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| "Centuries
of Inspiration" Memorial Exhibition of paintings by Jules L. Szemanczky (art teacher in New Haven high schools for 33 years) | ||
Artists'
Reception: Saturday, May 23, 2009, 2:30 to 4:30 PM. | ||
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Jules
L. Szemanczky taught Art in the New Haven School system for 33 years, teaching
courses in painting, art history, graphic lettering, ceramics, wood-work design
and carving, and metal engraving at both James Hillhouse and Wilbur Cross High
Schools in New Haven, CT. Jules Szemanczky passed away on May 16, 2008. Jules was born in New Haven in 1926 and later recalled, "My memories of early life were dominated by the "Era of the Great Depression." Enlisting in 1943, he served as a Technical Sergeant in the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1950, he graduated from New Haven Teachers College (presently Southern Connecticut State University) and taught Art until his retirement in 1983. | ||
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"The
Committee to join the Polish Resistance" -original artwork- oil on
canvas, 72"w x 56"h | ||
Mr. Szemanczky students have swept both civic and state art competitions for decades, and many have gone on to successful careers in the arts, enflamed by Jules' passion for beauty and form, and inspired by his gift for liberating the bounteous muse. After his retirement from teaching, he continued creating his own collection of oil and acrylic paintings. His study and deep admiration of the vision and invincibility of the great Renaissance-Mannerist and Baroque European traditions led to a decade in which he reproduced many Masters' works: Tiepolo and Son, Caravaggio, Correggio, Bierstadt, and others. "Each work took 3 or 4 months to paint, and employed various technical styles of painting that I discovered in books revealing these Masters' individual techniques and preferences." These artwork reproductions still pour out his love in many homes and institutions. Stepping into his living room is like walking into a room at the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence, Italy. | ||
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Replica
of "The Capture of Carthage" by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
(1696–1770) Reproduction from New York Metropolitan Museum of Art - Gift of Rogers Fund oil on canvas, 72"w x 56"h | ||
Mr. Szemanczky was a vibrant leader and caring man, absorbed by social issues and ancient philosophical forces and transformations. In philosophy, his models were the Greek Stoics, who lived life truthfully and rightly, with great patience for those who didn't. | ||
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"The
Ride Home" -original artwork- oil on canvas, 48"w x 32"h
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| The various experimental styles in his earlier paintings relate to themes and subjects he discovered in literature and art books, and influenced his themes in painting. "In earlier works, casein paints applied with brushes dominated my style for a time," he wrote, "then my style gradually made the quantum leap to my oil paintings of the 1970s which reflect both the traditional style of glaze painting and a mixture of Direct (Alia Prima) methods. These are good examples of oil paintings that prepared me for the much larger and more difficult works to come after my retirement." | ||
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Replica
of "The Death of Harmonia"
by Jean Baptiste Marc Pierre (1713-1789)
Reproduction from New York Metropolitan Museum of Art - Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry N. Abrams, by exchange, 1969 oil on canvas, 58"w x 77"h | ||
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Exhibition:
May 14 - June 17, 2009. | ||
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New
haven free public library Gallery Inquiries
: Please contact Gallery Curator: |
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