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Mel Theobald

Melvin Dean Theobald was born on August 2, 1946 in Decatur, Illinois. His parents were Lewis Theobald and Anna Morgan who met in 1944 while doing factory work on the Manhattan Project. Theobald has spent his entire artistic career in Chicago, developing a reputation as one of the few realist painters in an environment of surrealist oriented artists who formed the Hairy Who and Imagist schools. His more recent work has extended his interests in perceptions of nature into digital photography with a general emphasis on the subjects of water, glass, architecture and vast panoramic horizons. During the past 20 years, he has been involved in bringing cultural exchanges between Chicago and Moscow, Russia in addition to being the principle organizer of BareWalls, an annual scholarship fundraiser for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).

Early Years

In 1947 his family moved to Bloomington, Illinois where his interest in art grew at a rapid pace after he and his twin brother Marvin were separated during classes in school. At age 13 he became the youngest prize winner in the history of the Bloomington-Normal Art Association's annual competition which included students from Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan Universities. At Bloomington High School he studied with Elizabeth Stein who had provided a firm foundation in the disciplines of art making and art history. Her students included Elizabeth Murray, with whom Theobald would become a long time friend, Vernon Laub, who designed the stage sets for the Joffrey Ballet's production of "Clowns", and Lou Cabeen, a notionally recognized fiber artist. Stein was herself an accomplished photographer who inspired a generation of artists, maintaining an intense correspondence with her students until her death at age 99 in 2006.

Student Years 1964 to 1971

Theobald studied at SAIC where he earned a BFA in 1968 and an MFA in 1971. His undergraduate studies mixed a wide variety of interests from painting to film making. During the summer of 1967, Elizabeth Stein offered him a stipend to travel throughout Europe, which took him to England, Holland, Switzerland, Italy and France. Working in a style which increasingly reflected the influence of Cezanne and Picasso, Theobald was the recipient of the Frank G. Logan Prize in the prestigious 1968 Chicago and Vicinity Show at Art Institute of Chicago (AIC).

With the Vietnam War in full swing in 1968, Theobald was active in demonstrating against the war, linking him to the young hippie movement. Due to a fluke in the physical requirements of the military, he was deferred out of the military, which resulted in his immediate return to Chicago to enter graduate studies. While waiting for admission to the MFA program, he worked as a security guard in the museum where he was introduced to Alfred Jakstas, the Head Conservator of Painting and Sculpture. Jakstas awarded Theobald a student stipend and supervised his training while restoring the Matisse "Bathers", a rare 13th Century sculpture from Catalonia, and the laborious reconstruction of a Chippendale mirror.

Entering the MFA at SAIC program was filled with challenges causing Theobald to dedicate himself to painting and art history. Although he wanted to study with Ray Yoshida who had brilliantly guided Roger Brown, Chris Ramberg and Phil Hanson, all classmates of Theobald's, his interest in more traditional forms of painting led to his rejection of their Imagist concerns. The summer of 1969 resulted in a struggle for direction until Theobald was introduced to Tony Phillips, a new instructor who brought an intense interest in the perceptual and philosophical world of realism developing in New York and Philadelphia. The constructive teaching from Phillips linked Theobald to the New Realist artists when he visited the studios of Philip Pearlstein, Paul Georges, Neil Welliver, Alex Katz and many others. From this point on, the coalescence of his imagery with the history of art was complete. In 1972, Phillips organized a Chicago exhibition, "Painterly Realists" at the Wabash Transit Gallery, where Theobald was the only Chicagoan represented among a highly distinguished group of artists.

Professional Development 1972 to 1978

Upon graduation, Theobald became the Assistant Conservator of Prints and Drawings at the AIC museum. Working with leading curators Harold Joachim, James Speyer, John Maxon and John Keefe provided a bridge between the artistic community of artists and the art establishment. With increasing confidence and vigor, Theobald produced his best work. In 1973 he received the Laura Slobe Memorial Prize in painting at the Chicago and Vicinity Exhibit with his painting "Enter Ihlae". This work was the pinnacle work which defined his painterly realist style and connected his subject matter with the integration of art historical images and self portraits. This thematic development resulted in a series of paintings, etchings and lithographs devoted variably to the nude female figure, a series of tribute paintings to American artists, and a series of self portraits wearing various hats.

In 1972 the climate at the AIC proved to be a political minefield. Theobald resigned his position and began working at the University of Chicago's yet unopened Smart Museum at the invitation of Katherine Lee. He organized, restored and archivally prepared a massive collection of over 700 works on paper for their print and drawing study collection under a grant from the National Endowment for Education. Upon completion of that project, he began teaching as an adjunct professor at numerous universities, including Mundelein College, UIC Chicago, Harrington Institute of Interior Design, and the master's program in Interdisciplinary Learning at the Chicago Consortium of Colleges and Universities. From 1976 he taught art history at St. Xavier University as Professor and Chair of the Art Department.

His years of teaching induced many changes in his realist approach to painting, when he increasingly relied on photographic sources for his paintings. Smoother surfaces and more subtle use of light and shadow moved away from the early inspiration he gained from his mentor Philip Pearlstein. Rather than life study, he was more inclined toward organized arrangements of posed figures during this period.

