ILLINOIS HISTORICAL ART PROJECT
GREGORY PRUSHECK
HARVEY GREGORY PRUSHECK was born in Austria (now Jugoslavia) on March 11, 1887, and studied art in Europe and America. He has painted in France, Germany, Austria, Jugoslavia, Italy and in every state in the United States. He is a member of the American Artists Professional League, the Chicago Society of Artists, the American Federation of Art and the Illinois Academy of Fine Arts, and has exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Dayton Art Museum, the Cleveland Museum and various other places. He has had one-man shows in Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and in Minnesota and Idaho communities. The Robert Rice Jenkins Prize and the Clyde M. Carr Prize have been awarded him at the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been written about in various newspapers and magazines, by C. J. Bulliet, Samuel Putnam, Catherine Davis, Tom Vickerman, Marguerite B. Williams, Eleanor Jewett, Penelope Redd and J. Z. Jacobson. He is represented in the permanent collections of the Milwaukee Public Schools, the Milwaukee City Hall, the Evelett, Minn., Public Library, the Ely, Minn., City Hall and the Boise, Idaho, City Hall.
I am handicapped when I attempt to make use of the written word. My medium of expression consists of paint, form, and line. The expression in my work is always a reaction to the tempo, mood and thought of the world I live in-the world in general, and more particularly, the immediate location or place in which I abide. What is known as beauty, and what is known as ugliness both have their place in art. To me, they offer means of expression, regardless of the reaction they may call forth in others. They should be expressed as found. Both are necessary. Beauty may be evolved from what ordinarily is considered ugliness. The motivating spirit in my work is the hope and wish that I may help others see and feel the beauty which I see and feel. If the artist could make the whole world feel what he feels and see what he sees, his work would be a means of establishing universal understanding and harmony. Art is my religion. And I believe that there should be no quibbling over something which I consider that lofty. What I demand of myself, and what I believe should be demanded generally of the artist, is pure art-song of soul expressed in color, form and line, unpremeditated. Art, the painter's art to me, transcends all religions and unifies them. For at their core, religions are nothing but a symbol, a symbol which says that everything should be beautiful. This thought is a motivating force to me when I paint, when I try to give expression on canvas or otherwise of that which I feel is deepest in me. If the spirit of art could be disseminated widely it would be a great help in building a more noble future for the world. Harvey Gregory Prusheck.