Of all the seeming ironies in Lack’s career, the best may have been saved for last. Today, in the twilight of his own painting, the face of history is turning once again to give his kind of work a second look. In fact, realism, arguably led by the classical style, is stronger than it’s been in 40 years. Small and even large museums are organizing popular shows around artists of the 19th century academy and the pre-Raphaelites. Take, for instance, “Exposed: The Victorian Nude,” currently showing at the Brooklyn Museum. The exhibit was brought over from the Tate in London—the same organizers as the MIA’s concurrently running “American Sublime.” Or the summer’s example at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, certainly a cultural arbiter of some repute, the largest exhibit ever of the work of Thomas Eakins, one of the nations most influential American painters of the late 19th century. While Eakins had the misfortune of living near the end of the realist era and thus was among those missing from much of modern art-history commentary, he has, like many of his contemporaries, been finally invited into the pantheon. Though no museum in New York has exhibited Eakins since 1970, Phillippe de Montebello, director of the Metropolitan, asserts, “Thomas Eakins is recognized as one of America’s foremost painters.” The summer also saw a recognition of American impressionist Edmund Tarbell at the Terra Museum of American Art in Chicago. Tarbell was a contemporary of Gammell’s, and a fellow leader of the Boston school.
Collectors seem to be paying attention as well. For the past two years they’ve been coming out in droves at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, turning what used to be thought of as second tier sales into highlights of the season. In fact, while the rest of the market remains heavily slumped, art from the turn of the last century is clearly on the rise, consistently pushing up estimates from one sale to the next. Works by William Bouguereau, the pre-modern artist the rest of the art world so dearly loved to hate, are fetching double and even triple what they were only five years ago. Some are fetching in the millions. In May 2000, his painting “Charity” sold for a record $3.45 million. This year “Saint Cecilia,” by Bouguereau’s contemporary John William Waterhouse, sold for more than $10 million. Clearly the realists have an abiding appeal to American collectors.
Even for the contemporary realist, the prospects are better than they’ve been in a long time. Tina Blondell, a Minneapolis artist who grew up learning her techniques in the museums of Italy, describes herself as a part of a broader trend, the new realism. “This is taking off all over the world,” says Blondell. “Look at Julie Heffernen. Her recent show in Chelsea was a huge success.” Indeed. Whatever the reason, and there are plenty of theories, realism is back on the walls of galleries across the county. But this time, classical realism is also getting some serious attention.
Students of Lack such as Steve Gjertson, James Childs, Charles Cecil, and Steven Levin are each finding a measure of acknowledgment that Gammell could barely have dreamed about. Levin is among a stable of more than 20 artists of the realist genre who show regularly at John Pence Gallery in San Francisco—a gallery dedicated to the genre for better than 25 years. Wicker ticks off another list, this time a selection of successful Lack graduates: Besides Gjertson, Levin, Bougie, and Cecil, there are Jeff Larson, Lisa Bormann, and Kirk Richards; Michelle Mitchell and Jim Oslan in Chicago; Carl Samson in Ohio; John Walker, Brian Lewis, and Jean Grapp in the Bay area; Alan Banks, Gary Hoffman, and Jim Childs in New York; Mark Balma in Italy; Kurt Anderson in Arizona. The list continues. Levin lends further perspective. “There is obviously more acknowledgment and, at the same time, there are a whole lot of talented painters coming out, and now more schools are also succeeding.” What he’s describing is something that sounds like a movement, something that has a future again, as well as a past.
So Richard Lack has a legacy—partly accidental, partly planned. His paintings have been widely collected, both publicly and privately, and his influence, if not pervasive, is an undeniable presence in the fabric of the tradition. His devotees are many and still growing. There are disciples to carry on the cause, as well as new ateliers, new galleries and curators to acknowledge the master’s hand. Now Lack can let the fire burn low. “I’m fortunate to have found a way to get some training and to give it. I myself have learned something about painting, and by teaching other kindred souls. What more do you want? You’ve got the collective mass culture and you have to relate to it as best you can, because it’s so powerful. But on the other hand, when you get away from that and get inside the studio and close your door, you’re still with your own heart. I can paint and let the world go by.”
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