Sioux City Society of Fine Arts
Ary Stillman at Martin Hotel
Oct 21-Nov 10, 1929
Sioux City, Iowa

Every Worthwhile Picture Has a Sentiment to Express,
Says Sioux City Artist Whose Work Now Is on Display at the Martin Hotel

The Sioux City Sunday Journal
October 20, 1929

Ary At Work

Every landscape or scene must have a mood, a sentiment to express, just as surely as a human face, if it is to inspire an artist to paint it, H. Ary Stillman, former Sioux Cityan, who has attained an international reputation as an artist, said in discussing his exhibit of pictures, now hung at the Martin hotel.

"The artist is not inspired to paint a scene because it is pretty, or a face, for that matter,"said Mr. Stillman, "Faces show their mood or sentiment principally in the eyes and landscape scenes have ‘eyes’ just as surely as faces, which strive to tell you the message of the spot. It is the task of the artist to catch that mood and express it on canvas through the medium of color and form."

Exhibit at Martin

Mr. Stillman now has an exhibit of 65 pictures at the Martin hotel, on the mezzanine floor and the ballroom. The exhibit is being given under the auspices of the Sioux City Society of Fine Arts. It includes a series of oriental types, head pictures, made in Palestine and Syria, a number of French landscapes and a few human figures, of which one is a nude, a group of landscapes and portraits from the vicinity of Santa Fe, N. M., and three pictures painted by Mr. Stillman during the past two weeks in Sioux City.

The exhibit will remain at the Martin for about three weeks, Mr. Stillman said. He intends to depart from Sioux City about November 30 and will return to France during January, where he will exhibit the pictures he has painted while in America, including the Sioux City scenes.

"Every worthwhile picture has some message that it wishes to convey, a mood that it has taken from the subject, whether it be animate or inanimate,"said Mr. Stillman. "A pretty face, if it has no character, is a poor subject to paint, while another face that may be entirely lacking in beauty, may be a fine subject if it has character and shows mood. The same is true of a landscape, which must have some message to express before I feel inspired to paint it."

The Sioux City pictures are three landscapes, one of the street corner at Eighth and Iowa streets, another which looks south from a window on the second floor of the public library and a third of a scene in Grandview park.

Mr. Stillman has traveled over a great part of the world in his search for the artistic and the beautiful, since he left Sioux City in January of 1919. He came to Sioux City from Russia in 1907 and resided here for more than 11 years, during which time he engaged in the jewelry business. He was associated with his cousin, Max Brodkey, in Brodkey & Goodsite, and part owner and manager of the Royal Jeweler company, which no longer is in existence.

From childhood, the boy had been inclined toward art and the art of the jeweler did not satisfy his longing. He had had some training as a boy in Russia and he kept up his training by studying in his spare time while here. In 1919, he went to New York to study at the National Academy of Design, where he remained for two and a half years. He then went to Europe and continued his studies there for several years in the museums of France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Italy.

Jewish Boy	Landscape, Santa Fe

Sought Types

In 1925, Mr. Stillman went to the orient in search of types and while there painted the series of water colors, which are one of the principal features of the exhibit here. One of the group, which is pictured here, is the head of a little Jewish boy, who was picked up on the streets of Jerusalem and persuaded to pose.

In Paris Mr. Stillman has given many exhibits at the Societe National des Beau Arts and at the Salon d’Automne.

The other picture, which is reproduced here, is one of the group of landscapes that were made in the vicinity of Santa Fe, NM. It shows a typical adobe house of the region, on a hilltop in a setting of small trees.

Mr. Stillman still has a brother residing in Sioux City, as well as more distant relatives. His brother is Abraham Stillman of the Stillman Jewelry company, 814 Fourth Street.

True Art Brings Original Touch in Our Lives, Asserts H. Ary Stillman

By H.Ary Stillman
The Sioux City Tribune
Saturday, October 26, 1929

We hear a great deal of talk about art. The dailies, weeklies and monthlies give considerable space to the new form of activities in American Life. We hear of wealthy people giving large sums of money to art institutes and museums. And we wonder where these tendencies come from. Is it really an inward movement sprouted from the general American life or is it merely the plaything of the few?

During the last 25 years American life has been entirely transformed. We are no longer using our individual taste in our life. Our houses are built and decorated according to the fashion provided. We dress according to styles handed to us by designers from New York City. We are getting things which are the product of mass production.

Need Individual Expression

The more this mass production is developing the more we feel a craving for an individual expression. Even our educational institutions are affected by the standardization of modern life.

Art is the expression of the individual. True art does not aim to supply the demand of the masses. It serves its own purpose. It brings an original touch in our life. Fine arts is taking out the monotony of life; it gives new sound to our ears and form and colors to our eyes.

True art teaches us how to see nature and how to enjoy life to its fullest. We often hear people say they do not understand art. Art is not to be understood but to be felt. We must train ourselves to appreciate the beautiful effect of a sunset but we do not have to use our reasoning power for that. The beauties of fine arts grow on us as we come in closer contact with it. The more we see the work of great masters, the more we appreciate their qualities.

Art Center Required

To develop this appreciation we must have a temple where the finer things are being housed. An art center will gather all that which the individuality creates when it is endowed with the gift of self expression and the people may go and see and learn how to enjoy the beauties of nature.

Here in Sioux City we know of the existence of a Society of Fine Arts; of the existence of musical and dramatic organizations with the aim of bringing before the people of this community the noblest things which make life worth while. It is about time that all these scattered forces be united and with the support of the art loving people of this city, to create a temple of fine arts which will be a pride to this community.