Joseph Meert Collection

The Joseph Meert Collection

Born in Brussels, Belgium , Joseph Meert (1905 – 1989) emigrated to the U.S. at the age of five. As a young adult he studied with Thomas Hart Benton at the Kansas City Art Institute, where Meert himself taught from 1935 to 1941. During the Great Depression, he worked as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) artist, painting murals in government buildings. He became a close friend to Jackson Pollock, and is credited with saving Pollock’s life on a sub-zero winter’s night in 1943. The works in this collection examine Meert’s influences from geometric abstraction in the late 1940s, to abstract expressionism in the 1950s and beyond. Meert spent his last decade institutionalized for mental illness, his care funded in part a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. With the aid of an art therapist, however, he continued to produce a final series of watercolors during this period.

Green Light, 1947, Oil on canvas, 35 x 28 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Stringed Instrument, 1948, Oil on canvas, 40 x 32 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Sewing Machine Design, 1950, Oil on canvas, 30 ¼ x 72 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

The Plant, 1951, Oil on canvas, 24 x 32 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Pink Bloom, c. 1950s, Oil on canvas, 43 x 16 ½ in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Wheat Cutting, 1954, Oil on canvas, 49 ½ x 84 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Yellow Ballet, 1956, Oil on canvas, 43 x 57 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Stump, 1956, Oil on canvas, 42 x 57 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

The Marsh, c. 1950s, Oil on canvas, 20 x 30 in., Gift of Patrick Albano.

Red Formation, c. 1950s, Oil on canvas, 14 x 36 in., Gift of Patrick Albano.

Orchard, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 17 ¾ x 89 ½ in., Gift of Patrick Albano.

Still Life No. 4, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Bowery, 1961, Oil on canvas, 60 x 45 in., Gift of Patrick Albano.

Chess Players, 1960’s, Oil on canvas, 71 ¼ x 60 (bottom) x 36 (top) in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Cascade, 1960, Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

The Fencers, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Figures, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 46 x 36 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Strolling Figures, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 56 x 36 ½ in., Gift of Patrick Albano.

Group Figures, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 55 ½ x 79 ½ in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Untitled, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 31 x 64 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Untitled, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 44 x 68 ½ in., Gift of Patrick Albano.

Untitled, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Untitled, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Untitled, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 18 ¼ x 69 ¼ in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Figure Group, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 24 x 18 in. Gift of Joel Dryer.

Untitled, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 50 x 72 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Untitled, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 36 x 72 in. Gift of Patrick Albano.

Catalpa Tree, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 42 x 83 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Untitled, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 38 x 59 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Idol, 1960, Oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in., Gift of Patrick Albano.

Still Life, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 47 x 52 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Center Cluster, 1960, Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in., Gift of Patrick Albano.

Untitled, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 ½ (bottom) x 20 (top) in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Odd Shape Blue, c. 1960s, Oil on paper, 75 x 32 in., Gift of Patrick Albano.

Rhythm Movement, c. 1960s, Oil on canvas, 40 x 48 in., Gift of Joel Dryer.

Return to Permanent Collection