A while ago, Rieta posted an old letter from William S. "Sumner" Copp, and
inquired
about who he was. I answered some of her questions about who the people mentioned
in the letter were -- and the rest of you can help figure out who the others
were. At that time I mentioned that I would later include some material that
my mother had from Sumner, a friend of hers from Nelson.
The folowing items were in an envelope, postmarked DEC 5, 7:30 PM, NEW YORK,
N.Y.; return address "Wm. Copp, 2427 Maclay [Maday?} Ave., Bronx, NYC" to my
parents, "Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Thompson".
One was a "program", about the size and configuration of a greeting card. On
the front, inside a decorative border in red ink, was, at the top, a painting
of a farmhouse surrounded by flood waters. Underneath, each line centered on
the page, was:
------ P A I N T I N G S ------
BY
WILLIAM COPP
AT
THE NORTON GALLERIES
108 EAST 57th STREET
NEW YORK CITY
EXHIBITION FROM NOV. 27 TO DEC. 13
-------1941-----
Inside, the left page (all 4 pages had the same red wingding border) was:
WILLIAM COPP was born in the Pennsylvania hills in 1891. He has been a
Farmer, School Teacher, Newspaper Reporter in New York City, Shipped on a tramp
steamer, fell overboard at Bermuda and attacked by sharks. He served on the
Mexican border in 1916 and became a commissioned officer during the World War.
At present and, for eight years, he has been an employee at one of the City
Prisons.
He is self-taught and all of his work is done out-of-doors.
The inside right page, has:
PAINTINGS
1. Bronx Park 14. Three Boys
2. Barrels 15. Symphony
3. Reflections 16. Late Afternoon
4. Creskill Banks 17. Red Barns
5. Morning 18. Atlantic City
6. Shacks 19. Shipyard
7. South Beach 20. Ghost Sun
8. Pond 21. At Gloaming
9. Woodland 22. Foundry
10. Lake Hiawatha 23. Vermont
11. Bronx Parkway 24. Scrawny Trees
12. Hudson Vista 25. Suburban
13. Edgewater
All 12 x 16 $30.00 All 16 x 20 $45.00
All 25 x 30 $75.00 All 30 x 40 $100.00
[I presume "Edgewater" is the one shown on the cover, because there is only
a narrow strip of grasses or field in the foreground before the floodwaters.]
Back cover, has:
The Passing of Autumn
Autumn still lingered and squandered her gold;
Drew from her garments, fold on fold,
Kerchiefs of red, garnet and amber,
Zircon and jade and turquoise and jasper-
With which she waved a last goodbye
Ere departing with face awry;
Lined and wrinkled, a saddened old hag
With crutch and cane and empty bag.
FROM THE EPIC
"The Deserted Farm"
BY
WILLIAM COPP
Also in the envelope was a page from the New York Sun, Friday, December 5, 1941.
An article by critic Melville Upton, titled "Native Artists, New and Old: Comment
on Various Gallery Displays of Art" reviewed several artits' shows. The portion
of interest to us, reads:
'The American spirit of another and more familiar order is revealed in the career
and paintings of William Copp, who is having an exhibition of his work at the
Newton Gallery, 108 East 57th street. Mr. Copp, who is native-born, suggests
those rugged spirits of the earlier half of the nineteeth century, who like
Chester Harding, "slept with his boots on, like Michaelangelo," as Homer St.
Gaudens puts it, and went far into the wilds, bearing the torch of art. For
Mr. Copp has been a farmer, school teacher, newspaper reporter, has gone to
sea, ben washed overboard and attacked by sharks. For the last eight years
he has lead the comparatively uneventful life of an employee in the city prisons.
Just when he began to paint is not revealed. However, he is self-taught and
does all his work from nature. For all that he is nothing of the primitive
of the John Kane type, but a sturdy realist who has apparently kept his eyes
open in the city's art galleries. Some see a likeness to Van Gogh in his canvasses.
But on the whole, this seems a trifle fanciful. He doesn't paint with the knowledge
and technical adroitness of the professional, but manages to get on canvass
with a forthright vigor his impressions of things in the outdoor world that
impress him. "Creskill Banks", "Red Barn" and "Ghost Sun"
appear to represent him to the greatest advantage.'
[Apparently critic Upton religed on the program for the biographical items.]
Across the bottom of the page from the newspaper is written:
"The other N.Y. papers are giving me good writeups
S."
Here, on the mail list, you can't see fonts, type sizes, etc. Later on, I'll
submit it to Joyce Tice's Tri-County web site, where all of those aspects, and
the picture of the painting, can be incorporated. Then give the original items
to the TCHS.