Four Cleveland Arts Institutions Pay Tribute To The Work Of Parma Artist Anthony Eterovich (1916-2011)

This spring, four arts institutions in Cleveland will pay tribute to the life’s work of well-respected Parma artist Anthony Eterovich with simultaneous exhibitions.  The principal showing is a centennial retrospective - “A Thrilling Act”: The art of Anthony Eterovich (1916-2011) - that will open at Tregoning & Company, 1300 W. 78th Street, on April 15th, timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the artist’s birth.  Honoring the influence of jazz music on Eterovich’s work, the John Petrone Trio will perform throughout the opening.

The Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) will feature drawings by Eterovich – a 54 year CIA faculty member – in the CIA Study Collection from June to August.  A preview party for CIA Alumni at Tregoning & Company on April 14th at 5:30 p.m. will benefit the CIA through net sales proceeds added to its Eterovich Scholarship Fund.  The Marshall Griffith Trio will perform.

Fundamental Gestures: Figures from Life, which opens April 15th at ARTNeo, 1305 W. 80th Street, Suite 016, includes two Eterovich drawings and several more Eterovich pieces will be displayed on a feature wall.  

And, rounding it out, the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve, 1834 E. 123rd Street, will present another opportunity to view Eterovich’s work April 20th – May 7th.  A small selection of Eterovichs will be on display in a Pop Up Office Exhibition.

The joint tributes to Eterovich pay respect to a Cleveland artist who steadfastly celebrated that city throughout his entire life.  He studied under John Teyral and Viktor Schreckengost at the CIA after receiving a full scholarship and influenced countless students while on faculty there for more than 50 years.  His work is in the permanent collections of the Butler Institute of American Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Dayton Art Institute, the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve and ARTNeo. 

After he won first prize in the 16th Annual National New Year’s Show at the Butler Institute of American Art with his painting The Merry Bench, Edith Halpert requested an Eterovich to show in her famous Downtown Gallery in New York.  That exhibited painting, Table Charade, received a glowing review from Howard DeVree of the New York Times on May 6, 1951:

“One of the most ambitious canvases is by Anthony Eterovich, 'Table Charade' … succeeds in bringing organization out of what might well have been a too complicated profusion of detail.”

A full color catalogue to the exhibition has been published, containing essays and remembrances by Bruce Checefsky, William Martin Jean and George Kozman and will be available for purchase at Tregoning & Company.