Ipswich's own: Arthur Wesley Dow on exhibit

May 27—IPSWICH — Essex County has its own hidden gem of the art world and American art history in Arthur Wesley Dow, artist, educator and "influencer" who painted iconic North Shore scenes, founded the Ipswich Summer School of Art and even taught art to a young Georgia O'Keeffe.

Dow is rightfully getting his due these days, with "Celebrating the Life and Art of Arthur Wesley Dow: 1857-1922" opening this weekend at the Ipswich Museum.

In addition to that celebration in his hometown, Dow is subject of an exhibit at the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy in Andover through July and there are Dow walking tours in downtown Ispwich, which include historic streets and scenes that filled his painting, posters and photography during his life.

Dow was the early-1900s equivalent to today's modern "influencers." Even though he died in a century ago, his impact can still be found today in the art world, in art education and the works of his former students, and their students.

Stephanie Gaskins, president and Dow curator of the Ipswich Museum, is the right person to ask about the local artist.

"We have the largest collection of his work in the world," she said proudly.

In 1891, Dow focused on teaching art. He opened the Ipswich Summer School of Art, which he ran with his wife through 1907, offered classes in photography, painting, textiles, pottery and other media. Gaskins said the school was typically filled each summer with women teachers,and atists who wished to learn his methods — up to 200 a year. He also taught at Pratt in New York City.

In 1893, Dow was hired as assistant curator of the Japanese collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston under Ernest Fenollosa. Fenollosa introduced Dow to the woodblock prints of Japan. He accepted commissions for posters and other commercial work. In 1895, he designed the poster to advertise the Journal of Modern Art and in 1896, he designed the poster for an exhibition of Japanese prints.

"What he wanted to do was blend Eastern and Western art — look at the beautiful things that came out of Japanese work, out of Egyptian work and so on," she said.

Dow, according to Gaskins, thought art should be like a piece of music, a beautiful symphony.

"Dow believed that all art should be beautiful whether it be a pitcher, a rug, a painting," Gaskin said.

Popularity rebounds

Was he really unsung? Yes and no, Gaskins said.

"(His popularity) varies at different times. It was at its height, it was very strong when he was alive, influencing the way art was taught in the country. He wrote a couple of books at were important in terms of teachers reading them and then they would teach, the way he planned to teach, children and adults how to learn to make 'beautiful art,'" she said.

Dow's work was widely exhibited during his lifetime, and his reputation as both an artist and educator continues to grow even after his death.

"His influence has been acknowledge to be great on the Arts and Craft movement."

His 1899 landmark book, "Composition: A Series of Exercises in Art Structure for the Use of Students and Teachers," is still in print. In the 1950s, when the appreciation of American artists in general bottomed out, Dow's methods continued to be widely taught, Gaskins said. Since the 2000s, Dow's accomplishments, artwork and theories have been rediscoverd by new generations as his students' artwork gains fame. Lots of art lovers are discovering Dow now thanks to his influence on famed artist Georgia O'Keeffe, she said.

The Ipswich Museum's collection of Dow's works — thousands of items- includes oil paintings, watercolors, photographs, ink wash drawings, wood block prints, and plaster casts he produced. Born and raised in Ipswich, Dow interpreted images of the town throughout his lifetime. Influenced by Japanese art, Dow single-handedly changed art instruction and theory in America by incorporating Japanese techniques with the purity of design inherent in the Arts and Crafts Movement. The museum also has his own personal art collection, mementos, and items he used in his career and craft.

Always returned to Ipswich

By 19, Dow was already working on illustrations for The Antiquarian Papers, featured drawings and sketches of the "ancient" homes of the area, samples of which are on display in the exhibit. After studying art first in Worcester and then Boston, Dow traveled to Paris where he enrolled at the Academie Julian. While there, Dow produced prize-winning entries into the Salon, and paintings to exhibit and sell on return visits to the United States. Dow's early paintings reflected his Boston and Parisian training.

Dow's attention to light, especially twilight, remained a constant throughout his life. He traveled extensively, but returned regularly to the art colony in Ipswich.

Over the course of his career, Dow taught art at major American arts training institutions, including the Pratt Institute from 1896 to 1903, the New York Art Students League from 1898 to 1903.

From 1904 until his death in 1922, he was a professor of fine arts at Columbia University Teachers College. After his death in NYC, he was interred in the Old North Burying Ground in Ipswich.