UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 3, Page 5
September 16, 1993
Former art history chairperson recognized

     The University Gallery has dedicated its 1993-94 season to William I.
Homer, H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Art History, in recognition of his
efforts on the gallery's behalf and his years of service as chairperson of
the department.
     Homer stepped down as chairperson, effective Sept. 1.
     According to  gallery director Belena Chapp, Homer has been actively
committed to the educational mission of the gallery and has been
instrumental in the acquisition of collections and individual works of art,
especially a large number from Mrs. John Sloan, widow of the noted American
artist.
     "Bill has many friends in the world of art and has acquainted them
with the University Gallery and the art education programs we have at the
University, including the Winterthur program, art conservation program,
museum studies and the gallery. Through his influence, we have acquired an
impressive collection of works of art, particularly works on paper,
including prints, photographs, watercolors, oils and etchings by artists
who are well known and respected," Chapp said.
     Among the gifts to the gallery, where Homer has been influential, is
an extensive collection of photographs by Gertrude Kasebier, a leading
pictorial photographer during the first quarter of the century. 
Photographs were contributed by her great-grandson, Mason Turner Jr., a
friend of Homer.
     Other Kasebier photographic studies of John Sloan, one of The Eight
Artists of the Ashcan School, were contributed by Helen Farr Sloan, the
widow of the artist.
     Kasebier's photographs, including some on loan from the University,
have recently been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and
Alfred Stieglitz Gallery of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
     A recent gift to the gallery consists of 1,450 works of art, mostly on
paper, by pioneer American modernist, Abraham Walkowitz. Virginia Zabriskie
who owns galleries in New York and Paris, has held several Walkowitz shows
and bought many works of art from his estate. Also a friend of Homer and
familiar with the University, she contributed much of her collection to the
University Gallery.
     Another important turn-of-the-century photographer was Clarence White.
 Active in the Photo-Secession movement spearheaded by Alfred Stieglitz and
Edward Steichen, he was an advocate of photography as an art form, which
was reflected in his subtle portraits of friends and family.  Maynard P.
White, his grandson, and friend of Homer, has donated several photographs
and numerous issues of Stieglitz's periodical Camera Work to the gallery.
Homer also has maintained contact with former art history graduates
students, and some of them, such as Charles T. Butler, currently director
of the Huntington, West Virginia, Museum of Art, have made contributions to
the gallery's collection.
     "Bill has worked behind the scenes as an advocate for the gallery, and
through his efforts our collection has been greatly enriched," Chapp said.
                                        -Sue Swyers Moncure