Selected Works from the Plainfield Public Library's Art Collection

Select an artist to learn more about them and view their artwork:

To view a larger image, click on the thumbnail. To return to this exhibit, close the window with the larger image.

ADAMS, ALONZO (1961-present)
Plainfield artist Alonzo Adams grew up using the Plainfield Public Library, which is proud to own several of his original paintings and prints. The body of his work portrays contemporary Black lifestyles, "inspired by everyday sights and sounds that deserve immortality in a constantly changing world." His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at major public and private venues in the East, including Howard University and the Russell Senate Building in Washington, D.C. His works hang in the collections of Bill Cosby, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Maya Angelou and Senator Bill Bradley, among others.

Mother to Son Oil on canvas; n.d.

Honorable Thurgood Marshall Oil on canvas; n.d.

Tea Time Watercolor; n.d.

AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES (1785-1851)
Audubon was born in the French colony of Santo Domingo (now Haiti), the son of Captain Jean Audubon, a French sailor and adventurer. As a child he was raised by his father in Nantes, France. He later received naval training, learned to love nature and wildlife, and began to draw. At the age of eighteen he was sent to America to oversee his father's farm in Montgomery County, northwest of Philadelphia. Audubon quickly fell in love with the eastern Pennsylvania countryside and its animals. He became an enthusiastic and skilled hunter, both for sport and for his art. He collected all kinds of wildlife specimens, which he both preserved and sketched. At the age of thirty-five, John James Audubon decided to turn passion into profession, setting out to depict every bird in America, with an eye to publishing the results. It was a remarkable undertaking for a newcomer with no formal training in art or science. His fame rests primarily on his "Birds of America" series, published from 1827 through 1838.

American Flamingo # 431 Lithograph; 1838

Golden Eagle # 181 Lithograph; 1833

BAILEY, INDIRA

Indira Bailey is a talented and gifted artist whose passion is creating paintings and drawings that depict daily ‘life scenes’ of people moving, living and ‘doing’ in their environment.  Her paintings reflect bold and vibrant colors that remember the pass and challenge the present. Even as a child, she knew one day that she would follow her dreams and become a professional artist.

She was born in Plainfield, New Jersey to the daughter of a postal worker and a teacher’s aide.  As a little girl she was fascinated by Ernie Barnes’s paintings featured on the TV show ’Good Times and devoured art books depicting Norman Rockwell’s paintings’. Indira entered her first art show in the children’s division of the annual Plainfield Art Festival. This was the beginning of Indira Bailey’s love affair with art and after high school majored in illustration at Pratt Institute.  She received a BA in Communication Design in 1990, a MA in Educational Leadership in 2004 from Kean University, and is a member of the Society of Illustrators in New York.

Growing up, there were few references to black art even at the college level. This lead to Indira’s commitment to adhere to her roots shown in her vivid and colorful portrayal of African-American and African life.  Her paintings can be a stroll down memory lane or a panorama of real life that will make you laugh, cry or just make you shake your head. 

Initiation Oil on Canvas; 2007

About Initiation: ISangoma is a traditional Zulu diviner whose main function is to heal and protect the people in the community. An iSangoma contacts the ancestral spirits and other important religious functions. An iSangoma initiate is called a "thwasas" who wears red, symbolizing the transformation process that the apprentice is undergoing. The initiate symbolic death is one's old self and the rebirth of a new iSangoma. A part of the rites of passage is wearing white medicinal clay on skin symbolizes bravery, power and protection against negative forces.

CARLSON, JOHN FABIAN (1875-1945)
At the age of nine, Carlson immigrated with his family from Sweden to New York. In 1902 he won a scholarship to the Art Students League in New York City and six years later became assistant to the director of the league's summer school at Woodstock. Carlson was a proponent of painting directly from nature, and the countryside at Woodstock became an important source of subject matter for his landscapes. He was fond of painting winter scenes, and the compositional strength of trees in winter is evident in the library's two paintings. Carlson met his future wife, Margaret Goddard, in the idyllic setting of Woodstock, New York, where he taught landscape painting in the summer school of the Art Students League. As teacher and mentor, Carlson inspired her artistically, and by 1910 they became romantically involved. Margaret, who was born in Plainfield in 1882, was also an artist of the first rank, but she sublimated her promising career in favor of managing her husband's career and raising three sons. With her support, John Fabian Carlson went on to win national acclaim. He won numerous awards at the prestigious painting salons at the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Although they ultimately lived in Woodstock, the Carlsons always remained close to her family and returned to frequently to Plainfield.

