Local Art Seen: Julia Marshall Watercolors and Drawings @ Zeitgeist

Julia Marshall as a photographer in the
Women's Army Corps in WW2.

The following falls into the category of "I didn't know that!" And maybe you didn't either.

When I moved to Duluth in 1986 I recall hearing something about The Marshall Sisters, but I didn't really know the history of Duluth all that well, other than that there was a lot of wealth generated by the mining, logging and shipping industries.

Over time I learned of the philanthropic work Caroline and Julia Marshall undertook on behalf of Duluth. Their work including formation of the Duluth Improvement Association, purchasing land on the waterfront that is now Bayfront Park.

Julia was a founder of the Duluth League of Women Voters and the Duluth Art Institute, and in 1972 was the first woman to serve as a director of the Duluth Chamber of Commerce. She also was a director of the St. Louis County Heritage and Arts Center in Duluth's Union Depot. When she passed away in 1994, nearly 100 years old, she left quite a legacy.

What I never knew was that Julia Marshall not only supported the arts, she was an accomplished artist herself. This month her watercolors and drawing have been displayed in the Zeitgeist Atrium. The show shows another dimension of her life that may be surprising to many.

Patricia Lenz curated the show and sent me information about this quite remarkable woman.

Following graduation from the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, NY, she volunteered in U.S. Army mess halls during World War I. During World War II, she served in the Women’s Army Corps.

Julia was an avid traveler and art/artifact collector. She lived in New York, Chicago, India, and the Middle East and was a long-time resident of Tucson, Arizona, where she began watercolor studies at the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild.

Among her teachers was Gerry Peirce, a noted western watercolorist and printmaker, who was invited to teach watercolor at the Duluth Art Institute.

During the 50s and 60s she showed watercolors in juried exhibitions in Tucson, AZ and Duluth, MN.
In 1983 the Tweed Museum of Art here featured a portion of Julia Marshall’s work as part of a larger show.

Since her death at her Duluth home in 1994 at the age of 98, her watercolors (and photographs) have been exhibited in a number of venues including:

1998. Minnesota Masters. 7 Women Artists from the Region; Tweed Museum of Art.
1998. JNM Photographs at Tweed Museum of Art, UMD, Duluth, MN.
In 1996, watercolors removed from a storage vault in a Duluth Bank were curated for a series of exhibitions in Duluth and Tucson.
1997. JNM Watercolors at Duluth Depot.
2000. JNM Watercolors at the Lodge On the Desert Sponsored by the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild and The Duluth Art Institute.
2002. JNM watercolors at Southern Arizona Watercolor Gallery (SAWG) with work of her teacher, Gerry Peirce.
2002. JNM Watercolors, Duluth Art Institute Galleries; . . 2002. JNM Watercolors purchased by Fred and Mary Lewis and donated to the Marshall School Library.

The Julia Newell Marshall Artists fund was established with the Depot Foundation in 2000 using funds from sale of artworks.

Serious Photographer, Too
By the early 1920s, Julia Marshall was captivated by artistic photography. She studied with the former Photo-Secessionist Clarence H. White at the Clarence White School of Photography in New York in 1921-22 and 1927. Her work was exhibited in the 1924 Camera Pictures exhibition organized by the White School's Alumni Association, and in the 1922 First International Kohakai Salon of Photography in Japan.

Pictorial Photographers of America, a national organization begun by White after the demise of the Photo-Secession movement held an annual exhibit: Pictorial Photography in America. Its 1922 catalog featured Marshall's photographic image "Silhouettes—Egypt" showing figures and animals on a low horizon. The publication included only seventy-five illustrations, by the likes of Laura Gilpin, D. J. Ruzicka, Edward Weston, and White, putting her in good company.

In 1923, two of her pictures—again of foreign subjects—were juried into the Pictorial Photographers of America's first annual salon, presented at the Art Center in New York.

She also collected photographic works by many significant fine art photographers and pictorialists. Her collection was later donated to the Tweed and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Her philanthropic activities were many as well as her varied interests. One of her favorite pastimes was canoeing, and her favorite getaway for that: the Brule River.

Check out her work this week. It's just one more reason to be impressed with her life and her example.

Local Art Seen: Watercolors and Poetry at the North End Arts Gallery

One of the seven art openings I attended on the July 10 Second Friday Art Crawl was a watercolor exhibit at the North End Arts Gallery. Watercolors Northcoast WI features both new work and a very special surprise.

Before sharing the surprise I need to backtrack. If you are new to the area, say within the past 25 years, you may have occasionally heard references to the Marshall sisters, Julia and Caroline. What I knew about them was that they were benefactors in our community who gave generously to various causes. The most visible gift of the sisters is the stage at Bayfront Park. Think about all the remarkable events that have taken place there -- Wilco, Dylan, Blues Fest, Steve Martin, and so on -- and then thank the Marshall sisters.

That's the sum total of what I knew till I went to the Watercolors Northcoast exhibit last month. As you enter the gallery space watercolor paintings by Julia Marshall will be on your left. Marshall, I quickly learned, was not only a supporter of the arts, she was an artist herself. And a photographer. During World War II she served as a photographer in the Women's Army Corps. Several of her works are maintained as part of the Tweed Collection.

Study of a door by Julia Newell Marshall, with notes.

Her reputation as a philanthropist was well-deserved though. She helped found the Duluth Art Institute and the Duluth League of Women Voters. She and her sister together formed the Duluth Improvement Association, purchasing the land that has become Bayfront Park.

Marshall not only made art, she also taught classes, influencing many young artists of future generations, including arts advocate Patricia Lenz, an artist and former director of the Duluth Art Institute who is active in the Superior Council for the Arts. "She (Julia) is the reason I got involved in arts organizations."

Lenz shared another little known insight about her great aunt. Marshall was a friend of Georgia O'Keefe, often travelling to the Southwest as a result of her connections to the art scene there.

This show would stand alone as something to see even without the Marshall pieces. I sometimes wonder if we diminish the works of watercolorists because we all did a bit of it in elementary school. (Or have those classes been cut these days?) Fine watercolor paintings are painstakingly achieved and quite something to behold. If you are able, grab a lunch sometime this month at the Red Mug, then make your way upstairs to the gallery and enjoy the show.

"We're Taking Over" by Amy Wilson.

"Poplar Trees, Water, Snow Bank" by Dennis Aho

Patricia Lenz,(L) with members of the local arts community.

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Engage it.

M