Student Curates Art Exhibit
GRINNELL, IOWA -- The college owns one of Jolan Gross-Bettleheim's original lithographs--just enough to spark the interest of Grinnell College student Emily Stamey '01.
Locating other lithographs by the pre-World War II artist was fairly easy--although they were scattered across the country in both public and private collections. What she found was that although widely acclaimed in the late 1920s through the 1940s, there wasn't much published about the artist. Thanks to Stamey's perseverance and research, that has now changed.
Stamey, a student from Bellingham, Washington, is the curator of an exhibition of Gross-Bettleheim's American work at Grinnell College, and the catalog she developed for the exhibition is expected to begin to fill the information gap about the artist.
The exhibition, titled "Jolan Gross-Bettelheim: The American Prints," runs from April 27 to May 21 in the Print and Drawing Study Room, located in Burling Library, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa.
Stamey took advantage of the mentored advanced project, or MAP program, at Grinnell College, and made trips to view various private collections of Gross-Bettleheim's prints, including trips to the Cleveland Museum of Art and a private collection in New York. She also corresponded with scholars, curators, and collectors across the country. Her mentor at the college was Susan Strauber, associate professor of art.
Prints in the exhibit have been loaned from the Cleveland Museum of Art, the University of Michigan, and the Reba and Dave Williams Collection.
"I don't think I could have done the research if it wasn't for the MAP program and Susan's support," Stamey said. " Because I was able to take the time to do the research, there is now a published piece of writing on Jolan Gross-Bettelheim's work. I did a lot of work in developing this catalog, but there is a lot left to do. Hopefully others will now develop their own research on this artist."
"It is very rare for an undergraduate to curate an exhibition such as this," said Kay Jenkins, curator of the Grinnell College art collection. "Many of these institutions are not open to just anyone who walks in. You have to show that your research and work is of exceptional quality."
"We have talked to many graduate students in art history and they say they never have had an opportunity like Emily had," Jenkins said. "Emily has brought light to the work of Jolan Gross-Bettelheim's work."
"For years, students at Grinnell College have been publishing papers in important journals, presenting their work at regional and national conferences, and making worthwhile contributions to their disciplines," Jenkins said. "Grinnell's MAP program builds on this history and expands the possibilities for undergraduates."
Stamey's research has resulted in a catalog of Gross-Bettelheim's American prints. Born in Hungary in 1900, Gross-Bettelheim married an Hungarian/American psychiatrist Frigyes Bettelheim. The couple soon moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where she developed an interest in printmaking.
During this pre-World War II period, Gross-Bettelheim made an impression on a country "grappling with issues of national identity during an economic depression and in a local community of printmakers that took a leftist approach to these issues politically, if not always stylistically," Stamey wrote.
Gross-Bettelheim's American work includes prints with strong political overtones reflective of her communist allegiance and architectural images of "conglomerate urban and industrial structures," Stamey's exhibit includes representatives of both of these bodies of work.
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