THE FOURTH MUSKETEER
Posted by Ruth Wolf on 01/10/2021
Even the most faithful reader of the Boston Globewould scarcely remember a story I wrote which appeared in the paper in the autumn of 1984 . It described my getting together with two of my classmates at our 35thMalden High School Reunion--a visit during which we toured some of our favorite sites around the city while the Globephotographer snapped our photo in front of each of them.
Once upon a time we werefourmusketeers – four Malden High School friends – three guys and me. We grew up to become a playwright/screenwriter, a writer/editor, a geographer – and an artist. The missing fourth in that long ago tour, the artist, is having an exhibition of his work at the Malden Public Library.
That fourth – John Day – whose paintings gained an international reputation – was a friend to all of us – and a friend to each of us in a special way. For me, the playwright/screenwriter, he was the friend who lived in Paris before I did, went to Yale before I did, and taught me a French song I have never forgotten – about an existential mouse who has a hat which does not exist.
For John Bowman, the writer/editor, he was the friend who introduced him to more sophisticated art, from the glories of baroque music to the subtleties of works in obscure Italian chapels. Kempton Webb, the geographer, turns out to have been the luckiest of our quartet. Kempton is the only one of us whose portrait John Day painted – an image painted when both were teenagers – a painting in which John’s talents as an artist were already evident. Kempton still has that portrait – his face, and John’s talent – frozen in time.
None of us forget how John’s own handsome fair-skinned face under a shock of blond hair would flush red at the slightest provocation. Early on, John joined a permissive world we scarcely knew about when we were youngsters. Free! Lively! Daring! John Day would die young of that experiment in life and daring. But not before he had painted canvas after canvas, watercolor after watercolor.
He had studied under Josef Albers at Yale and, under that influence, painted painstakingly-graded, exquisite color studies. He had travelled to Greece and painted a series he titled Erebos – where worlds of eternity seem to offer themselves for our enlightenment, darkness opening up to a brilliant mysterious sky.
Over the years, John’spaintings were acquired by museums in France as well as by major American art museums--- the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art--and by major international corporate collections. John also gained admiration and respect as a college teacher of studio art.
Thanks to the generosity of donors across the years, the Malden’s Public Library has a fine collection of works, including some by other celebrated Malden artists-- from Albion Bicknell to Stanley Woodward. Only two years ago, perhaps the city’s most acclaimed artist, Frank Stella donated two of his works, where they will join those of his mother Constance Stella. Now, Iain Brunt, the owner of Day’s estate, in recognition of this revival of Day’s reputation, has donated a beautiful work of John Day to the Library where it will hang for Maldenites to appreciate and enjoy in the years to come.
In short, the missing Musketeer, mourned and celebrated by his former companions, has gained the measure of immortality all artists seek, consciously or unconsciously.That he should be honored by an exhibition of his work in his hometown is recognition of his talents. While he is absent, his work will be present forever. In the handsome halls of the H. H. Richardson designed library where once John Day had a library card and did his homework, his work represents him – and does him (and the companions who will never forget him) – proud.
The exhibition, John Day: A Glimpse of Color,will be on display at the Malden Public Library’s Converse Galleries (36 Salem Street, Malden MA) from October 2 to November 15. For more information on gallery hours or to schedule a tour, contact the Library at info@maldenpubliclibrary.orgor by phone at 781-324-0218.