Jack Wilkinson

Other Events and Attributes:

• Biography: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon; Artist and philosopher Jack Wilkinson, was born in Berkeley, California in 1913, and grew up in the Hawaiian Islands. He first came to the University of Oregon to study journalism but switched to an art major, and later served on the faculty in the Art Department from 1941-1968. In his first year teaching at the U of O, Wilkinson started one of the earliest Basic Design programs in the United States, and then became head of the Art Department in 1962. He also served as the head of the Art Department at Louisiana State University from 1968 until his death in 1974. Dave Foster, who was one of his earliest students and later his collegue, named the Wilkinson House, located at the Eugene Millrace, after the innovative painter and thinker Jack Wilkinson to honor his legend.
• Biography: Lithographer, painter. Born in Berkeley, CA on July 2, 1913. Wilkinson studied at the University of Oregon, CSFA under Maurice Sterne, and in Paris. During the 1930s he was a resident of San Francisco, and after 1941 taught at the University of Oregon and Lousiana State University. He died in East Hampton, NY in 1974. Exh: SFAA, 1937 (prize); CSFA, 1939 (solo); Portland Museum, 1945 (solo). In: SFMA; Burns (OR) Post Office. WWAA 1940-53; SS.
• Residence: 1951, Eugene, Oregon; Address:
  2525 Van Ness Street
  Eugene, Oregon 97403
  United States
• Biography: 1990; Jack Wilkinson was born in Berkeley, California in 1913, and raised in Hawaii, the son of a construction company owner. He received his undergraduate education at the University of Oregon from 1932 to 1935, initially pursuing a degree in jounalism but then entering the art program in order to learn how to illustrate an article he had written for the school newspaper. He then moved back to San Francisco to further his studies in art at the California School of Fine Arts from 1935 to 1937, studying principally with Maurice Sterne, eventually becoming an assistant and apprentice of Sterne along with fellow classmates Nell Sinton and Charles Voorhies. In 1937 he was awarded the J.D. Phelan Travelling Scholarship, which would allow him to travel extensively in Europe and view works in major art institutions overseas. At the same time, however, his mentor Maurice Sterne had asked him to be an assistant in his studio for a mural project for the Department of Justice. Consequently he was granted a postponement of travel in order to work with Sterne as well as improve his French prior to departure. Travelling to Chicago, New York, and then on the Europe in 1938, Wilkinson established a studio in Paris, which would become his base of operation when he subsequently journeyed to Italy, Germany, Holland and England. While in Paris, a romance blossomed between Wilkinson and fellow painter Una McCann, who also had a studio in Paris. With Europe on the verge of war, the two painters would return to San Francisco in late 1939. Wilkinson and McCann would marry the following year in California. Perhaps most notable of Wilkinson?s time in Paris was his conversion to the theories and approach to painting of Cezanne and to a lesser extent, Pissarro. Upon his return to San Francisco, Wilkinson entered and won a Treasury department competition for a Post Office mural to be installed in Burns, Oregon. His wife assisted him in completing the mural in the summer of 1941. Upon arrival in Burns to install the finished mural, they discovered that the dimensions they had been given were inaccurate, resulting in considerable on site rework. The mural currently hangs in the main court room in the Harney County Courthouse in Burns. Wilkinson and his wife then drove from Burns to Eugene, Oregon to visit friends. Upon their arrival in Eugene, they found that Lance Wood Hart, an assistant art professor at the university, had died [26 May 1941], and so they stayed in Eugene for the funeral. Wilkinson was then asked if he would be willing to cover Hart's classes for the term. This would be the start of Wilkinson's 37 year tenure with the school. His classes became legendary among his students. He established one of the earliest basic design classes in the United States and his intergration of philosophy, psychology, and mathematics into his classes offered his students an intriguing, broad and intellectual approach to art. While Wilkinson is perhaps best known as a teacher, he was quite talented as a painter, remaining quite active with his own art throughout his life. His earlier canvasses show an affinity for the human figure. Through the 1930s and 1940s, his work was expressionistic and compatible with predominant art concerns of the time. Toward the late 1940s onward, a more highly stylized and abstracted approach appeared, with canvasses executed with spontaneous, energetic and broad brushwork. Later works reveal an increasing interest in landscape painting. Throughout his career, he remained fascinated with mural painting as a venue to explore more complex and complicated themes. He would often paint over previous works many times as the act of painting seemed to hold a primacy above the final result, as well as a place to try out evolving concepts, no matter how successful or unsuccessful. For Wilkinson, painting above all seemed to be a journey of investigation and confirmation of the ideas that he was constantly visualizing and revising. Over the years, he continued to exhibit his work internationally as well as regionally. In 1962, Wilkinson became chair of the art department at University of Oregon. For a variety of reasons, many beyond his control, Wilkinson?s additional duties as the prime administrator for the department proved to be an increasingly untenable burden for him as the 1960s progressed culminating in his resignation from his position in Eugene and subsequent move to Louisianna State University to head up the art department there in 1968. While at LSU, he developed and artist-in-residence program and started an MFA program. Additionally, his teaching had an even more substantial impact upon art students from the more conservative South. He remained in his position at LSU until his death in 1974. A comprehensive retrospective of Wilkinson?s work was exhibited at the University of Oregon in 1990.

