Charles A Wilimovsky
BORN: September 10, 1885[1] Chicago
DIED: October 1974 Torrance, CA
MARRIED:
TRAINING
1901-1902 Art Institute of Chicago, Saturday and summer juvenile
1902-1903 Evenings, 1903-1905 Graduated, 1905-1908, Art Institute of Chicago, Louis Wilson, Frank Phoenix, Frederick W. Freer
1905 Art Institute of Chicago, Henry Salem Hubbell
1906 Art Institute of Chicago, Alphonse Mucha
1908 Art Institute of Chicago, Louis Betts
c.1908 Chicago, John C. Johansen
1908-1913 Italy; Paris, Académie Julian
ART RELATED EMPLOYMENT
1918 Murals Hiawatha, Felsenthal School, Chicago[2]
1923 Autumn landscape used by Davey Tree Surgeons for brochure illustration[3]
TEACHING
1914 Milwaukee Schoolof Art[4]
1914-1920 Head of drawing and painting department, Kansas City Art Institute[5]
1923-1945 American Academy of Art, Chicago
1930-1948 Art Institute of Chicago: 1930-1934 Life drawing; 1930-1932 Figure sketch, evenings; 1931-1934 Still life; 1932-1948 Still life painting, evenings; 1934-1941, 1944-1947 Life drawing, evenings; 1936-1945 Life figure, Saturdays; 1930, 1932, 1933, 1941, 1944 Summers
Art Center School, Los Angeles
RESIDENCES
1906 Blue Island, IL
1943-1947 Chicago
1953 Los Angeles
TRAVEL
1908 Paris[6]
1910 Florence, Italy[7]
1910 Spain[8]
1913 Italy[9]
1916 Ozarks region[10]
1920s Provincetown, Massachusetts[11]
c.1923 Virgin Islands; West Indies
1920s (late) New Orleans, New Mexico, Florida[12]
1930 Mexico and Southwestern U. S. including Taos[13]
1931 Mexicodriving tour with Antonin Sterba (summer)[14]
Cumberland, Wisconsin (summers)
1935 Mexico[15]
MEMBERSHIPS/OFFICES
Art Institute of Chicago Alumni Association; Art Students League, Chicago; Association of Chicago Painters & Sculptors; Bohemian Arts Club; California Printmakers Society; Chicago Galleries Association; Chicago Society of Artists; Chicago Society of Etchers; Mikulas Ales; Prairie Printmakers; Society of American Etchers
HONORS
1902 Class Honorable Mention, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1904-1908 Several Honorable Mentions, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1906 Second Prize, free scholarship for one year, School of the Art Institute of Chicago[16]
1907 Faculty Honorable Mention, Painting from Life, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1907 First Oil Prize, Art Students’ League of Chicago annual[17]
1908 John Quincy Adams scholarship for travel abroad, School of the Art Institute of Chicago[18]
1913 William O. Goodman First Prize, Art Students League, Art Institute of Chicago
1916 O. A. Dean Prize, Kansas City Art Institute[19]
1917 Silver Medal, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Artists[20]
1920 Purchase Prize, Kansas City Art Institute
1923 Silver Medal, Kansas City Art Institute
1925 Mrs. Julius Rosenwald Purchase Prize, Art Institute, Chicago & Vicinity[21]
1926 Sixth Purchase prize, Chicago Galleries Association
1929 Clyde M. Carr Prize, Art Institute, Chicago & Vicinity[22]
1937 William and Bertha Clusmann Prize, Art Institute, Chicago & Vicinity[23]
JURIES SERVED
Art Students’ League of Chicago annual 1930
Fine Arts Gallery, Chicagounder auspices of American Jewish Artists Club, Annual Exhibition by Jewish Artists of Chicago and Vicinity 1944[24]
Hoosier Salon annual 1931
Norse Art League annual 1931
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
American Academy of Art faculty members 1938[25]
Art Institute of Chicago, Century of Progress 1933
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Society of Etchers 1925
Art Institute of Chicago, Work by Teachers in the School of the Art Institute 1929[26]
Association of Chicago Painters & Sculptors annual 1925, 1928, 1929, 1932
Bohemian Arts Club annual 1930
Brussels
