Louis Grell Foundation

"Showcasing the Legacy of Artist Louis Frederick Grell"



MARQUEE magazine Q-3 2014 Theatre Historical Society of America

Category : News · No Comments August 5, 2014

MARQUEE magazine is HERE!  The Third Quarter issue of the Theatre Historical Society of America’s theatre magazine is dedicated to Louis Grell and his Theatre mural work across America.

Visit   http://www.historictheatres.org/product/2014-marquee-vol-46-3/    to purchase your copy today for $5!

Marquee Q3 2014 Louis Grell cover small

“JUDGMENT OF PARIS” BY LOUIS GRELL 1937 OIL

Category : News · No Comments June 15, 2014
“JUDGMENT OF PARIS” BY LOUIS GRELL 1937 OIL

It is recounted that Zeus held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (parents of Achilles). However, Eris, goddess of discord was not invited, for she would…

Grell on Nebraska Public TV

Category : Events, News · No Comments May 18, 2014

It is official, the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) produced video Discovering Louis Grell: vision & versatility will be aired on Nebraska Public Television NET2 World and streaming on their website.

Channel NET 2 Air dates:

Thursday June 19 at 8:30 PM, Sunday June 22 at 2:30 PM, Thursday June 26, 6:30 PM and Sunday June 29 at 12:30 PM.  Check you local listings for channel NET2.

If you live in Nebraska or Eastern Colorado you can watch it live on your TV, otherwise the video will be accessible On Demand at    http://netnebraska.org/basic-page/television/live-demand   Click the “On Demand” tab.

Please enjoy the documentary.  Producer and director B. J. Huchtemann from UNO TV has put a great deal of time into making this happen.  Thank you, BJ.

New Grell Discoveries

Category : News · No Comments May 12, 2014

Several new discoveries of Grell’s former handiwork have emerged in recent weeks primarily due to the St. Louis Union Station mural articles and the Chicago Tribune article regarding the Theatre Historical Society of America opening its new research center in Elmhurst, IL.   In addition to Birth of Electricity featured on our home page and in this news section, many others have surfaced.

During a recently completed $66 million renovation at Union Station in St. Louis, a large mural from 1942 was discovered by construction workers titled Commerce on the Landing reported in roughly 30 papers from St. Louis to San Fransico, New York and Washington DC.  After 30 years in hiding, the mural was discovered walled-in a storage closet in the basement of the large train station.  It is being conserved in St. Louis and plans are to hang it high above a ticket counter in the Grand Hall of the famed station replicating its former glory above the train ticket counter where 100,000 passengers saw it daily during the height of the war.  Simply Google “St. Louis Union Station mural” to read many of the articles that are still active.  Most St. Louis news agencies featured the story and it was covered on at least two nightly TV news broadcasts where it was then picked up nationally by; the New York Post featured the video of the discovery, The Washington Times ran the entire article, the San Francisco Gate featured the story as did most major cities across Missouri.  Others in Indiana and Illinois covered the story.

In Southern Illinois, the widow of a former student of Grell’s contacted us regarding a large oil that she and her husband acquired back in the late 1970’s from the Romano Gallery at Tree Studios.  Apparently, former Illinois Governor James “Big Jim” Thompson made a significant offer for the large painting, however, the former student wanted it more.  The painting titled Judgement of Paris, pictured below, is part of a series of ten different mythological scenes painted by Grell over his lifetime and is from 1937.  Thanks to the current owner, we have learned that our Neptune (1956) is part of the same series and may be number ten.  Apparently, in the late 1970’s all ten were on display in Romano’s gallery after the artist passed in 1960 and his wife Friedl moved out of Tree Studios in 1968.Garden of Eden 2

On a larger scale, another new mural discovery has come to our attention.  Located somewhere in the midwest hangs, in a large palatial home, a mural titled The Great Wonder Carnival.  Grell not only painted the Wonder Ballroom of America, the Aragon Ballroom (1926) in Chicago and the Wonder Theatre of America, the Chicago Theatre (1921), he apparently also painted the Wonder Carnival of America.  This work is strikingly similar to Grell’s later work and is oil on canvas and measures approximately seven feet by twelve feet.

