Martha Glogau (1925 – 2003)

Spring, c. late 1940s, oil on canvas, 26 x 16 inches, label verso with title, original price, and artist's name

$3750

Spring is an early work, likely from the late 1940s, in which Martha Glogau simplifies landscape, architectural and other man-made forms to create a mysterious, almost Magic Realist, background for a group of girls playing in the backyard of a home. The colorful, partially abstract composition offers a narrative that is hard to make out and leaves the viewer with the impression that there is more than meets the eye. In his review of a two-person exhibition at the Bush Art Museum, Oregon artist and critic wrote approvingly about Martha Glogau’s “provocative and challenging” work, “the paintings have sensuous resonant surfaces, a subtle ecstasy in color that is an integral part of her ideas and concepts. . .To enjoy Martha Glogau’s work in the deepest sense one must seek to discover the symbolic context of her chosen creative simplicities. We will find that the beautifully wrought paintings and sculpture have more to offer than what is seen and Mrs. Glogau I know wills and wishes this to be so.”

Martha Glogau was an American painter and sculptor. Born in New York, Glogau graduated with a BFA degree from Cornell University in 1948, where her early works won praise from critics and first prize in the annual juried student art exhibition in 1947, and a 1948 work was selected for exhibition at the Addison Gallery of American Art which then toured to other venues across the United States. Glogau remained in New York for several years after graduation and was a member of the Ithaca Art Association. She then served as an art instructor at the recently founded Marlboro College in Vermont, where she also exhibited, and attended Cranbrook Academy of Art. Glogau moved to Oregon in 1953 when her husband, Arthur, accepted a position at the Oregon College of Education. She exhibited widely during the following two decades participating in juried group shows at the Henry Art Gallery, Portland Art Museum, Museum of Art at Eugene, Oregon State University, and Salem Art Museum. Glogau won third prize in the 1959 competition for a large mural at the Portland Zoo. In 1962, one of her sculptures won an award at the Oregon State Fair and was featured in the French art publication La Review Moderne. She was honored with solo or two-person exhibitions at Linfield College (1954), Bush House Museum (1956-57), and Oregon State University’s Kidder Hall Gallery (1961), She was one of six artists selected for inclusion in a 1963 film by Nathan Sandgren featuring painters and sculptors developing their themes and processes. Commercially, she exhibited at Showcase Gallery (Palo Alto), Johnson’s Stairwell Gallery and Window Gallery (Salem), as well as other venues along the West Coast.