Winter at Roundout Valley Oil on canvas; ca 1930

Morning Gayety Oil on canvas; ca 1930

From 2001 through 2004, during the residence of Ambassador Charles A. Heimbold, Jr., the library's painting "Morning Gayety" hung in the American Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. It was one of 13 paintings borrowed through the Art in Embassies Program of the U.S. Department of State to augment the ambassador's own fine collection, and it was the only painting not on loan from a gallery or museum. It was beautifully reproduced in the exhibit catalog marking that occasion.

DAVIS, WARREN B. (1865-1928)
Best known for his paintings of idealized female figures, Warren Davis studied at the Art Students League in New York. He was also a magazine illustrator, and many of his depictions of ethereal appearing goddesses were on the covers of "Vanity Fair". Later in his career he became a skilled etcher and exhibited in Europe and the United States including the Pennsylvania Academy and the Salmagundi Club.

Lady in repose Watercolor; 1892

GARRETT, ADAMS (1908-2000)
Born in Texas, Garrett died at the age of 92 in Plainfield, where he had lived for many years. He began his formal study at the Art Students League in NYC, where he later worked as a graphic arts instructor from 1947 to 1951. He was a prolific artist who painted in the Impressionist style. Exhibition venues included the Parsons School of Design for the WPA, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the San Francisco Museum of Art. His works are in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institute, Zimmerli Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Untitled [The Farmer] Acrylic on paper; ca 1975

HELFOND (BARRETT), RIVA (1910-2002)
Born in New York City, Helfond moved to Russia with her parents in 1914 but returned in 1921. She enrolled in the Art Students League in NYC and later became affiliated with the Harlem Art Center, where she studied with Louis Lozowick. She taught lithography there in the Graphic Arts Division and later transferred to the Silkscreen Division. As with many artists of her generation, she worked with the WPA. She is represented in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MOMA, et al. She taught at New York University and Union County College. In her later life she lived in Plainfield, where she owned an art store and gallery on East Front Street.

Ship in construction Intaglio; 1940's Gift of the artist

Untitled Lithograph; 1963

Vista Colograph; ca 1975 Gift of the artist

HOMER, WINSLOW (1836-1910)
The Plainfield Public Library owns three original artworks by Winslow Homer. They were donated to the library in 1931 by Benjamin F. Day, who had spent his boyhood in North Plainfield before moving to New York City. Homer was born in Boston in 1836 and died in Maine in 1910. He began his career as a free-lance magazine illustrator in 1857 and won praise for many of his paintings, his watercolors in particular. His first mature oil paintings, dating from 1862, were of Civil War subjects. In these, he was concerned with the effect of light and shade, much like the early French Impressionists of the same period. He lived in France for a year (1867), and the impact of Impressionist composition appears in many of his later works of all periods. Homer's work took him to many locations, which appear frequently in his paintings. In addition to the coasts of New England and Cullercoats, he also painted in the West Indies, and Long Branch, New Jersey.

Wood Engravings. Homer contributed drawings and engravings for major publications between 1857 and 1875, when he was employed as a journalist/illustrator. The library owns over 50 original engravings that appeared in Harpers Weekly magazine from 1858 through 1874.

Looking Over the Cliff Watercolor on paper; 1882

The finest and most reproduced painting in our collection, this work was painted in Cullercoats, England. The image of two women standing together, as seen in this watercolor, is repeated in many of his works from the period. This work has been included in several museum exhibitions, and will be hanging in the Art Institute of Chicago’s February, 2008 exhibit “Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light.”  A color reproduction appears in the book, “The Watercolors of Winslow Homer” by Miles Unger (W.W. Norton, 2001).  An image of the work will be appearing in a catalog being prepared by Harvard University Art Museum, entitled “American Paintings at Harvard: Artists Born from 1826 to 1856,” in juxtaposition with a wash drawing by Homer in their own collection.

Winding Line Oil on canvas; 1874

Yachting Girl Enhanced lithograph on paper; ca 1890

Also known as "Girl on Boat", this is based on an earlier drawing. It was altered with white paint by the artist.

