Shadows of Time: Photo-transfer Prints by Gordon R. Wenzel/American Regionalist Prints from the Robert U. Redpath Collection, Susquehanna University, Part 2

Shadows of Time: Photo-transfer Prints by Gordon R. Wenzel

March 19 - April 13, 1997

Gordon R. Wenzel's photo-transfer prints have a monumentality that belies their diminutive scale. His images hint of the past with reflections of aging architecture and old world subjects, shadows of a time once held in esteem. Modesty of scale, however, in no way diminishes their effect; soft muted times melting into textural watercolor paper implore the viewer to move closer to inspect their intriguing appearance. Small size and faded colors are reminiscent of picture postcards of the past that were used to describe romantic faraway places and sentimental scenes of gardens and flowers. Collectibles of such papers ephemera are now found in antique shops and museums saved from extinction by loving hands. Wenzel's photographs remind us of such things.

Manipulating a technique that itself suggests melting and fading, Wenzel derives his images from his own negatives taken years ago and reworked in a transfer process with the assistance of Polaroid film. The nature of this film, layered on its surface with a spectrum of colors, when applied to dampened watercolor paper gives up its image to a new aesthetic medium. Colors impregnate the paper, sometimes sliding beyond the image into the margins mingling figure and background with an appearance of a French Impressionist's brushstroke.

Wenzel shares his techniques as well as his aesthetic ideas with students in the Art Department at Susquehanna University, where he teachers two classes of Photography. As a professional photographer in the community, he has worked in a variety of areas including commercial and portrait photography and has a studio in Danville, Pennsylvania. National awards in competitions have landed his work in various collections, including the Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Commission Traveling Collection, for which he was recognized by the Lieutenant Governor.

Valerie Livingston

Untitled, Gordon R. Wenzel, Photo-transfer print on watercolor paper. 4 x 5"
Collection of the photographer.

American Regionalist Prints from the Robert U. Redpath Collection,

Susquehanna University, Part 2

March 19 - April 13, 1997

The second part of the Robert U. Redpath Collection of American Regionalist Prints affords the Lore Degenstein audience an opportunity to view the collection in its entirety. A selection of these prints that had undergone conservation last spring were shown as a project of an American Art History course, involving the research efforts of those students. Their work has provided information on the gift of the work in 1977 by Redpath and the history of the Regionalist artists who printed lithographs and etchings for Associated American Artists (AAA) in the 1930s and 40s. The AAA, an organization in New York City, gave artists an experience to produce graphic arts that described American life: conditions in the aftermath of the Great Depression – during the Dustbowl years in rural America in the 1930s when farming struggled for survival and cities dealt with the crises of unemployment as well as later subjects of life recovering. Such prominent artists as Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood as strongly evident in the collection.

Valerie Livingston

Last Reviewed By Kevin Hoffman,
Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA 17870
Telephone: 570-372-4059 Fax: 570-372-2729