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Paul
Travis
Painter
1891–1975
Paul
Travis was born in 1891 in a place called Wellsville, an isolated
rural corner of southeast
Ohio. A 19th-century farm boy educated in rustic schoolhouses, he
could easily have emulated those contemporaries who chose to pursue
agriculture for the remainder of their lives. But Travis had two
special talents-he could draw, and he could teach-and those skills
would propel him along a quite different path. Ultimately, they
would steer him into a celebrated artistic career, taking him from
the gentle green hills of the American Midwest to the steaming jungles
and choking deserts of Africa.
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The
first step of Travis's journey was his enrollment in the Cleveland
School of Art (now the Cleveland Institute of Art) in 1913,
where he studied under, among others, Henry Keller, one of
the city's most successful and dynamic painters. Upon graduation
in 1917, Travis served in the U.S. Army during World War I,
and after the war he remained in Europe, soaking up the atmosphere,
sketching and painting when he could, and teaching life drawing
at the American Expeditionary Forces University in France.
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Cathedral
c.1920
pastel
and graphite
7
1/2 x 12 3/4 inches |
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When
he returned to Cleveland in 1920, Travis was ready to begin painting
in earnest. He was given a faculty
position at his
alma mater, where he would stay until his
retirement
in 1957. And as was true for
many
other local artists of the time, the Cleveland Museum of Art's annual
May Show provided much-needed exposure. His work began to garner
awards, critical praise, and even collectors.
In
those years, however, Travis was still no more than a talented if
relatively conventional draftsman and watercolorist. But everything
would change in 1928, when he returned from an eight-month sabbatical
trip through Africa.
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Southern
Rhodesia
1931
watercolor
17 x 22 1/2 inches
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Sponsored
by board members of Cleveland's Karamu House settlement and
other local African-American organizations and individuals,
Travis crossed Africa from south to north. He found himself
overwhelmed by the natural beauty of the landscape, the variety
of animal and plant life, and by the grace, nobility, and
selflessness of the native peoples he encountered.
During
his journey he made innumerable on-the-spot drawings, watercolors,
photographs, and films. He collected tribal masks and other
artifacts, many of which would become part of the permanent
collections of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. And
he absorbed so many visual and spiritual impressions-impressions
of light, color, mood-that they would continue to inform his
art for the rest of his life.
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Equally
at home with drawings, watercolors, oils, or etchings, Travis
produced an enormous body of work. His most famous paintings
depict scenes and moments drawn from his experience in Africa-individuals,
family groups, animals on the prowl amid lush vegetation or
stark landscapes. The power of his images derives in large measure
from his singular approach. Unlike other artists,
he never imposed an aesthetic theory on the wonders he saw;
instead, he allowed Africa's grandeur to shape his vision. |
Circus Detour
1940
Oil on canvas
36" x 56"
Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Zellner Collection
Exhibited in the 22nd May Show, Cleveland
Museum of Art, 1940
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Glass Lantern Slide Image
1927-1928
from The Paul Travis African Photographic Collection
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
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A
much-loved teacher and mentor, Travis influenced generations
of students with his openness to modernity and his willingness
to explore change. His work regularly garnered prizes
at the more than 50 May Shows in which he was invited
to exhibit, and by his death in 1975 he was a full-fledged
icon of the Cleveland art scene.
text
by
Mark Gottlieb
Fall 2002
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