Peru, Nebraska – Peru State College is hosting an art exhibit of Falls City’s own John Falter in the A.V. Larson Art Gallery through the month of October. This exhibit, entitled John Falter: Historical Illustrator and Jazz from Life, has been delivered from the Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) and is free and open to the public.
According to the SaturdayEveningPost.com, “Falter graduated high school in 1928, Falls City and chose to continue his artistic education at the Kansas City Art Institute. While studying in Kansas City, he eventually won a scholarship, allowing him to continue his studies at The Art Students League in New York City at the height of the Great Depression.”
The Museum of Nebraska Art adds, “Also an excellent portrait painter, book illustrator, and painter of jazz, historical, and western themes, once said, ‘I found my niche as a painter of Americana with an accent on the Middle West.'”
The MONA continues, “Falter produced a body of work impressive in volume and variety of subject. Reflecting a lifelong interest in jazz, he did scenes of Harlem nightclub life in the 1930s, and later on, portraits of famous jazz musicians.”
“In the 1970s Falter made sketches from life at both the Colorado Jazz Party and the Odessa (Texas) Jazz Party,” writes the Nebraska Historical Society. “The drawings from the Colorado Jazz Party formed the basis of his 1971 ‘Jazz from Life’ portfolio of prints. Falter’s jazz portraits successfully capture the immediacy and vibrancy of performers in action.”
According to the University of Nebraska-Kearney, “Falter was an accomplished jazz clarinet player and entirely self-taught. He took great pleasure in sitting in a set with his jazz friends after he sketched them live.”
The Nebraska Historical Society quotes Falter about this work, “The musicians are enthused, one of them saying, ‘John you painted me in A flat, my favorite key.'”
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Quentin Victor contributed to this release.
For more information about this release or other Peru State communications, please contact Jason Hogue, Peru State College Marketing and Communications, 402-872-2429.