[BE SURE TO SEE APPLES AND MADONAS P.122]

BORN: 1898 Dukla, Poland

DIED:

MARRIED: c.1932, they met in Parisii

TRAININGiii

1913 began formal training

Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington J. Reynolds

Chicago, Stanislaus Szukalski

ART RELATED EMPLOYMENT

1926 Her work Salome, used to illustrate Oscar Wilde playiv

TEACHING

1924-1929v Costume illustration, 1943-1959 Art Institute of Chicago

RESIDENCES

1898-1906 Duklavi

1906-1907 New York City

1907-1908 Boston

1908-1928 Chicago

1925 Philadelphia

1927-1928 New Yorkvii

1928-1929 Chicagoviii

1929-1930 New York Cityix

1932x-1939 Paris, Francexi

1939-1945 Chicago

1945-1947 New York City

1947-1959 Chicago

TRAVEL

1925 Europe (summer)xii

1926 Greenwich village, New York (summer)xiii

1927-1928 New York Cityxiv

1929-1930 Paris, Francexv

1931-1932 Paris, Francexvi

1944 New York Cityxvii

MEMBERSHIPS/OFFICES

HONORS

SELECTED JURIES SERVED

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Art Institute of Chicago, American Watercolors 1925,xviii 1927xix

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago & Vicinity 1928xx

College Art Association, New York, Portraits of Young People 1931xxi

Findlay Gallery, Chicago, Best Paintings by Chicago Modernists 1933xxii

Findlay Galleries, Sixteen Significant Chicago Painters 1933xxiii

Galerie Jeune Peinture, Paris 1932xxiv

Jewish People’s Institute, Jewish Woman’s Art Club 1926xxv

Neo Arlimusc Society, Chicago Moderns in honor of Julius Meier-Graefe 1928xxvi

Neoterics, Paintings by Artist Members 1936xxvii

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts annual 1925

Salon des Independents, Paris 1930xxviii

Schoen’s Gallery, New York 1928xxix

ONE, TWO OR THREE MAN EXHIBITIONS

1924 Thurber Art Galleries, Chicagoxxx

1925 Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michiganxxxi

1925 Chicago Woman’s Aid Societyxxxii

1927 Marie Sterner Gallery, New Yorkxxxiii

1927 Chester H. Johnson Galleries, Chicagoxxxiv

1928 William H. Bush home, Chicagoxxxv

1929 Chester H. Johnson Galleries, Chicagoxxxvi

1930 Home of Mrs. Bertram J. Cahn, Chicagoxxxvii

1930 Chester H. Johnson Galleries, Chicagoxxxviii

1934 Galerie La Jeune Peinture, Parisxxxix

1935 Albert Roullier Galleries, Chicagoxl

1938 Quest Gallery, Chicagoxli

1942 Room of Chicago Art, Art Institutexlii

1950 Jewish Board of Education Buildingxliii

1950 Louise and Thurman Nicholson Galleries, Chicagoxliv

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS

Arts Club of Chicago, Torso xlv

INTERESTING NOTESxlvi

She was a Jewish artist. Her teaching style was described as “elusive sensitivity.”xlviixlviii At the age of 10, she was such so accomplished at drawing she was asked to instruct the other students of her public school. From the ages of 10 to 12, she taught a drawing class after school hours. Living at Tree Studio in Chicago and a close friend of the art critic C. J. Bulliet who admired her modernist paintings, she benefited greatly from Bulliet’s desire to promote his friends in regular newspaper columns.

Critic Samuel Putnam said of her work: “Miss Bahnc’s painting is a poetry without words, a danse macabre without movement. Give me the ‘content’ of a Stavinsky concerto, and I will talk to you about the same element in Miss Bahnc’s pictures.”xlix In 1951 she was represented by Contemporary Art Workshop in Chicago.l Bahnc was also an etcher.li

iFor background on the artist see, Inez Cunningham, “Salcia Bahnc’s Work Wins Critic’s Praise,” Chicago Tribune, 2/20/1927, p.I8. Information on her early life and an image of the artist is found in “Comes Into her Own After years of Hardest Work,” Chicago Daily News, 12/18/1928, in AIC Scrpabooks, Vol. 55, p.134. For an overview of her career see: C. J. Bulliet, “Artists of Chicago Past and Present,” Chicago Daily News, 6/1/1935, Art, Antiques and The Artists section, p.9.

iiHe was in the French army and she had a son by him. He died in 1947. See: “Biographical Data,” curatorial files, Art Institute of Chicago, 12/17/1948.

iiiSome biographical sources state she studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago which cannot be confirmed through school records.

ivPut on by the Little Theater of the Art Institute of Chicago, the painting was illustrated in the Art Institute of Chicago scrapbooks, vol. 50, p.168.

vAnnouncement of her resignation was made in Eleanor Jewett, “Institute Student Show Opens Tuesday,” Chicago Tribune, 6/9/1929, p.H6.

viShe was raised there with her maternal grandfather, a goldsmith of some acclaim in the village. At a very young age, because of her interest in goldsmithing, he determined her to be an artist.

