Studio honors WU department chair

By Alison Angel
angela@thejohnsonian.com

The “Edmund Lewandowski: Precisionism and Beyond” exhibition opened Sept. 6. Lewandowski was the arts and design department chair from 1973 to 1984. The gallery will be open until Dec. 6, and gallery talks will be on Oct. 21, and Nov. 19. Photos by Claire Van Ostenbridge • Special to the Johnsonian. Beginning Sept. 6, Winthrop University will host the Flint Institute of Art’s traveling exhibit honoring the life’s work of artist Edmund Lewandowski.  

Lewandowski was a former Winthrop chair of the department of arts and design from 1973 to 1984 and created artworks throughout the 1930s and 1940s in a wide variety of mediums.

His work has been displayed in museums all over the world, and he taught at Winthrop University until his death in 1998.

The exhibit, entitled “Edmund Lewandowski:  Precisionism and Beyond,” will focus on works of art from the entirety of Lewandowki’s career.  

Lewandowski was most known for his skills as a muralist.

He also holds the record for working on both the largest and smallest works of art in the United States, according to the Wisconsin art archives.  

His largest piece of work is the Milwaukee War Memorial Center, a mosaic that is larger than 18,000 square feet.  

After studying at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee and after years of being an art educator, he came to Winthrop.

“His wife and himself donated objects  (to the university) they had owned and some of his work over the years, so we had a very strong connection to them,” said Karen Derksen, assistant gallery director.  “It seemed very appropriate that we would be one of the stops on the traveling exhibition.”

The exhibit is especially notable because the gallery is honoring his life’s work during Winthrop’s 125 year anniversary, she said.

Derksen hopes students will take away a greater understanding of both the time period in which Lewandowski created his art and the work itself.  

She also hopes visitors better understand Winthrop’s history as it relates to the fine arts.

“Being able to get this exhibition here is a wonderful thing for Winthrop,” Derksen said. “I hope people take the opportunity to come.”

Winthrop is the first stop on a three-city tour for the exhibition.  

The Lewandowski exhibition will last until Dec. 9, before moving on to the next city to be displayed.

Throughout the exhibition, there will also be a number of programs offered that focus on Lewandowski’s work and career.
 
Tony Rajer, the art conservator who worked on restoring Lewandowski’s art, will come to the gallery Oct. 21.  

The original curator of the Lewandowski Gallery, Valerie Ann Leeds, will also host a program on  Nov. 18 to discuss his career.  Both events will be cultural events.