Mathias Alten - WKTV Journal

A familiar Grand Rapids artist; a famous Mexican printmaker and engraver who lived and worked during Mexico’s social and political upheaval; and a beloved Michigan artist all have works that are being featured in Grand Valley State University galleries.

For more information about Grand Valley State University art exhibits, call 616-331-2563 or visit gvsu.edu/artgallery.

The work of José Guadalupe is featured through Oct. 25. (Supplied)

“José Guadalupe Posada: Calavera Prints from the GVSU Print and Drawing Cabinet”

Kirkhof Center Gallery, Allendale Campus

Exhibition Dates: Through Oct. 25

José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) was a printmaker and engraver, who lived and worked in a period of Mexican history characterized by social and political upheaval. In 1888, he moved to Mexico City, where he quickly established himself and created some of his most important work. Posada illustrated historic scenes, board games and commercial items, religious images, various books and newspapers. He is most famous for his use of calaveras (depictions of skulls and skeletons) to satirize and mock the corruption of the wealthy and political elite. “La Calavera Catrina,” his most iconic image, was created in 1910 at the start of the Mexican Revolution. The image shows a grinning skeleton wearing a women’s feathered hat, pointing out that death comes to everyone, even those in the upper class. This exhibition includes 20 reproductions of his prints, from the GVSU Print and Drawing Cabinet. The prints were purchased in 2002 from the family of Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, who printed them using the original plates and press.

“Mathias J. Alten: An Evolving Legacy”

Exhibition Dates: Ongoing

George and Barbara Gordon Gallery

DeVos Center, Building E, Room 103 and 202, Pew Grand Rapids Campus

Gordon Gallery hours: Friday and Saturday, 1-5 p.m.; closed on holiday weekends

The German-born American artist Mathias Joseph Alten (1871-1938) is often referred to as the dean of Michigan painters. Working in a traditional representational style, Alten incorporated the aesthetics and techniques of the Impressionist Movement in paintings infused with light and punctuated with deft brushwork. Based in Grand Rapids, Alten created more than 3,800 works over a more than 40-year career, including landscapes, seascapes, portraits and florals. Grand Valley State University holds the largest public collection of Alten’s work in the world.

“Wandering Seeds: Experiencing and Engaging Haiti Through Study Abroad”

Blue Wall Gallery

DeVos Center, Building B, Pew Grand Rapids Campus

Exhibition Dates: Through Dec. 13

In 2018, a dozen GVSU students and three faculty members traveled to Haiti as part of a study abroad program. The course, led by Peter Wampler, associate professor of geology, was designed to provide students from various backgrounds the opportunity to experience Haitian culture and gain an understanding of daily life in rural Haiti. In addition, students participated in a variety of service-learning and community-based teaching experiences, allowing them to contribute their energy toward real-world problems in Haiti. Included in this exhibition are narratives and reflections by both the faculty and students who participated in the trip. Additionally, a number of photographs document their encounters, and a variety of original Haitian works of art attest to the vibrant and diverse artistic culture in the country.

A French printed fan is part of the “Carnivals, Cognac, and Cycling: Works of Art from the Robert L. Haskins and Erwin A. Raible Collection of Fin-de-Siécle Prints.” (Supplied)

“Carnivals, Cognac and Cycling: Works of Art from the Robert L. Haskins and Erwin A. Raible Collection of Fin-de-Siécle Prints”

Red Wall Gallery, Lake Ontario Hall, Allendale Campus

Exhibition Dates: Through Dec. 13

During the period spanning the turn of the century, Paris, one of the most vibrant cities in the world, experienced an explosion in print media. Now-familiar artists, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, and others, made names for themselves producing items such as posters, journal illustrations, theater programs and advertisements. Drawn from the Robert L. Haskins and Erwin A. Raible Collection of Fin-de-Siécle Prints in the GVSU Print and Drawing Cabinet, “Carnivals, Cognac and Cycling” provides a view into the visual culture of late 19th century France. In 2019, 14 GVSU students conducted research for this exhibition for the course Modern Art and Modernity. Each student focused on one work of art for in-depth study, produced original research and presented findings to classmates and now to a wider audience.

