August 2006 Page 11

> EANGER IRVING COUSE and BOUGUEREAU IN TULSA
The Philbrook Museum of Art, where I once took Docent training, has originated an exhibition titled "In the Studios of Paris: William Bouguereau and his American Students," set to open there September 17th and closing December 31st. Curator of the exhibition will be the Philbrook's own James Peck. For those within driving distance of Philbrook, this show is not one to miss since the influence of Bouguereau on many late 19th - early 20th century American painters was quite remarkable; among them COUSE, Henry O. TANNER, Arthur Wesley DOW and Robert HENRI.

COUSE is of special interest to me because of his playing a major role in regionalist developments both in Saginaw, Michigan (his birthplace) and among the Taos Society of artists, his eventual primary residence. The Couse Foundation maintains his Taos home and studio for visits (505.751.0369 or 520.298.4535) and his granddaughter, Virginia Couse Leavitt, has just completed re-writing the landmark 1991 catalog "Eanger Irving Couse: Image Maker for America," and continues with a much-updated catalogue raissonne. Couse was among his mentor's most successful students.

Quite coincidentally, yesterday I was able to acquire an excellent small acrylic abstract landscape study of the Philbrook's famous lower gardens (recently restored to full splendor) painted by a gifted Baxter Springs, KS artist WOODY STEVENS.

Paris was, of course, to New York what New York later became to most of the rest of America; a key catalyst for monumental aesthetic change and training still being felt today. Anyone who craves traditional or classical figurative art, especially from the late 19th - early 20th century should make a point of seeing this show. It will also appear in Ocala, FL at the Appleton Museum of Art, and in Pittsburgh, PA at the Frick in 2007.

http://www.philbrook.org
leavitt@gainusa.com (For copies of the revised Couse catalog)