Jon Schueler: Catalog


Activities & Experiments Catalog Chronology Itinerary Response Weather Resources Works on Display Schueler: About the Sky Main Page Jon Schueler Site SBC Art Gallery Main Site	Jon Schueler: About the Sky Catalog 1 \| 2 \| 3 \| 4 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 8 \| 9 \| 10 In Edinburgh in 1970 Schueler had met the woman who ultimately would be the most important figure in his life, his Woman in the Sky. She was Magda Salvesen, then twenty-five and working for the Scottish Arts Council. He visited Salvesen often in her flat in Edinburgh, and she, in turn, Schueler, in his Mallaig studio. Salvesen left her job in the spring of 1971 to move to Mallaig. Her presence brought a sense of peace that was reflected in his work. Moreover, he felt a sense of freedom from the responsibilities of teaching. His work was going well, and he was extremely pleased with Romasaig, the cottage/studio located in Mallaig that would henceforth be his base in Scotland. In Light: Summer IV,1970, and Magda Series 8: June Light, 1970, the serenity of the horizontal, the calm and muted colors, and the delicately layered washes of paint produce an effect of tranquility new to his work. The next four and a half years were a period of great productivity. He put together an exhibition of his paintings for the Richard Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh in February 1971, but before sending it on to that city, presented the work to the local community in the Mallaig Village Hall. He had regretted not providing such an exhibition at the time he left Mallaig in 1958, and now, thirteen years later, he embraced the chance. It was a rewarding experience; he especially treasured the directness and simplicity of individual responses to the paintings. Schueler took up his writing in earnest in 1972, spending three months in Paris dedicated to that task, and he continued in Mallaig in 1973 and 1974. It was painful to return to thoughts of the wartime experiences, his dead comrades, his own physical and mental collapse, the lost Bunty, and the death of his old friend the jazz musician Oscar Pettiford. Henceforth many of his paintings would bear an element of requiem, of elegy, as does Good-by to Oscar, 1974 (cat#26). Whenever I read the letters and journals of past years, I feel a deep sadness and sense of loss.... But now the present has not ceased. There is even a deeper and more subtle range of experience, in some ways more surely and intensely felt because of the power of the past and the depth of a present reflection. Life has a range and a power and a drama which is beyond all belief. It is almost too exquisite to contemplate. In 1973, the London art dealer, Richard Nathanson, showed Schueler's work at the Edinburgh College of Art during festival events. The Edinburgh Festival Show of 1973 was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.... The spirit that pervaded the place was unbelievable. I was there every day all day. And not a day passed that something beautiful didn't happen to me.... Day after day, paintings were sold.... ...people came from all over the world.... It was a marvelous, marvelous time and I've never enjoyed anything so much in my life." The New York collector/dealer Ben Heller purchased several pieces from the Edinburgh show, initiating what was to become an important association between the two men. Ben and his wife Pat traveled to Schueler's Mallaig studio in April 1974 to see recent paintings. Heller's reaction was extremely positive. Schueler recalled his saying, "The work is absolutely masterly. I haven't seen so much work of a masterly quality in one studio since I was in Mark Rothko's studio." Although very pleased with Heller's response, Schueler resisted the comparison with Rothko, yet he recognized the possibilities of affinities in their work. In his characteristically self-analytical and self-doubting manner, he wrote: But how strange that so often I should be linked with Rothko one way or the other. Perhaps this was the reason for the rage which I so often felt in the past. Perhaps his world and mine touch more intimately than I expected. Perhaps my rage against his work and my distrust of his work was my rage against and distrust of myself. I'd find his paintings beautiful and seductive. Ultimately, I would not believe them. I'd question them. But one does this with paintings that move one deeply and which seem akin to one's own work, or the dream of one's own work. Heller selected no less than thirty-eight paintings to be shipped back to New York. (Light and Grey Sky, IV, 1974; May Sky Shadow, 1974 (cat#18); Shadow in a Grey Sky Moving, 1974 (cat#20); and Sun Shadow II, 1974 (cat#21), are typical of those works, although on a smaller scale. For Schueler, at age fifty-seven, this was the beginning of a new and important phase of his career.
Catalog Main Page \| 1 \| 2 \| 3 \| 4 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 8 \| 9 \| 10
Activities & Experiments \| Catalog \| Chronology \| Itinerary \| Response \| Weather Resources \| Works on Display Schueler: About the Sky Main Page \| Jon Schueler Site \| SBC Art Gallery Main Site
http://www.artgallery.sbc.edu/exhibits/99_00/schueler/catalog8.html This page was created and is maintained by Jaime Henna, 2002. Direct questions or comments to Professor Rebecca Massie Lane, Director of the College Galleries and the Arts Management Program. Last updated on February 6, 2000.


