After 5: Springfield Art Museum lifts curtain on new wing

Jerry Berger has patience down to a fine art.

The longtime Springfield Art Museum executive director exudes the virtuous trait as he walks through the new wing officially unveiled Oct. 10.

"It took me 14 years to raise money for this wing," Berger says, still beaming from the 10,000-square-foot addition's grand opening celebration days earlier. But he quickly returns to the present: "Got your checkbook? We're still raising funds."

Back in fundraising mode, it's obvious Berger is a patient cheerleader. He's raised more than $3.3 million for the museum addition that wrapped up last month at 1111 E. Brookside Drive.

The four largest donors - those gifting more than $300,000 - have galleries in their names: Eldridge, Spratton, Armstrong and Hartman. Those benefactors' individual gifts reached as high as $700,000.

From the welcoming entryway to the spacious halls, the new space has changed the face of the museum.

Here's a breakdown by gallery, but go check it out for yourself. Take a fall stroll through the adjacent Phelps Grove Park - among the prettiest places in Springfield this time of year. School and group tours are welcome. Museum officials are currently bringing each Springfield Public Schools fifth-grade class through the museum.

The Eldridge gallery

Artist and teacher William Maurice Eldridge bequeathed the museum proceeds of two property sales in California and Texas and five of his original paintings, which cover one wall in the gallery adorned with his name.

The adjacent wall displays a number of Thomas Hart Benton lithographs, which steal the show. The grouping includes two done in 1936: "Jesse James," which puts the viewer right in the middle of a railroad side shootout, and "Huck Finn," rafting down the Mississippi River with steamboats passing by. The Eldridge gallery also possesses a self-portrait of Neosho-native Benton with brush in hand and his trademark stoic, hard-at-work glare.

The Spratlen gallery

Collector and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderveer Spratlen has donated more than 420 pieces to the Springfield Art Museum. Twenty-one of her gifts are currently on display. Most of the Western Americana works came from her Denver home, Berger says.

"Spires - Dakota," an oil painting on panel grabs the eye in this gallery. The rock cliff formation by Charles Rhinehart, of Pierce City, takes the mind into a blue abyss of sky. Berger says the work was purchased from a gallery in Denver.

The Armstrong gallery

Springfieldian Bill H. Armstrong lives up to his credentials in this gallery by his name.

The artist's work has appeared in more than 50 national and regional exhibits and four international exhibits. Locally, Armstrong has received eight Watercolor USA awards, Missouri Arts Council's lifetime achievement award in 1990 and Springfield Regional Arts Council's Ozzie Award for industry advancement in 2004.

Armstrong's Papillon Series of numerous beautifully colored butterflies, each fluttering aimlessly by its own accord, dominates this space. But one cannot overlook "The Artist in Corduroy Pants, as seen by John Singer Sargent," a 60-by-30 watercolor on paper. Armstrong completed it in 1980, near the end of his 20-year stint as a Missouri State University graphic design program director.

Armstrong continues to paint and keeps a private studio off Glenstone Avenue and Waverly Place.

The Hartman gallery

Collector and patron Joan Cousins Hartman had a distinctive flare for Oriental pieces. Museum officials have added to her historic artworks, most recently a Japanese kimono and nagajuban made of silk and wool. It hangs opposite a horse sculpture from the Tang Dynasty in 700 A.D.

This gallery strays from typical wall hangings. A glass cabinet nearly an entire wall's length displays porcelain, wood and stone pieces of animals and various Eastern figures. The wall is not forgotten, though, as two large tempera and ink rice paper pieces beg for an introduction to an ancient family's patriarch and matriarch. The "Ancestor Portrait" pieces are undated.[[In-content Ad]]