Daniel Garber: Success

 

"The Valley - May, 1930" by Daniel Garber

"A vision of Daniel Garber hard at work at  "Cuttalossa" must lie behind any presentation of the successes that began to unfold soon after he settled there. In the spring of 1909 his painting 'Horses' was awarded the first Hallgarten Prize at the national Academy of Design. This triumph was closely followed by an invitation to join the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy, a sure sign of his arrival in establishment circles. By the end of 1910 he had won awards at all five of the major national 'salons': the Carnegie Institute, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Academy of Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In addition, he received a prize at the exhibition of the Art Club of Philadelphia, won international recognition in Buenos Aires, gained membership in three national art associations based in New York and enjoyed a joint show with the sculptor Charles Grafly at St. Botolph's Club in Boston.

The speed of Garber's acceptance in 1909-1910 depended on two things: the evident quality of his painting and the machinery of the American Art establishment. Both his figure and landscape work displayed exactly the right mix of technical competence, stylistic progressiveness, and sheer beauty. His connections from the Cincinnati and Pennsylvania Academies to the New Hope Impressionists and the younger realists in the stable of Macbeth Gallery guaranteed his acceptance in many quarters. His central position at the Pennsylvania Academy made for a good start.Two of his Academy pictures were invited to a 'Special Exhibition of Modern American Painters' at the Art Club of Philadelphia where they hung in company with works by Weir, Hassam, Redfield, Chase, Tarbell, Anshutz, Paxton, Melchers and Homer. 

Understanding the power of the system, he submitted his work to every imaginable exhibition. In addition to endless touring exhibitions organized by the American Federation of Arts, the system of selection-by-invitation put Garber's paintings before the public with a speed and extensiveness unknown in the nineteenth century. After 1914, when he was appointed to his first exhibition jury and began to perpetuate the system himself, 'no other PAFA faculty member served on as many art juries or exhibited as widely as Mr. Garber.'"

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.)