Activities & Experiments Catalog Chronology Itinerary Response Weather Resources Works on Display Schueler: About the Sky Main Page Jon Schueler Site SBC Art Gallery Main Site	Jon Schueler: About the Sky Catalog 1 \| 2 \| 3 \| 4 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 8 \| 9 \| 10 In Edinburgh in 1970 Schueler had met the woman who ultimately would be the most important figure in his life, his Woman in the Sky. She was Magda Salvesen, then twenty-five and working for the Scottish Arts Council. He visited Salvesen often in her flat in Edinburgh, and she, in turn, Schueler, in his Mallaig studio. Salvesen left her job in the spring of 1971 to move to Mallaig. Her presence brought a sense of peace that was reflected in his work. Moreover, he felt a sense of freedom from the responsibilities of teaching. His work was going well, and he was extremely pleased with Romasaig, the cottage/studio located in Mallaig that would henceforth be his base in Scotland. In Light: Summer IV,1970, and Magda Series 8: June Light, 1970, the serenity of the horizontal, the calm and muted colors, and the delicately layered washes of paint produce an effect of tranquility new to his work. The next four and a half years were a period of great productivity. He put together an exhibition of his paintings for the Richard Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh in February 1971, but before sending it on to that city, presented the work to the local community in the Mallaig Village Hall. He had regretted not providing such an exhibition at the time he left Mallaig in 1958, and now, thirteen years later, he embraced the chance. It was a rewarding experience; he especially treasured the directness and simplicity of individual responses to the paintings. Schueler took up his writing in earnest in 1972, spending three months in Paris dedicated to that task, and he continued in Mallaig in 1973 and 1974. It was painful to return to thoughts of the wartime experiences, his dead comrades, his own physical and mental collapse, the lost Bunty, and the death of his old friend the jazz musician Oscar Pettiford. Henceforth many of his paintings would bear an element of requiem, of elegy, as does Good-by to Oscar, 1974 (cat#26). Whenever I read the letters and journals of past years, I feel a deep sadness and sense of loss.... But now the present has not ceased. There is even a deeper and more subtle range of experience, in some ways more surely and intensely felt because of the power of the past and the depth of a present reflection. Life has a range and a power and a drama which is beyond all belief. It is almost too exquisite to contemplate. In 1973, the London art dealer, Richard Nathanson, showed Schueler's work at the Edinburgh College of Art during festival events. The Edinburgh Festival Show of 1973 was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.... The spirit that pervaded the place was unbelievable. I was there every day all day. And not a day passed that something beautiful didn't happen to me.... Day after day, paintings were sold.... ...people came from all over the world.... It was a marvelous, marvelous time and I've never enjoyed anything so much in my life." The New York collector/dealer Ben Heller purchased several pieces from the Edinburgh show, initiating what was to become an important association between the two men. Ben and his wife Pat traveled to Schueler's Mallaig studio in April 1974 to see recent paintings. Heller's reaction was extremely positive. Schueler recalled his saying, "The work is absolutely masterly. I haven't seen so much work of a masterly quality in one studio since I was in Mark Rothko's studio." Although very pleased with Heller's response, Schueler resisted the comparison with Rothko, yet he recognized the possibilities of affinities in their work. In his characteristically self-analytical and self-doubting manner, he wrote: But how strange that so often I should be linked with Rothko one way or the other. Perhaps this was the reason for the rage which I so often felt in the past. Perhaps his world and mine touch more intimately than I expected. Perhaps my rage against his work and my distrust of his work was my rage against and distrust of myself. I'd find his paintings beautiful and seductive. Ultimately, I would not believe them. I'd question them. But one does this with paintings that move one deeply and which seem akin to one's own work, or the dream of one's own work. Heller selected no less than thirty-eight paintings to be shipped back to New York. (Light and Grey Sky, IV, 1974; May Sky Shadow, 1974 (cat#18); Shadow in a Grey Sky Moving, 1974 (cat#20); and Sun Shadow II, 1974 (cat#21), are typical of those works, although on a smaller scale. For Schueler, at age fifty-seven, this was the beginning of a new and important phase of his career.
Catalog Main Page \| 1 \| 2 \| 3 \| 4 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 8 \| 9 \| 10
Activities & Experiments \| Catalog \| Chronology \| Itinerary \| Response \| Weather Resources \| Works on Display Schueler: About the Sky Main Page \| Jon Schueler Site \| SBC Art Gallery Main Site
http://www.artgallery.sbc.edu/exhibits/99_00/schueler/catalog8.html This page was created and is maintained by Jaime Henna, 2002. Direct questions or comments to Professor Rebecca Massie Lane, Director of the College Galleries and the Arts Management Program. Last updated on February 6, 2000.