Hekking, William M. (American painter and professor, 1885-1970)

William Mathews Hekking (1885-1970) was born in Wisconsin and later moved with his family to Syracuse, New York. In 1908 he graduated from the University of Syracuse with a Bachelor of Painting degree. He studied in Paris before returning to New York City to work as a commercial artist. In 1911, he was appointed instructor of painting at Syracuse University. Subsequently, his career in art education led to other universities in the Midwest. In about 1922 he became director of the Columbus, Ohio Gallery of Fine Arts and Art School. He was appointed director of the Albright Art Gallery in March 1925. After his resignation in 1931 he continued to live and work in Buffalo as art critic for the Buffalo Evening News. In 1932 he became involved with the Buffalo Art Institute, a Depression-era project for artists. In 1937 he was appointed director of the Los Angeles Museum of Science, History and Art. He retired in about 1940 to devote himself full-time to painting. Hekking is best remembered as a marine painter in the traditional style. He maintained a summer home on Monhegan Island, Maine, which is often mentioned in his correspondence. In the winter of 1930, while still director of the Albright, Hekking applied for and won the temporary post of liaison officer on board a U.S. Coast Guard International Ice Patrol vessel, so that he could sketch and paint the North Atlantic ocean.

Hekking's personal taste in art was quite conservative. He had a great dislike for purely abstract art. Still, this prepossession had no influence on his management of the Albright Art Gallery; Hekking seems to have tried to preserve the balance between various types of exhibitions displayed and acquisitions purchased for the Gallery. From a historical viewpoint, a number of the more avant-garde exhibitions and purchases took place during the latter half of the 1920s. Most notable was the purchase of Picasso's La Toilette in 1926, exhibitions of sculpture by Bourdelle and Maillol, and in February, 1927, the International Exhibition of Modern Art organized by the Societe Anonyme. Hekking maintained a significant professional correspondence with Katherine Dreier, president of the Societe. In addition to the 1927 exhibition, Dreier lectured twice, and organized a further exhibition of modern works which came to the Gallery in 1931. Hekking's correspondence with Dreier, including transcripts of her lecture at the Gallery, from 1925 to 1991, contains illuminating passages in which Dreier describes her personal philosophy, her beliefs in the importance of abstract art, and its influence on society and reincarnation.

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