Exhibit: Denver Artists Guild Founders: Fifty-two Originals

May 9 - August 29, 2009
The Central Library, Level 5

In 1928-9, as the United States slipped into the Great Depression, an adventurous group of Denver artists banded together to form the Denver Artists Guild. Their goals were “to encourage the practice and appreciation of the fine arts and to promote the highest professional standards in original art.” They believed deeply in the redemptive powers of art, and in the joy of the creative process.

The fifty-two founders were a diverse group. More than half had been trained in Europe and as many in New York. Six were born abroad while sixteen were native Coloradoans. They were well traveled and in touch with the contemporary art movements in Paris, New York and New Mexico. Their own work would show the influences of Impressionism, Cubism, Expressionism and later Abstraction.

In contrast to the cut-throat competition of many art associations, the founders encouraged, taught and even hired each other. They were intimately involved in the range of the Colorado arts community. They decorated for architects and the WPA, were founders and trustees of the Denver Art Museum, published their own arts magazine, and taught in local schools and universities.

Some of the founders became and remain well-known. Others, pressured into other fields by the forces of the depression, disappeared from the art profession. This show reunites the fifty-two founders of one of Colorado’s most influential art associations.

Artwork will be shown from more than 25 individuals and institutions, including the Kirkland Museum, the Estes Park Museum and the Denver Public Library’s own art collection. Some of the artists have not been exhibited for more than fifty years.

Guest Curators: Deborah A. Wadsworth and Cynthia A. Jennings