Radiant paintings of Stephen Pace, one of Indiana artโs favorite sons, are waiting for you in a new exhibition at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science.
โItโs the classic โhometown boy makes goodโ story,โ says Susan Colaricci Sauls, director of university art collections at the University of Southern Indiana, which facilitated many of the pieces on display.
Local ties bookend Paceโs art career. Born in Missouri in 1918, Pace grew up on Midwest farms and moved to New Harmony, Indiana, as a teenager. Horses were his favorite subjects to sketch. His first show was in New Harmony and first formal art training from artist Robert Lahr, who taught at the Evansville Museum.
By the 1950s, Pace had risen to international fame in the New York school of abstract expressionists.
After a six-decade career in New England, Pace and wife Palmina returned to New Harmony in 2007 and opened the Palmina F. and Stephen S. Pace Galleries at USI in 2008. Pace died two years later.
This history flows through the vibrant, autobiographical art in โStephen Pace in Indiana,โ the Evansville Museumโs first major Pace exhibition since 1992.
Many pieces symbolize his late brothers and their farming life, as well as reflect the progression of Paceโs style.
โThis is a wonderful opportunity to see a large body of work by such an accomplished artist,โ says Mary Bower, Evansville Museumโs retiring executive director.
STEPHEN PACE IN INDIANA
Through Sept. 8 at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science, 411 S.E. Riverside Drive