Birth of Electricity

Category : News · No Comments May 11, 2014
Birth of Electricity

Birth of Electricity is a new discovery for the Louis Grell Foundation as of March 2014.  This large painting was purchased…

Grell mural discovered in St. Louis

Category : News · No Comments March 17, 2014

Louis Grell Mural Discovery-page-001Louis Grell Mural Discovery-page-003

Richard Grell’s Labor of Love

Category : News · No Comments February 17, 2014

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Photos taken by Ali Peterson

 

New research center helps preserve history of movie palaces

Category : News · No Comments February 1, 2014

The following article mentions Richard Grell and the Louis Grell art exhibition.

By Annemarie Mannion, Chicago Tribune reporter

Tucked in offices above the glowing bulbs of the York Theatre’s art deco-style marquee in Elmhurst, a tiny association works to document the history of movie palaces that once stood as focal points of Chicago neighborhoods and suburban downtowns.

The Theatre Historical Society of America, founded in 1969, relied on volunteers and one paid staff member for years. In the last 18 months, that has changed. Today, four professionals staff the facility, and research fellowships attract scholars from across the country to learn more about the history and cultural influence of movie houses.

The society, supported mostly by membership dues for years, was in danger of shutting down as interest declined.

“For a long time we were a nostalgia-based organization,” said Rick Fosbrink, executive director. “People were there to remember about their time as ushers.”

Some early society members, the ones who brought firsthand recollections of the local landmarks, died, leaving large bequests that kept the society going and helped support marketing efforts to increase membership. Those gifts also have reinvigorated the mission of the museum, which archives information about picture palaces that once thrilled audiences with exotic architecture, uniformed ushers, larger-than-life murals, crystal chandeliers, ornate plaster domes and velvet drapes.

“We had to shift away from just being a collector of stuff to an organization that educates the public,” Fosbrink said.

A renovated research center unveiled this month adds room for visiting scholars and staff who used to labor in cramped conditions to understand the impact of the movie palace and the film industry on American culture, history, commerce, architecture and decorative arts.

“Previously if someone was doing research, it was hard for staff to work. Everybody was in one room and everything (in the collection) was in other rooms,” Fosbrink said.

The 900-member society’s archive contains millions of items, some of which are still in boxes and have not been cataloged because of a lack of time and resources.

With information about 16,000 theaters, it is a treasure-trove for scholars and enthusiasts who seek architectural plans, blueprints, documents, photographs, news accounts, dioramas, ads, models, posters and artifacts.

“The reason the movie palaces stayed so popular is because of their indelible architecture that you can’t replicate or replace very cheaply,” said Ross Melnick, assistant professor of film and media studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. “They are timepieces from the 1920s and 1930s. Once you tear them down, they are gone forever.”

As a recipient of a theater society fellowship, Melnick spent a week last year in Elmhurst researching a book about theaters built overseas in cities such as Havana and Kolkata, India. Those movie palaces thrived as American ones declined after an antitrust ruling in the 1940s that caused film companies to divest themselves of the theaters they owned.

The decline of movie palaces was hastened by the introduction of TV, but Melnick said they were an icon of American culture long after their heyday.

Theatergoers reveled in the structures that were often the most luxuriously appointed public places they could easily access in their town, whether it was in the flatlands of Nebraska or a palm tree-shaded street in Miami. The picture palaces promised escape.

“The fantasy was that you’d be queen or king for a night, for 25 cents,” Melnick said.

As the single-screen theaters fell into disrepair, some closed or were demolished. A few were restored and repurposed for live entertainment while others sit shuttered awaiting a similar transformation. A few continue to show movies.

“A community’s movie theater was often a social center for the community,” said Willis Johnson, owner of eight historic theaters. He bought his first one, the Tivoli in Downers Grove, in the 1970s and believes theaters keep business districts thriving.

The new research center is named in honor of Johnson and his wife, Shirley, funders of the renovation. They also own the Classic Cinemas chain, including the building where the society is located. Fosbrink declined to say how much the renovation cost but said it was significant.

The society’s archives, Willis Johnson said, are valuable for restoring those social centers that may have been altered or remodeled to the point that their original state is a mystery.

“It’s got both a historic and an economic benefit,” said Nancy Baker, city planner for Woodstock, where an ornate plaster dome was uncovered during renovation of the Woodstock Theater, also owned by Johnson.

She’s thrilled to have a theater that mixes old and new downtown.

“It has been on Main Street a long time, and it looks like it has. Visually, historically and aesthetically, it’s a landmark,” Baker said.

