Daniel Garber: Passing of an Era

"Geddes Run, 1930" by Daniel Garber

"The faculty and students at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts had become polarized by the early twenties. One faction was headed by Daniel Garber, and the other by Henry McCarter and Arthur Carles. Quoting a popular saying from the period, Gardner remembers, 'There were two kinds of students at the Academy: one kind went to Paris, and the other went up the Delaware.' Recalling 'a good deal of snootiness' on the part of the 'Parisian' contingent, who 'looked down on us as hopelessly old-fashioned,' a student says that the two camps kept to themselves, and interacted rarely.

Even so Garber's own sense of beauty and craftsmanship never wavered in the slightest. The judging of the Cresson prizes in the spring and the selection of work for the annual exhibition each winter put his values on the line every year, and he was not silent when confronted by what he perceived as declining standards of drawing and workmanship. Later, he believed one of his heart failures 'was brought about by the distress he felt over the looks of the paintings presented to the jury of selection and awards.'

The division increased after WWII, when Abstract Expressionism gained the favor of the students and younger faculty. Traditional genres like portrait, still-life, figure and landscape were discredited as the emphasis fell on individual expression and innovation. Attendance in the once-crowded senior classes at the Academy dropped as the advanced students began to spend most of their time working alone in spaces that allowed for experimental techniques. It was at this time that Daniel Garber resigned from the Academy. A student remembered that 'He said he never told the Academy director his real reason for resigning, which was that he was bothered so when there were such a few students in the class that it caused his heart to act up.'

Pleading poor health, and probably recognizing the passing of art training as he had known it, Garber resigned in 1950, and assumed a position as Emeritus advisor. His retirement, coincidental with the closing of Chester Springs, marked the end of an era for the Academy."

To be continued

(Excerpts from Daniel Garber, 1880-1958: Exhibition, June 27 - August 24, 1980, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts" by Kathleen Foster.)