Newly acquired masterpiece is where it belongs: The Butler

When the Butler Institute of American Art acquired James Longacre Wood’s 1892 painting “Mumble the Peg,” it filled a hole in its collection in an impressive fashion. The painting is not only the Butler’s first by Wood, but it also happens to be the artist’s masterpiece.

That makes it a home run.

But what makes it a grand slam is the fact that “Mumble the Peg” has come home to rest in a perfect place — hanging adjacent to Winslow Homer’s masterpiece “Snap the Whip.” Both paintings are on view in the Cushwa Gallery.

“Snap the Whip,” of course, is the Butler’s signature piece. “Mumble the Peg” was painted 20 years after “Whip” and is an homage to Homer’s masterwork.

“Mumble” and “Whip” are bookends in depicting youngsters at play in post-Civil War rural America. “Mumble” has the same sense of color and light as “Whip.” Even the clothing and hats on the shoeless boys salute Homer, who was esteemed by his contemporaries.

As in “Whip,” the charm of “Mumble” lies in the casually serious intent of children at their games. The world can go on without them as they play “mumbleypeg,” a knife game.

The painting is a tangible link to the era of Mark Twain’s fiction.

But how did Wood’s masterpiece came to the Butler? Well, for years it was in the private collection of Sherman Lee, the legendary director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, who died in 2008.

Lee’s estate had come under the care of a New York art agent, who knew exactly where it belongs: the Butler, the country’s premiere repository of American art. The agent called Lou Zona, director of the Butler, who put the wheels in motion to acquire it for an undisclosed sum.

“Mumble the Peg” was unveiled over the weekend.

POLAND NATIVE MIXES ART AND PHILANTHROPY

Alexis Fedor, a Poland native and New York City resident, is using her company to raise money for tsunami relief in Japan.

Fedor’s Love and Water Designs (http://loveandwaterdesigns.com) offers what she calls “wearable philanthropy.” It invites artists to submit original works, prints the art on limited-edition T-shirts, and donates up to half of the profits to a suitable charity.

Fedor’s current project will use the works of five artists and will donate 100 percent of the profits to Nagagutsu, a Japanese group that assists workers and refugees in the aftermath of the March quake and floods.

Famed artist Robert Indiana’s “HOPE For Life” is one of the designs. Indiana’s work (which, coincidentally, is on exhibit at The Butler) will be printed on 200 T-shirts, each bearing his signature.

Fedor is looking for more artists to submit designs for other charities and hopes a few from the Mahoning Valley respond.

The art must express a charity’s goals. Winners, who are chosen in online voting, receive a cash prize.

A Poland High School and Ohio University graduate, Fedor said she wanted to start a company that has “giving back” at its core. She launched Love and Water in October.

Her father, Alex Fedor, was an art teacher at Chaney High School in Youngstown for more than 20 years.

Late chef’s former teacher RECALLS ‘multitalented’ man

Pattie Campos of Canfield was stunned when she opened last week’s Vibe magazine and read about the late Matthew Finkel, a chef at The Bakery Chef in Boardman. His tragic death floored her. The fact that he had been living minutes away from her for the past few months was just as crushing.

Campos was one of Finkel’s teachers in The Bronx, N.Y., and also a friend of his. She had moved to Canfield in 2007 when her husband got a job transfer. It was right about the time that Finkel entered culinary school.

Finkel, who had been living in Boardman since October, was killed Dec. 29 in an automobile accident near Salem.

Here is an excerpt of the heartfelt email Campos sent to me:

“My name is Pattie Campos and I taught at Herbert H. Lehman High School in The Bronx, where Matt went and graduated from. He was a student in both my film and journalism classes. Matt was an extremely talented young man, and we always knew he would go far.

“... [Matt] was present at my going-away party, and little did I know that, outside of our limited contact on Facebook, I would never see him again. It is mind-blowing to think that he was in Boardman, a stone’s throw from Canfield, and I never knew.

“I will forever cherish my memories of Matt.”