Chicago Galleries Association semi-annual 1926-1931
Chicago Galleries Association, Faculty of the Art Institute 1931 (10/1)
Chicago Galleries Association, opening of new galleries (Oct. 1936)
Galleria Moderna, Florence
Gallery of Contemporary Art, English Grill Room Merchandise Mart, Chicago, inaugural exhibition 1932[27]
Garfield Park Gallery 1936
Illinois Academy of Fine Arts annual 1929, 1931
Illinois Club, Artists of Chicago & Vicinity 1929
Library of Congress, National Exhibition of Prints Made During The Current Year, 1944-1947
Midland Hotel, faculty members of the American Academy of Art 1932[28]
New York World’s Fair, Art of Today 1939 Graphic Art
Oakland Art Gallery annual watercolors 1945
Paris
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts annual 1916
Rome
Salon d’Automne, Paris
Toman Library branch, Chicago, honoring twentieth anniversary of the branch library 1947[29]
University Art Guild, Evanston, IL, Artists of Chicago and Vicinity 1931[30]
Vanderhoogt Gallery, Chicago 1929[31]
Victoriaand Albert Museum, London
ONE, TWO OR THREE MAN EXHIBITIONS
1926 Thomas Whipple Dunbar Galleries, Chicago, block prints[32]
1926 Chicago Galleries Association, block prints[33]
1927 Chicago Woman’s Aid, block prints[34]
1928 Art Institute of Chicago, Summer exhibitions[35]
1937 His studio, 161 E. Erie Street, Chicago[36]
1937 Chicago Woman’s Club[37]
1937 Berwyn Presbyterian Church
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
INTERESTING NOTES
He also was an etcher and block printer.[38] “In the academic school [Art Institute of Chicago] drawings in charcoal by Charles A. Wilimovsky are among the most creditable works.”[39]He worked out of Tree Studio in Chicago.
[1]In his biographical data form at the Ryerson Library, Art Institute of Chicago he listed 1886 as his birth year.
[2]“Studio and Gallery,” New York Evening Sun, 5/2/1918in Art Institute of ChicagoScrapbooks, vol. 37.
[3]“Call for Artists by Business Men,” “News Of The Art World,” supplement, Chicago Evening Post, 2/27/1923.
[4]“Some Works by Prominent Members of A. I. A. A,” Triangle, (Chicago: The Illinois Athletic Club, March, 1914), p.22. He also taught a summer sketch class in the environs around Milwaukee, see: “Art and Artists,” Chicago Evening Post, 6/27/1914, p.6.
[5]His appointment was announced in “Art and Artists,” Chicago Evening Post, 11/12/1914, p.8. He was there at least until 1920, see: “Norman Tolson Comes Here To Art Institute,” Kansas City Journal, 8/15/1920 in Art Institute of Chicago Scrapbooks, vol. 41.
[6]Lena M. McCauley, “Art and Artists,” Chicago Evening Post, 7/3/1908, p.4.
[7]There exist some biographical mentions of his studying with William Merritt Chase. However, he had only met Chase while in Paris in 1910, and the great artist teacher was “much pleased” with his work and purchased a sketch from Wilimovsky. See, Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, October 1910, p.30.
[8]Chase had written a letter of recommendation for Wilimovsky for an introduction to Spanish master Joaquin Sorolla. Op. cit., Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, October 1910, p.30.
[9]“Art for Children,” ChicagoEvening Post, 1/20/1914, p.10.
[10]“Chicago Artists Twenty-first Exhibition,” Fine Arts Journal, Vol. 35, April 1917, p.273.
[11]Op. cit., Magazine of the Art World, 4/13/1926, p.2.
[12]Surmised from paintings titles in his 1928 exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago.
[13]His woodblock print Taos Indian, was illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 7/15/1930, p.10.
[14]“Heed Call to Vacations at Art Institute,” Chicago Evening Post, 6/30/1931, Art Section, p.6, and “Calls Mexico Great Country for Artists,” Chicago Evening Post, 10/6/1931, Art Section, p.5.
