Foreword
Carl Robert Holty (1900–1913) was that rare phenomenon in the art world—an articulate artist who revealed himself openly in his public speaking and writing, but never so freely and with so much facility as in private moments of conversation, letters, memoirs, and journals. The latter, particularly, are a remarkable record of an artist’s observations on himself, his art, other artists, and the art world as seen from the inside. This essay will draw on these papers, as well aa interviews, letters, reviews of his exhibitions, and—above all—the works, themselves, to present a multi-dimensional view of a great human being as well as artist.
The idea grew out of a personal friendship begun when I sought Holty’s aid for my dissertation on Mondrian in 1967. During the years of an acquaintanceship that was interrupted only by his death in 1973, the artist gave generously to me, in interviews and letters, not only his insights on Mondrian and other artists whom he had known but his own life and work. After his death, I became friends with his widow Elizabeth Holty, who allowed me access to the memoirs and journals from which so many of the artist’s statements in the text are taken. She also helped me to compile information on the works. Some of the reproductions are hers, but many are from a photographic record that I made of paintings and drawings in Holty’s studios and exhibitions between 1968 and 1971.
Although the artist did not achieve the national forum that he deserved, there has long existed a strong interest in him and his art among artists who knew him or students whom he taught, especially in the South. Holty spent long stints as artist-in-residence at the Universities of Georgia, Florida, and the University of Louisville, where he influenced many students and left many friends who still remember him with great affection and admiration; he maintained a special fondness for the South and his Southern friends. Those from over the country who knew and loved him agree that he should be better known; they have shared with me their recollections and memorabilia, of which excerpts are included here.
While I have pulled the material together, the same claim for it could be made as Ludwig Goldscheider made of his study on Leonardo (one of Holty’s heroes), that it was not a book of observations about that artist so much as one filled with his own observations. I will draw an obvious parallel with Goldsheider’s statement that: “The present work is not a book on Leonardo. It is rather a book by him.”1
I owe a considerable debt to Carl Holty in the expansion of my own knowledge, especially in my ability to “see” a painting. This effort is offered in grateful acknowledgement of the force of his life and work and in partial repayment of my debt to him.
- Ludwig Goldscheider, Leonardo da Vinci (London: Phaidon, 1944), 3.