The Late Winter Auction

Stories in American Art

Live and Online | March 2025

An exciting mix of original works by foremost American painters from the first half of the 20th century, along with lithographs, woodcuts, drypoints and etchings from the Golden Age of American printmaking.

The idea that a picture is worth a thousand words is nothing new. Picasso spoke to this when he said “Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.” Rod Stewart even belted it out in his song Every Picture Tells a Story – adding “Don’t it?” to the refrain. Clearly an art auction filled with pictures will have stories to tell. But this one is shaping up to offer more than we expected.

One example is the story of Ron Slowinski (1942-2023). Ron was an instructor at the Kansas City Art Institute for 39 years, and a studio painter for nearly 60. But the best part is how Ron’s deep knowledge of things like Buddhism, Native American mysticism or exotic cultures (to name just a few) manifested on his canvases. Ron’s compelling story is such that we’ll attempt to scratch the surface of who Ron was with a pre-auction gallery talk given by Gaylord Torrence, Ron’s close friend of more than 30 years. A mini-exhibition of Slowinski paintings for auction will be included.

Another unexpected turn is the appearance in this auction of a painting by the artist Albert Bloch (1882-1961). Works by Bloch don’t often appear at auction. Only one was offered last year, and two the year before. But the real zinger here is the enduring mystery of this enigmatic artist who chose to settle in Kansas. To paraphrase filmmaker Tim De Paepe: Albert Bloch is perhaps the most famous American Midwest regionalist painter you never heard of. From what we know about Albert Bloch, he would be fine with that. He’d experienced considerable recognition as a groundbreaking Modernist painter in the Blue Rider Group of Munich’s avantgarde art scene during the years leading up to and just after WWI. He shrugged off that acclaim, something most artists struggle to achieve but never do, and chose instead a quiet life writing poetry and painting in the attic of his home on Alabama Street in Lawrence, where he taught at the University of Kansas. The dichotomous life of Albert Bloch has been the subject of books, film and exhibitions of his work. Each seems to produce almost as many questions as answers about the man. We’ll join the fray and attempt to tell you something about the mysterious Mr. Bloch as we present his published and exhibited oil on canvas from 1936 titled “Lawrence”, along with two very rare drypoint prints from his time in Germany.

Like Albert Bloch, the sculptor and teacher Richard Gillespie (1935-2021) was an instructor of art at the University of Kansas for more than two decades. He was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas and attended the Kansas City Art Institute in 1965. Black, welded, steel sculpture was Richard’s medium of choice. The bigger, darker, more mysterious, the better. In a review for the Kansas City Star, art critic Kate Hackman summed up three of Richard’s works from a 2002 exhibition at Dolphin Gallery, saying “…with economy of means, Gillespie imparts a potent, haunting vision.” Yet Richard and his pharaonic, transcendental iron sculptures are largely unknown. No wonder. He hated parting with or selling his work, and rarely did. He would back out of deals, or quote outrageous prices. Once, he gave a sculpture to his friend and fellow Stanford artist Matt McCoy, then took it back. His single significant transaction was to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art and according to Matt, Richard never stopped pondering on how he might get it back. This unusual approach to self-promotion leaves us with the happy task of finding and knitting together the story of this beloved teacher and mysterious artist. It promises to be a fascinating tale.