My thanks to Tyler for this invitation to be a guest Friday Finds contributor. My family and I were lucky enough to meet Tyler when she was a just-turned-18 freshman at Drake, thanks to my friend since childhood, Allison. Allison worked with Penny for six weeks in the mid-1980s in Kansas City; she and Penny stayed friends over the years, which is how we got connected to Tyler, Penny, and Tim when Tyler moved to Des Moines. Such serendipity, and how wonderful to have formed these lasting friendships.
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This edition of Friday Finds is inspired by the art collected by Florence and James Sansom Carpenter of Des Moines. While James (who went by J.S. or “Sannie”) made his living as president of the Iowa Bridge Company, his heart lay in the fine arts. His contribution to the city’s cultural landscape was so revered after he died in 1939, a public memorial exhibit of some of the highlights from his personal collection was displayed in downtown Des Moines for most of that October.
With works by George Bellows, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Frederick Carl Frieseke, George Gardner Symons, Leon Gaspard, and more, the memorial was a treasure trove of American art from the early 20th century. My gratitude to the Frick Art Reference Library in New York City for sharing their copy of the exhibition catalog, which describes him simply as “a builder of bridges and a lover of art.”
The Carpenters hosted numerous artists at their home on Des Moines’s east side over the years, and formed fast friendships with many. Carpenter helped found the Des Moines Association of Fine Arts in 1916 and served as its first president. Each member contributed $100 a year for the acquisition of paintings and sculptures. The Association transformed into the Edmundson Art Museum in 1940, and that collection was merged into today’s Des Moines Art Center on its founding in 1945.
I heard a great deal about Sansom and Florence growing up, as they were my beloved grandmother Hazel Bemis Rood’s aunt and uncle—a relationship of huge importance in her life. Grandma spent her high school years, 1905 through 1909, living with the Carpenters in Des Moines. She met the artists who visited and stayed at their house; experienced society living unheard of on the Iowa farm where she grew up; and cherished her vivid memories of Aunt Florence and Uncle Sannie for the rest of her long life, until she died at 107.
In addition to the family connection, I adore the lavish beauty and use of color in these works. In these uncertain days, I especially appreciate the sense of light and life that illuminate this art.
Today, much of the Carpenters’ art is part of the collection the Des Moines Art Center, where unfortunately, most are displayed quite infrequently. (At least one fabulous painting, Goldfish by Richard E. Miller, was inherited by another Carpenter niece, who offered it to the Des Moines Art Center, which turned it down.) The unseen donations feel like lost treasures to me. I wish they were always available to view, if not available for loan to the Carpenters’ descendants for their enjoyment.
A few of the works are still in the family, including a portrait of Florence by Louis Ritman, owned by my cousin, and a view of snowy Des Moines at twilight, which Gardner Symons painted to capture the view from the Carpenters’ house.
And one small seascape by Ben Foster, given from him directly to my grandmother, has pride of place in my living room today, near a sofa that belonged to the Carpenters.
Here are five of my favorite artists with a connection to the Carpenters.
George Gardner Symons (1862-1948)
A native of Chicago, American Impressionist George Gardner Symons was born in 1861. He was one of the first American artists to visit California, and eventually built a home and studio in Laguna Beach. He divided his time between California and the East Coast, and his paintings reflect that, with seascapes from California contrasting with the snowy winter scenes that brought him fame. He was a dear friend of the Carpenters and often stayed with them—I imagine his cross-country travels made their home in Des Moines an excellent stopping place. I love his heavy application of paint, bold brush strokes (which remind me a bit of Van Gogh), and use of pinks, blues, and grays to depict snow.
Radiant Sunshine (Given to the Des Moines Art Center by Florence Carpenter, 1941)
This painting has never been on view during my years in Des Moines, but I’m grateful for the image from the Art Center’s website. It was included in J.S. Carpenter’s memorial art exhibition.
An untitled winter twilight view from their Des Moines home, this painting was a gift to the Carpenters from the artist. The inscription reads: To the Carpenters, In memory of happy days spent together. My grandmother inherited this piece after Florence’s death in 1948. She cherished it for the next fifty years, until she died at 107 in 1998. Today, it hangs over my sister’s fireplace in Boise, Idaho. Photo credit: Tracy Rood
Southern California Beach (1925)
Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874 - 1939)
Born in Michigan in 1841, Frieseke studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and spent most of his life in France, where he divided his time between Paris and Giverny, where he lived next door to Claude Monet. They weren’t close, however; he said Renoir was the only artist who influenced him. His work ranges from Impressionist to Post-Impressionist, with an emphasis on the beauty of sunlit subjects, whether clothed or nude. He wrote, “It is sunshine, flowers in sunshine; girls in sunshine; the nude in sunshine, which I have been principally interested in. If I could only reproduce it exactly as I see it I would be satisfied.”
