Art Collection

Robert Ault (Artist)

Savior

1965

Horizontal image made almost entirely of vertical lines, with a head and torso portrait of a man in the bottom right. Colors are in black, blues, browns, creams, a little red. The man wears a hat and shirt that suggest some kind of uniform.

Glenda Taylor

White Solo Bloom Open

2013-2014

Round, paper-thin bowl made of small flat pieces of white porcelain pressed together. Each piece of porcelain has rough edges like torn paper. The bowl has a small round stand with a flared top. Currently on display in the Topeka Room.

Gesine Janzen

Summer Project #1

2003

Large brown wooded fence in the middle of the print (looks like a planter box); smaller green fences/planter boxes in the upper left and right corners of the print; plaid background; strips made of light brown and pale blue wood-grain texture. Production notes list light grey - aluminum lithograph plate; Sienna Brown - aluminum lithograph plate; brown - aluminum lithograph plate; green - wood block; black - wood block. All five elements originated as wood blocks cut by the artist. Three colors were transferred to lithograph plates and printed on a direct pressure flatbed press. The green and black elements were printed on an etching press. Printed on Okawara paper. A Lawrence Lithography Workshop edition. Currently on display in the Administration Lobby, second floor of the library.

Larry Peters (Artist)

untitled

2003

Round, thin-walled bowl, warm brown glossy interior, matte cream exterior with green brushed gloss glaze and brown drips from edge. Currently on display in the Topeka Room.

AlBo Glass (Artist)

Raspberry Vase

2004

Raspberry glass vase, wide shoulders and narrow bottom, with wide lip and clear foot, translucence turns milky for interior. Currently on display in the Topeka Room.

Keith Anden Achepohl (Artist)

Prairie Song

2001-2002

Orange-ish tone printed in brown ink with watercolor; a closeup of prairie grains and seeds with leaves and grasses. Line etching and aquatint. Background field is open acid bite (or feather bite) on galvanized metal. Handmade paper is round and made in Venice, Italy.

Jack Edwin Wright (Artist)

vase

ca. 1995

Ceramic vase, with small manipulated neck and mouth; brown, brown black, red, (faint orange rust) colors cover vase; browns, reddish brown tiger marks at neck and bottom. Currently on display in the Topeka Room.

Jim Butler (Artist)

Mirage

1980

Lithographic bleed print on grey paper with deckled edges, soft luminous abstract image, architectural in nature, in soft greens, blues, oranges and yellows. All are blurred.

Chickering & Sons (Manufacturer)

square grand piano

1871

Heavy rectangular grand piano, heavy-appearing, rectangular sound box with rounded corners. Four thick, heavy cabriole legs, carved with acanthus leaves. Wood is mahogany or rosewood with a dark finish. Typical form, having 85 keys, fully operational. On display in the Topeka Room.

Artist Unknown

table

late 1800s

Center table, Rococo Revival style, attributed to Italian manufacture. Carved by hand of mahogany. Top has an acanthus leaf border with a shield and medallion at each end. Inset center board may be a replacement for a marble top. Skirt has a female face on each side. Eight legs connected with bow stretches. A gargoyle face over a vertical row of bellflowers on each leg. On display in the Topeka Room.

Artist Unknown

pharmacy window from Chester Woodward home

ca. 1870s-1880s

Ornate stained glass window, two women on either side. The woman on the left holds a plate of fruits and foods, and represents homeopathic and natural medicine. The woman on the right holds a caduceus, the symbol of modern and contemporary medicine. Former Library Board member Chester Woodward moved this window from Brynwood, the Brinton Woodward family home in Lawrence at 14th and Louisiana (now razed) to their Topeka home at 1272 Fillmore. This window is from the west end of the Woodward library, a 25 by 40 foot room, patterned after the library of Sir Walter Scott at Abbottsford, Scotland. A circular stairway leads to a balcony, which extends across two sides of the room. This window was like that used in English cathedrals of the Tudor period. The Woodward home is now a bed and breakfast. The window was a gift of the Woodward family to the library. It is permanently on display in the Special Collections/Genealogy Room of the Topeka Room. This is permanently installed in the building as part of the Topeka Room/Special Collections Room.

Artist Unknown

secretary book case

ca. 1867

Tall secretary/book case, with drop front desk. Inlaid leather writing surface. Glass doors on book case or cabinet section with ornate curvilinear trim that is similar to trim on paneled doors below desk. In 1941, the large oval table (1998.013) and bookcase/secretary (1998.018) were presented to the Mulvane Library for Boys and Girls. These walnut pieces came from the W. A. L. Thompson estate, and were given by the Thompsons' daughter and son, Mrs. Harry W. Donaldson and Roy S. Thompson. The table has heavy intricately carved legs and four large drawers. The bookcase/secretary has upper double glass doors and wooden doors below. The center section has a drop-front writing ledge. Behind the writing area are small drawers and compartments. The furniture was given to Ida S. Smith by her father, Jacob Smith, when she married W. A. L. Thompson in 1876. Mr. Smith was a well-known farmer and businessman in the community, and was secretary-treasurer of the Thompson Hardware Co. On display in the Topeka Room.

