FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                               

For more information, contact:

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Sheila Champlin – (901) 448-4957, schampli@uthsc.edu

 

 

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Selling Some 400 Works by Late Memphis Artist Paul Penczner;

Memphis Botanic Gardens to Showcase Selected Works in November

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Painter’s Works Part of The Vatican, White House Collections   

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Memphis, Tenn. (June 5, 2012) – For the entire month of November, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) will showcase a selection of 40 works by local artist Paul Penczner at the Memphis Botanic Garden, 750 Cherry Road.  In spring 2011, more than 400 works were donated to the university by the artist’s widow Jolanda Penczner, along with her husband’s fine art studio in Midtown Memphis. 

On Thursday, November 8, UTHSC will host a reception for 200 guests at the Botanic Garden to celebrate the artist’s legacy.  The remainder of the works will be available for review and purchase at subsequent events.  All proceeds from the sale of the Penczner collection will support an endowment in his name in the UTHSC Department of Physiology, which is ranked second in funding among all such departments in the nation.  For more information, contact Kathleen Stern, who is administering sale of the works on behalf of UTHSC, at pencznergift@gmail.com. 

“Selecting a work of art for your home or office is such a personal experience,” observed Gabor Tigyi, MD, PhD, Harriet Van Vleet Professor and chair of the UTHSC Department of Physiology.  “We want people who appreciate and understand the intrinsic value of art to experience Paul’s work…to have the chance to bring the beauty and power of what he created into their lives.”          

Recognized as a remarkable painter and extraordinary personality, Paul Penczner is known for evocative portraiture and a dizzying array of artistic styles, working in mediums that include oils, watercolors, pen and ink, and large installations.  The Hungarian-born artist came to Memphis in 1951 with his German-born wife Jolanda, quickly earning a reputation as one of the city’s finest painters and most generous instructors.  His portraits hang throughout the city of Memphis and in many private collections elsewhere.

Throughout his career, Penczner’s commissioned portraits proved quite popular, providing his family with a steady income.  In fact, many years ago it was through commissioned portraits of UTHSC department chairs that he first became aware of the university community.  But it was the noncommissioned work he undertook – the painting he did to satisfy himself – that won him critical acclaim and a lasting place in the history of modern art.

“His talent was enormous, and it crossed genres,” said friend and former painting student Pat Kerr Tigrett.  “Memphis never understood how extraordinary and how well received he was.”

From the 1950s on, Penczner showed his diverse body of work at more than 70 major art exhibitions throughout the United States, including the Smithsonian, the New York National Academy of Design, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Locally it was shown in the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

In 1989 a series of pen-and-ink works titled, “Jesus Christ and the Twelve Apostles,” was accepted by Pope John Paul II, and was placed in the Vatican Museum of Art in Rome.  Penczner had worked and reworked the drawings for 20 years, engrossed in endless studies of the faces of homeless men in downtown Memphis.

To memorialize the first anniversary of the September 11 terrorism attack, Penczner painted “American Starry Night,” donating it to the then-commander in chief, President George W. Bush.  The work remains part of the White House Collection.    

Painted between 1995 and 2000, “Falling Stars” depicts the suffering of the people of Hungary and became known as his most famous work, with comparisons being made to Picasso’s “Guernica.”  Dr. Tigyi is currently working to place “Falling Stars” in the Hungarian National Museum.

As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service.  In 2011, UT Health Science Center celebrated its centennial: 100 years advancing the future of health care.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  The UTHSC campus in Knoxville includes a College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  In addition, the UTHSC Chattanooga campus includes a College of Medicine and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  Since its founding in 1911, UTHSC has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals on campuses and in health care facilities across the state.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.

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