Glotzbach donates Gag sketch

Ink and brush

of her husband,

Earle Marshall

Humphreys

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- A rarely seen Wanda Gag ink and brush of her husband, Earle Marshall Humphreys was donated to the Brown County Historical Museum Friday.

New Ulm native George Glotzbach donated "Nude Man Reclining," an original work by Gag done in 1926 on thin, cream-white paper. The work was included in her artist's notebooks and sketchbooks which became part of her estate after she died in 1946.

The drawing was subsequently purchased from the estate by a Minnesota collector who later consigned the work to be sold by the Kramer gallery, inc. in Minneapolis, which specializes in 19th and 20th century art.

The donation, never before seen in public, Glotzbach said, was added to the museum's Glotzbach collection of Gag family material that includes 2,600 items, one of the largest there is.

Glotzbach said his mission is to continue to inform, educate and entertain the public about Gag art. He termed the museum's Gag collection as "a lasting contribution to our heritage."

He added that the Kramer gallery markets a good share of Wanda Gag's art pieces that are steadily increasing in value.

Other larger collections of Gag art can be found at the University of Minnesota, University of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia Museum of Art, according to Glotzbach

He became interested in Gag art after retiring from the insurance business in 1989. Living near Baltimore, Glotzbach called the Brown County Historical Society and Museum talked to Darla Gebhard.

She informed Glotzbach that the museum was in short supply of Gag books and set the hook deep inside him.

"That was the open sesame," Glotzbach said, spreading his hands far apart.

"George would call me and I'd take notes because he would call me later and ask where we were last time," Gebhard said. "He's our version of Santa Claus."

Glotzbach began looking for Gag items in Baltimore. His search later became regional, national and international.

In December of 2000, Glotzbach, then an artist in Santa Fe, N.M., helped the museum obtain a 1930s circa, cast-iron, wood-burning stove from the studio Gag built at her home "All Creation" near Milford, N.J.

The stove served as inspiration for many of her lithographs and books. It was the focal point for many photographs taken of her and her work.

The Glotzbach collection included a fully-indexed collection with two fireproof filing cabinets and shelving.

Wanda Gag was 15 when her father Anton, a local artist and photographer, died. She took writing and illustrating jobs to support the family.

Gag attended the St. Paul School of Art and Minneapolis School of Art before earning a scholarship to the Art Students League New York City.

A successful show at the Weyhe Gallery in New York in 1926 and the 1928 publication of her well-known and prototypical children's book "Millions of Cats" enabled her to quit working as a commercial artist and move to rural New Jersey.

She continued to make drawings, lithographs and children's books until her death in 1946 at age 53.

Bob Burgess of the BCHS summed it up by saying that Wanda Gag is still alive at the museum, thanks to the recent generous donations of other history lovers.

Gag's books, many of which have been reprinted many times, include "The ABC Bunny," "The Funny Thing," "Gone is Gone," "Growing Pains: Diaries and Drawings for the Years 1908-1917," "More Tales from Grimm," "Nothing At All," "Snippy and Snappy," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," and "Three Gay Tales from Grimm."

(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).