship between Hamady and Wilde could be celebratory and lighthearted on occasion.
Walter’s Oddment, Arrayed, 2002
Walter’s Oddment, Muddled, 2002
Another contemporary and friend of Wilde was the Jazz Witch herself: Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977), the Queen of the Bohemians. Her hauntingly solitary works depicted mysterious interiors and figures that referenced a visual lexicon entirely of her creation—dice, shells, eggs, and a black cat, among others.
Self Portrait, 1953, by Gertrude Abercrombie
Abercrombie became interested in still life painting in the early 1950s, and Wilde encouraged her to paint more carefully and incorporate greater detail.
Wrote art historian Dr. Robert Cozzolino in The Sorceress in the Center of Everything:
She found it exhilarating for a while but eventually deemed it too demanding and perhaps incompatible with her natural way of working. “Jonathan,” she wrote. “Holy cow I got such a stiff neck from doing that careful realism. May have to change back. Doing a lady coming up thru a marble top table. Semi-naked.”
Wilde gifted Abercrombie a stunning painting, Still Life with Shells, a symbol of the devotion and inspiration shared between friends. The painting is now in the collection of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.
Still Life with Shells, 1950 (Courtesy of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art)
The enchanting and enduring legacy of Wilde, Abercrombie, and their contemporaries allows us to see the extraordinary within the ordinary in a realm of their own making.