LIE, JONAS (1880-1940)
Jonas Lie was born in Moss, Norway, the son of an American mother and a Norwegian father. He first studied art in Paris at the age of twelve. With the death of his father, Jonas moved with his mother to Plainfield in 1893. After finishing school in 1897, he worked full time as a textile designer to support his mother and sisters but continued his studies at night at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League. By 1901 he was already exhibiting his paintings, and by 1904 was garnering the first of the many prizes he would receive for his work. Although he chose to live and work in the United States, and was later elected President of the National Academy of Design, Lie returned regularly to Norway to paint.

Standing Alone Oil on canvas; n.d.

LORIAN, DOLIA (1909-1952)
Dolia Lorian was born in 1909. He is noted for abstract modern urban landscapes. His works are in the collections of Yale University, The Georgia Museum of Art, The Newark Museum, and The Whitney Museum of Art.

Composition Charcoal; n.d.

LOZOWICK, LOUIS (1892-1973)
From 1903 to 1905, Louis Lozowick attended the Kiev Art School in Russia. He immigrated by himself to America at the age of fourteen and became a student at the National Academy of Design in New York. Lozowick's cubistic and futuristic style was formed while he was traveling throughout Europe in the early 1920s. A painter, printmaker, and illustrator, Lozowick's bold, elegant style helped revive interest in printmaking at a time when it was not popular as an art form. He worked primarily with lithography and developed many innovative techniques in that medium. During the Depression, Lozowick became interested in portraying the human condition, which led him towards realism and an interest in the figure. His work in the late 1930's focused on the dynamic between the worker and the machine, with a similar approach to his near-contemporary Fernand Léger. Museums and public collections containing his work include the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Newark Museum.

Above the city Lithograph; 1932

NATHAN, ELIZABETH (1903-1953)

Night scene in Taxco, Mexico Oil on canvas; n.d.

PASQUALOTTO, MARIO (1953-present)
Barcelona artist Mario Pasqualotto is a frequent visitor to Plainfield. His works are in museum collections in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and Japan. Almost all of his gallery works take place in series:

Plainfield Stories #1 Mixed media; 1998 Gift of the artist

Pasqualotto's work is "bold, controlled, and elegant." This assemblage was donated by the artist from his "Plainfield Stories" series. It illustrates the impressions and sensations of this European artist in the Plainfield community.

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)
Hiram Powers was born in Woodstock, Vermont and died in Florence, Italy. From a German sculptor he learned the art of modeling in clay, and his reputation began to grow based on the first busts he created. Later he took charge of the wax-work department in the Western museum at Cincinnati. In 1835 he went to Washington, where he was employed in modeling busts of well-known men. With the assistance of two wealthy patrons, he went to Europe in 1837, and settled in Florence. where within a year he produced his first full statue. The greater part of his work consists of busts of distinguished men, including Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster and Henry W. Longfellow. He also executed statues of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. American artists in the early nineteenth century looked to Europe for their inspiration, where neoclassicism was the predominant style in art and architecture. Powers began to receive important commissions for both private and public sculpture, and in the 1830's, he became one of the most popular sculptors in the United States. At one point, he even had a workshop located in the basement of the Capitol.

Greek Wrestlers Marble sculpture; n.d.

SCHMIDT, ARNOLD (1930-1993)
Schmidt, who was born in Plainfield, is represented in the collections of the New York Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Newark Museum, among others.This unusual canvas in the form of an "x" is an excellent, exciting example of Op Art and is the only painting of this period in the collection.

Four Arrows Make a White Square Oil on canvas; 1966

SCOTT, JULIAN (1846-1901)
Julian Scott was born in Vermont. He joined the army in 1861 serving as a drummer boy and nurse. His sketches of scenes of hospital life attracted the attention of a philanthropist who enrolled Scott at the National Academy of Design. Scott became known for his oil paintings of the Civil War and Native Americans as well as for his exquisitely detailed portraits. On July 4, 1901, Scott died in Plainfield, New Jersey and was buried with military honors in Hillside Cemetery. His work is in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Newark Museum, the New Jersey State Museum, as well as many throughout Western and Southern United States.

Portrait of Job Male [attributed to Julian Scott] Oil on canvas; n.d.

The Portrait of Job Male, Plainfield's first mayor and library founder, is unsigned, but it has been attributed to Scott as it bears the mark of his style and technical prowess. Images of art or photographs found on this website are not to be used in any manner without the expressed written permission of the Plainfield Public Library Board of Trustees as delegated to the Library Director.

***See our Terms and Conditions***