[15]C. J. Bulliet, “Around the Galleries: Instructors on Painting Tours,” Chicago Daily News, 6/22/1935, Art, Antiques and The Artists section, p.9.
[16]“Graduate In Arts From The Institute,” Chicago Evening Post, 6/15/1906, p.1. Maude I. G. Oliver, “Chicago Art Students Show Great Progress,” Sunday Inter Ocean, 6/17/1906, Men’s Magazine section, p.6.
[17]Lena M. McCauley, “Art,” Chicago Evening Post, 3/2/1907, p.5.
[18]“Pupils Enter Lives Of Art,” Chicago Tribune, 6/20/1908, p.6.
[19]Mention of the prize was made in the Evanston Review, 3/26/1931, in AIC Scrapbooks, Vol.58. The date of the prize comes from other sources.
[20]Mention of the prize was made in the Evanston Review, 3/26/1931, in AIC Scrapbooks, Vol.58. The date of the prize comes from other sources.
[21]The prize was awarded his Lakeside Trees. Eleanor Jewett, “Art And Artists,” Chicago Tribune, 2/1/1925, p.F6.
[22]Eleanor Jewett, “Chicago Artists’ Show Has Charm, Variety; Prizes Are Awarded,” Chicago Tribune, 2/7/1929, p.29. The prize was awarded his An Idyl.
[23]The award was given his Along Mexican Southwest Coast, illustrated in “Artists of Chicago in 41stAnnual Stress ‘Emotional Content’,” Art Digest, Vol. 11, No. 10, 2/15/1937, p.6.
[24]Engaging With The Present: The Contribution of the American Jewish Artists Club to Modern Art in Chicago 1928-2004, (Chicago: Spertus Museum, 2004), p.51.
[25]C. J. Bulliet, “Around the Galleries: Faculty Show,” Chicago Daily News, 8/27/1938, Art and Music Section, p.13.
[26]Eleanor Jewett, “Interesting Exhibits for Art Lovers,” Chicago Tribune, 1/5/1930, p.F4.
[27]Edward Millman, “Art Notes: Highlights and Smudges,” The Chicagoan, December 1932, p.66.
[28]Eleanor Jewett, “Town Numbers Several Art Exhibitions,” Chicago Tribune, 8/7/1932, part 8, p.4.
[29]“Czech Artists Show Work At Toman Library,” Chicago Tribune, 7/6/1947, p.W1.
[30]His work Near Arroyo Seco was illustrated in the Evanston Review, 3/26/1931, in AIC Scrapbooks, Vol.58.
[31]His linoleum block print of New Orleanswas illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 1/22/1929, p.6.
[32]“At Dunbar’s,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 4/13/1926, p.2.
[33]Eleanor Jewett, “Art And Artists,” Chicago Tribune, 10/10/1926, p.G6.
[34]“Chicago Woman’s Aid,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 11/22/1927, p.5. See also: R. A. Lennon, “Woodblock Prints by Wilimovsky Make Attractive Show,” in the 11/29 issue, p.1.
[35]Lena M. McCauley, “Work of Spelman and Wilimovsky Exhibited,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 7/31/1928, p.2. His woodblock print Prayer for the Drowned, Virgin Islands, was illustrated in the 9/4/1928 issue, p.6. His Road to the Mountains, was illustrated in the 9/11/1928issue, p.6. His Menominee Reservation, was illustrated in Eleanor Jewett, “Many Fine Exhibitions Seen at Institute,” Chicago Tribune, 8/26/1928, in Art Institute of Chicago scrapbooks, vol. 55.
[36]C. J. Bulliet, “Around the Galleries: Studio Exhibition,” Chicago Daily News, 2/6/1937, Art, Antiques and The Artists section, p.4R.
[37]C. J. Bulliet, “Around the Galleries: Wilimovsky Show,” Chicago Daily News, 10/9/1937, Art, Antiques and the Artists section, p.25.
[38]Eleanor Jewett, “Art And Artists,” Chicago Tribune, 4/25/1926, p.J4.
[39]Maude I. G. Oliver, “Recent Work At The Art Institute Of Chicago,” International Studio, Vol. 29, C 2, July-October 1906, p. CIX.