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| Vermont Farm, Frederick Polley |
The Rich Costello Collection and Carpenter East Gallery in Irvington
The First Friday art and culture walk in Irvington on December 5 included an introduction to an amazing personal collection of works by historical Irvington and Indianapolis artists, as well as a companion show of contemporary area artists at a new art venue in the heart of Irvington. The exhibit continues its display and can be viewed at the location of the Carpenter Realtors East Irvington branch office (Carpenter East) on Washington Street, right between Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza and Sahm's Tavern and Sports Bar. The art space is hosted by art collector and Carpenter East branch manager, Rich Costello.
The most numerous artworks that make up the current display are by Indianapolis artist, Frederick Polley, a favorite artist of Mr. Costello.
Many other well-known Irvington and Indianapolis artists are also included, such as Hoosier Group painter William Forsyth and his artist daughter Constance Forsyth, both longtime residents of Irvington at their former family home at the corner of Washington Street and Emerson Avenue.
Wayman Adams and Edmund Brucker, both well-known and respected portrait painters from Indiana, can also be seen with major works in the exhibit.
Collection Contains Many Impressive Works.
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| My Mother, Edmund Brucker |
Greeting your eyes upon entering the Carpenter East, is the large portrait, My Mother by Edmund Brucker. The skill of this well-known artist and long-time Herron School of Art instructor is apparent immediately. The hands and face of the sitter, the countenance portrayed, are captured with care, and obvious technical dexterity. The blue background and gown convey the scene in a peaceful calm that contrasts with the warmness of the flesh-tones. A remarkable realism is achieved, particularly in the rendering of the aged hands.
The piece is presumably a portrait of the artist's own mother, given the title. Brucker himself would have been about 70 years-old at the time, so if the sitter is indeed his mother in her nineties or thereabouts, she is quite stunning for her age.
Brucker entered a very similar portrait, called Matriarch (1982), in the 69th Indiana Artists Show at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, held in June through August, 1983.
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| Matriarch, Edmund Brucker, 1982 |
It is same sitter, seated and similarly dressed in both paintings. The pose is the the same – a diamond shape created with her head, arms and hands. The Carpenter East picture is a three-quarter sideways view, whereas the IMA picture is more facing frontward. It may be that the Carpenter East painting is the superior of the two, with the mystery of the mother's glance looking somewhere out of the picture frame, portraying a a wistful contentment. The IMA exhibit piece, which won an award in the show, portrays a downward resignation, seen in the averted eyes of the matriarch.
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| Couple, Wayman Adams |
Another terrific piece in the Carpenter East show is Couple by Wayman Adams. The huge canvas depicts an early 20th Century couple, the lady dressed in a pink short sleeve and the man in a gray suit and blue dress shirt. They share a place next to each other in the intimacy of a wood backed davenport whose curving sweep dominates the painting's foreground.
Their bodies are perpendicular to the viewer, although not in profile, as they each look over their right shoulder to face the viewer, eye to eye. Wayman's bravura brushwork is on full display, the whole picture over. The most detailed care, in his signature way, in capturing their faces.
This painting also has a twin of sorts. This time in the Richmond Art Museum collection – the painting The Love Seat, c. 1930, also by Adams. The pair in that painting could almost be the same two in Couple.
In the Richmond picture, both their bodies and their heads have a more formal pose, facing ahead in the composition, as opposed to the dynamic twist of the Carpenter East painting.
Much smaller, but no less remarkable in the Carpenter East show, are several graphite drawings by William Forsyth. One is of an elderly lady, possible the artist's mother, showing her in a pose similar to both Brucker paintings; seated with hands in her lap, and forming a diamond shape. This lady looks down, eyes averted as well, with somber expression, as Forsyth sketched away.
The intimate studies of a newborn baby nursing, shows Forsyth perfecting the baby's head in three tries, and capturing, in two separate sketches on the same page, two distinct gestures of the child's arm while feeding. One grasping toward the mother, and one less restless, relaxing downward.
Frederick Polley – Artist and Artworks.
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| An example of Frederick Polley Indianapolis Star page |
As mentioned, Frederick Polley is well represented in Costello's Carpenter East exhibit.
