Blast Furnace

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Artist/Maker Edmund Lewandowski (American, 1914 - 1998)

Date1946

MediumOil on Masonite

DimensionsOverall: 30 × 24 in. (76.2 × 61 cm) Frame: 34 1/2 × 28 3/8 × 1 3/4 in. (87.6 × 72.1 × 4.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Stephen E. Kelly, Class of 1940

Object number1963.2

Not on view

DescriptionThis Precisionist painting depicts the upper portion of a steel mill’s blast furnace. It was probably inspired by mills Edmund Lewandowski had seen in various Rust Belt cities in Michigan, Indiana, and his home state of Wisconsin; he executed a number of paintings of the subject. Precisionism was an American art movement that celebrated industrial and architectural subjects in a distilled, geometric, hard-edged style. “My overwhelming desire as an artist,” Lewandowski stated, “had been to record the beauty of man-made objects and the energy of American industry on canvas.” In 1946, after World War II, Lewandowski returned to Milwaukee following his release from military service and began to paint again after a number of years’ hiatus. Soon after its creation, Blast Furnace was included in an exhibition entitled “Six Artists out of Uniform” at the well-known Downtown Gallery in Manhattan, which also included the work of Lewandowski’s fellow Precisionist artist Ralston Crawford. Stephen E. Kelly, Class of 1940, purchased Blast Furnace from the Downtown Gallery in September 1946, perhaps after seeing it exhibited. Kelly was a publisher of McCall’s magazine and a president of the Hamilton College Alumni Council. He donated the painting to the College in 1963 to augment the holdings of the recently established Root Art Center. (SOURCE: Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS, 2017) Painting of industrial complex furnace, mostly browns, grays, and silvers.

Collections

American Art

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2017
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection," September 9 - December 10, 2017 (cat. no. 84, illus.);

2015
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Seek and Find," September 1, 2015 - August 2016 (no cat., brochure);

2013
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Affinity Atlas," October 6, 2012 - April 7, 2013 (brochure);

2010-11
Flint, MI (Flint Institute of Arts). "Edmund Lewandowski: Precisionism and Beyond," May 7 - August 7, 2010. Traveled to: Rock Hill, SC (Rutledge and Patrick Galleries, Winthrop University), September 6 - December 10, 2010; Mobile, AL (Mobile Museum of Art), January 20 - April 2, 2011; Athens, GA (Georgia Museum of Art), September 10-December 4, 2011;

1992
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Highlights from the Hamilton Collection," June 5 - September 6, 1992 (cat. no. 117);

1989
Columbia, SC (South Carolina State Museum). "BEYOND TOMORROW: South Carolina Art and the 1939 New York World's Fair," May 14 - August 20, 1989;

1984
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Selections from the Hamilton College Collection, 20th Century," July 10 - September 1984 (no cat.);

1983
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Selections from the Hamilton College Collection," June 18 - August 14, 1983 [extended thru September 15, 1983] (no cat.);

1971
Clinton, NY (Bristol Campus Center, Hamilton College). December 22, 1971 - December 22, 1972 (no cat.);

1946
New York, NY (Downtown Gallery). "Six Artists Out of Uniform," May 7, 1946.

Provenance 1963: Hamilton College (Edward W. Root Art Center), by gift of Stephen E. Kelly;
September 4, 1946 - 1963: Stephen E. Kelly, by purchase from the Downtown Gallery.

Markings None noted.

Published References Katherine D. Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS: THE RUTH AND ELMER WELLIN MUSEUM OF ART AT FIVE YEARS, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION (Clinton, NY: Wellin Museum of Art, 2017), p. 194;

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE HAMILTON COLLEGE COLLECTION (exhibition catalogue). Clinton, NY: Emerson Gallery, 1992. cat. no. 116 or 117.

EDWUND LEWANDOWSKI: PRECISIONISM AND BEYOND (exhibition catalogue). Flint, MI: The Flint Institute of the Arts, 2010. cat. no. 20.

Signature Signed and dated "LEWANDOWSKI 1946" in oil at lower right.

Inscribed None noted.