Artists You Should Know: Mentor Huebner
Wednesday December 31, 2003
A funny (as in: "Isn't-it-bizarre-how-the-universe-works?" funny, not "ha-ha" funny) thing happened when the profile on "Anon. " went live, here on the About Art History site. E-mails started pouring in, telling me of artists that truly were prolific, unsung, deserve more recognition and - as a bonus - have real names. Folks, I think we're on to something wonderful here. Please keep letting me know of your neglected favorite artists, so that I may profile them on a regular basis and put their names before whatever audience I am privileged to enjoy.
Getting back to Mentor, though - his wife, Louise, wrote to hip me to his phenomenal output. (Louise, I must add, is fascinating in her own right. She is the only "official" witch in the entire world.) It's been a blast to learn about Mentor, who sounds like an endearing, unforgettable man that needed very little by way of sleep. He was one of those happy artists who had no lapse between what he envisioned in his head and that which came out the tip of his pencil or brush. The film industry beat a path to his door for production art, which made him financially stable...but - one gets the impression he'd have been just as content setting up his easel every day and painting, whether his paintings sold or not. He taught countless students to draw, not because that paid well, but because he'd been a struggling student himself. He admired other artists' works because they were worthy of attention, not because he "should" have. He was unique.
Given all of that, the one thing for which I will always find him most memorable has little to do with his art. To me, it seems remarkable that any man would inspire a dynamic woman to remain crazy in love with him for over fifty years. Maybe his artistic, creative nature is what drew her into his orbit. Perhaps Mentor was one of the lucky few artists, throughout history, who found a soulmate and wasn't doomed to solitude. Whatever the cause, he and Louise were happy, he created a lot of wonderful art and everyone should know his name.
Happy New Year, Louise and All.
Today in Art History:
Getting back to Mentor, though - his wife, Louise, wrote to hip me to his phenomenal output. (Louise, I must add, is fascinating in her own right. She is the only "official" witch in the entire world.) It's been a blast to learn about Mentor, who sounds like an endearing, unforgettable man that needed very little by way of sleep. He was one of those happy artists who had no lapse between what he envisioned in his head and that which came out the tip of his pencil or brush. The film industry beat a path to his door for production art, which made him financially stable...but - one gets the impression he'd have been just as content setting up his easel every day and painting, whether his paintings sold or not. He taught countless students to draw, not because that paid well, but because he'd been a struggling student himself. He admired other artists' works because they were worthy of attention, not because he "should" have. He was unique.
Given all of that, the one thing for which I will always find him most memorable has little to do with his art. To me, it seems remarkable that any man would inspire a dynamic woman to remain crazy in love with him for over fifty years. Maybe his artistic, creative nature is what drew her into his orbit. Perhaps Mentor was one of the lucky few artists, throughout history, who found a soulmate and wasn't doomed to solitude. Whatever the cause, he and Louise were happy, he created a lot of wonderful art and everyone should know his name.
Happy New Year, Louise and All.
Today in Art History:
- • Henri Matisse (French Fauve painter and sculptor), born in 1869
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