Posted 3 years ago
krysciobrad
(164 items)
Found these at a thrift store. Made by An Wisconsin Artist, this pair of Gertrude Holberg Urich Watercolor original paintings titled “Flowers”. Though she is a listed artist I cannot find a great deal of info. Just the Milwaukee Society Of Artists. Both are signed and dated. One from 1958, and one from 1964. One frame has the dealer info of where it came from.
Listed where?
@kwqd ,
https://www.linkstothepast.com/milwaukee/mkeartistsU.php
https://books.google.com/books/about/Estate_of_Ruth_Langland_Holberg_Born_in.html?id=pXMztwAACAAJ
These are the only links I can find of her. Like I said there’s not a whole lot of info out there.
"Listed" implies inclusion in standard art reference sources, for instance Davenport's Art Reference and Price Guide, Index of Artists by Mallett (not mentioned), Falk's Who Was Who in American Art (not mentioned), or in the instance of a female artist born before 1900, Dictionary of Women Artists born before 1900 by Petteys (not mentioned), etc. There are a variety of standard artist reference works covering the period when Ms. Urich was active, some of which I mentioned and have searched. The sources linked in your post do not constitute more than mention in a couple of regional sources, one of which is merely a gallery pamphlet. With the information that is readily available, it would be more accurate to describe Ms. Urich as a "Wisconsin artist". More research is needed to describe her as "listed". I have a large art reference library but most of it is in storage. I was able to reach my copies of Falk, Pettys and Mallett but could not get to my copy of Davenports, though I can see it. Davenports is a kitchen sink of references to artists, built from a variety of sources, including auction records. I would advise searching Davenports for mention of Ms. Urich, but even if she is mentioned there, the claim that she was "listed" would be thin without other reference sources. I usually do not cite an artist as "listed" unless they appear in several standard reference sources, ideally a minimum of three sources. Online sites like askart.com (not mentioned) and other similar sites, do not really count as solid reference sources but often contain valuable information. I have contributed many artist biographies to askart.com. For every artist who is "listed" there thousands who are not.
I'm thrilled to see these! I'm originally from Milwaukee, WI, and Gertrude Holberg Urich was my great aunt ("Aunt Gertie") on my father's side of the family. She and her husband Harry (a dentist) were really nice people; they collected all kinds of things, and kept prize-winning bulldogs for a time. Both died in 1972—Gertrude a bit before Harry.
I've never been able to find out much about Gertrude's art career, but I remember being told by family members that she had some small fame in the Wisconsin art world of the time. I have about ten of her paintings and drawings; some are hanging in my house in upstate NY, and some are tucked away in a closet. One of them is of a vase of flowers, not unlike these two. Most of her works (or, at least, the ones I have) were winterscapes of the Wisconsin countryside. They have a wonderful swirling quality: the eye is drawn into an oval, and the trees and snowdrifts all swirl within that oval; there's a lot of movement.
Someday soon I'll drag them all out, clean them, and photograph them. And maybe I'll post them here!