The fall 2022 exhibit at the Ashby-Hodge Gallery of American Art, on the campus of Central Methodist University, will open on September 4 and feature a prominent classical abstractionist who spent time living in Missouri. The works of Vincent Campanella will be featured in Gallery Three, alongside art from The Bingham Trail and by Central alumna Edna Schenk ’35 in the other two galleries.
Campanella was born in New York City in 1915 and was considered an artistic prodigy early in his life, encouraged by his family to train in classic art school. In the 1930s, as an artist with the Depression Era Works Progress Administration, he moved to Wyoming, where his art began to evolve amidst the wide-open vistas. He later returned to New York but then moved west again, this time to Kansas City. There, he taught at the Art Institute and later at Park University, where he stayed until his retirement.
While living in Kansas City, Campanella met the famed Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton. The two developed a friendship, albeit a bumpy one, and Campanella came to possess more than 150 of Benton’s works throughout his life. One of the pieces to be featured in the fall show is Campanella’s 1973 oil painting of Benton (at right).
Campanella’s work was featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout the country in the ’40s and ’50s. In 1980, after 28 years at the school, Campanella retired from Park with Emeritus distinction. He died in Austin, Texas in 2001.
In addition to Campanella’s art, the fall show will play host to works by George Caleb Bingham from the Bingham Trail art tour in Gallery Two, along with A Retrospective of the Edna Schenk ’35 Collection in Gallery One.
The show will run from Sunday, September 4 to Thursday, November 10. The Gallery’s hours are 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Appointments are also available by request at 660-248-6304 or by emailing curator Denise Haskamp at dhaskamp@centralmethodist.edu.