No clear view of longtime Colorado artist William Sanderson emerges from a new exhibition marking the centennial of his birth.
Rather than following a linear stylistic progression, he visited, abandoned and returned to an assortment of approaches, including cubism, social realism and surrealism, and he was even inspired by Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera.
Too often, Sanderson’s work sinks into banality, coming off as illustration rather than anything more serious. But at his best, he engaged the sweeping modernist innovations of the 20th century, creating some forward-looking, lasting images.
That said, viewers should be wary of drawing too many firm conclusions about Sanderson from this show at the recently renamed Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art. The offering is both rewarding and frustrating in what it does and doesn’t include.
Since Sanderson’s creations have been shown rarely since his death in 1990, any chance to see them is welcome, especially an exhibition that offers a four-decade overview of his output from 1944 to 1983.
Included are 29 paintings and drawings from 10 private and public collections, including Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, which has a collection of 40 works that Sanderson bequeathed to the school in 1977.
But as much as the selections illuminate Sanderson’s career, they also raise questions. A highlight, an oil on canvas titled “Steamship Ruth” (ca. 1946), tantalizingly points to the influence of famed American modernist Stuart Davis.
Although not as abstract as similar harbor compositions from the 1930s by Davis, this strong work uses some of the same cubist devices and bold, unmodulated colors, and presents a similar compositional structure.
Not on view, unfortunately, is what has to be one of Sanderson’s masterpieces, “City of the Damned,” from the same period. It shows unmistakable similarities to Davis’ semi-abstract painting, “New York – Paris No. 2” (1931). How many other Davis-inspired pieces are there?
Also crying out for further exploration is a group of pieces represented by the bold, eye-opening oil on canvas “Signals” (1968). It depicts brightly colored signal flags against a white background, but the painting can also be read as a compelling, abstract study in patterns.
As potentially exciting as this artistic vein was, Sanderson apparently abandoned it. A 1985 Denver Post article states that he “flirted briefly with abstraction in the form of patterned paintings, which he found easy to produce but which no one bought.” A pity.
Other noteworthy works include two figurative paintings in a stylized, slightly cubist vein, “The Lovers” (1947) and “The Card Players” (1948), a spare, circular composition depicting four men around a table playing cards.
“No Way Out” (1961) shows Sanderson’s mastery of surrealism. In this fanciful composition, a car is poised on the craggy edge of a make-believe, serpentine rock formation – an unsettling intersection of the real and imagined.
Sanderson was born Wilhelm Tsigelnitsky in Russian-controlled Latvia in 1905 and later moved with his family to a series of cities around the Russian empire. Following the Bolshevik Revolution, they fled to the Ukraine and then the U.S. in 1923.
After graduating from the National Academy of Design in 1927, he worked in New York City as a commercial illustrator. He was drafted into the Army in 1941 and stationed at Lowry Field in Denver, where he met his future wife, Ruth Lambertson.
The couple settled in Denver in 1945, and he began a 26-year tenure on the art faculty at the University of Denver. After his retirement, the two moved to Fort Morgan.
The Kirkland Museum has not traditionally mounted temporary exhibitions, but it organized this one after a Sanderson show at the Denver Public Library was canceled.
Director Hugh Grant said the institution will begin presenting one such show a year, spotlighting past Colorado artists. It is a welcome development, given the Colorado Spring Fine Arts Center’s apparent decision to pull back from such offerings.
Colorado has a rich artistic history that deserves to be better known.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
“The Centennial of William Sanderson”
THROUGH JAN. 22|Exhibition of 29 paintings and drawings by the longtime Denver artist who died in 1990 |Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, 1311 Pearl St.|$6, $5 seniors, students and teachers|1-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays (303-832-8576 or kirklandmuseum.org)
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“ANDY WARHOL” More than 100 screenprints by pop-artist supreme Andy Warhol remain on view through Dec. 31 at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St. 719-634-5581 or csfineartscenter.org.
“SHE PAINTS THE HORSE” An exhibition surveying the career of famed American Indian artist Jaune Quick-To-See Smith continues through Jan. 21 at the Fort Collins Museum of Contempary Art, 201 S. College Ave. 970-482-2787 or fcmoca.org.
“THREE ARTISTS” Three concurrent exhibitions running through Dec. 31 at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 1750 13th St., feature works by Ana Maria Hernando, Carson Fox and Tsehai Johnson. 303-443-2122 or bmoca.org.
-Kyle MacMillan