vii“Salcia Bahnc Takes Class at Institute,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 10/2/1928, p.5. On of her recent works, Bathers, was illustrated in the 10/9/1928 issue, p.4.

viii“ ‘The Dancer Huara’ – Salcia Bahnc,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 9/18/1928, p.3.

ixIt was announced by C. J. Bulliet, “Artless Comment,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 11/1/1927, p.8, she was re-opening her studio in Greenwich village and would split her time between Chicago and New York.

x“Salcia Bahnc in Current Salon of Tuileries, Paris,” Chicago Evening Post, 6/21/1932, Art Section, p.5. This combined with stories of her travels gives us 1932 for the move date.

xiShe remained in Paris until the onset of World War II, see C. J. Bulliet, “Art in Chicago: Season for Veterans,” Art Digest, Vol. 24, 4/15/1950, p.26.

xii“Salcia Bahnc Going Abroad,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 6/2/1925, p.3.

xiii“Institute Instructors Scatter for Summer,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 7/6/1926, p.4.

xiv“Teachers to Scatter with School’s Close,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 6/7/1927, p.3. Her return was announced in “News of the Artists and Galleries,” Chicago Daily News, 9/12/1928, in Art Institute of Chicago scrapbooks, vol. 55.

xv“20 Pieces Sold from Salcia Bahnc’s Show,” in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 4/16/1929, p.5. She resigned her position at the Art Institute of Chicago to make this trip. “Gossip,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 6/4/1929, p.6. Her sculpture Young Girl, was illustrated in the 12/17/1929 issue, p.8. “Salcia Bahnc Returning,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 9/16/1930, p.2.

xvi“Salcia Bahnc Leaves for Two Years in France,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 12/23/1930, p.1.

xviiEleanor Jewett, “Paintings of Flowers to Be Shown Friday,” Chicago Tribune, 8/20/1944, p.F3.

xviiiHer Woman, was illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 7/14/1925, p.10.

xixHer Primitive Woman, was illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 5/17/1927, p.6.

xxHer sculpture Torso, was illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 2/7/1928, p.3.

xxiHer Girl with Green Necklace, was illustrated in the Chicago Evening Post, 12/15/1931, Art Section, p.7.

xxiiC. J. Bulliet, in “Artless Comment,” “Sixteen Significant Chicago Painters, Chicago Daily News, 5/20/1933, Art and Artists section, p.17.

xxiiiHer Judith, was illustrated in the Chicago Daily News, 8/5/1933, Art and Artists section, p.13.

xxiv“Four Chicago Painters in Paris Winter Show,” Chicago Evening Post, 2/9/1932, Art Section, p.5. Her Mother and Child, was illustrated in the 3/1/1932 issue, p.5.

xxvHer painting Spring, was featured in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 4/27/1926, p.4.

xxviC. J. Bulliet, “What’ll We Do With It: An Inquiry Into the Future of Modern Art,” The Chicagoan, February 1932, p.43.

xxviiCatalog Of Paintings By Artist Members Of The Neoterics, (Chicago: Neoterics, 5/7/1936).

xxviiiMarguerite B. Williams, “Chicago Artists in the Spotlight,” Chicago Daily News, 11/12/1930, in AIC Scrapbooks, Vol.58.

xxixHer Nude with Landscape, was illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 5/15/1928, p.9.

xxxThe exhibition was throroughly reviewed by Sam Putnam, “Salcia Bahnc Animated by Spirit of Revolt,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 11/4/1924, p.2. An illustration of her work appeared in the 11/11/1924 issue, p.16.

xxxi“Salcia Bahnc Exhibits,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 6/9/1925, p.16. This was probably sponsored by the local art association. See also: “Salcia Bahnc Exhibit,” 6/30/1925, p.2.

xxxiiHer The Juggler, was illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 12/15/1925, p.5. Her Serenade, was illustrated in the 12/29/1925 issue, p.4. For a review see: Inez Cunningham, “Another Artist Is Undiscovered,” Chicago Tribune, 1/24/1926, p.G4.

xxxiii“Exhibitions in New York,” The Arts, Vol. 12, November 1927, p.278. Her nude (quite nude) portrait for the show, of one of Chicago’s best known art critics, Inez Cunningham, appeared in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 10/4/1927, p.10. Her Head, was illustrated in the 10/18 issue, p.9.

xxxiv“Salcia Bahnc,” Art Digest, Vol. 2, 4/1/1927. Chicago News critic Marguerite B. Williams was quoted as saying Bahnc was a “prophet of the new movement of woman in artistic expression.” Her Portrait, was illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 3/1/1927, p.2. As would be expected, an overly effusive and positively biased review of her work was written by C. J. Bulliet and given a major headline with an illustration in “Salcia Bahnc and Her Vision of the Shulamite,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 3/15/1927, p.3. Her Salome, was illustrated in the 3/22/1927 issue, p.2. Critic J. B. Neumann, head of the “New Art Circle” in New York, wrote a letter to Bahnc regarding his visit to her studio and it was published in the 3/22/1927 issue, p.8. Bulliet commented again on the exhibition in his “Artless Comment” column on p.8. Her Judith, was illustrated in the 3/29 issue, p.6. Her portrait of Mildred Jonas, was illustrated in Marguerite B. Williams, “Here and There in the Art World,” Chicago Daily News, 3/9/1927, p.59.

xxxvHer Young Negro Woman, was illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 11/13/1928, p.4 and a brief article, “Salcia Bahnc’s Show at Mrs. Bush’s,” appeared on p.8. The show was extensively reviewed in C. J.

