Frances H. Gearhart: Color Block Prints in Wichita, 1922-1937 by Roger Genser

Master printmaker of the California landscape

Though not generally renowned as one of America’s art centers, Wichita, Kansas, played an important role in furthering the art of American printmaking in the early 20th century. Several skilled practitioners of the graphic arts resided in the area, and the Wichita Art Museum became a leader in staging print exhibitions, in particular color block prints. The Wichita Art Museum continues to put on excellent print shows to this day, including their exhibition of the work of Frances H. Gearhart in 2020. Gearhart (1869-1958) was not a Kansan but a Californian. She was, however, a member of the Prairie Print Makers and exhibited her prints often in Wichita’s annual color block print shows. The catalog to the Wichita Art Museum’s 2020 show, Frances H. Gearhart: Color Block Prints in Wichita, 1922-1937 was edited by curator Barbara Thompson, an art historian who specializes in Kansas’s printmaking scene. The text of the book was written by Roger Genser, a noted authority on Gearhart and her work.

Frances Gearhart was born in Illinois but raised in Pasadena, California, where she lived for the remainder of her life. She worked as a high school English teacher before devoting herself full-time to art. She and her two sisters, May and Edna, also artists, opened a gallery in Pasadena where they held print exhibitions. Like many great but lesser-known regional artists, there just isn’t a whole lot of extant information on Gearhart. The text of this book is not so much a biography as it is an expanded curriculum vitae compiled from mentions of Gearhart in exhibition catalogues, newspaper articles, and letters, to which Genser adds his informed analysis of Gearhart’s imagery and techniques. The record of her life is a little patchy, but for what little information there is on her it is nice to have it all in one attractive package.

Like just about everyone who has created color woodcuts in the last couple centuries, Gearhart was influenced by Japanese artists and employed their materials and methods. She developed a personal style, however, that was distinctly American and evocative of the work of the California Impressionist school of painters in Southern California that included William Wendt and Edgar Payne. Gearhart’s work also has an element of art nouveau in the sinuous lines she uses to express the natural beauty of the California landscape and color patterns reminiscent of Tiffany glass.

This book is loaded with beautiful color images of Gearhart’s prints, as well as a few of her watercolor paintings. As a designer of landscape images and a carver of wood and linoleum blocks, Gearhart was a master. It is evident from the images included, however, and somewhat surprising, that Gearhart was not a particularly fastidious printer. Like an impressionist, she doesn’t appear to be overly concerned with coloring in between the lines. Her registration is not precise, and her ink coverage was often spotty, resulting in prints that looked dashed off. Far from being a detriment, however, Gearhart’s prints are a reminder that the imperfections of the hand-crafted print contribute to the beauty and immediacy of the art form. Gearhart also freely experimented with color, resulting in variations that make each individual print a unique visual expression.

This book on Frances H. Gearhart is a slim volume of only about a hundred pages, but almost every page is graced with a beautiful color reproduction of her work. Books on Gearhart, unfortunately, are few and hard to find. This may not be the coffee-table retrospective she deserves, but kudos to the Wichita Art Museum for bringing this important artist’s work to our attention once again.

Prints by Frances H. Gearhart

October Splendor, c. 1930

Untroubled Waters, 1931

In Winter Regalia, c. 1934