arts & entertainment t A, e ,v,,,,, Seen • 4" Threol . 4,-....'"4-,,, ,:,,,:........- ' A3 a9 7,,._ , , toe ,,, -- -4,11r.... - - - dui z.---,:::-..--tt",±t..... ak loon' ....d.,...6..... ---,-„. ost .--, ,-2::,,,.P.--• . :SckntistFm.P-- ' B: O 7-- ond fl....d , liar ;hie. : «.:....... ... ....,;, j, ' 5 Flights to US t rosteuitl..) , Are Canceled Over Seoul To (Li 0.., S.rgit, C......,.. --- . -* 319- 13 Me) Loving Retrospective U-M exhibits paintings by Fay Kleinman, who died earlier this year at age 99. 0 nanitt4 - — : tram Qamthe Taft Rise; I e 2:;,100, ',-.7 r f, ., 14,,,,dror!.,,ids,.,„isi„,„ „..., . • 1,10- ‘ • . 41e, tiN\ 4.F?`4 °.cs 9/72b , ?.(:^ //, ft • diSeen Af aceS.Vair i - i Suzanne Chessler Contributing Writer F ay Kleinman built an artistic career outside of Michigan, but she extended her talents within the state. Kleinman, after moving to Ypsilanti in 1987 to be close to family, was invited to exhibit her work at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor, and other local presenters soon asked to show the paintings and collages that reflected the art- ist's experiences. Kleinman, who worked mostly with oils on canvas, acknowledged family and friends through portraits, captured city and country activities through scenic expanses, displayed the fun of pets through whimsical imaginings and expressed concepts through more abstract projects. Davi Napoleon, Kleinman's only child, believes that people can know her mother through the artwork completed almost through this year, when the painter nearly reached her 100th birthday. That opportunity will be available Aug. 17-Sept. 14, when a "Fay Kleinman Retrospective" fills the Slusser Gallery at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design. Mark Nielsen, director of exhibi- tions at the school and family friend, is curator. "I'm attached to everything my mother has done, but the 7ayde Series' is most important to me," Napoleon says, recalling the history of the series. "When I was a little girl, I would tell my grandfather stories about my experiences in the country, or make things up, and he would tell me stories, too. Out of the stories that we created, he drew sketches. They were pencil drawings and not meant to be preserved. "My mother discovered these drawings and thought they were charming. They came together in her mind, and she imag- ined them in color. She drew [versions] of the drawings on canvas to make them fit her aesthetic and added color: A birthday gift from a friend — a box of paints — had set Kleinman's career in 54 August 16 ® 2012 The World Around Me. In In I'm a Little Wolverine, Kleinman her "Sunday captured her grandson Randy Napoleon, Morning" series, who today is an internationally Faye Kleinman recognized jazz guitarist. lamented the demise of print media. of people reading newspapers. She called it Sunday Morning because Sunday morn- ing was a time for bagels, lox and the At The Play Park. Paintings in Kleinman's "Zayde" series blend the naive and primitive with sophistication and have been compared to the work of Paul Klee. motion. She experimented with the colors, loved what she saw and pursued formal studies at the American Artists School, City College of New York and the National Academy of Design. Exhibitions placed her work in New York, Massachusetts and European galleries. "You can see Jewish faces in many of her portraits," explains Napoleon, who describes her mother as being culturally Jewish, cooking traditional foods and spic- ing her language with Yiddishisms. "She did a portrait of the woman who gave her the paints, and she kept some paintings of me. "My mother did a series of paintings New York Times. Until the last two years of her life, she was reading that paper every day and doing the crossword puzzles." Kleinman survived two husbands, vio- linist Jack Skurnick and pianist Emanuel Levenson. "When I was in college, my mother and stepfather left New York City and moved to the Berkshire Mountains near Tanglewood," Napoleon recalls. "They co-founded the Becket Arts Center, where my mother could exhibit and my stepfather could perform. That was in the late 1960s, and it still continues." Kleinman was a "pure" artist, says Nielsen. "Fay was responding, not trying to change the world:' he explains. "Her works have an incredible sense of composition and show an ability to use the plasticity of paint in landscapes and abstractions. "We're going to show as many pieces as we can fit. The gallery is pretty big, and we may add some [panels]. We're going to bor- row some pieces that have sold. "I'd like to have the display chronological with some themes, and I hope it's a show that inspires students. They will see her development from more representational work to impressionist and abstract proj- ects:" One of Kleinman's later paintings, The Fence, is somewhat abstract with dark figures behind a fence, trying to get out. The artist thought of the Holocaust as she began, but the image came to represent those forced into horrible situations and unable to do what they want. Kleinman shared her collection with her daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons. She let them pick paintings from her hold- ings and rotate them for home display. "I wish I had a house three times bigger or five times bigger just so I could turn it all into a gallery," Napoleon says. "My mother spoke through her work:' The "Fay Kleinman Retrospective" runs Aug.17-Sept.14 in the Slusser Gallery at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design, 2000 Bonisteel Blvd., Ann Arbor. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and noon-7 p.m. Saturdays. Free admission. A public reception will be held 6-9 p.m. Friday, Aug.17. http://art-design.umich.edu/ exhibitions/slusser.