Itter speaks about ‘Cubes, Curves’

Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts William Itter launched a retrospective exhibition of his own work with a lecture providing personal commentary on a selection of his paintings and drawings, including several never-before-seen pieces of art.

Friday’s lecture, titled “Cubes Curves Facts Fantasy: A Paradigm,” was delivered in the Radio/TV Center to a packed lecture hall. The lecture covered four decades of Itter’s work.

Itter’s lecture was accompanied by a slide show, putting on many of the works in “William Itter: A Retrospective Paintings and Drawings 1969-2009,” the exhibition now being displayed at the School of Fine Arts

Gallery. In some cases, Itter had not seen some of his own works for years until preparing his retrospective.

“Seeing paintings that had pretty much been in storage in people’s homes for a very long time has resulted in jubilation for me,” Itter said. “I had kind of forgotten how they looked.”

Sometimes, Itter forgot more than just his paintings’ appearance.

“The interesting thing for me is looking at these really early paintings and trying to remember what the heck I did in them,” Itter said.

One painting displayed from Itter’s early career, titled “Junkie,” had never been seen before. The painting is not in the exhibition.

“I haven’t shown that,” Itter said. “No one has ever seen that, so you’re the first – and probably the last.”

Running parallel to Itter’s exhibition is a special exhibition in the IU Art Museum consisting of selected items from Itter’s sub-Saharan African art collection.

Diane Pelrine, the art museum’s associate director for Curatorial Services, helped Itter select art for “Form and Surface: African Ceramics, Baskets, and Textiles from the William Itter Collection.” Given the number of works to choose from, it was difficult for Pelrine and Itter to narrow down the favorites.

“He has, just in terms of ceramics alone, over 400 African ceramics,” Pelrine said.
Itter noted that he was a reluctant collector at first. While looking for inexpensive items to fill his apartment, he came across a Native American quilt that he could not pass up.

“I was so upset with myself for buying an actual physical object that I wasn’t going to use in some way like a chair,” Itter said.

Still, Itter bought more quilts. Eventually his collection grew to include hundreds of African ceramics, textiles and baskets.

Most of the items Itter amassed over the years are stored in his own home, Pelrine said.

“He really lives with the objects,” Pelrine said, “and it’s wonderful to talk to him about them in a sense that he’s looked at them so carefully that he can always give you some new insight into them.”