a.r. kretzman

Golden Embers, 1953, p.66

Reinhold Marxhausen said A.R. Kretzmann kept him alive spiritually and physically after he finished schooling at the Art Institute. He was living in a basement room and sometimes a meal at the Kretzmann's was it for the week. Before he headed to Seward to teach Kretzmann bought him a good set of clothes to teach in. The Correspondent, Aid Association for Lutherans, Vol. 70, No. 467, p.5, 1972

The other presenter was Dr. A .R. Kretzmann, who was my pastor in Chicago.  He designed the new church they built when I was away at college, and I suspect he also designed the Valpo chapel, since my church was just a smaller version.  I know he designed both of the church windows.   Amanda Husberg January 30, 2015

Yes, he was a multi-talented designer.  I knew he was involved in that chapel some way, his brother was O.P. Kretzmann, the president of Valpo.   A.R. designed our church, the windows, the altar, the pulpit and baptismal font, as well as skinny, tall stained glass windows in the narthex, when you first came into the church.  The Pulpit and baptismal font had big cloisonne shields on them, gorgeous! and he had special candle holders too.  In fact, the windows were so bright (in a geometric design, flaring out from dark to light) that they had to make little metal shields to fit behind the flames of the altar candles because you couldn't see if they were lit.  I took slides of the main windows and sent him the best one.  He sent me back a nice letter saying it was the best slide in their collection. In fact, he was such a historian too, there were little antique gems all around the chancel.  It was so busy you could hardly see anything.    Ah, the old days.  I don't know where they ever got the money to build such a church and they even had to build it about 12 ft. back from the sidewalk because there was always talk about the city widening the side road and taking property by "eminent domain" so they just did it a little narrower.  The church has clear story windows and the worst part was that the church was so high and narrow you couldn't hear people singing three pews behind you.  That was a disaster, but the organ was big and good and supported all the singing.       Amanda Husberg February 2, 2015

AR was the brother of OP Kretzmann, the Valparaiso University president (one of six or seven brothers, almost all of them LCMS pastors).  He was pastor of St. Luke's Lutheran on Belmont in Chicago for many years, was a liturgical consultant and involved in conversations about art and architecture and spoke frequently about art and architecture. I believe his records are still in boxes, uncatalogued, in the basement at St. Luke's, but I'm not sure. He was a big man in both personality and stature. Not well known as a designer himself, but well known in those circles.  You can ask Martin Marty about him, too.      Gretchen T. Buggeln, Christ College, Valparaiso University, May 11, 2015

Reinhold Marxhausen presented at Long Beach Southern California Lutheran Teachers Conference in 1960. A.R. Kretzmann presented also. (source material courtesy of Kim Violette)

What MORE SHOULD be said about A.R. Kretzmann?

koenig - art appreciation

Koenig invited students to his house once a year. There was art everywhere. He was a unique professor. Jack Duensing  January 12, 2015

I am thinking of Henry Koenig. He was at the college and I helped him move his paintings across campus.     

It was when I was in high school. He was moving artwork he had in his collection from his office to his house. He lived on Faculty Lane. He had so many pieces in his house. There was hardly a space left on the wall. (laughs)  David Held April 9, 2015

Silver Maples, 1950

He was an English teacher and he had a collection of prints or very good material. He brought those things out for us to see in his art appreciation class. Gerald F. Brommer Jan. 19, 2015

                           Koenig and his collection:

   Koenig's collection of things came to Concordia through his bequest, and his death was sometime after Marx arrived on campus. Only then did it require a caretaker, a job that probably just fell to Marx by default. Actually the term "curator" seems too formal for what he did at the time. 

    Marx and Koenig seem to have had a good relationship. Koenig was not an artist; he was a beloved Humanities professor at Concordia.  Koenig was not a sophisticated art collector. Koenig's eclectic collection—which by all accounts filled his house—consisted of many decorative glass, ceramic, metal objects from many sources (only a small number had much aesthetic or monetary value); many framed reproductions of all kinds of images (even some from magazines); a few oil paintings purchased at department stores; and a number of original lithographs and etchings published by the Associated American Artists in New York in the 30's, and maybe the 40's. Only the latter had and continue to have value, depending on who the artists were. Collection was stored in the gallery area in Weller basement.

