The Washington times., 1937-05-28
zUPPKE TELLS
/ EXPERIENCES
I; AS ARTIST

HI "AAH
Robert c. Zuppke, petercn
JootbnH coach tDIlo iS celebrating
his ttDenty-ftth consecutive year
as coach of the University o.
Illinois Is staging salon" of
his oil paintings in Chicago this
tDeeE. "ZHp," as he is kTotDH to
thousands, in this article otUes
-IIutiS DUN ideas on painting"
-, not "Grt." as hobby.
~ BY ROBERT G. ZUPPKE
University Of Illinois Football
Coach
Written Expressly for international
80 News Service. Copyright. 1850
& n Chicago, May 2s Q.NS).-A
though I have been painting for
npany years there are still people
who seem to be surprised that q
rrfootball coach should be inter
Il ested in what seems to them an
w9vocation far removed from foot
ball. Yet painting Is Just as much
.asof physical expression as foot
ball. I have lost more weight
when painting than when coach
r ing the same amount Of time.
e'oG OF course I do not pretend to
Y1be a real painter, but I have
Tot of fun at it. have not studied
painting in the technical sense
s1ef the phrase.
aa'A Likes Untampered Nature
SIC I had the good fortune to have
q a friend who was a sign writer.
From him I learned to letter and
Something about oils. Now !
= paint because I really love it, and
use all Of my spare time even at
soaight for that purpose. I am q
S'lover Of untampered nature, not
the kind represented in semi.
:. artificial parks.
.-,, Some critics tell me my tech
:, .rnique is too brutal sometimes, es-
.1tpecially when do forests. And
yet try to paint them as they
are. What they mean is that
my efforts are not brutal but very
vigorous. The trouble is that some
artists paint parks and call them
~ forests. Why should I not paint
aIthe forests as they really are; is
not nature often brutal? I 20
Hunting in the Rockies, in Colo
,rado. The trees scratch me, Scrape
me, their roots trip me; they get
in my way. Yet I am expected
Ito come back and paint a park
scene.
- No-some people paint forests
when they have seen nothing but
parks.
a,> Paints from Memory
no. Practically all I know about
-s,painting I gathered from the little
instruction I received in high
school and one summer at the
chicago Art Institute.
III What knowledge I possess of
technique and color I gathered
aofrom observing paintings in the
art galleries and by a study of
natures own color scheme. I have
caused myself to paint from mem
ory as much as possible and my
=..-arti if it can be termed that, repre-
nlsents sort Of expression result
eT4ng from nostalgia or homesick-
lopeSS.
- To make myself little clearer,
nj sketch in the summer and re-
create the study in the winter.
when I sketch in the winter. I
cclrecreate the snow scenes in the
summer. In this way l hope to
recall from memory the joy I
experienced in studying nature.
2Ia Opens Up New Vista
as One good thing this bally-hoo
21About my painting accomplishes
Its that it may show that painting
is1Snt such a lah-de-dah avocation
-tEn such rough customer as a.
football coach is interested in it.
i have heard of boys with a real
talent for art who were almost
| ashamed of it because they were
! AFRAID Of being called SiSsieS.
, s ] have not, as yet, been able to
express myself with the freedom
and abandonment I hope to in
the future. I hope to develop con-
.Siderably more movement and
paint with more Spontaneity. That
1s.- hope, in my painting, to be
like the weather, rather than the
climate. Climate nearly always
remains the same, while weather
changes from hour to hour.
Modern art has it's mission. It
opens up new viStas. Painting ex-
,preSSionS are in a transitional
period, neither here nor there but
new effects and new approaches
will come out Of this to last for
several decades when other new
ones will be applied. There have
always been new movements in art
just as in literature and other
modes Of expression and they are
not to be disregarded.
TIN 40