This is the eighth in a series of ARTicles featuring newly restored paintings on display at the freshly renovated Marshalltown Arts & Civic Center (MACC). Each month, a different painting will be featured.

In 1958, Bill and Dorothy Fisher gifted Marshalltown an extraordinary legacy; a stunning mid-century modern community center and a world class art collection highlighting the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

After 55 years, the community center and collection were both in need of restoration. In 2017, the process began with the full support of the Fisher Family and the Fisher Governor Foundation. Committees were formed to write grants, digitize records, reach out to organizations and individuals for funding, and hire technical experts and consultants.

An on-site evaluation of the collection was completed the day before the EF3 tornado devastated the north side of Marshalltown and the appraisal of the collection was completed in 2018. A total of 44 artworks, (paintings and sculptures) were chosen for restoration.

In July 2020, the Chicago Conservation Center retrieved the identified works. The very next month, the community center, and much of Marshalltown, was decimated by a derecho.

Restoration of the art was completed in 2021, and the Fisher Art Museum opened in September 2022.

Currently on display are approximately half of the paintings from the Fisher Art Collection. The others are resting in climate-controlled storage and will be on view in 2025.

One of the artists whose work you can now see is Adolphe Monticelli; a master painter whose career predates that of the Impressionists. Of Italian parentage, Monticelli was born into humble circumstances in Marseilles, France. He received his initial formal training in his hometown and later continued his studies in Paris.

In addition to his formal training, Monticelli was quite influenced by the work of Eugene Delacroix and Antoine Watteau, and eventually developed his own unique Romantic style. Using strong colors and a heavy impasto (thick surface), he painted still lifes, portraits, and courtly subjects.

Between 1847 and 1870, Monticelli spent the bulk of his time in the city of lights, where his dedication to art was noted and admired by others in the arts. But his confident palette and bold brushwork did not appeal to all. Aware of the criticism of his style, Monticelli is said to have remarked, “I paint for thirty years from now.”

And indeed, his work did captivate emerging artists who could see beyond the subject matter. A young Paul Cezanne, 15 years his junior, befriended Monticelli. They often painted together and Monticelli’s influence can readily be seen in Cezanne’s early works.

Vincent van Gogh first saw Monticelli’s work in 1886 and admired his loose, free brushwork. Van Gogh later acknowledged such a strong connection to Monticelli that he once remarked, “I sometimes think that I am really continuing that man.” Vincent and his brother Theo were instrumental in publishing the first book on Monticelli. So deep, enduring and well known is Monticelli’s influence on Vincent, that multiple references are made to Adolphe in biographies of the Dutch genius and in 2009 an exhibit in France celebrated both artists equally.

And Oscar Wilde was an enthusiastic patron. Thus, the inclusion of a work by Monticelli in the Fisher collection is noteworthy but not surprising. Bill Fisher knew what he was doing.

Monticelli’s paintings are permanently housed in museums the world over, including the Louvre in Paris and the Tate in London, and yes, the Fisher Art Museum in Marshalltown, Iowa as well.

Stop by the MACC and view for yourself the small, richly colored and textured oil on canvas painting by Adolphe Monticelli. Romantic in subject matter yet saturated with color and dynamic strokes, the small untitled and undated painting, is radical in its execution and captures the essence of this influential artist.

Adolphe Monticelli died in Marseilles in 1886, staying true to his creative vision and style until the end.

Be inspired. Go to the MACC. Call 641.758.3005 or visit www.maccia.org for more information.

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Nancy Jeanne Adams is a member of the Fisher Art Museum Committee.