Personal Life

In 1972 Theobald entered into an ill advised marriage with Ihlae Jolly, his companion of several years. Through a series of coincidental meetings, he was invited to Bombay (Mumbai), India to purchase a collection of antique miniatures for a private collector. Upon his return in the summer of 1974, his marriage dissolved and he moved into an artist's community in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. The total environment was one of mutual support among creative powerhouses like Klindt and Marilyn Houlberg, Tony Phillips, Judy Raphael and the poignant ceramicist Ruth Duckworth. Throughout this period his work continued to mature. Facing growing frustration with disinterest from galleries he turned his attention more toward teaching, finally marrying one of his former students, Denise Kruse, in 1978.

This resulted in a period of separation from art making that lasted nearly 18 years. With a wife, two children and a Victorian house in need of renovation, combined with changing demands from teaching, Theobald abandoned his personal work and in 1982 formed Absolute Graphics, a small corporation largely devoted to graphic design and printing for educational and not-for-profit institutions. His clients included the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, the Adler Planetarium, DePaul and Loyola Universities, the American Dental Association and Landmarks Illinois. Sustained by this business, he began volunteering his services to various causes leading to his leadership on two new fronts which he had never imagined, Russia and BareWalls.

Russia 1990 to 2011

In February of 1990 one of Theobald's former student whose husband was working with the Russian Ministry of Culture in the Soviet Union to bring the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to Moscow as an exchange with the St. Petersburg Orchestra hired him to examine the warehouses of art at the St. Petrovsky Monestary. Completing three trips to Moscow that year resulted in his curatorial selection of two exhibitions for Rosart Amorim, one of which travelled throughout Europe and the other which was presented for auction in Chicago. Although the flood of Russian art being exported around the world during this time of Perestroika spoiled the financial goals of the organizers, it was the association with the Moscow art community that established Theobald's future and passionate commitment to Russian artists. 1991 saw the collapse of the Soviet empire, compelling Theobald's return to Moscow the following year to assist in numerous undauntedly mysterious tasks which artists faced in the emerging transition to capitalism. He focused his interests on the restoration efforts of the Tretyakov Museum and on the needs of numerous artists he had befriended. By promising state support to restore the Tretyakov, President Yeltsin negated that portion of Theobald's plans. However, his support of artists involved bringing art materials, international buyers and American exposure to many struggling artists. Among his many successes was the recovery of over 130 stolen artworks which had been illegally sent to Paris, Boston and Los Angeles by unsavory entrepreneurs and leaders of the Artists' Union of Moscow. To date, Theobald has made 16 trips to Moscow, is in the midst of writing a book of his experiences there, and has participated in numerous cultural exchanges among Russian artists, one of which brought the famed actor Armen Dzhigarkhanyan to Chicago in 1997.

SAIC Alumni Association and BareWalls 1994 to 2004

Theobald began devoting his time to the Chicago Chapter of the SAIC Alumni Association. Serving on his first committee in 1993, he was one of the originators of BareWalls, designed as an event to showcase alumni work, provide a meeting forum for artists, and to raise scholarship money. After a shaky first year the event was viewed as a financial failure when Theobald began a string of 9 years as chair of the event which by 2004 became the most profitable fundraiser in the school's history. In its tenth year the event had 160 participating artists, over 1,000 paid attendees and raised over $125,000 for the BareWalls Scholarship Endowment. Within a few years, Theobald consulted with the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) where the event has been duplicated for 10 years as Open Canvas. In 2004 the Alzheimer's Association Illinois Chapter extended the event to Rockford, Illinois as Unforgettable Art. Theobald has actively participated in all of these events which by 2011 have raised an estimated $2.5 million in support of these institutions.

During those years he arranged for numerous artists to serve as Honorary Chairs of BareWalls, including Ed Paschke, Robert Natkin, Elizabeth Murray, Karl Wirsum, Ellen Lanyon, LeRoy Neiman, Cynthia Rowley, Jonathan Green and Richard Hunt.

From 2002-2003, Theobald served as president of the board of the SAIC Alumni Association/Chicago Chapter.

Return to Art Making After 2001

With the culmination of experiences in Russia, Theobald longed to return to his creative life. His second marriage was deteriorating, causing him to become increasingly depressed. His involvement with BareWalls resulted in his sporadic return to painting but his business commitments didn't allow him the freedom he needed to be an active artist. In an attempt to improve the lives of his children and redefine his own interests, he spent nearly two years in a divorce proceeding which ended in late 1996. It was not until 2001 that he discovered the advances being made in digital photography. He had previously used individual photographs to form documentary montages but it was his son, Philip who taught him the basics of Adobe Photoshop. With this newly acquired taste for digital technology, Theobald began a series of photographic experiments which absorbed him in the seamless creation of panoramic images.

The earliest of this work was infused with the farms and landscapes of his central Illinois roots. Over time his interests shifted to plants, water, clouds and reflections resulting in an edition he defined as River Light photographs. Eventually these images expanded to the Russian landscape, New York's Central Park and urban landscapes. Most recently, his work has combined his love of architecture and history to include a comprehensive series of photographs of Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House, the historic west wall of Michigan Avenue in Chicago, the mass of buildings like the House of Commons in London, the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, and the G.U.M. on Red Square in Moscow.

During the span of ten years, Theobald has had over 20 solo exhibitions and participated in a wide variety of group shows. His work is represented in numerous private and corporate collections.

Additional Notations

2005 Theobald gave the commencement address at the Illinois Institutes of Art, Schaumburg, Illinois

2011 Publication of his book "The Edith Farnsworth House" in Plano, Illinois by the National Trust for Historic Preservation

2012 Invitation to participate in an international exhibit of water photography at the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow, Russia

References

www.theobaldart@aol.com

http://vimeo.com/5292884 --ChicagoArt (talk) 01:43, 7 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]