What's new at the Mu? Massillon exhibit to highlight baseball's 'deadball' era
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The Paul Brown Museum within the Massillon Museum will spotlight “Jerry Kalback, Deadball Era Series: An Illustrator’s Process” – an exhibition of 37 paintings and five sketchbooks – through Aug. 4. Kalback, an avid baseball fan, worked on this project for nine years until his death in 2021.
Highlights
The artist earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art education from SUNY Buffalo State College, then studied at the Illustrators Workshop in New York City. He taught visual communication design for 30 years at Kent State University, where he was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award and honored as professor emeritus upon retirement in 2013.
The Deadball era, about 1900 to 1919, produced iconic players such as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Casey Stengel, and Honus Wagner, who are among the players Kalback illustrated. Deadball-era pitchers were allowed to modify the ball during the game – by scuffing it, spitting on it or rubbing dirt on it – to make it harder to see. The same ball was used for the entire game, so it became a “dead” ball – difficult to see and hit. The “Liveball” era emerged in 1920, when Major League Baseball began replacing the ball frequently and prohibiting modifications.
The Massillon Museum thanks the Kalback Family, Anderson Turner, and the School of Art Collection and Galleries at Kent State University for loaning this collection. It is grateful for operating support from the citizens of Massillon, Ohio Arts Council, and ArtsinStark, as well as marketing support from Visit Canton. This exhibition is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Why visit?
Reception visitors can also enjoy the Immel Circus; Celebration in Art; paintings by Maria McDonald-In Another Life: A Tale of Love, Loss, and Living; The Art and History of the Black Family: Through the Eyes of the 21st-Century African American Child; Massillon’s Baseball Pros: An Inning in History; the Paul Brown/Massillon Tiger Timeline; Precarious Legacies: Exposures of a Fleeting Landscape; Ethiopian Expedition of 1903; First Peoples of North America; the Local History Gallery; the Albert E. Hise Fine and Decorative Arts Gallery; and Heart Gallery.
If you go
WHAT – Jerry Kalback, “Deadball Era Series: An Illustrator’s Process”
WHEN – Saturday, February 10, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
WHERE – 121 Lincoln Way East, Massillon
MORE – MassillonMuseum.org or 330-833-4061
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: What's new at the Mu? Massillon exhibit to highlight baseball's 'deadball' era
