On the Noel Rockmore Trail

January 22, 2010 Friday – Day 3 Afternoon - US Army Center of Military Archives

Our next stop was the USArmy Center of  Military Archives at Franklin Court, home to 16,000 works of military artist. Floyd Davis and Gladys Rockmore Davis, the only husband and wife team of military artists had been hired by Life Magazine as civilian artist to cover World War ll. We arrived at the reception area and surrendered our driver’s license in exchange for security badges. We were met by the most pleasant curator who took us into the basement and sat us down to give us the history of her division which she has worked solo for most of the last 12 years.

 

With the advent of WW II, the Corps of Engineers established a War Art Unit in 1942 governed by the War Art Advisory Committee, which selected military and civilian artists to serve in the unit. However when Congress heard about this modest undertaking, they cut the funding for such "foolishness" in such a dire time of war. The Army reassigned the military artists to other units and fired the civilians. Seventeen of the nineteen civilians joined Life magazine as war correspondents 9including Floyd Davis & Gladys Rockmore Davis). Today, the Army's Historical Properties Section maintains a collection of over 16,000 works with a staff program of working artists which continues to contribute to the effort to document the military way of life.

By Jim Lane – Humanies Web  www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=w

 

 

Our curator introduced us to her assistant who she was thrilled to have after manning this post for so many years on her own. We opened our draft book that includes the works and brief history of Floyd & Gladys as they rose to become some of the most celebrated artists of their time. She was completely captivated and wanted copies of everything.

 

She then opened her own thick folder and started reading from the documents associated with Floyd & Gladys artwork for the first time. We all realized at the same time that these were diary entries from Floyd and from Gladys about their experiences of covering the World War ll. Everything that we had read about these two up to this point had been carefully scripted in books, magazines and news articles from Floyd & Gladys directly. We knew Gladys was a master at PR and getting herself placed in articles and magazines but we had not much clue about what they really felt and thought as individuals and as a couple…. until now. Over 50 pages of personal war diary entries. What a find!  We wanted to make copies on the spot. Our friendly curator said she would be happy to send them when we sent copies of our Floyd & Gladys research for her files. “Quid pro quo” were her exact words and made me think of Lion King.

 

We then went back into the vault like secure room where the 16,000 works of art from all of our war artists are stored. She gave us a brief tour and each rack that she pulled out contained images that were captivating, intriguing and horrifying all at the same time. When a photographer sees something in war time, he may or may not capture it, he has only one chance. “When an artist sees something, it is going to come out so that he can exorcise it from his body and release it from himself.” These are Noel’s words and they took on new meaning in the context of seeing all of the paintings around us.

 

Our curator had pulled all 42 of Floyd & Gladys works for us and allowed us to take quick pictures for ourselves and our own reference. She also had the staff photographer on the task of taking the high resolution photos of all of their works that she would share with us. I realized then, that until someone comes in and asks for something specific in any of the archives across the country, the artwork is dead and buried in a crypt. What an awesome feeling to liberate and give new birth to these works with the promise that one day we will take you out on an adventure of a lifetime and the whole world will have the chance to come see you in person. That is the mission that we are on!

 

After we finished documenting the works, our curator gave us a tour of the secure facility and showed us her “in progress projects”. She does the exact same thing that we do was all I could think. How fortunate all of the war artists are to have such a devoted champion. Many of the war artists are celebrated like Norman Rockwell, Reginald Marsh, John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer and many are not. They all served our country so that we might have an artist record of what happened.

 

The next part of our tour will stay with us for the rest of our lives. After World War ll, the German art was confiscated by the Americans with particular attention paid to that of anything displaying Nazi propaganda including symbols, leaders, tools of war, works by Nazi German participants in the war. Many of the works that were taken were recently returned except for those that fell into the aforementioned criteria. That was what we saw next. Full size breath taking portraits of the German leaders Hitler, Hess, all of the men that inflicted the pain and decimation of so many people …. our people.

 

There they were, as big as life and come to life, we wanted to avert our eyes, but the images were too compelling. This was how these men wanted themselves depicted like portraits of George Washington, Abe Lincoln and our heroes but they were the bad guys and it was absolutely terrifying. We tried to be cool and I thought perhaps these works should not be saved.  Perhaps they should be destroyed.  What purpose do they serve imprisoned here for eternity?  Then we saw four works by Hitler himself.  Hitler, the one time failed aspiring artist, decimator of over 10 million people, 6 million of our people.  And I am looking at his art and feeling his presence as an artist.

 

Two of the works are like primitive copied post cards, which they were, and two are large buildings with detailed architecture and no life at all. In my person, I was just looking at the work of a not so good artist but in my mind, I was much closer than I ever wanted to be to an artifact created by a man who could wreak so much evil on humanity. I taught the Holocaust for 5 years in public and Hebrew school and every image, every word, every poem, every person murdered cried out as I took in this last part of the tour. We will NEVER forget it.

 

January 22, 2010 Friday – Day 3 morning - Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden – Washington, DC

Traffic was heavy Friday morning trying to get into DC because of the 100,000+ folks convening for the Pro Life annual march on the Mall. Tee and I already discussed that we would take no sides or make any political comments on the Rockmore Trail so all I can say is there were a lot of folks and the coolest thing was all the bus loads of school kids had matching hats or scarves or jackets so their chaperones could easily spot them. Times have changed since we led field trips.

