Deceased December 7, 2012

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25th Reunion Book Entry

In Memory

Tom Cornell, the Richard E. Steele Artist-in-Residence Emeritus at Bowdoin, was an important figure at that college for a half century. He retired in June 2012. Six months later, he passed away after a courageous battle with cancer.

After Amherst, Tom studied at the Yale School of Art and Architecture. He began his teaching career at UC Santa Barbara in 1960. He then accepted an invitation to establish a program in visual arts at Bowdoin. Tom also served as a lecturer at Princeton (1969-71) and directed the Summer Art School at Massa Lubrense in Sorrento, Italy, in 1967. Tom was a regular presence and strong competitor on Bowdoin’s squash courts. His works may be found in prominent collections of art, including those of the Museum of Modern Art, Harvard University, Princeton University, the Beinicke Library at Yale University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Mitsubishi Corp. and the National Museum of American Art, as well as in many private collections. He was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1984 and served as president of the Union of Maine Visual Artists.

In addition to his distinguished professional achievements, Tom was a uniquely warm and vibrant individual, constantly moving in new directions, determined to be himself—a person he continually felt could, like an unfinished canvas, at any moment become someone completely different. Contentious and resolutely idealistic, he was always a challenge to be with but never less than great fun. He was also blessed, in Christa, with a superb partner. To know them both was to have your horizons lifted constantly.

We share in our sorrow with Tom’s family, including his wife, Christa K. Cornell; his daughters, Olivia and Diana; and his son, Nicholas.

Lou Greer ’59
Bob Dalzell ’59

25th Reunion

Like many of you, I came to Amherst pushed by postwar politics/technology. I came to study nuclear physics and began to contend with the contradictor values of science and religion, nature and reason. Inspired by Charles Morgan's course on "Michelangelo" and Leonardo's revolutionary empiricism, I turned to the study of art. The visual culture of the time held little meaning and I soon realized that we would need new content to contend with scientific realism. I had the intense experience of studying anatomy, beginning with a dead monkey, and have utilized that empirical motivation towards designing a renaissance - informed by criticism and philosophy. My art is centered on a set of values, beliefs that are convergent with empirical and theoretical science.

After Amherst, I went to Yale for only one year, as I was not impressed by the modish culture of non-objective expressionism. I was fortunate, without an MFA, to secure a job at UCSB in 1960.1n 1962, I was hired by Bowdoin College where I have been teaching and will be transitioning into Artist in Residence. I also spent time in Europe, at Princeton, and in New York City (loft in Brooklyn, 1980-2005).

I had, perhaps, too much success as a young artist and given my cultural criticism, I often found it meaningful to withdraw to the "ivory tower" to develop a significant/mature critical perspective. Recently, however, I have found it necessary and difficult to "get off the mountain" to interact with the NYC art world and its economics, criticism, and challenges.

My artistic work continues to be about "true" representation of the world and the enjoyable "unselfing" that happens while working to be objective. I work from imagination to make more ambitious conceptual work that refers to that empiricism. For example, there is a series of Birth of Nature paintings that reflect my critical stance.

Of course, my family has meaning that transcends and is yet represented and interwoven with my work. My wife, Christa, brings a foundational intelligence to the family and my work. My first child, Olivia Cornell, is an active musician/composer who went to SUNY Purchase. Our son, Nicolas, is studying philosophy/law and working on his PhD at Harvard. Diana just graduated from UPenn in art, with an emphasis in sculpture. We all are fortunate.

Amherst was critical for me -from physics to poetry, enjoyment to argument, Smith to Mount Holyoke, friendship to meditation. Amherst helped me begin to see my own culture, particularly the college-wide American History/Culture debates. Perhaps it is for that reason that I see artists as "cultural doctors," confronting and seeing the pursuit of concerns for social justice. (In that regard, here may be the right time and place to indicate how pleased I am with the just concerns and enlightened policies of President Anthony Marx.)

Now, as we move forward, it is exciting to act to make the world a better place. Certainly the world is facing serious problems and the tribal, religious conflicts are tragic. Architecture and "designing intelligently" to establish global environmental justice will be a dominant concern for all students as an index of achieving the beautiful world we want.

The class of '59 has a unique perspective and understanding and in our own ways we can act towards the good - perhaps it is in a particular act of being attuned to nature and others, but also actually speaking about enhancing the justice of causes we understand due to our histories and capabilities.

So I look forward to our reunion - to enjoy re-acquaintance and the meaning of seeing how we have changed.