Artist Lydia Sohlberg Deere
(Lydia's Lindsborg Photography, 1900-1925)
(Lydia's Lindsborg Photography, 1900-1925)
LNR review of Lydia's last "Main Street" exhibition 2011 by Editor John Marshall
"This vast show may require at least two visits – the first, a scouting mission to consider the reach of 130 photographs and copies of paintings and the scope of their history; another, perhaps is to take in the many diaries, sketch books and notes, the letters and cards among the Deeres, the Sohlbergs, the Sandzéns, their families and friends (Three visits would be better.)"
"LYDIA'S WORLD" exhibition at Studio 113, Lindsborg, 2011
* * *
- her last exhibition of all 130 pieces -
"In Swedish Lindsborg / At Swedish Bethany"
at
Studio 113 North Main
from
March 24 to Easter April 24, 2011
"In Swedish Lindsborg / At Swedish Bethany"
at
Studio 113 North Main
from
March 24 to Easter April 24, 2011
* * *
The Poster
The Poster
The Program
- The 130 -
Visual History of Lindsborg, Kansas, and Bethany College
Visual History of Lindsborg, Kansas, and Bethany College
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
W H O S A W I T ?
Visitors from
Lindsborg, Smoky Valley High School, Bethany College, Bethany Home,
the Smoky Valley Region
& during the
Easter Holy Week,
from
Coast to Coast,
they
visited
---------------------
EVEN THE BETHANY COLLEGE BASEBALL TEAM ATTENDED!!
-----------------------
"L Y D I A' S W O R L D"
W H O S A W I T ?
Visitors from
Lindsborg, Smoky Valley High School, Bethany College, Bethany Home,
the Smoky Valley Region
& during the
Easter Holy Week,
from
Coast to Coast,
they
visited
---------------------
EVEN THE BETHANY COLLEGE BASEBALL TEAM ATTENDED!!
-----------------------
"L Y D I A' S W O R L D"
At the reception table former Bethany College Director of Planned Giving (1970-1979) James Attleson (1931-2022) and Lindsborg hostess and volunteer Mrs. Kathryn Frantz (1926-2021), member of the Lindsborg Smoky Valley Historical Association and the Lindsborg AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN ASSOCIATION of the Great Plains.
This newspaper article is transcribed below for easier reading.
The Lindsborg News-Record Review
"A look behind the Art of Lydia's World"
by
John Marshall*
March 31, 2011
Printed April 7th
"The effect of a good painting, like a good paragraph, is to make something that was ground out seem as though it were dashed off. You think, “Oh, I could do that.” Until you realize that you can’t.
"One part of an eye-opening exhibit in downtown Lindsborg reveals the groundwork behind the painting of a Kansas landscape: photocopies of the notes and sketches of the late Lydia Sohlberg-Deere. From her, we learn, the whole image began with the parts, with making lines, noting colors and shadows, rock-by-rock, sprig and bush, the slant of a hill to tree and water, the sweep and hue of a pearl sky. Here we see the grinding work behind an image that seems so natural that it must have appeared with only a few sweeps of a brush.
"The Hidden Art and Photography of Lydia Sohlberg-Deere opened March 24 at the former Studio Lindsborg, 113 N. Main, and will run through Easter Sunday, April 24. A public reception will be from 4 – 7 PM. Sunday, April 3, at the gallery.
"The exhibit is the final public showing of the art of Sohlberg-Deere, who photographed much of life in Lindsborg and at Bethany College at the turn of the last century and into the early 1900s. Mrs. Sohlberg-Deere, who died in 1943, was a prolific photographer and a talented painter who studied at one time under the iconic Birger Sandzén. She was married to Prof. Emil O. Deere, a leader among early faculty and administrators at Bethany College.
"This vast show may require at least two visits – the first, a scouting mission to consider the reach of 130 photographs and copies of paintings and the scope of their history; another, perhaps, is to take in the many diaries, sketch books and notes, the letters and cards among the Deeres, the Sohlbergs, the Sandzéns, their families and friends (Three visits would be better.)
"Many of Lydia’s photographs have been exhibited in “Lydia’s World,” a periodic display in the windows of the Sundstrom Building at Main and Lincoln Streets in downtown Lindsborg. Mrs. Sohlberg-Deere’s great grand niece, Fran Cochran, organized those exhibits and this show. Cochran, of Menlo Park, Calif., is a 1968 graduate of Bethany College and has written numerous historical articles for the News-Records."
"One part of an eye-opening exhibit in downtown Lindsborg reveals the groundwork behind the painting of a Kansas landscape: photocopies of the notes and sketches of the late Lydia Sohlberg-Deere. From her, we learn, the whole image began with the parts, with making lines, noting colors and shadows, rock-by-rock, sprig and bush, the slant of a hill to tree and water, the sweep and hue of a pearl sky. Here we see the grinding work behind an image that seems so natural that it must have appeared with only a few sweeps of a brush.
"The Hidden Art and Photography of Lydia Sohlberg-Deere opened March 24 at the former Studio Lindsborg, 113 N. Main, and will run through Easter Sunday, April 24. A public reception will be from 4 – 7 PM. Sunday, April 3, at the gallery.
"The exhibit is the final public showing of the art of Sohlberg-Deere, who photographed much of life in Lindsborg and at Bethany College at the turn of the last century and into the early 1900s. Mrs. Sohlberg-Deere, who died in 1943, was a prolific photographer and a talented painter who studied at one time under the iconic Birger Sandzén. She was married to Prof. Emil O. Deere, a leader among early faculty and administrators at Bethany College.
"This vast show may require at least two visits – the first, a scouting mission to consider the reach of 130 photographs and copies of paintings and the scope of their history; another, perhaps, is to take in the many diaries, sketch books and notes, the letters and cards among the Deeres, the Sohlbergs, the Sandzéns, their families and friends (Three visits would be better.)
"Many of Lydia’s photographs have been exhibited in “Lydia’s World,” a periodic display in the windows of the Sundstrom Building at Main and Lincoln Streets in downtown Lindsborg. Mrs. Sohlberg-Deere’s great grand niece, Fran Cochran, organized those exhibits and this show. Cochran, of Menlo Park, Calif., is a 1968 graduate of Bethany College and has written numerous historical articles for the News-Records."
*Mr. Marshall, then, was the owner and editor of the Lindsborg News Record (LNR). After selling the newspaper in 2012, he continues to write a column for it titled "The Valley Voice" and a column for the Rural Messenger for Central Kansas.
Studio 113 North Main
- site of Lydia's World last exhibition -
2011
- site of Lydia's World last exhibition -
2011
Go HERE to 2005-2012 Friends of “LYDIA’S WORLD”
SUMMARY REVIEWS
To view her photography without captions, go
HERE to Lydia's Lindsborg Photography, 1900 - 1925,
AND go
HERE to Deere & Lydia's Bethany -- Lydia's Bethany College Photography, 1906 - 1925.
To view her photography with descriptions,
start HERE to Lydia's Lindsborg Photography, 1900 - 1925,
AND start
HERE to Deere & Lydia's Bethany -- Lydia's Bethany College Photography, 1906 - 1925.
* * *
"Let Us Celebrate Them"
"Let Us Celebrate Them"
* * *
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
