PHS WILL SELL ART WORK
The officers and board of directors of the Pottstown Historical have
voted to offer the society’s collection of paintings and theorems by three
local artists for sale at a silent auction to be held at the society’s building
568 High Street, Sunday, November 18 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. All items will be offered with a
reserve. The art works were donated to
PHS in 2008 by Mrs. Betsy Harte of Geneva, Illinois. They were acquired by her parents William A.
and Betty (Lee) Skoglund of Batavia, Illinois.
The artists are David Y. Ellinger (1913-2003),
William Rank (1921-2000), and Garrett B. French.
All three specialized in American folk art
themes, especially of the Pennsylvania Germans.
Below is a short biographical sketch of Ellinger along with photos of some the works that be offered for sale.
DAVID Y. ELLINGER -
The
following obituary for David Y. Ellinger was published in the May, 2003 issue
of the Maine Antique Digest, page 4-A.
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| David Y. Elllinger photo courtesy of Betsy Harte |
“David
Ellinger wanted to be remembered as an antiques dealer first, then as a painter,” said Charlie Steinberg, the
Abington, Pennsylvania antiques dealer. “He was a very good picker. He found
many things now in the Geesey Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and
he turned up three paintings by Edward Hicks. Among his clients were Moss Hart,
George S. Kaufman, the Marx Brothers, and Ilka Chase. Ellinger had taste.”
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| Peacock by David Ellinger |
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| Multicolored Rooster: theorem on velvet 13 3/4"x14 1/4" decorated Ellinger Frame |
David Ellinger was born in
Philadelphia. His mother died when he was five, and when his father remarried,
he did not get along with his stepmother. Before he was a teenager he ran away
to the country. Mary Law, a farm woman in Graterford, took him in and encouraged
his artistic talent. When he was ten he filled a copybook with drawings of
birds and made a large drawing of Mary Law, which he titled
A Glorious Day. Several years
later he drew a picture of Mary mending on the reverse. After he graduated from
Schwenksville High School, he continued to work as a farmhand and painted in
his free time.
Ellinger will be remembered as a prolific painter in the Pennsylvania Dutch
style. His paintings and theorems are owned by 14 museums, including the
Whitney Museum of American Art and the American Folk Art Museum in New York
City. Collectors compete for his work at auction, though, according to
Steinberg, Ellinger never made much money from selling his work until he
consigned a few to auction in recent years.
“He made his living as an antiques dealer and painted pictures to pay for
what he needed. He made pictures in every price range. If someone wanted a
small picture, he would make one and charge thirty-five dollars. He got
hundreds for a large one. Now these large paintings sell for as much as fifteen
thousand to thirty-five thousand.”
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| Tulips by David Ellinger |
Ellinger had 21 one-man shows during his career: the most recent was a
retrospective at the Berman Museum at Ursinus College in 1992. He was inspired
by Pennsylvania German fraktur and is known for his charming theorems and
painted scenes of farm sales, schoolyards, and quilting bees. He often repeated
his compositions, but some of his works are unique. He studied at the Barnes
Foundation and was a personal friend of the late Albert Barnes, who bought some
of his paintings for his country house KerFeal in Chester County.
In the 1980′s and 1990′s Ellinger continued to paint pictures to pay for his
needs, but did not paint much in the last six or seven years. “His methods were
time-consuming and exacting, and his eyes were failing,” said Steinberg. “For
the theorems, he would age the velvet and cut the stencils out of stiff paper.
The stencils just gave him the outline, the rest he painted freehand. He
painted with a pointed brush in a kind of pointillist technique, with the best
paints, and sometimes he would use egg whites to give his paints a gloss.”
David Ellinger died of heart failure at Phoenixville Hospital on March 24,
2003. He was 89.
Below is an enlargement of a portion of Ellinger's "Rooster." Note the detail: the shading of color in the rooster's comb and the edges of his hackle feather's. The brilliant contrast in the his bright color scheme
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| Rooster by David Ellinger |
