Art Museum of WVU docent Mary Louise “Cookie” Schultz will discuss a painting by American social surrealist Walter Quirt during the museum’s next “Lunchtime Looks” program on Wednesday, Jan. 27.

“Lunchtime Looks” is a new series that began in December at the museum. WVU students, faculty and staff, and the general public are invited to bring a brown bag lunch to the Museum Education Center Grand Hall at noon and meet with other art enthusiasts to enjoy their midday meal. At 12:30 p.m., the group will move to one of the museum’s galleries for a 20-minute, in-depth look at a work of art with one of the docents.

The Jan. 27 session will feature Walter Quirt’s “Mural Study for John Reed Club,” (1934), which is currently on view in the upper gallery. The painting was a gift to the WVU Art Collection from Harvey and Jennifer Peyton of Charleston, West Virginia.

Walter Quirt (1902-1968) was an illustrator and painter and one of the first American artists to experiment with surrealism in the 1930s. He attended the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee and also studied at the McDowell Colony in New Hampshire. During the Great Depression, he lived in New York City, where he worked creating sketches and murals and became involved with radical left-wing causes. His paintings later evolved from the drawings he did at this time. In 1932, he became secretary of the art section of the John Reed Club, an organization associated with the Communist Party USA and committed to encouraging young, leftist talent. Throughout the 1930s, he painted murals, primarily for the Works Progress Administration/Federal Art Project. Later, disillusioned with the Communist party, he returned to Milwaukee and his native Michigan to teach and continued painting and writing throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Quirt is remembered for his ever-changing style and also for his pioneering efforts to change society for the better through art.

Schultz will lead a discussion in which audience members will have a chance to share their own reactions and questions about Quirt’s artwork.

The session will end by 12:50 p.m., so that those who need to get back to their offices will have plenty of time. Anyone who can’t get away for the entire hour is welcome to meet the group in the museum’s upstairs gallery at 12:30 p.m. for just the art presentation.

The Art Museum and Museum Education Center are located near the corner of Patteson Drive and Morrill Way at the Evansdale Campus North Entrance.

Parking is available in short-term lots ST-1 and ST-9, with pay stations, one located near Patteson Drive and the other near the new Evansdale Crossing building.

For more information about the Lunchtime Looks program, contact the Art Museum of WVU at 304.292.4359.

-WVU-

Image:
“Mural Study for John Reed Club”
Walter Quirt
1934
Egg tempera on panel
Gift of Harvey and Jennifer Peyton

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CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, Art Museum of WVU
304.293.4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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