Not My Dad

In addition to the Pennsylvania Brandywine Tradition of Art, which includes the art of Nathaniel, Andrew, and James Wyeth, in Delaware there is another significant tradition of art. This "other" tradition is attributed to Edward L. Loper Sr. (Ed Sr.). However, another artist, less well known, is Edward L. Loper Jr. (Ed), the son of Ed Sr. Ed's work has its roots in his father's. That said, Ed's work launches the nucleus of the Loper Tradition. While Ed Loper Sr. remains one of the most important and influential artists born in Delaware, Ed Jr.'s work brings to his father's aesthetic contributions compelling new visual ideas adapted from Fauvism and Modernism. Ed and his father are different in many ways, but especially in the way they perceived their world. Ed's approach has been to use the essence of a subject to suit his vision. His work decoratively presents bold, bright, saturated color and structure, rather than story. In contrast, Ed Sr. was interested in expressing glowing, dramatic, and smoldering qualities of color. Thus, if they were inspired by identical scenes, their resultant paintings are dramatically different works of art.

Ed Sr.’s reputation as an important and successful artist is well established: His 1996  retrospective at the Delaware Art Museum brought more than 1,000 people to the opening reception, the largest turnout in the museum’s history; the 1998 Governor’s Award for the Arts and the 1998 Honorary Doctorate from Delaware State University brought him more recognition and respect. Ed Jr. is just as noteworthy and remarkable, but much less known. Many people do not know this “other” important African American artist from Delaware.

This book will introduce him to you.

A writer and educator as well as an artist, Marilyn Bauman has written articles about art and artists for Delaware Today, The News Journal, and Vistas (the Journal of The Barnes Foundation). Her first book, Edward L. Loper, Sr., The Prophet of Color: A Disciple's Reflections, was published in 1999. Not My Dad: Edward L. Loper, Jr.'s Creative Odyssey was published in 2019. Her essay "A Striking Style All Their Own" is included in the catalog accompanying the Delaware Art Museum's exhibit "The Loper Tradition: Paintings by Edward Loper, Sr. and Edward Loper, Jr." She also writes an aesthetic appreciation blog: Art Matters.

Marilyn has taught in various settings for more than forty years: since 1965, at the collegiate level, she taught at the University of California at Davis, the University of Delaware, and West Chester University, among others; in her home studio, for thirty eight years, she taught painting to students ranging in age from six years old to seniors; and in workshops and artist residencies conducted in Delaware's schools, she taught children and teenagers how to paint and how to appreciate works of art. For the past two years she taught in an after school art club at the East Side Charter School. She facilitated the students' appreciation of the artwork of Edward Loper, Sr. and Edward Loper, Jr., two artists they had never heard of, even though the Loper's had lived over the 11th Street Bridge, very close to their school and homes.

For ten years, as director of education for the Violette de Mazia Foundation, she developed the Foundation's aesthetic education program, expanding it from two classes held in the galleries of The Barnes Foundation in 2000, to more than ten new venues throughout the tri-state area in 2012.

She has taught objective aesthetic appreciation at the Barnes Foundation, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and other local settings, and continues to paint pictures locally as well as abroad. Her artwork is in many private and public collections such as Wilmington Trust Bank, MBNA, the Division of Libraries Art Collection of the State of Delaware, and the Blount Collection of American Art.