Off the Shelf Book Club

While Esherick is best known as an artist and craftsman, he also tried his hand at the literary arts. In 1932, at the behest of his good friend and noted American author Theodore Dreiser, Esherick wrote a short story reflecting on the creation of his 1926 Studio. Esherick submitted a draft of his story to  American Spectator, but never revised it toward publication. Join us to explore this story of the Studio’s construction during a landmark year when we celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Esherick breaking ground on this singular building. During the meeting, we’ll be taking a look at Theodore Dreiser’s letters in WEM’s archives urging Esherick to take pen to paper and other special collections material related to the construction of the 1926 Studio.

Whether reading the provocative work of Richard Wright, seeing Zora Neale Hurston speak on multiple occasions, or working with friend, client, and writer Jean Toomer, Esherick maintained a deep interest in the work of Black writers during the Harlem Renaissance. Nella Larsen’s 1929 novella Passing explores questions of race, class, and sexuality through the complex friendship of Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield. We’ll discuss the compelling text, as well as Rebecca Hall’s recent film adaptation of the novella and look at special collections and archival materials related to Esherick’s interest in African American life and its representation in the Harlem Renaissance.

The 1913 Armory Show was the first exhibition of modern art in the United States. The exhibition brought over a thousand paintings, prints, sculptures, and other decorative arts by the European and American avant-garde to US audiences. The tens-of-thousands of visitors to the Armory were often befuddled by cubism, fauvism, and the other forms of abstract expression they had never before encountered. Lunday tells the story of this pivotal exhibition from a variety of perspectives including organizers, contributors, viewers, and critics. Through this text, we’ll unpack how this exhibition set the stage for new galleries and museums to support and exhibit the work of modern artists, illuminating Wharton Esherick’s friendships and context within this bold, new era of artmaking. During this meeting we’ll also take a look at archival materials related to some of the art clubs, galleries, and museums that sprang up in the aftermath of the Armory show.

To mark the United States 250th anniversary and Wharton Esherick’s birthday, we’ll be exploring the central role that craft has played in American life and history through Glenn Adamson’s Craft: An American History. Glenn Adamson is a curator, historian, and writer whose work focuses on craft, design, and contemporary arts. Craft: An American History shows that craft has been central to debates around class, gender, race, and equality in the United States, from the revolutionary period through today’s debates around healthcare, freedom, and identity. In this meeting, we’ll be exploring special collections and archival materials related to ways Esherick used his craft to explore ideas around advocacy, expression, and representation, as well as materials that help us understand the important role of craft in representing people who do not otherwise appear in the historical record.

As a budding artist in the 1920s, Wharton Esherick actively looked up to the painter, printmaker, and illustrator Rockwell Kent. When Esherick was first experimenting with the medium of printmaking, he acquired a copy of Rockwell Kent’s book Wilderness (1920) to study his woodblock illustrations. Kent’s book—a twentieth century transcendentalist tale in the vein of Thoreau and Emerson—documents a seven-month adventure taken with his son to live in the remote Alaskan wilderness, and explores the isolation of wilderness, connection to nature, and ideas of self-sufficiency. During the meeting, we’ll be exploring Esherick’s copy of Wilderness, books that Esherick also illustrated, and ephemera from Esherick and Kent’s common exhibitions.