Founded by Ben M. Hall, a historian and author of a book commemorating America’s movie palaces, “The Best Remaining Seats,” the society’s collection was first kept in private homes. In the 1970s it was moved to the University of Notre Dame. In the early 1980s, it was sent to a church in Chicago and then in 1991 to Elmhurst.

The fellowships, launched last year, create research opportunities for people like Melnick and Richard Grell, who sought answers after a friend sent him information that indicated his great-uncle, Louis Grell, painted unsigned murals in the Chicago Theatre.

“The family rumors were that he was an art professor, that he painted the Chicago Theatre and that Walt Disney was one of his students,” said Richard Grell. “All of that was true, but there was so much more.”

The research yielded enough material for an exhibit and 25-minute documentary “Discovering Louis Grell: Vision and Versatility.” The exhibit and documentary were unveiled Jan. 17 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha Art Gallery.

“I came away with images — actual images of what he did,” said Richard Grell of his visit to the society. “Their collection was incredible. My days in Elmhurst were my most significant.”

See more at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/elmhurst/ct-movie-theater-museum-elmhurst-met-20140130,0,6707264.story

Art exhibition features works from Council Bluffs native Louis Grell

Category : News · No Comments January 27, 2014

By , KIOS News

An exhibition of works by a Council Bluffs native opens next Friday at UNO.

Credit Louis Grell Foundation
“Discovery,” a mural by Louis Grell.

It’s called “Discovering Louis Grell: American Muralist.” Grell was born in 1887 in Council Bluffs and died in 1960. His murals appear in places such as the Chicago Theatre, Union Station in St. Louis, and the Times Square Paramount in New York City.

His grand-nephew, Richard Grell, says the paintings in the UNO exhibition are from the family’s collection.

“He was mostly known as a muralist, but you’re going to find family portraits there, you’ll see landscapes, fantasy-type paintings, and you’re going to see a lot of mural studies that ended up in our family, that he would send to our family over the years. So everything’s coming from the Louis Grell extended family.”

Grell hopes the exhibition will become part of a larger project showcasing his grand-uncle’s works.

The exhibition will be open at the UNO Art Gallery through February 20th. Richard Grell will also give a lecture on January 23rd about Louis Grell’s work. More information is available at www.unomaha.edu.

See more at http://kios.org/post/art-exhibition-features-works-council-bluffs-native-louis-grell

Louis Grell’s work to be on display at UNO Art Gallery

Category : News · No Comments January 22, 2014

By Kirby Kaufman / World-Herald News Service

Six pieces by Louis Grell, an artist and Council Bluffs native, were moved last week from the Pottawattamie County Courthouse to be displayed at the UNO Art Gallery in Omaha.

Those works — which include three paintings, two drawings and one mural — will be a part of an exhibit at the University of Nebraska at Omaha that also will feature a student documentary about Grell. The display runs from Jan. 17 to Feb. 20. The pieces will return to the courthouse following the UNO exhibit.

Grell, who died in 1960, is known for his 20th-century murals that have been displayed in national landmarks such as the Times Square Paramount in New York City, the Netherland Plaza Hotel in Cincinnati and the Chicago Theatre.

The artist’s grand-nephew, Richard Grell, said his relative also emphasized art education.

“Louis was an art educator most of his career,” Richard Grell said.

Richard Grell, a member of the Louis Grell Foundation, actively searches for more information about his great-uncle in an effort to find undiscovered murals and paintings. The foundation was created to collect, archive, preserve and exhibit the work of Louis Grell.

In 1916, Louis Grell worked as an instructor at the Academy Fine Arts in Chicago. Six years later, he became a teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago where he taught various design and illustration courses.

Louis Grell won many awards including the Harry Frank and the Municipal Art League prizes. His work was exhibited 25 times at the Art Institute of Chicago.

For UNO students, the gallery was the result of a semester-long class that taught art curation, said Charley Reed, the university’s media relations coordinator.

The class cataloged more than 60 original works of Louis Grell and offered opportunities to work under the guidance of numerous professional art professors and curators in the Council Bluffs and Omaha metro area.

“It’s a great educational opportunity for students to learn about a nationally recognized artist,” Richard Grell said. “It helps students put together a show using his collection.”

See more at http://www.omaha.com/article/20140116/NEWS/140119057/1694#uno-students-learn-curating-bluffs-native-louis-grell-gets-his-due