The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-07-29
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Robert MerrelI Gage has rendered
his resignation as instructor in model
ling at the Kansas City Art Insti-
ture- This he did on July "a for the
alleged reason that a contract which
he had signed to teach in the school
for another year was changed over his
signature. Mr.. Gage has taught at
the Kansas City Art Institute for five
or six years. Before that time his
home was in Topeka. He is regarded
as one of the coming sculptors of the
United States, and was a pupil of Gut
ION Borglum.
has obtained several important public
commissions, among them, the police
memorial, and some public drinking
fountains. He desiged and executed
the Phil Billiard memorial for the To-
peka Rotary club, and the Lincoln
statue on the state house grounds. He
also designed the markers for the
Santa Fe Trail
For some time there has been dis
sension between Harry NJ KurtZYorth,
director of the Kansas City Art Insti-
tutS and a portion of the faculty and
student body. This faction apparently
does not approve of Mr.. Kurtzworth's
views with regard to discipline and
methods of teaching. The trouble led
to the recent resignation of Charles A.
WilimovsEy from the faculty Which
MI. Gake COnSlQeTS a great DlOM u
the prosperity of the school
It is reported that the board OF
directors of the institute are backing
Mr.. Kurtzworth.
The revived art of wood engraving
continues to advance in interest and
beauty at the hands of a number OF
present day artists and craftsmen.
OF those who stand high among the
masters of the art in the United States,
is Rudolph RuZicka. Ruzicka was
born in Bohemia in the year 1883, but
came to Chicago in 1894 At the age
of fourteen he was apprenticed to
wood engraver who put him to work
at learning TO cut signatures for rub
Der stamp casting. Afterwards he Sc
cured work in photo-engraving plants,
and studied art in the evenings at the
Chicago Art Institute
When he reached the age of twenty
he went to New York. where he got
work in art departments and studied
at night schools But wood engraving
was his favorite employment and he
spent all of his leisure time working
at It.
After a time he earned enough at
designing during a part Of the week
to enable him to spend the rest of the
week cutting on wood blocks He is
now acknowledged as one of the best
and most artistic wood engravers of
our time. His drawing is excellent and
his knowledge of color values and
composition are exceedingly fine, and
there is no trace of the bizarre or
freakish in his work.
Mr.. Ruzicka appears to love the re-
producing of scenes on the streets and
in the parks of New York City, and he
has also travelled in Italy and made
many engravings of scenes in the cities
OF that country.
There is a short article on Rudolph
Ruzicka and his work in the July
number of Arts and Decoration. 1t is
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beautiful prints and is well worth
reading by those who are interested in
the beautiful art of engraving on wood.
Mr.. and Mrs. l. D. whittemore
started on motor trip to Taos, New
Mexico, this week. What a wonder
full treat is in store for them!
The August number of the Ameri-
can Magazine of Art, which has just
arrived, contains as its first feature,
a short but intensely interesting article
entitled, The Painters of Taos. 1t,
is written by w. Herbert Dunton, a
member of the Taos art colony.
This article is illustrated by seven
black and white cuts of paintings by
o. E. Berninghaus. w Herbert Dun
ton. E. Irving Couse. Walter Ufer.
Ernest L Blumenschein, J. H. Sharp
and Victor Higgins.
Despite the absence of the colors
of the originals, these cuts are in
tensely fascinating. and beautiful, and
the IelallEe values Dlack ana WHITE
are such that, anyone at all familiar
with Rocky Mountain and American
Desert scenery has no difficulty in
seeing the colors with his minds eye.
Mr.. Dunton explains just what it is
that attracts artists to Taos and makes
them want to stay after they get there.
He says that there are many places
in the western mountains between
Montana and Mexico just as beautiful
as Taos, but that none Of these places
possesses in itself the wide variety of
fascinating subject matter. and no 9TH
er has so vast an array of interesting
people, things and places for artists to
paint and draw, located within the
radius of a few miles from the center
of the town. Then too, the peculiar
climate of the region causes such a
wealth of variation in the aspect OF
the scenery at different periods of the
year. The Indian dances and strange
religious rites held from time to time,
when members of tribes from all over
the west gather at Taos. together
with the peculiar domestic customs
of the village are powerful factors in
attracting and holding artists to the
place.
Nobody who is proud of the distinc-
tive things that America has to offer
to the world. or who loves the original
and primal beauty of our great west.
should fail to read this article in The
American Magazine of Art. or any
other writings about the Taos country
that may come his way. And more
over. the members of The Topeka Art
Guild will look forward with much
interest to having Mrs Whittemore
tell about her trip at the Guilds first
meeting in the fall
New methods of producing colored
tiles, and of painting on stone or ce-
ment blocks with paints mixed with
Portland cement have been invented
and practically perfected by Pedro ].