
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 8, 1995                   TAG: 9511080014
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

WINSLOW HOMER'S AND KATHE KOLLWITZ'S ART ON DISPLAY AT RADFORD UNIVERSITY

Radford University is displaying the work of one of the leading 19th century American artists, Winslow Homer, and Prussian artist Kathe Kollwitz through Sunday, Nov. 12, in the Flossie Martin Art Gallery.

The Radford show coincides with a major exhibit of Homer's work at The National Gallery of Art in Washington. "Homer showed us that the proper measure of the United States is us," not a measure against Old World contemporaries and the Old Masters, said a recent article about the American artist in The Washington Post.

Homer (1836 - 1910) made wood engravings. His drawings appeared in Harper's Weekly beginning in 1857. Twenty-five of the wood engravings Homer did for the magazine will be included in the Radford exhibit.

Using an engraver's cutting tool on a block made from the cross-section of a tree trunk instead of an ordinary plank, it was discovered that finer lines could be cut than ever before. New presses and new smooth papers allowed the engravings to be printed without loss of detail. They became the standard way to illustrate books, magazines and newspapers throughout the 19th century.

Prints by Prussian artist Kathe Kollwitz also are on exhibit in the gallery.

"The art of Kathe Kollwitz reflects the turbulent times in which she lived," said Maureen Morrisette, an assistant registrar at the Virginia Museum and author of the text panels accompanying the exhibit.

"Born in 1867 in Konigsberg, East Prussia - today it's known as Kalingrad, Russia - she lived from the era of the Franco-Prussian War, through World War I and the crushing inflation which followed, to the devastation wrought by World War II. Horrified by the cruelties of war and the poverty which surrounded her, Kollwitz responded by portraying the effects of suffering upon the working class," Morrisette explained.

The exhibition, "Kathe Kollwitz" was organized by the Virginia Museum's Traveling Exhibition and Media Services department and will include examples from her first major series, "The Weavers."

The works will be on display during regular gallery hours: Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thursdays , 6-9 p.m.; and Sundays, noon-4 p.m. For further information , contact Radford University Galleries at (540) 831- 5754.

by CNB