I love his use of vivid colors, peeks into everyday life in the early 1900s, and the sense of dappled light conveyed in his works.
The Hour of Tea Before 1916, (Not on view)
Given to The Des Moines Art Center by Florence Carpenter, 1941
The Garden Parasol (1910)
North Carolina Museum of Art
Note that the woman under the parasol appears to be the same model from The Hour of Tea.
Summer (1914)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Louis Ritman (1889-1963)
Born in Russia, Impressionist Louis Ritman came to the U.S. with his family as a child. He helped to support his family by working as a sign painter, then began his art training at Chicago’s famous Hull House, founded by Jane Addams. He went on to study at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In 1910, he traveled to Giverny with Richard Miller, and worked closely with him and Frieseke there.
Notice the complex and visually interesting interplay of patterns in each of these three works—on dresses, on wallpaper, on the sofa, in leaves, and in flowers.
Ritman painted a portrait of Florence Carpenter in her home in Des Moines, and my grandmother inherited it after Florence died in 1949. While she cherished the painting as a reminder of her beloved aunt, Grandma was known to remark that Florence had always thought Ritman had painted her hands a bit too large. Ah, vanity. It is now owned by Lisa Leiden, my grandmother’s first grandchild.
At the Table (French Girl) (1918)
The Des Moines Art Center, gift of the Des Moines Association of Fine Arts
(On view now! I *hope* it will still be there when the museum reopens!) Notice the pattern in her shirtwaist, echoed in the leaves behind her, and her enigmatic expression.
Mademoiselle Gaby (Before 1919)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Portrait of Florence Carpenter
Courtesy of Lisa Leiden
Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones (1885-1968)
Impressionist Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones was supporting herself as a painter by the time she was just 18. “On the Porch” created a big stir in 1908, with The New York Times calling the artist “the find of the year” for her use of color and expressive brush strokes.
“Shop Girls” was painted shortly around the time of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire in New York City in 1911, which killed 154 workers, mostly young women. Her loose brushwork gives a sense of immediacy, drawing me into these paintings and making me wonder about the lives of the women portrayed.
I first learned of Sparhawk-Jones when the Des Moines Art Center did an exhibition of their rarely shown Impressionist art in about 2008. I saw “Spring at Wanamakers” and was immediately captivated. Then my mouth fell open when I noted her connection to the Carpenters. It was the first time in my lifetime—maybe ever!—that the Art Center had exhibited that painting, and no photo was then available on their website. Painted during the time my grandmother lived with the Carpenters, it’s like a glimpse into Grandma’s girlhood—the hats! The updos like she wore! The riot of flowers and colors!
This stunning work is currently on display for just the second time in my life, and you’d better believe I will make a beeline to see it the second the Art Center reopens. I have always wondered if Grandma met Sparhawk-Jones. When the Art Center reopens, they’re going to search their archives for any handwritten correspondence about this and other works donated by the Carpenters, and I look forward to those discoveries.
Spring at Wanamakers (1905)
The Des Moines Art Center, on view for only the second time in my lifetime!
Gift of Florence Carpenter, 1941
The Porch (1907)
Shop Girls (1912)
The Art Institute of Chicago
Ben Foster (1852 - 1926)
Tonalist Ben Foster was born in Maine and known for his poetic scenes of the New England countryside, which convey a sense of isolation amidst the beauty of nature. His rugged paint handling, sense of composition, and deep expressive power make Foster’s work deceptively modern.
Although he is currently less known and valued than other artists befriended by the Carpenters, Foster holds a special place in my heart, because he gave one of his paintings directly to my grandmother. Grandma told me that Aunt Florence thought the gift to be somewhat improper, but she didn’t prevent her niece, then 18, from accepting it. I have long wondered about the circumstances, particularly given the nearly 40-year age difference between Foster and my grandmother. Knowing her, I am confident nothing untoward took place, but I will always be curious exactly how it came to pass.
Grandma always told me proudly that Foster had won a $1,000 prize in Paris. My research confirmed that he indeed won a gold medal and a $1,000 prize in the Paris Exhibition of 1900, for Lulled by a Murmuring Stream, which was then purchased by the French government. It is now in the collection of the Musee D’Orsay.
Lulled by a Murmuring Stream (Sept. 1899)
This painting won a $1000 prize and gold medal in the Paris Exhibition of 1900, and was purchased by the French government for display.
Now at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris
End of Day (n.d.)
Exhibited in J.S. Carpenter’s memorial exhibition, and a gift from Florence Carpenter to the Des Moines Art Museum, not on view
Beach at Small Point, Maine (1909)
Given by the artist to my grandmother, and by her to me.
To see more information on all the donations from the Carpenters, click here.