    For many years the framed reproductions were rented for a nominal charge to faculty and community people on an annual basis. However, by far the real significance to the University is that it became the start of an important collection of original prints on paper that was developed over the years, mainly through grants and occasional donations...keeping the name the Koenig Collection. I took over responsibilities both for the exhibition program and for the Koenig Collection a year or two after I came to teach at Concordia in 1964 (in exchange for getting rid of having to teach "Children's Art" !)  I saw to it that the collection of original prints was properly cataloged, that all the original prints were correctly matted in archival acid free materials, and that the collection grew with the addition of works on paper by significant contemporary artists. These works are often displayed both in gallery exhibitions and elsewhere on campus today and the current collection has received some recognition in the state.

    Of course, the name of the gallery changed from the Koenig Gallery to the Marxhausen Gallery when its location shifted from Weller basement to the space in Jesse Hall.

    Jim Bockelman has been in charge of the gallery and the collection for some years now.  Dick Wiegman December 31, 2014

joy - february

joy

snow

all day to draw

out my window

thick socks warm my toes

baked surprise

aggkaka - egg cake

dry cocoa

powdered milk

hot water

stir

delicious

thank

you

ribbon for linoleum cut

This month the 40th Annual Membership Exhibition is on view at the Albrecht - Kemper Museum of Art. http://albrecht-kemper.org/event/39th-annual-akma-membership-exhibition-2/
It runs January 18th to February 23rd, in 2014.

ABOVE, people file into the auditorium for the award presentations by director Terry Oldham, BELOW. Works that received ribbons were projected on the screen.

This is the third year in a row that I have received a ribbon for a relief impression. Last year it was for "Among The Mulberries." This year it is for a linoleum cut, "Majestic." It measures 18 by 18 inches square. A yellow honorable mention ribbon, BELOW.

  

The exhibit was judged by an art history teacher, an art collector, and a museum staffer. Of my linoleum cut it was said: "It has a good sense of balance."
 Closeups follow. Double click on image to enlarge.

Jonathan Knight, "Little Girl." Painting

Kwanza Humphrey, "Rabbit in Hand." Painting

I chatted with fellow painter Kwanza Humphrey. He also got an honorable mention ribbon for his "Rabbit In Hand, see ABOVE.

Json Myers, "Continuous Line, the Patron." Sculpture

Deb Potter, "Inner Beauty." Sculpture

Lana Cease, "Animagnwa." Watercolor

My wife Jan had her relatives and me working with porcelain clay in her art room at the Carrollton Elementary School over the holiday break. ABOVE is the self portrait I squeezed together with a clear glaze. Jan entered a terra cotta head she had made while attending Concordia University in Nebraska, BELOW.

 

Other contenders in printmaking category. See full list http://albrecht-kemper.org/event/39th-annual-akma-membership-exhibition-2/ 

sid kamprath - ne collector

Sundown, detail 1. Double click on image to enlarge.
Horizon south of Carrollton, Missouri.

Sundown, detail 2.
Burlington Northern train eastbound,
Ray Carroll elevator silhouette.

Sundown, detail 3.
Fields south of the city of Carrollton,
downtown courthouse silhouette.

 

Sundown painting on wall. 

Acrylic painting measures

11" tall by 45 " wide.
It was painted in 2003.

Above painting "Sundown by Karl Marxhausen"
with collector Sid Kamprath of Seward, Nebraska.

Above painting, "Playskool by Karl Marxhausen."
An acrylic tribute to my father, Reinhold Marxhausen,
based on black and white photograph my father took.
Sid Kamprath is the Marketing Director of
Laminating Wood Systems, Inc. and
owner of Summit Design, based in Seward, Nebraska.

This is what goes through my head this time of year.


40 minutes of music. A Charlie Brown Christmas.