Mid Century Arts and Craft Hills and Haystacks Landscape by Harry (Emsley) Wood, Sr.

Description

Gorgeous mid century Arts & Craft landscape of rolling Indiana farmland with haystacks, trees, and verdant hills in the distance … more Gorgeous mid century Arts & Craft landscape of rolling Indiana farmland with haystacks, trees, and verdant hills in the distance by Harry E. Wood, Sr. (American, 1879-1951), 1948. Signed lower right; letter of provenance provided. Exhibited in New York's Salmugundi Art Club in 1948. Presented in gilt-toned frame. Image size: 14"H x 20"W. Framed size: 18"H x 23.50"W.

Harry E. (Emsley) Wood, Sr., was born 26 September 1879 near Lexington, Illinois, the third child of Emsley Harrison Wood, Jr., and Florence Robinson Wood. The family moved to Indianapolis shortly after Harry was born. Florence Robinson Wood died around 1882 and Emsley Wood married Sallie Bunger Lewis eleven months later. Emsley Harrison Wood worked in various jobs, including real estate sales and as a grocery clerk.
Harry E. Wood attended public schools in Indianapolis until about 1889 when he contracted Scrofulous, a strain of tuberculosis. The condition, coupled with his family's poverty, disrupted his formal education. He attended Manual Training High School in 1899 and worked as a cartoonist for the Indianapolis Star in 1900. Wood illustrated Our Public Servants, a column of political satire written by Kin Hubbard.

Wood's affiliation with Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) as an educator began in fall 1900 when he returned to Manual Training High School as an assistant art instructor under Otto Stark. He taught drawing and design at Manual until 1904 when he accepted a scholarship to the School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia he met Bessie Houser, whom he would marry in 1907.

Wood attended art school for one semester and returned to Indianapolis in 1905 when his father fell ill. He taught jewelry making and manual training at Emmerich Manual Training High School and Shortridge High School from 1906 to 1910. In 1911 he was appointed director of Manual Training and Vocational Training for IPS. He was appointed director of Practical Arts in 1923, director of Fine and Practical Arts and Vocational Education in 1932, and director of Arts in 1936. Wood retired from IPS in 1950 and died 21 January 1951 in Indianapolis. He is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery. His wife, Bessie Houser Wood died in 1956.

Harry E. Wood suffered with arthritis from ca. 1935 but continued to be an active administrator, educator, speaker, and craftsman. He taught summer school courses in design and industrial arts at colleges and universities throughout the country, including Cornell University; Prang Art School in Cayuga, New York; State College of Washington at Pullman; Indiana State Teachers College, Terre Haute; Oregon State College in Corvallis; and Peabody College, Nashville, Tennessee. His students were primarily teachers. Wood's wife Bessie, and children Harry Jr., Albert, Virginia, and Leora often accompanied him on these trips. During World War II Wood was the supervisor of War Production Training for Indianapolis. He taught at Butler University in Indianapolis from 1945 until his death.

Wood was also active in professional organizations. He served as president of the Western Arts Association (1919-21); president of the Indiana Vocational Association (1927); secretary of the Western Arts Association (1927); president of the Design Guild (1928); and president of the Indiana Industrial Education Association (1932). He was also on the board of directors of the John Herron Art Institute and a member of Epsilon Pi Tau and Iota Lambda Sigma fraternities. Wood was ordained as an elder in the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church in 1925 and was associated with the Central Avenue Methodist Church for many years. He was also active in the Mystic Tie Masonic Lodge.

Wood published two books before his death: Progressive Problems in Mechanical Drawing and Pre-Vocational and Industrial Arts. This collection contains manuscript and visual material from Progressive Problems in Mechanical Drawing and another manuscript, Principals of Design.

Harry E. Wood was passionately interested in improving manual and industrial education instruction in American public schools. He was also a student of Otto Stark and a follower of the Arts and Crafts movement. His interest in "beautiful design," and commitment to educational innovation and reform is reflected in the drawings, designs, speeches, lectures, class materials, and personal items in this collection. Wood's ideas present dominant themes in American education from the early 1900s to the 1950s. less