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Dateline: 1/28/2011

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE
Dale Goodwin, Director
Peter Tormey, Associate Director

The Bolker Collection: Fritz Eichenberg
The Jundt Art Museum at Gonzaga University will showcase Fritz Eichenberg woodcuts, donated by Norman and Esther Bolker, in the Arcade Gallery from March 18 to July 30, 2011.

            Fritz Eichenberg was one of the world’s master wood engravers, especially renowned for his illustrations of literary classics including works by Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy.  Born in Cologne, Germany Fritz Eichenberg became a public critic of Adolf Hitler during the rise of Nazism in 1933 and fled Germany for the US.  Once in the US he taught at the New School for Social Research and Pratt Institute in New York. He eventually became head of the Art Department of the University of Rhode Island and laid out the printmaking studios there. Eichenberg also published several important books including “The Art of the Print,” a definitive work on the graphic arts.   

            Eichenberg achieved notoriety in the US for his illustrations of a “Crime and Punishment,” “Wuthering Heights,” and “Gulliver’s Travels.”  He received recognition from a different audience with his illustrations for “The Catholic Worker” newspaper, some of which have achieved almost iconic status. His friendship with Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker movement in 1933 led to his being a frequent contributor to the movement’s newspaper.  Attracted to idealism and high principles in his youth, he was able to summarize, in simple images, moral and spiritual perspectives. Eichenberg maintained a lifetime commitment to religion, social justice and non-violence.

             A free public walk-through of “The Bolker Collection: Fritz Eichenberg” with Karen Kaiser, Assistant Curator for Education, will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, March 18th.

            Continuing in the Jundt Galleries until April 2nd, “Northwest Atmospheric Ceramics,” clay work by 17 northwest artists, curated by Gina Freuen.

            The museum’s exhibitions are free and open to the public from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and noon- 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Closed Sundays and school holidays. For more information, please contact Karen Kaiser at (509) 313-6613 or via e-mail.