Artists of Toledo is a website by photographer Penny Gentieu
Toledo has a very special artistic history, and that is why I created this website about the Toledo Museum of Art and the historic artists of Toledo.
My mother, Audrey Pinkerton Gentieu (1922-2009) painted from age five until her last week of life, at age 86. This website is for her.
For artistsoftoledo.com’s logo, I used my mother’s painting and placed it on the floor in front of an empty chair, to demonstrate how the Toledo Museum of Art was started by artists in 1901. Thomas Parkhurst (1853-1923) described the beginnings this way: one painting and a “filched” chair used by George W. Stevens to entice donors into giving, one by one, until the necessary amount was met to cover operating expenses for the new museum.
1903 clipping describes groups and departments forming at the Toledo Museum of Art. Immediately after George and Nina Stevens accepted the directorship of the 2-year old museum, their vision for a museum that “took art away from exclusive capitalism and gave it to the people” began to take shape, including progressive plans for community groups and art classes.
Allen Roudolf (d. 2014), collector, with his blue vase with prunts made by Dominick Labino (1910-1987). Scientist and artist, Labino literally melded industry and art. He was a leader of the Studio Glass movement in 1962, inventing many formulations necessary to the process. Labino glass is uniquely organic in shape and color. Baker O’Brien, his apprentice, is the only person who knows his color formulations. His rise to fame in the 60’s and 70s is legendary. He is in the best museum glass collections in the world.