Charles L. Marshall, Artist on Site
Exhibition Overview
Charles L. Marshall (1905-1992) was an active proponent for the arts in Kansas throughout his life. Not only was Marshall the State Architect during the eventful years of the John Steuart Curry Topeka Statehouse mural creation, improving building standards and overseeing many educational institutions, but he was a noted artist as well. From the time of his student years enrolled at Kansas State University, Marshall was never without sketchbook in his pocket to record the people and places he saw everyday around him. Many of his spontaneous sketches were transformed into watercolor paintings and linoleum block prints or found their way into his bi-monthly personal bulletin which the artist mailed to family and friends across the United States. Marshall often exhibited in his work through the many artistic associations he belonged to, such as the Kansas State Federation of Art, the Topeka Art Guild, and the Prairie Water Color Painters, and had his own retrospective exhibition at the Topeka High School in 1984.
Charles Marshall’s entire collection of architectural renderings, watercolors and drawings, sketchbooks, and personal letters was given to the University of Kansas in 1992. This exhibition of Marshall’s artwork features (43) watercolors, prints, and drawings, plus (4) linoleum blocks from the pieces housed in the Spencer Museum of Art. From the Kenneth Spencer Research Library’s Kansas Collection, (13) sketchbooks from the archives will also be on display, providing a glimpse into the wide spectrum of Charles L. Marshall’s prolific artistic career.
Exhibition images
Works of art