Frederick Polley lived both in Irvington and then a home studio at Paradise Hills on the city's north-east side. He taught in the art department at Tech High School for about twenty years, and later at Herron. About his early years and first artistic inspiration, we can refer to an newspaper article and interview appearing in an expansive Indianapolis Star Sunday magazine article by Aletha V. M'Naull, on January 4, 1925.
Ms. M'Naull describes her rebuffed attempts to obtain an interview of Frederick Polley. The subheading to the article described the state of Polley's career – Local Artist's Work Appears in Large Publications and Wins Prizes in Some of Best Exhibits Conducted in the United States. And it adds, by way of further introduction to the readers, that,
“Mr. Polley's drawings are appearing regularly on the page opposite the editorial page of The Sunday Star.”
The writer quotes Polley's self-deprecating manner when she first contacted him for a talk,
“I am just working and am busy, but there really is nothing to tell about.”
Polley remained elusive, but she presses him further, prompting him to add,
“There is practically nothing to say. I am putting all my spare time evenings and holidays working on some things that interest me very much, but that is all there is to it.”
Ms. M'Naull would eventually wear Polley down, and get him to speak a bit about himself and his origins of his career,
“I got my 'big lead' in a small prairie town in Illinois, where I was stationed as a telegraph operator...a sketch artist came to the town...and got...a special...edition of the...newspaper. This edition was profusely illustrated with pen and ink sketches of the station, the elevator and the prominent department stores of the town...”
Polley is presumable referring to the prominent local landmarks such at the railroad station, grain elevator and so on. He adds,
“These sketches were a revelation to me, and I found that I could sketch the buildings around me with ease and some grace. The local printer soon after gave me my first commission to draw a commercial illustration, a label for a cigar maker. I was a full-fledged commercial artist and decided that my goal was finally illustrating.”
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| Flatiron Building, center left, by Frederick Polley in The Star |
The rest, they say, is history, as the Carpenter East show will attest. It contains original graphite drawings by Polley that were reproduced in the pages of The Star, as well as etchings, a large selection of original holiday cards of his unique and hand-made design, and original landscape paintings, several of which are on display.
The collection has the original graphite drawing of New York City's Flatiron Building that was printed in the paper in the pictorial accompanying Ms. M'Naull's article referenced above.
Two paintings of Polley's Paradise Hills property are in the show; Paradise Hills – Polley House and Paradise Hills – Polley House Rooftop.
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| Paradise Hills - The Polley Home Rooftop, Frederick Polley |
Paradise Hills refers to a large barn and parcel of land that the artist purchased in 1927, in an area just north of Fort Benjamin Harrison today. At that more rural time, the property was described as “three miles from Castleton and about five miles from Millersville on the Dandy trail, and about twelve miles from Monument circle,” according to a December 4, 1927, Indianapolis Star article with accompany photo spread.
Paradise Hills would first become the location of his studio and exhibition space, and then, some time later, his home.
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| Frederick Polley and his Paradise Hills Studio, c 1927 |
The paintings show the home and its red roof from different viewpoints on the property, both of which accentuate the hilliness of the locale. Polley, even in the early days after the purchase of the property, would begin holding exhibitions of his work in the barn.
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| Polley's inaugural open house at his new Paradise Hills studio |
It should be noted that Polley also maintained an Irvington residence at the time, and would exhibit in nine of the Irvington Group shows from 1928 through 1937.
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| Artist Returns, Frederick Polley |
Interiors and Exteriors – New Nicole Meisberger Photographs.
Carpenter East is also presenting area artists on a long wall opposite the historic collection. In the current show, three artists have work; David Lee, Nicole Meisberger and Eduardo Quixchán.
Nicole Meisberger has provided an artist statement explaining her work. She presents a series of interesting photographs from her new portfolio of Interiors and Exteriors around town. Her images run the gamut, from extravagantly baroque, to sparse – almost monotone – and banal. They are all interesting.
Also of local interest, Meisberger's past projects are Irvington-centric.
The Inspired By series contained her image Nighthawks, derived from the source Edward Hopper painting. Her image was shot in Irvington, with Irvington artists serving as models for the people in the painting. And Meisberger contributed to previous projects of specific note; the books 24 Hours in Irvington and Irvington Noir.
Mark Diekhoff, December 2025
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