Notes:

Biography:
I have been provided with a copy of the death certificate for Lance W. Hart. It shows that he was born on 11 Nov 1891 in Aberdeen, Washington and died on 26 May 1941 at home (1831 University Street, Eugene, Oregon). The cause of death is shown as "hypertension cardio, duration 9 years; renal disease."

The death certificate indicates Hart was a professor at the University of Oregon. Father: Alfred W. Hart; Mother: Emily McClelland Gears (born Kentucky).

State of Oregon State File Number 282; Local Registrar Number 203.

Jack married Una McCann on 21 Sep 1940. Una (daughter of R. J. McCann and Marie Chapin) was born on 15 Feb 1913 in Redwood City, California; died on 6 Mar 2013 in Pays de la Loire, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Catherine Marie Wilkinson

Other Events and Attributes:

• Imigration: 1877, Adelaide, South Australia; Official assisted passage passenger lists show arrival in South Australia on 23 Jan 1877 on the Herschel: Adolf (presumably Alfred) Wyser Emilie (presumably Emilia) Wyser Ida Wyser Marie Wyser Otto Wyser Bruno Wyser Elise (presumably Elisa) Wyser The voyage (sequence 77/6) apparently began in Hamburg.
• Residence: 1881, Adeliade, South Australia; From the Sands Directory; Address:
  Regent Street
  Adelaide, South Australia
• Residence: 1882, Adeliade, South Australia; Occupation in the South Australia Directory shown as tanner (page 32).; Address:
  Ifould Street
  Adelaide, South Australia
• Residence: 11 Apr 1882, Adeliade, South Australia; Residence as shown on son Bruno's birth record.; Address:
  Grenfell Street
  Hindmarsh Ward
  Adelaide, South Australia
• Occupation: 29 Sep 1884, Glebe, N.S.W., Australia; Fanny Weyser's birth certificate shows Bruno Wyser is a Tanner.
• Residence: 29 Sep 1884, Glebe, N.S.W., Australia; Occupation (in Sands Directory): Tanner; Address:
  14 Mitchell Street
  Glebe, NSW
  Australia
• Residence: 1886, Sydney, Australia; Occupation in 1886 Sands Directory: Tanner. Surname shown as Weiser; Address:
  Mayes Street
  Leichhardt
  Sydney, NSW
  Australia
• Occupation: 20 May 1887, Glebe, N.S.W., Australia; On Ida Wiser's marriage certificate, Bruno is shown as a Carpenter.; Address:
  Franklyn Place
  Glebe, N.S.W.
  Australia
• Residence: 1888, Sydney, Australia; Occupation in 1888 Sands Directory: Tanner; Address:
  21 Bunn Street
  Sydney, NSW
  Australia
• Residence: 1889, Sydney, Australia; Occupation in 1889 Sands Directory: Tanner. Surname spelled Wycer.; Address:
  183 Elizabeth Street
  Sydney, NSW
  Australia
• Residence: 1890, Sydney, Australia; Occupation in 1890 Sands Directory: Tanner; Address:
  193 Elizabeth Street
  Sydney, NSW
  Australia
• Cremated: 9 Dec 1895, Crematory at Odd Fellows' Cemetery; Cremated (or "incinerated") at 3:00 PM on December 9, 1895. No autopsy performed. The ashes were received by Mrs E. Wyser on 29 Apr 1896.; : 54 y 9 mos; : Cancer

Notes:

According to Beat Hodler:

A Cousin of Bruno Wyser: Catharina Wyser (1826-1901): During many years, she ran the post-office in Niedergösgen. She wasn’t married. She wrote a very varied diary which is today an excellent historical source. In this diary, you find a lot of information about weather, politics, religion, prices, popular medicine and so on. There is also a poem which she dedicated to her cousin Bruno, when he left Switzerland in 1860. In this poem she remembers the good times they had spent together and she expresses also a blessing:

Dem Bruno Wyser ins Stammbuch bei seiner Abreise nach Amerika 1860:
Wenn auf dem Blatt nach langer Zeit
dein Aug einst sinnend ruhen bleibt
dann mög vor deinem Blick erscheinen
das Haus, umgeben von den Bäumen;
In dessen Schatten du einst spieltest
Nach der Scheibe mit der Armbrust zieltest,
Und manche liebe Ferienzeit
So sorglos dich mit uns erfreut

Du willst nun in die Fremde gehen
Wir werden lange dich nicht mehr sehn.
Möge nun in deinem Leben,
Gott viel Glück und Heil dir geben
Und dein guter Engel mit dir gehn

Translated (by Ingeborg Gowans) into English:

For Bruno Wyser : at his departure to America in 1860:

When, after many years, you will return to this page
and recall old times
may you remember the house nestled among the shadegiving trees,
where you used to play, trying bow and arrow,
where you spent many a day, enjoying carefree hours with us..