 

The Hirshhorn Museum is a perfectly round 4 story cylinder with open space in the middle and it is quite interesting. Our friendly Hirshhorn assistant met us and took us up to the 4^th floor and gave us a nice printout of all of the Rockmores in the Hirshhorn and who all the folks we would need to contact for photos, loans, etc. Joseph Hirshhorn was a famous collector who created this Museum which is now part of the Smithsonian. Rumor has it that he was coming by Noel’s family home in NYC to look at Gladys Rockmore Davis’ work and saw some of Noel Davis’ work and decided he would collect Noel instead. This did nothing to quell the intense competition that is often described between Noel and his mother.

Hirshhorn collected at least 11 works of Noel’s and perhaps more in 1955. A particularly stunning work is a portrait of Noel and his wife Betty at Coney Island. A few years later Noel’s marriage would dissolve and he would change his name to Noel Rockmore, his mothers maiden name. Rumor had it that at some point Noel went back to the Hirshhorn after 1958 and tried to change his name on the works from Noel Davis to Noel Rockmore. He was caught in the act and banished from ever visiting the works again.

 

The 4^th floor is where the works are stored and also where the administrative offices are for the Hirshhorn Museum. A friendly man met us and our assistant registrar once we were on the inside of the 4^th floor. It looked exactly like the backstage scenes from the Ben Stiller Smithsonian movies with crates and bust and sculptures everyewhere ready to come alive at night. He proceeded to pull out the long sliding wall containing the 6 Rockmore oils. It was amazing and breathtaking all in the same instant.

 

He opened this well preserved tomb and we were standing before two self portraits of Noel and a life size painting of Noel and his wife Betty in better times in 1955. While Tee was taking pictures, I showed our guides one of our picture books of Noel’s Top 100 works (note – this is a constantly changing book as new works are discovered). It was so gratifying and validating to have these two Museum professionals completely mesmerized by the scope of Noel’s artistry. I mean, this is what they do for a living and they live with some of the best art in the world.

 As Tee was finishing the documentation, I went and took a good look at the details of the works myself. There is something about soaking in an artists works in person that can never be eclipsed by any visual medium. I understood why Mrs. Singer had created her own Museum in her hometown so others could have the same experience. While making my observation, I noticed something unusual.  One of the works said Noel Rockmore 1955 in what appears to be Sharpie pen! The myth was not a rumor, it is now part of his Rockmore’s legend. Who else but Noel Rockmore would have the gumption to do such a thing as secretly change his name on a work owned by his most important collector.

 

We said our goodbyes to our guides who wished us well and asked to be kept informed. Then we toured the Hirshhorn Museum taking some time to watch the 100,000+ folks assembled on the Mall from the balcony of the Hirshhorn. They were certainly passionate about their cause and seemed very happy to assemble as such a large group.

 

January 21, 2010 Thursday - Day 2 - Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, Maryland

June 21, 2010 Thursday - Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, Maryland

 

The Secret of Life is in Art

 

As long as we were going to Washington DC, we thought we would stop by the WCMFA to see three Rockmores that had been donated in 1978 by Victor Potamkin. The first amazing discovery was that the Washington County Museum is 1.5 hours north of Washington in Hagerstown Maryland, who knew? Well, that’s okay, it would be worth it to see the works of Rockmore especially the large oil called Patio 1 – the first of a major important series Rockmore was to do.

 

We made the trek for our 3PM appointment through the rolling hills and rural farmland of Maryland. As we arrived in Hagerstown, the overwhelming question became why would Potamkin donate three works to a museum wayyyyyyy out here in rural Hagerstown.  It felt like the deep south. As we drove through Hagerstown to the Museum it felt more like the poor rebuilding deep south with train tracks, Big Lots, Dollar stores and no major visible store chains at all.

 

The Museum itself was a beautiful diamond in the rough. The docents greeted us and we soon met the assistant curator who was in the midst of a big installation. She apologized profusely because she had only been able to pull one of the three works we came to see. All I could hear in my head was Rockmore screaming and having a tantrum and wanting me to break in and press through the storage area myself to see his masterpieces. Tee made the curator feel that it was perfectly okay and we took a picture of the exquisite 5x7 egg tempera and two pictures of black and white pictures of the paintings that were buried somewhere in storage.

 

We then went on our own tour of this fantastic museum on a pond with great works and room upon room of nice quality fine art …. In Hagerstown. This "crown jewel of Washington County" has been recognized as one of the finest small museums in the United States. The question then became, how did this museum happen. The answer is that William Singer, the steel tycoon from Pittsburgh, was traveling through Hagerstown and met this girl there and fell in love and married her. She never forgot her hometown, her roots and decided that she would build a beautiful museum to house their art and endow it for perpetual care. In discussing the establishment of the Museum, Mrs. Singer noted that it would give "the younger generation a fuller appreciation of joy and beauty than had been afforded me." Talk about using your wealth and influence to make a mark and change the world.

 

Attendance was down even though it is free and I asked how they got new visitors and how they stayed afloat. The response was times were tough and they had actually not even replaced their curator and the assistant that we met was doing the work of many many people (glad I did not have the tantrum Noel was pushing for). I decided that curators are a lot like teachers, librarians and cemetery keepers all in one and they work at a teacher’s pay scale. You just have to love it and believe in it and know that what you do makes a difference for others. Not every job is like that.

 

The assistant curator did say she would take some nice color pictures as soon as she could and that they certainly would lend Rockmore works out like the Norman Rockwell that had just returned. I guess that is as big as a win as you could get but there is something about wanting to see a work and being that close to it and not being able to that just stays with you. In my head, Noel groused at me all the way back to DC where we did our own night tour of the National mall and monuments.