K.C.S.O.A.

Art matron Gertrude Woolf Lighton refurbished a property on the West Bluffs to provide a permanent headquarters for the Kansas City Society of Artists. Her involvement with the arts went all the way back to the 1896 Paint Club, under George Van Millet.  Among others, two collegues, Alfred Houghton Clark

and author Floy Campbell, were given exhibits. Through her connections with John H. Bender of the Alden Galleries, she was able to add wood block artist Richardson Rome, to the art colony's roster. Double click on image to enlarge.

  Through her patronage of the Art Institute she made it possible for women artists to work out of inexpensive studios and exhibit at 1718 Holly Street as well.

Fred Geary found himself drawn into this community. "It was fourteen years before much thought could be given to advancement in other directions. Yet being thirty-five years old would in no way deter him from finer accomplishment. Definite impulses of the early 1930s beckoned to a new horizon in artistic goals and associations. He (Geary) was treasurer of The Kansas City Society of Artists, about 1933, and showed genuine interest in the organizations's activities."  Ernest H. Deines, 1946

(G.W. Lighton history courtesy of J D Mooney of Kansas City, MO, interviewed September 11, 2010. Photo of G.W. Lighton and history courtesy Linda Lighton of Kansas City, MO, interviewed October 3, 2010. Kansas City, Missouri: its history and its people 1808-1908 by Carrie Westlake Whitney, page 601, Google Books, accessed October 17, 2010. Fred Geary, Missouri Wood Engraver by E.H. Deines, 1946, unpublished, page three, courtesy of Ms. Jane Metz and the Carrollton Public Library, Carrollton, MO, accessed January 10, 2010. Kansas City's Historic Hyde Park, 4012 Holmes Street, accessed December 16, 2010. Private Library Holding, http://privatelibraryholdings.com/id84.html, accessed November 19, 2010. Minnesota Prints And Printmakers, 1900-1945 by Robert Crump, Minnesota Historical Society, accessed November 18, 2010. The Literary World: A Monthly Review Of Current Literature, Volume 30 by Samuel R. Crocker, Edward Abbott, Madeline Vaughan Abbott Bushnell ("Mrs. C.E. Bushnell,") Nicholas Paine Gilman, Bliss Carman, Herbert Copeland, page 410, accessed December 15, 2010)

who?

Who can track the life of an artist? Who would want to? An artist's life is FLUID. This much can be said about Fred Geary. He worked in Kansas City. He was active in the art community of the Fine Art Institute, which always consisted of a pocket of people doing, learning, teaching art. The structure of that institution changed location through the years, but at its core, it was people lending a hand to build, encourage, share "what you know" with another, have moments of "creating art apart from the community," and then rejoining, sharing, and expounding on each other's work, critiquing as it were, laughing, hanging out, being a part, being affiliated with relationships. (Below photo, west side of Kansas City, near Alta Vista, where The Kansas City Society of Artists once met--future post is promised)

Records are scarce. WHO was in WHAT group? WHERE did they gather? All very fluid. The artist's life. Here, Geary's name is given credit for the Institute Brochure, when the school was still at the Phil R. Toll home, on the southwest corner of Warwick and Armour Boulevards.

"Interest in the Art Institute was increasing, as was enrollment. In 1922, a brochure listed classes in design, illustration, interior decorating, costume design, fashion, wood carving, drawing, lettering, commercial art, sculpture and industrial art. There were also special classes in jewelry, home crafts such as batik, gesso, lamp shades, ceramics, weaving, basketry. The catalogue was profusely illustrated with examples of student art including work by Ruth Alexander, Illah Marion Kibbey, Lora Wilkins, Fred Geary, Doris Prat, Gene Thornton, Leroy D. MacMoris, L.F. Wilford, Delle Miller. Costs were day classes, per week, $3.50; evening classes, per week, $1.50; children's classes, Saturdays, 50 cents; holiday classes Sunday mornings, 60 cents." (A History of Community Achievement 1885-1964 by Mazee Bush Owens and Frances S. Bush, page 9, accessed from Jannes Library, Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010).

Geary took part in the Midwestern Artist Exhibitions in 1929, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1936, 1939, 1941, and 1942 (Midwestern Artists' Exhibition of 1928 by Cynthia Mines, Kansas City Art Institute, 1920-1942, accessed from Kansas City Public Library, accessed Saturday, February, 20th, 2010).

He was the treasurer of the Kansas City Society of Artists in 1933.(Fred Geary, Missouri Wood Engraver by E.H. Deines, 1946, unpublished, page three, courtesy of Ms. Jane Metz and the Carrollton Public Library, Carrollton, MO, accessed January 10, 2010)

All the while he was rooted in daily graphic art assignments through the Fred Harvey Company at the UNION STATION where he has his studio. (Below photo, printed label of his studio location, attached to backside of framed print in Carrollton Public Library,
Fred Geary collection)


It's like the "Missouri Art Icon," Thomas Hart Benton. It is a given that Benton talked with students in his painting class while at the Kansas City Art Institute. He listened to the ideas of fellow faculty members. He invited persons of like-minded interest over to his house for social interaction. He was on the same committee as Geary when Graphic Art entries were being selected for the 1939 World's Fair held in New York City. Still, it is difficult to peer into "the-unseen-world-of-artists-forming-relationships" and then "map out" how they grew in their own work because of their interactions with those they admire. Geary had this, I am sure. This blog will explore the facets it can find. The rest of it will be left to another to find, to savor, and publish his or her findings.

K.M.