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Y! MyWebDale Huffman: Painter's Dayton history a mystery
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Those interested in the art history of Dayton may be able to help with the project of a Texas woman.
This is the mystery: Who remembers the artist Emil Hermann, and do you know if there is a painting or portrait by Hermann in a Dayton attic or storeroom?
JoAnn Crites, a student of art, history buff and writer became interested in the story of Hermann when she was a sophomore in high school at Wichita Falls High School in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1948.
"A giant mural painted by Mr. Hermann was on the wall in the high school," Crites said. "I was fascinated by it, and later I found out that my aunt owned a landscape by the same artist, and she gave it to me."
Crites said she married and traveled many years with her husband, a geologist for Gulf Oil Co.
"Then when we retired in Wichita Falls I took a volunteer position with the Museum of North Texas History," Crites said. "And during the 20 years I was working for them I would run across news clippings about Emil. I became more interested in his background and his works, and before long I had possession of 15 of his paintings."
Crites is trying to compile a book about the artist's life and his paintings and learned of Hermann's ties to the Dayton art community.
"Emil lived in Dayton from about 1910 to 1930," she said. "He moved to Wichita Falls in 1932 and died here in 1966. He was a portrait and landscape painter."
Crites found a column I wrote a number of years ago that included memories of old Steele High School.
"One of the news stories said that Hermann painted a mural for Steele High School called 'Canterbury Tales,' " Crites said. "There was a glowing write-up on this mural and a photo of him working on the mural in his studio."
There was a mural titled "The Treaty of Miami," in the lobby of the Miami Hotel in downtown, which is long gone. There was another mural known as "The Childhood of Bacchus" in the old Holden Hotel on East Fifth Street. The Holden is now subsidized housing, and the mural could have been painted over.
"Emil did many portraits of some of the most famous folks who lived in Dayton in the 1920s," Crites said. "The clippings mention he did portraits of the Lowes, the Talbots, and many of his fellow Masons."
She hopes some paintings might stored in the Masonic Temple in Dayton.
As part of her research, Crites visited Dayton in September 2004, but had no luck finding information.
"My sister and I visited the Dayton Art Institute, which one of the clippings inferred originated from a group of artists that included Mr. Hermann. When I talked to the folks in charge of the institute, they assured us that they have not one thing about him. They said his name does not figure in any of their history of the start of the Dayton museum. And they said they have no paintings by Emil."
Crites said Hermann moved from Dayton to Wichita Falls with wife, Jane Mae Benner. "Jane Mae's father was Mason M. Benner, who died in 1941," she said. "The father had a grocery store on North Western Avenue at one time."
If you can help solve the mystery, please let me know and I will pass the information along to JoAnn Crites.
Send e-mail to dhuffman@DaytonDailyNews.com or write to Dale at 1611 S. Main St. Dayton, OH 45409. Fax: (937) 225-2489. Phone: (937) 225-2272.
