Woodmere Art Museum presents Eye of the Beholder: Two Philadelphia Collectors’ Visions of Beauty in Art

Eye of the Beholder: Two Philadelphia Collectors’ Visions of Beauty in Art highlights recent gifts to the Woodmere’s collection from two local collectors, contemporary painter Bill Scott (born 1956) and Dr. Robert A. Schoenberg (1944-2021). For this exhibition, Woodmere associate curator Amy Gillette selected works from the collections that specifically evidence aspects of “goodness and/or beauty” artists have expressed in their paintings, drawings, prints, and mixed media.

Schoenberg selections

Schoenberg taught at the University of Pennsylvania; he founded and directed Penn's LGBT Center after witnessing the assault of a gay student on campus in 1982. Support of Philadelphia artists was an expansion of his advocacy as his collected works reflect a decidedly queer eye seen in numerous figurative works of the male body. A standout painting is John Troy’s St. George and the Dragon (1980), in which the hero, historically depicted in armor, admires his body in a mirror, wearing only underpants and eyeglasses. He stands near a wall embellished with the slain dragon’s head. An adjacent window frames a green, idealized landscape, perhaps in homage to Grant Wood. Using his likeness to depict St. George, Troy adds the clever inference of the artist as a courageous yet ego-centric subject.

Also among Schoenberg’s collection is Daniel Heyman’s Nude on Baba’s Couch (no date). It features the artist’s naked partner as a husky, wide-eyed odalisque sprawled on an inherited sofa. A coffee table in the foreground hosts a still life of flowers, a mug, and a cereal bowl. In Heyman’s painting, the gaze of desire is surrounded by well-furnished domesticity.

Scott selections

Scott’s collection is more eclectic, as his aesthetic choices include abstraction. As a well-connected elder in Philadelphia’s art community and former Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts faculty, many of his gifted works are attributed to alumni, including the late great Gilbert Lewis. His double portrait Brothers (1983) captures a gesture of familial affection between two young men. Their white slacks and Lacoste tees are a throwback to the preppy style of the 1980s. I imagine them dancing to synth-pop music like A-ha’s “Take on Me”.

On the same gallery wall, a small, color etching by Larry Francis titled Ironing Man (1985) hits a different note. A shirtless, barefoot male, back to the viewer, stands before an ironing board in a room cozy with pink wallpaper. A clock on the wall indicates 3am. We don’t see the iron, but the angle of his left arm hints at his task. A dark window emits a gust of wind that blows white curtains up and out, imbuing an otherwise unemotional scene with a curious drama. The image is wonderfully evocative of nocturnal sounds and sensations.

Vase with Greens (1976) by Harry Soviak appears deceptively simple. The large still life is composed of loose brushstrokes of watercolor that form organic shapes in primary colors, plus green, devoid of contour lines. These marks magically coalesce into something that feels like a visual haiku. The wall text beside the painting contains a quote by the artist. It states in part: “…Painting is an opportunity for us to make things better, allow us to have a better time, or a better experience. I am interested in that in my work. I want my work to bring that to people. I want to give people a lift with what I do if I can.”

A way to make things better

There is no ambiguity in Soviak’s intention of goodness for the viewer. Yet for me, Gillette’s curatorial aim of demonstrably locating beauty and/or goodness in the exhibition’s artworks doesn’t always deliver. Some choices had me wondering why a particular work was selected. Explanatory wall labels are generally informative and offer insights into the selections, but not consistently or fully. It occurs to me that the title Eye of the Beholder implies that aesthetic judgements are subjectively absolute. I am not convinced that this is wholly sound, that values found in an artwork are contingent on emotional experience.

While some choices of artworks puzzle, actions that directly demonstrate the good and the beautiful are those of Schoenberg and Scott. Art is under threat by the current regime, making the support of artists, collecting their work, and donations to museums that will preserve it essential. Perhaps especially cogent as Philadelphia has recently lost two core schools: the Pennsylvania Academy’s degree and certificate programs, and the full erasure of the University of the Arts. The Woodmere mission includes upholding Philadelphia’s vibrant artistic history; as an institution, it continues to embrace principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Thinking about and spending time with art is, as Soviak said, a way “to make things better,” and a trip to Chestnut Hill will not disappoint.