Bulliet, “Intimate Show Reveals the Charm That Is Salcia Bahnc’s,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 11/20/1928, pp.1, 4. Eleanor Jewett, “Here Are Paintings by Artists Knowing What They Are Doing,” Chicago Tribune, 11/15/1928, p.37. Eleanor Jewett, “News of Exhibitions,” Chicago Tribune, 11/25/1928, p.16. What appears from the context to be a self portrait of the artist was illustrated in, Marguerite B. Williams, “Here and There in the Art World: Chicago Artist,” Chicago Daily News, 11/14/1928, in AIC Scrapbooks, Vol. 55, p.117.

xxxvi“Salcia Bahnc at Johnson’s,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 3/26/1929, p.7. Inez Cunningham, “Salcia Bahnc’s Genius In Free And Light Mood,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 4/2/1929, p.3. C. J. Bulliet, “Salcia Bahnc Sells 10 Pieces to ‘Who’s Who’,” in the 4/9/1929 issue, p.6. “20 Pieces Sold from Salcia Bahnc’s Show,” in the 4/16/1929 issue, p.5. Maude Martin Ellis, “Jerome Blum Paintings at Arts Club: Notes of Art and Artists,” Chicago Tribune, 4/7/1929, p.G4.

xxxvii“New Paintings by Salcia Bahnc,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 10/14/1930, p.2.

xxxviiiC. J. Bulliet, “The Genius Of Salcia Bahnc Blazes Out Anew,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 12/9/1930, p.3. Her self portrait was illustrated in the 12/16/1930 issue, p.3. As this show was on-going, there was a dispute among critics as to who discovered the artist first. “On Discovering Salcia Bahnc,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 12/16/1930, p.6. Eleanor Jewett, “Still Life Pictures by Salcia Bahnc Better than Figures,” Chicago Tribune, 12/11/1930, p.21, and “Varied Exhibits Mark Holiday Season,” 12/21/1930, p.F4.

xxxix“Salcia Bahnc Is Exhibiting in Paris,” Chicago Daily News, 2/10/1934, Art Section, p.24.

xlC. J. Bulliet, “Around the Galleries: Salcia Bahnc at Roullier’s,” Chicago Daily News, 6/1/1935, Art, Antiques and The Artists section, p.9. C. J. Bulliet, “Artless Comment: Salcia Bahnc’s Return,” Chicago Daily News, 6/8/1935, Art, Antiques and The Artists section, p.9.

xliEleanor Jewett, “Salcia Bahnc Returns; Will Hold Exhibit,” Chicago Tribune, 1/2/1938, p.F4. C. J. Bulliet, “Around the Galleries: Salcia Bahnc of Paris,” Chicago Daily News, 1/15/1938, Art and Music section, p.25.

xliiExhibition pamphlet, Paintings by Julio De Diego and Salcia Bahnc November 5-29, Art Institute of Chicago.

xliiiOp. Cit., C. J. Bulliet, Art Digest, 4/15/1950, p.26.

xlivC. J. Bulliet, “Art in Chicago,” Art Digest, Vol. 25, 11/15/1950, p.6.

xlvThe piece was illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 4/16/1929, p.5.

xlviFor another review of her work see: Riva Putnam, “Salcia Bahnc’s Art Is Herself,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 7/28/1925, p.5. Her Judith, was illustrated in the 1/4/1927 issue, p.12.

xlviiNorman L. Rice, “The School 1926-1943,” 100 Artists 100 Years (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1979), p.8.

xlviiiIt is this writer’s opinion that Salcia Bahn was more than just friends with both Clarence J. Bulliet and Inez Cunningham, two influential art critics. Their “ravings” about her work ,which really began in about 1924, were so extreme as to border on a level of infatuation. A more impartial observer, art critic Marguerite B. Williams of the Chicago Daily News said in her article “Woman Finds New Prophet In Bahnc,” 3/7/1927, “Her latest work, it seems to me, shows an undue tendency to exaggerate for its own sake...it might be said that throughout all her work is too strong a tendency to introspection.” In an extensive article on the subject of Salome, her work was illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 1/6/1925, p.3. Her work was illustrated again, on page 1 of the 2/3/1925 issue.

xlix“Salcia Bahnc Or Who Killed the Albatross?,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 12/1/1925, p.3. Two of her works were illustrated with this extensive article.

l“Who’s Where,” Art Digest, Vol. 26, 11/1/1951, p.69.

liInez Cunningham, “Time Accords a Place to Moderns,” Chicago Tribune, 2/21/1926, in the Art Institute of Chicago scrapbooks, vol. 51, p.40.