Frank Herschede Co.

Tall grandfather clock

ca. 1800s

Tall case clock, brass and steel ornate face. Gold face, Big Ben chimes, once used in the Mulvane Library for Boys and Girls. This clock, ordered from Tiffany's in Chicago, was presented to Mr. and Mrs. Joab Mulvane by their children, on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary in 1908. The mahogany cased clock has a brass face and "Big Ben" chimes that sound the quarter hour, half hour and hour. This lovely timepiece was presented to the Mulvane Library for Boys and Girls by Harriosn S. Morgan, a son-in-law of the Mulvane family, in 1943. The David Mulvane home was given to the Free Public Library in 1933 and was used as the Mulvane Library for Boys and Girls from 1939 until it was sold to the state in 1959. The house was subsequently razed to provide space for a parking lot adjacent to the Supreme Court building. On display in the Topeka Room.

Richard W. Dishinger (Artist)

Sticky Fingers

1991

Three figures in black and white, a male on the left, a woman with a hat in the center and a woman with a purse and box at the right.

Marko Fields (Artist)

teapot

1996

Teapot with a heavily incised brown body, cream colored handle and spout and lid handle. Top is made with a band of silver, with part of lid also silver, including sterling silver and nickel silver.

Pauline Shirer (Artist)

Winter Evening

ca. 1950s-1970

Scene of a two-story, gabled house at dusk. Pine trees near house, elm in foreground with white trees on each side. Soft blue overall color with peach-tinted highlights.

Glenda Taylor (Artist)

Desert Orb

1990

Globe or gourd shape altered with vertical creases. Unglazed buff in color with small areas of greys and two small areas of pale apple green. Currently on display in the Topeka Room.

George Timock (Artist)

vessel form

1987

Volcanic-appearing vessel form with striated patterns on the outside. Inside is copper red with one upper rim (thin) in a deep copper blue. Has a small base with mounting hole. Body flares out towards the top and interior is cone-shaped.

Philip Hershberger (Artist)

Apples or Tomatoes

1984

Room interior with oblique view of a dining table, with two boxes below the table on the floor. One box contains small round fruit with hints of red. Table is tan, floor is blue-grey/ Table top is in the upper portion of the composition.

Mark Ralston (Artist)

untitled

1983

Thin raku fired bowl form with a basket or net-like texture on the interior and exterior surfaces. Exaggerated, uneven rim height. Colors range from black to tan to white. Currently on display in the Topeka Room.

Albert Turner Reid

portrait of a woman

ca. 1900

Portrait of a young woman dressed in a long coat, and hat with a blue ribbon and blue scarf. Her right arm is held out to the side, toward the left, and forward, holding an umbrella point down. She is looking straight ahead.

George M. Stone (Artist)

David Hanson Moore

early 1900s

Portrait (head and shoulders) of a man in a purplish suit, white shirt, no tie; has a beard and wavy brown hair. On the back of the painting: "David Hanson Moore. Born in South Berwick Me. in 1827. A shoe maker by trade, he together with a party of young men went to Calif. by the way Panama, in 1849. He accumulated quite a sack of gold dust in a few years, and returned to Maine around the horn, in a few years. He left Maine and came to Topeka when the town was first laid out, He was in the freighting business between Leavenworth and Denver, before the rail roads were built then between Leavenworth and Topeka. In 1865 he helped organize the Bank of Topeka, with John R. and Joab Mulvane being a member of the first board of directors. He was the father of Elva Moore Fernald, wife of Wm. H. Fernald. who died Apr. 20 1937. Painted from a photograph."

Mary Huntoon (Artist)

Fredda

1900s

Portrait of a woman resting her head on her propped up left palm of her hand. She wears a red dress. The word "fredda" is in the upper right. Topeka Art Guild records attribute this as Fredda Wright.

Jan Van Meter (Artist)

teapot

1978

Hexagonal sides that slant inward toward the top of the form. Short thrown neck, lid and spout. Strap handle curving from the back up over the lid to about 1" above the back lip of the spout. Vertical strap member joins handle to horizontal brace between spout and pot body. Pale transparent grey-green glaze on upper portion that runs down into a greenish-brown glaze at the bottom. Currently on display in the Topeka Room.

Merrell Gage (Artist)

untitled (maquette for "Pioneer Mother")

ca. 1936

Seated figure of a woman holding a baby in her left arm, with her right arm resting upon the seated figure of a boy who is reading a book. Her right arm is on his right shoulder. Across the woman's lap is a musket and at her left side is a large dog lying down with its head slightly in front of the woman's left foot. The patina is of a dark copper brown. Gage used his family as the models: his wife is the mother, his son is the boy reading their family Bible, the dog was their dog. The finished large version of this sculpture is on the Topeka Statehouse grounds. The State Capitol Memorial was completed in 1937.