GENEVIEVE ARNOLD; Artist & Curator
Hyfler/Rosner
BYLINE: KAY POWELL
AJC
The contemporary art world in Atlanta is more sophisticated,
thanks to the guidance of landscape artist and curator
Genevieve Arnold.
The Covington native's art hangs in several collections,
including the High Museum of Art, and has been featured in
major exhibits. She was a member of the board of every major
art nonprofit organization in town, said Susan Krane of
Scottsdale, Ariz., former curator of modern and contemporary
art at the High.
"She had a natural inclination for the avant-garde, things
that are new and exciting," said Ms. Krane, now director of
the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. "Her local roots
were deep, but she was willing to look at work that was
radical and revolutionary. Genevieve was one of the
ringleaders who influenced the High in contemporary art."
The graveside service for Ms. Arnold, 77, will be held at
10:30 a.m. today at Covington City Cemetery, followed by a 3
p.m. memorial service at H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill.
Ms. Arnold died Saturday at her Atlanta residence of
complications from a stroke.
Ms. Arnold was gallery director at the Atlanta College of
Art --- her alma mater --- and curator for major local
exhibits, served on the Atlanta airport's art selection
panel and had owned her own gallery.
"It is unique to have talents in both arenas, as an artist
and as a curator," said Annette Cone-Skelton of Atlanta,
co-founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia.
Ms. Arnold's landscapes reflect her world travels through
abstract renderings. Her technique was to gesso a stretched
canvas and apply a layer of tracing paper, accounting for
wrinkles and folds in her paintings. She would pour on paint
in many layers and often incorporated other materials into
the paint.
Her influence is evident throughout Atlanta's art venues.
"She was always guiding. She was very outspoken serving as a
guide to younger people in the arts," Ms. Cone-Skelton said.
"Underlying everything she did was that she was an artist."
She curated shows that offered museum-quality insights into
contemporary art and design, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
visual arts critic Catherine Fox wrote in 1986. Ms. Arnold's
study of Georgia artists in 1984 was one of the few
instances in which art production here was given a
historical context, Ms. Fox wrote.
Her own art collection was impressive, including a work by
abstract artist Brice Marden that she loaned to a New York
gallery. "She bought it from a friend for $10,000, and it
hung in her foyer for decades," said her niece Natalie
Gemmill of Atlanta. While on loan, the painting was damaged.
"I told her, 'You can kiss that goodbye, Aunt Genevieve.'
Then, she got a check for $750,000 from Lloyd's of London.
She was upset and said she could have gotten $1 million in a
couple of more years."
Her aunt, she said, was a Christian Scientist who married
and divorced three times, including artist Ed Ross and Omni
developer Maurice Alpert.
"She was always very positive. Even her stockbroker said she
had a different way of looking at things and dealing with
money," Mrs. Gemmill said. "She would say, 'When this
painting sells, I can afford that.' Things just worked out
for her."
She was an arts activist on every level. "She engaged people
on a very intellectual level in discussions of art issues.
Even if it was a heated discussion, it was a joy for her,"
Ms. Cone-Skelton said.
To Ms. Krane, she was noble, worldly and elegant. "Genevieve
was a driving force in the Atlanta arts community," she
said. "Her legacy is the challenge she posed to all of us to
do our best and always ask the hard questions."
There are no immediate survivors.
GRAPHIC: File Genevieve Arnold, a longtime Atlanta artist,
stands amid her work during a showing in the Heath Gallery.