Now you are off to foreign lands
And we shall not see you anymore
May God grant you good health and wellbeing in your life
May your Guardian Angel walk before you.



According to Beat Hodler:

"I still don't know why Bruno actually travelled to Montevideo, but I guess that his emigration had something to do with the Bally enterprise. His family was related to the Bally family. Bally was at that time one of the very big European shoe producers. Around 1870, Bally tended to expand to South America, whith some difficulties at the beginning and quite a good success in the long run. In the 1870's Bruno Wyser returned to Niedergösgen, where he spent some years before emigrating again (as you know already). In 1873, Elisa Schönhals and Bruno Wyser had a child in Niedergösgen, whose godmother was Emilia Balli. (source: Kirchenbuch Niedergösgen).

Name:
Also known as Bruno Weyser and Bruno Wyser

Buried:
According to the Crematory records from the Odd Fellows' Cemetery (sheet 62), Bruno Wyser died from cancer on 7 Dec 1895 at Lane Hospital, San Francisco. His attending physician was L. C. Lane, and there was no autopsy. Bruno Wyser was 54 years 9 months old. His remains were received by the crematory on 9 Dec 1895 and were "incinerated" at 3:00 PM. The witness to the incineration was James W. Mallady. The arrangements were handled by Union Undertaking Company, and the ashes were "delivered to Mrs. Wyser 29 April 1896." She signed a receipt as "Mrs. E. Wyser, 31 Minna Street."

We have received the cremation record from the California Genealogical Society, with special thanks to Nancy Peterson.

Died:
Cause of death: Cancer. Died at the Lane Hospital in San Francisco, California, attended by Dr L C Lane (Levi C Lane).

Bruno married Elisa Schoenhals on 3 Feb 1869 (German-Evangelistic Church) in Montevideo, Uruguay. Elisa (daughter of Johannes Schoenhals and Elisabeth Christina Ringel) was born on 20 Mar 1841 in Simmersbach, Germany; died on 19 Jul 1910 in 573 Jones Street, Oakland, California; was buried on 20 Jul 1910 in Oakland Crematory. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1896; Address:
  56 South Park Street
  San Francisco, California 94107
  United States
• Residence: 29 Apr 1896, San Francisco, California; Address shown on crematory receipt for Bruno Wiser's ashes.; Address:
  31 Minna Street
  San Francisco, California 94105
  United States
• Residence: 19 Jul 1910, Oakland, California; Here for 1 year and 1 week according to Certificate of Death.; Address:
  573 Jones Street
  Oakland, California
  United States

Other Events and Attributes:

• Record ID Number: MH:I30

Notes:

According to Beat Hodler, "Alois Wyser spent several years abroad as a mercenary. This is not so extraordinary: many young Swiss chose that activity at that time. Later he reached a high position in the Solothurn government. He must have been an interesting personality. He wrote a humorous sketch ('Three Days'), describing his short, but shattering experience as a young school teacher in the village of Niedergösgen in the 1820's."

As a farmer's son, Alois decided upon a career in the army. As a professional soldier, he rose to the rank of colonel. He first lived in the town of Solothurn with his family, where he was elected administrator of the Quartermaster Store in 1839. He held this position until his death. He also was Quartermaster General. He died of stomach cancer on 28 Oct 1870. His estate was settled on 24 Apr 1871 (list of beneficiaries and heirs of canon Solothurn, 1870-71, Volume 82, No. 37).

Alois married Katharina Herzog on 14 May 1832 in Catholic Church of Solothurn, Switzerland. Katharina (daughter of Urs Petrus Herzog and Maria Anna Balli) was born in Solothurn, Switzerland; was christened on 17 May 1801; died on 16 Nov 1886 in Solothurn, Switzerland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: 1829-1832 - Deputy Rector 1832-1834 - Rector in Grebenau 1834 - Pastor in Simmersbach (HS I pg 249)
• Record ID Number: MH:I128

Notes:

Johannes' Godfather was Johannes the son of the customs collector Johann Henrich Spielman from Hassia Sacra I pg 405 (Grebenau).

Johannes married Elisabeth Christina Ringel on 11 Nov 1832 in Grunberg, Germany. Elisabeth (daughter of Johannes Ringel and Elisabeth Viehl) was born on 21 Aug 1810 in Grunberg, Germany; died on 7 Dec 1876 in Simmersbach, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Record ID Number: MH:I142