March 19, 2024

Wendell Mohr

I’ve written a couple of articles about Wendell Mohr. He’s a rather famous Iowa watercolor artist, now deceased, who has blessed many homes, galleries and art institutions with intriguing renderings of trains, boats, factories and seamy city scenes. While he was still alive, he resided and worked in an old two-story, brick schoolhouse across the river from Bentonsport, in what is known as Vernon, which is where I met him. He nearly broke my hand with his artist grip, and graciously, patiently submitted to an interview. He also let me ring the bell on the old schoolhouse, its rope having worn a groove in the ceiling, its clang sounding through the Bentonsport valley. I heard later that shopkeepers in Bentonsport cackled and said, “Wendell’s got a visitor.”

Several weeks later, the Mt. Pleasant News called and said that someone had left a package for me at their office. I stopped by and it was a Wendell Mohr watercolor. That was how I got my first Wendell Mohr. Wendell denied leaving me his painting, but I suspect it was him. That’s Wendell for you.

So, when my phone rang from a man in Marshalltown, who had Googled Wendell Mohr’s name, and my articles popped up, I wasn’t surprised. It’s happened before, and is how I got my second Wendell Mohr. This gentleman from Marshalltown had four Wendell Mohr watercolors, and was asking if I knew anyone who would like to purchase them. My heart leaped into my throat. “I would be interested,” I squeaked.

I made the trip to Marshalltown, and when I saw what the man had, my heart skipped another beat. They were original watercolors of Mohr’s, two of them signed with the “AWS,” designating the American Watercolor Society. At the time, Mohr was the only watercolor artist in Iowa who was a member of the AWS. His watercolors are a unique combination of realism and abstract, leaving (with me) the feeling of longing, remembrance and sadness tinged with beauty. For me, owning a Wendell Mohr is like having a Grant Wood, maybe better, since I personally knew Wendell. I also know his lovely wife, Julie, who lives in Des Moines. We both, along with many others, students and collectors, share Wendell’s passion for simplistic renderings of the obtuse world. He loved to say, “Let your skies be green and your trees blue. Paint every day. Find a way to heal the world.” Both Wendell Mohr and Grant Wood are native Iowans.

The man from Marshalltown then took me to a local gallery where there were three more Wendell Mohrs. I was delighted. For a reasonable price, I came home with five of his paintings. Added to the two I already had, makes seven.

How to do them justice? I may have to rearrange, move a bookcase, take down another painting, and dedicate a wall to Wendell Mohr. Track lighting, aimed just right, might be the ticket.

“We traveled on shafts of light, gathering in, gathering in, yellows, reds, blues, a holy gathering of primary colors to paint the earth.”

Wendell live on.

Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526, email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com, or visit his website at www.empty-nest-words-photos-and-frames.com. Curt also reads his stories at www.lostlakeradio.com.