After three cancellations of the Humanities Seminar’s field trip to The Morris Museum due to inclement weather, students began to form conjectures, some believing that each rescheduled date hinted at a potential snow day. The curious pupils of Mr. Bill Siedler ’85 spent weeks in academic tedium, awaiting the day they might finally view works of the era up close. And, by some miraculous happenstance, the trip finally came to fruition on January 24th.
In months prior to the trip, Humanities students delved into their many summer reading works. Comparative essays, vivacious discourse, and estimations of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy’s inflated net worth filled Room 327 with academic sparkle. Intermixed with seminars on topical issues e.g. the Israeli-Hamas conflict and the role theology plays in warfare, the intellectuals, under Mr. Siedler, were eager to learn more.
As the Winter Break came to a close and polar winds swept through Essex County with fury, the students greeted the new year with open arms. Literary topics slipped behind the curtains and visual art took the spotlight. D and E-blocks were introduced to pioneers of the likes of Jackson Pollack and Mark Rothko, the ultimate benefactors of post-war artistry.
Relative to the realism of the mid-1800s or Forain’s Impressionism, in which depiction of light and scenery conveyed meaning to a pre-digital world, Abstract Expressionism is a reaction to large scale conflict and the dawn of photography in the mainstream. As Western artists reckoned with the aimless prospect of replicating events as their predecessors did, the “New York School” resolved to shift their motivations; emotion and energy, amongst other abstractions, became the larger focus of their work.
“Action paintings,” most famously depicted in Pollock’s splatter paintings, pursue the arousal of the viewer through visual exuberance; slivers of stray nude tones coat One: Number 31 in a formless fashion, challenging the mind to interpret a seemingly meaningless piece. Color blocking, as Rothko and Kline often employed, redefined the common man’s reception of color. No longer were pigments the composing fragments of a complete artwork; instead, the color itself became the piece.
Despite most pieces from this era being in the possession of the Museum of Modern Art, the class has not been able to venture across the Hudson since before the Coronavirus pandemic. Regardless of scheduling challenges, the two classes united in attending the Morris Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate. There, students would find themselves immersed in exhibits displaying six W. Carl Burger pieces and a multitude of paintings by Donald Sultan and Neil Jenney. The former, being in proximity to the hub of Abstract Expressionism, endowed the Museum with over 150 works following his recent passing. The latter post-minimalist creatives displayed a reformed version of the genre: medleys of realism and contemporary concepts adorned the otherwise-blank walls of the main gallery.
At the lunch bell on that misty day in January, the Humanities students—now free of their remaining classes—zipped out of West Orange in search of captivating art and thesis material for their upcoming essay. Once within the confines of the museum, the seniors graced through the gilded halls beginning in a corridor that housed the Burger pieces and ending in the larger exhibit entitled Framing Nature’s Paradox, a combination of the Sultan and Jenney paintings.
On first glance, most E-block pupils made attempts to discern a clearer vision through the many abstractions employed by Burger; inferences comparing Burger’s Sparkling Water to “teeth” or “gas atoms” were common. Several gathered that the depth and saturation of his ‘70s-era works coincided with a representation of energy in its purest form, rather than a direct allusion to the titles. Mr. James Balsamo, a determined member of the E-Block faction, theorized that Burger’s Geyser Yellowstone and Sparkling Water had no inherent meaning, suggesting a connection between the existentialist themes of Albert Camus and the works on display. Others who felt less moved by the exhibit shifted their attention to the fascinating, albeit noisy model train just feet down the corridor.
The room adjacent to the train/Burger exhibit held the mass of the class’s focus. Helping to bridge the gap between contemporary humanistic behaviors and the vibrancy of the natural world, Jenney and Sultan’s juxtaposed works invoked the Humanities students to reflect on their own relationship with the flora and fauna of a de-wilded society.
Erring towards modernized realism, Jenney’s aptly titled paintings seemed devoted to critiquing the crippled relationship between the human and his land. N.A.Vegetae I (2022) is a portrayal of Mexican palms intertwined with the aerial roots of invasive Epipremnum aureum, choking out the jewel of native subtropical forests. The second in the series N.A. Vegetae I (2022/2023) transports the viewer to the northeastern corridor of America; Fagus grandifolia (pictured right) and Pinus strobus, both natives of the temperate climate, stand alone against the frosted landscape. Both species are currently impacted by logging and respective fungal diseases: beach leaf disease and white pine blister rust.
While the specimens depicted by Jenney are considered keystone species within their respective habitats, students noted the diseases afflicting their host were introduced through international trade, likely Jenney commenting on the twisted co-existence of humans among ancient organisms.
Comparatively, Mr. Sultan’s work inspires mutualistic relationships between Homo sapiens and the Earth. Use of more “raw” mediums such as tar, oil, and latex literally flood the works with the context of our industrialized world. Yet, the images are nevertheless endearing. Seemingly influenced by Asian art styles, Sultan’s Chinese Lanterns July 12 2007 elicits optimism from the dear viewer—optimism for a grounded man. As Wordsworth once said, “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”
General reactions to the trip were expressed throughout the remainder of the week, with continued discourse pertaining to favorite pieces and meandering students’ discovery of a replica dinosaur nest. Conversations among students and Mr. Siedler expressed the fulfillment the student body receives from excursions like these. Mr. Siedler, the major organizer of the trip, believed it was essential to allow students to have non-restrictive expectations going into the museum.
“I think it definitely has to be open. Because if I have expectations but students have different expectations, they can meet theirs and not have to meet mine…I would not consider that to be a failure. Many students haven’t visited [these museums] before, so it’s a new experience for them.”
—Mr. Siedler
Senior E-block member and S.H.P. Swimming Captain Patrick Miller also commented on the concept of abstract expressionism and how the trip resonated with his expectations.
“It was kind of like a breath of fresh air. I feel like all of the paintings I’ve viewed recently have resembled portraits or realism, but the Jenney exhibit really had a different way of representing its message. With Wonder+Fear, it shows a parallel between the cat and dog, which was really kinetic.”
—Patrick Miller ‘24
While further excursions are still in the drafting process, Mr. Siedler’s Humanities Seminar course continues to make strides in West Orange and beyond, encouraging students to make encounters with the abnormal and critique the structures and objects within our environment. It is a keystone of The Prep, and the legacy of humanities concentrations within the storied walls has a long life ahead of it.