“Pearl Walk” Make W. Wilkins is part of the exhibit featuring Wilkins work. The exhibit runs through Oct. 25. (Supplied)

Mark W. Wilkens, 1955-2017

“A Life in Paint”

West Wall Gallery, Eberhard Center

Exhibition Dates: Through Oct. 25

Born in America’s heartland, Mark Wilkens’ passion for nature and the environment blossomed in the sun-drenched countryside of the Iowan farmlands. Wilkens traveled often after his schooling in Iowa, Arizona and South Dakota, using the opportunity to visit museums and learn about different cultures. In 1990, after a number of years painting independently and working in graphics and illustration, Wilkens moved to Michigan, which would serve as his creative home for nearly 27 years before his death on March 17, 2017. This exhibition includes 25 works of art from the last three decades of his career, including a variety of watercolors and oils. It honors a passionate artist, whose commitment to paint was evident throughout his life.

GVSU DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL AND MEDIA ARTS FACULTY EXHIBITION

“Endless Possibilities”

Exhibition dates: Through Oct. 27

NOMAD Gallery by Richard App

74 Monroe Center St. NW, Grand Rapids

Hours: Noon-7 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays

This unified show will showcase the media in which faculty members work. The exhibition will showcase works across animation, ceramics, digital art, film, graphic design, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, video art and more. Special performances, artist talks and workshops will also be offered in conjunction with the exhibition. VisitÂ gvsu.edu/vmaÂ for more information.

By Matthew Makowski

GVSU

Grand Valley State University’s Art Gallery has launched a new online digital library that provides a comprehensive database of the life and works of late artist Mathias J. Alten. The university currently owns the largest single public collection of Alten’s work, which includes more than 150 pieces of art.

The Mathias J. Alten Online Digital Library allows users to seamlessly browse through Alten’s life and work on computers and mobile devices. Nathan Kemler, assistant director of Galleries and Collections, said this system answers the question of how to best engage Grand Valley students and the global community in Alten’s legacy in a modern technological age.

“The Mathias J. Alten Online Digital Library provides our students and faculty with an ever-growing and changing wealth of both primary and secondary visual research materials to support academic learning,” said Kemler. “This collection of paintings, archival materials, scholarship, timeline entries and oral histories is presented fully integrated together thus encouraging learning connections across both time and space.”

The GVSU’s Mathias Alten collection is now available through a digital library.

The digital library, which can be accessed on the Art Gallery’s website, includes eight new paintings recently added to Grand Valley’s Alten collection. Seven paintings, including rare depictions of the Lake Michigan shoreline, were gifted by Anita Gilleo, one of Alten’s granddaughters.

One of Alten’s paintings created during trip to Spain in 1912 was gifted by George and Barbara Gordon, local collectors who have added to Grand Valley’s Alten collection annually since 1998.

Gilleo also presented to the university the Alten Catalog Raisonné — a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known works by Alten written by local art historian James Straub— and created the Anita M. Gilleo Endowment Fund to support the maintenance of the catalog in perpetuity.

“This is a very significant gift to Grand Valley because it holds all known paintings of Alten worldwide, which is over 2,200, and it is the undisputed authority of the artist’s body of work,” said Kemler. “This gift gives our community the ability to browse the artist’s work at a scale and depth that is incredibly unique compared to most artists.”

Alten’s legacy will spread beyond Grand Valley when the “Mathias J. Alten: An American Artist at the Turn of the Century” exhibit travels to museums and galleries around the State of Michigan in 2021 during the 150th anniversary of Alten’s birth.

The Art Gallery staff is currently developing the traveling exhibit, which will include more than 40 works of art and other objects that provide context for Alten’s artistic legacy, such as pictures, personal items, oral histories and letters.

A native of Germany, Alten immigrated to Grand Rapids as a teenager. Often referred to as the “Dean of Michigan Painters,” Alten spent his 40-year career painting in Europe and across the U.S., but always returned to Grand Rapids, his professional base of operations and home, until his death in 1938.