| August 17, 1937, Detroit News.
Contributions to Detroit Art Recalled by
Barlow's Death.
He Was One of the Last Group Who Brought Fame to City a Generation
Ago
By Len G. Shaw
The death of Myron Barlow at his studio home, near
Etaples, France, last Saturday, was a source of deep grief to the
many friends of this kindly soul who passed away so far from the
place of his birth, but in the land he loved, and where he had spent
so much of his life.
However, it has a far deeper import than the death
of one whom to know was to admire, because it wrote finis to the
career of almost the last member of the considerable group of artists
who brought fame to Detroit a short generation ago, and whose works
are treasured not only by local collectors, but are to be found
wherever art at its best is appreciated.
Gari Melchers Recalled
Among those best recalled is Gari Melchers, who
as a boy began his artistic career painting wooden Indians in his
father's studio almost within the shadow of the Wayne County Building,
and whose "The Wedding," to mention only one of his canvases,
has drawn the attention of countless thousands at the Detroit Institute
of Arts. Percy Ives painted portraits of distinguished Detroiters,
and occasionally wandered briefly into other fields.
Robert Hopkins' marines were internationally famous,
Julius Rolshoven found his chief delight in living among the sun-worshiping
Taos Indians in New Mexico, and perpetuating thier life in oils.
Joseph Gies was famed for his landscapes and figures. Charles Waltenmerger
specialized in Dutch interiors, and gave an individual mellowness
to his paintings of women and children that made them greatly admired.
Edward Wagner's sculpture adorned some of the most imposing buildings
in far parts of the earth. Francis Paulus delighted to paint and
etch the Bruge canals and their people.
Wicker Elected to Teach
John Wicker, who might have reached the heights
attained by his Detroit contemporaries had he so elected, preferred
to teach, and was the mentor of more young artists than the world
will ever know, as he gave himself unstintingly to his self-appointed
task.
Later there was Roman Kryzanowski, skilled in still
life and composition. Williw Sesser was a master of poster work
that called for as high creative and technical ability as did the
more immpressive canvases of his fellows.
Myron Barlow's was a restricted field; through
preference. Early in his career - he first went abroad to study
in 1894 - he became enamored of the dwellers along the coast of
France looking out over the Straits of Dover. He painted the women
of the countryside and the fishing villages, in the soft tones of
which he was such a master, with a touch here and there that tempered
the ruggedness of his models without robbing them of any of the
inherent strength.
Restful Quality to His Work
There was a restful quality to all he did that
appealed even to one unversed in art. And always draping the shoulders
of the women, or serving as a covering for a table about which they
were grouped, were the Paisley shawls with their vaariegated colors
of which he was so fond, and of which he possessed one of the finest
collections to be found anywhere.
Quiet, warmhearted, a boon companion, unselfish
to the Nth degree, not only willing, but eager to impart to a beginner
the little tricks of the profession he had developed in the blending
of colors and the preparation of canvas, Barlow was beloved by all
who knew him. A less familiar figure than most of his contemporaries,
partly through long residence abroad, and partly through an inherent
modesty that was almost shyness, and continued to the last. Barlow
nevertheless left as strong an impression in the world of art as
did any of those other departed Detroiters who gained enviable distinction.
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