At 88, the mischievous and slightly curmudgeonly William Cumming is both historical artifact and dynamic, practicing artist. One hundred and thirty of this local artist's paintings, sketches and sculptures are now on view at the Frye Art Museum, the largest retrospective of his work since 1961. Its curator Matthew Kangas views it as a tribute to the vital nature of the art of the Northwest.
Cumming has spent most of his adult life in or near Seattle. By the time he was a teenager, he'd become the darling of Seattle's cultural elite. His sharp intelligence and artistic skill made him welcome in a circle that included critics, poets and artists of such stature as Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Kenneth Callahan and Guy Irving Anderson.
Although Cumming portrays himself as self-educated, he graduated as valedictorian from Tukwila's Foster High School in 1934 and won a scholarship to the Northwest Academy of Art. Bored there, and short of money as were so many Americans during the Depression, he found work on the New Deal's National Youth Photographic Project and eventually served on the Federal Arts Project, where he received a crash course in art, literature and music.
During those tough days, he also worked as a laborer on what is now Seattle Center's Memorial Stadium. Digging ditches and hauling rock gave him an appreciation of the dignity of the working class, an understanding that helped shape his entire life's work and made him the Northwest's first social-realist painter.
In 1941, a serious case of tuberculosis landed him in a sanitarium. During his long hospitalization he read voraciously, sampling the great literature of the world as well as the political thoughts of Marx, Lenin and Engels. Like so many intellectuals of the period, he thought that Communism offered a sound alternative to the Fascist juggernaut that was overwhelming Europe.
After World War II, Cumming resigned his Party membership, but he never gave up his respect for the common man or his commitment to social justice. When asked today about his social intentions as a painter, he rejects the notion that he is trying to make a political point. His goal, he says, is to create subjects that people can relate to. There are, however, lessons in social history that would be hard to miss.
Some of his most arresting works depict laborers and men out of work late in the Depression. These solemn-faced, flat figures done in a muted palette seem to reflect the desperation of the time. Cumming was the first Northwest artist whose subjects included both whites and African-Americans. To this day he paints Americans of every hue.
Throughout his career he has portrayed people doing things: working, playing, walking, riding. Much of his work is a study in motion. One of the best examples of this is the four-panel "Structural Steel Shop" done in 1978. In this depiction of a factory, a group of workers seems to come alive as they process the steel. The viewer can almost see them moving about.
Cumming's modern canvases explode in color. Children play, families walk together in harmony, exotic nude women are placed against vibrant backgrounds. The contrast between these paintings and those of the 1940s is extraordinary. Another feature of his modern work is the fact that his figures are faceless. They are real people, doing real things, but are shown as universal figurers - everyman and every-woman.
There is much to appreciate in this exhibition. I only wish that it had been hung in a fashion that was a little more viewer friendly. The signage would suggest that this is a chronological exploration of the artist's work, and in some ways it is. We begin with the earliest works on paper and end with many of the most recent paintings. But in between, works from various decades are placed side by side, sometimes for aesthetic purposes, sometimes apparently for thematic reasons that aren't clearly defined.
There appears to be no consistency, and as a result, the presentation doesn't work for me. That's too bad, because this is an important exhibition. It does, after all, encapsulate 70 years of a central strand of Northwest art.
It also represents the collegial nature of the relationship among the region's museums. The Seattle Art Museum, Museum of Northwest Art, Portland Art Museum, Henry Art Gallery, Tacoma Art Museum and others were willing to lend items. Some, like the Seattle Art Museum did extensive conservation on the loaned pieces, so that viewers see them in pristine condition.
From his ink sketches to his dazzling, color-soaked oil and tempera paintings, Cumming has captured the patterns of our lives, especially as they are lived in the Northwest. Growing up, growing old, facing adversity, reveling in play - it's all there. So, too, is the history of a century of realism as Cumming, in his works, pays homage to the great artists who influenced him.
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"William Cumming: The Image of Consequence" runs through Dec. 31 at the Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave. Telephone 622-9250. There is no admission charge.
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