PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM: THE CITY AND ITS ARTISTS

Other such artists as Paul Weber, an accomplished German landscape painter who also became William Trost Richard's teacher, immigrated to Philadelphia because of the opportunities it afforded. The same is true of Hermann Herzog, who was a successful artist in Germany, before moving permanently to Philadelphia to continue his storied career.

While there is not a painting by Thomas Eakins in this exhibition, his artistic impact and influence in Philadelphia, particularly at PAFA, was profound. During Eakins's tenure at PAFA he was largely responsible for the curriculum. His intense focus on anatomical study, dissection and life drawing made the Academy unique among American art schools. Eakins's belief that good painting and sculpture were based on a sound understanding of anatomy, scientific accuracy, and careful observation became the cornerstone of his artistic philosophy. This approach initially dovetailed nicely with PAFA's longstanding tradition of realism and technical expertise. Thomas Anshutz was deeply influenced by Eakins's ideas and style, and subsequently became a devoted student and co-instructor. As an artist in his own right, he forged a style that demonstrated his deft technical skill. After Eakins's dismissal from PAFA, Anshutz took over Eakins's classes and became one the most important art instructors of his generation.   

Philadelphia became a vibrant center for modernist music, theater and art in the early part of the twentieth century. A small group of artists, musicians and collectors actively and purposely promoted Modernism in the city through a series of exhibitions, theater productions, and concerts. An important group of modernist collectors also emerged in Philadelphia at this time. Albert Barnes's collection of modern art is perhaps the most renown today, but other collectors like Earl Horter, an artist in his own right, built an exceptional collection of modern art, which was the subject of a 1999 exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art titled Mad for Modernism.

Hugh Henry Breckenridge, Arthur B. Carles and Henry McCarter were critical to the effort to bring modern art to Philadelphia. Carles, particularly, put himself at the center of the city's modernist circle. All three artists in their own work, teaching at PAFA, and exhibition organization sought to expose Philadelphians to the new artistic trends from Europe. Yet, interestingly, their own versions of Modernism, at least initially, were steeped in their academic training. Their first forays into abstraction were measured, and their artistic philosophies were rooted in the strength of their education as students at PAFA. Music, under the director of Leopold Stokowski at the Philadelphia Orchestra, was essential to their understanding and expression of abstraction. And the emotional power and resonance of color was a defining characteristic of their artistic styles. 

The Philadelphia Ten -- an evolving all-female group of artists that exhibited together over 30 years -- was borne of out both PAFA and the Philadelphia School of Design, as 7 of the exhibitors in the original 1917 exhibition attended Philadelphia School of Design and 2 attended PAFA. Theresa Bernstein and Constance Cochrane were founding members of the The Ten. Nancy Maybin Ferguson and Fern Coppedge joined in later exhibitions. The annual exhibition was hailed for its consistent high quality of material and varied subject matter. 

Beginning in the early twentieth century, the Great Migration relocated an estimated six million Black Americans from the rural South to the urban North. The first wave from 1916 to 1930 dramatically changed the complexion of Philadelphia. In the face of rampant discrimination, the new Black residents of the city profoundly impacted its cultural and civic life. Within these newly expanded American cities, creativity thrived, giving birth to artistic wonders like the Harlem Renaissance. Alain Leroy Locke, a Philadelphia native, was considered the father of the cultural movement. In his 1925 collection of poems, essays, and drawings titled The New Negro, Locke argues that Black artists and intellectuals were makers of American civilization, who used exceptional talent and innovation to create work that drew on their past and conveyed universal themes. He was connected to Albert Barnes in their shared views of the importance of Black art in America. Regrettably, this exhibition does not include an artist who worked in the New Negro Movement. We mention it here because it ushered in opportunities for Black artists that did not exist to that point. 

In the late 1930s the Works Progress Administration, a federal relief program designed to employ hundreds of creatives, did afford Black artists employments prospects. Dox Thrash, who during the Great Migration relocated to Philadelphia from Georgia, became the first Black artist to work for the Fine Print Workshop of Philadelphia, a branch of the WPA. Thrash developed his skills as a printmaker under the guidance of Earl Horter at the Graphic Sketch Club. His reputation quickly grew outside of the Philadelphia region, and Locke selected his prints for the renowned exhibitions Contemporary Negro Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1939, Art of the American Negro (1851-1940) at the Chicago Coliseum in 1940, and American Negro Art, 19th and 20th Centuries at the Downtown Gallery in New York in 1941.

Paul Keene, a Philadelphia native born in 1920, described himself as an “abstract” realist. He attended the Philadelphia Museum of Art School, the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, where Morris Blackburn taught, and the Academie Julian in Paris. Keene exhibited with Pablo Picasso and Fernand Leger at the Salon de Mai and through Whitney Fellowships directed courses at the Centre D’Art, Port-au-Prince, Haiti between 1952 and 1954.