Many people remember our 2004 exhibition of the works of Charles Ward. Ward was a friend of Ben’s and lived only minutes away from the Solowey studio.
In 1932 he moved to Carversville, Pennsylvania, where he maintained a studio for thirty years until his death. He drew his inspiration from the surrounding scene there, and from painting trips to Mexico, the first in 1939, and the second, with his family, in 1954.
In 1935, he made history when he executed the first Post Office mural. “Progress and Industry,†under the Treasury Department’s Fine Arts Section for the Trenton Post Office (now the Federal Courthouse). In 1937 he completed two others for the same building, entitled “Rural Delivery”, and “The Second Battle of Trenton”.
Now, The Historical Society for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey is proud to announce its first public art exhibit, “ART FOR EVERYONE: Murals and Paintings by
Charles W. Ward,†a celebration of Charles Ward’s three New Deal murals and a retrospective display of works from the five-decade career of Charles Ward (1900 – 1962), at the United States Courthouse in Trenton, New Jersey. The exhibition opens on Thursday October 11th with a reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The free exhibit will continue Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., through November 30, 2007. Studio Director, DAvid leopold is the guest curator.
Ward’s easy versatility in oils, watercolor, drawing and printmaking, have drawn comparisons to Goya, Daumier, Rivera, Reginald Marsh, and Daniel Garber, but each work bears his personal stamp of integrity. His work is in a number of public collections including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the James A. Michener Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the New Jersey State Museum.
