INDIANA JONES of the Art World (1900 thru 1919)

Bill in 1904
at Age 19

BILL TRAVELED EVERYWHERE -- on horseback, buses, row boats, ocean liners, planes, trains & automobiles -- hunting for the perfect spot to set up his easel.

He was a skilled photographer who developed his own film, but his Artwork was intended to convey the emotional impression of a scene, not just a photo-copy, which he could have done flawlessly -- but chose not to.

Charles (Bill) Wilimovsky produced hundreds of vivid images -- oil paintings, watercolors, woodcuts, etchings, lithographs, mezzotints -- each one an Impressionistic tour de force (though some insist that his work was Realistic). This artist never created a clunker. Bill opened magical windows into exotic places & moments to bestow unique treasures of vision & insight that continue to captivate the world.

Bill's father, Joseph Wilimovsky (1850-1896), immigrated with his family from Bohemia, arriving in New York in 1875. They settled in Chicago and Joseph became a successful businessman, eventually owning many large properties, including a hotel and restaurant at Chicago's first World's Fair in 1893, the famous Columbian Exposition.

Seen here in the early 1900s, this imposing building was constructed for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. After the Fair, honoring a prior agreement, it became the permanent home of the Art Institute of Chicago, where Wilimovsky learned his craft.

Early Wilimovsky Artwork - 1904

1900 image of William Merritt Chase (1849 - 1916). He was Wilimovsky's mentor & fellow traveller.

The Artist at Age 25 in 1910

On the Back of this Photo is a Note by the Artist:
"Piazza Indipendenza, Firenze - Aug 1911"

Note by the Artist: "Sul Lampo Di Annibale!
Rocca Di Papa - Dec 10, 1911 - Bill"

Plein air painting in Italy - 1911

The Port of Amalfi, Italy - 1911

Below is the cover of a booklet for a December 1912 Exhibit of Chicago Art Students. You can download the 13-page PDF here: 20th Annual Exhibition. On page 12, the 1911 painting shown above, "The Port of Amalfi, Italy," is featured, as well as two other Wilimovsky oils, each priced at $50, which is equal to $1,220 in 2014.

On the back of this photo the artist wrote "PULLIN' OUT"

Bill's marriage announcement in the 1914 yearbook for Milwaukee Normal School where he taught briefly upon his return from Europe. He married Marguerite Thompson in Chicago on December 29, 1913. In 1914, he began working at the Fine Arts Institute of Kansas City (later called the Kansas City Art Institute). In November of that year, Marguerite gave birth to their first child, Florence.

Bill's brother, Edward Wilimovsky, during World War I
which lasted from July 1914 to November 1918

Birth Certificate for Dorothea Brazzel (Bill's 2nd wife).
Her name is incorrectly recorded as "Dorothy."

The Daughters of Edward & Frances Brazzel of Purcell, Kansas:
Dorothea, born 1899; Margaret, born 1903; and Eva, born 1897.
A fourth sister, Loretta, was born in 1904.

Dorothea Brazzel at Age 17 in 1916

Note on Back by Dorothea: "St Joseph Hospital, Kansas City, Mo -- Dora Brazzel 1917 -- Entered Training Sept 1916"

Kansas City Star - April 16, 1915 -- "Gianbologna's Fountain" by Charles A. Wilimovsky: The painting shown above of a scene in the Royal Gardens in Florence is in the exhibition by painters of Kansas City and vicinity, now open to the public at the Fine Arts Institute. Mr. Wilimovsky, who is a member of the institute faculty, studied in Italy as a fellow of the Chicago Art Institute. The fountain rests under a mantle of bright sunlight, coming out of a vivid blue Italian sky.

Above is "Cincinnatus Paris" by Gertrude Freyman (1901-1993) who is mentioned in the article below as assisting Wilimovsky's art classes for children. In 1915, she would have been 14 years old. (Contributed by Scott Wilder) 

As reported in the Kansas City Star in 1915, the Institute announced that "special classes for children in drawing and color study will be arranged under the direction of Charles A. Wilimovsky, assisted by Gertrude Freyman."

Walt Disney's family moved from Chicago to Kansas City in 1911. In 1915, his father permitted Walt to attend the Institute's Saturday classes in the YMCA Building downstairs. Under Wilimovsky's guidance, Disney excelled at drawing while also learning the rudiments of sculpture and casting. He started these classes at age 14 and continued until 1917, when his family returned to Chicago.

While a freshman in high school, Walt took night courses at the Art Institute of Chicago, then quit school at 16 to enlist with the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in September 1918 (Photo: 17-year-old Walt Disney in 1919 as an ambulance driver following World War I). After serving in France, Disney returned to Chicago, then quickly traveled back to Kansas City in the fall of 1919 to establish himself as an artist.

In early 1920, Disney joined the Kansas City Film Ad Company, and again attended Wilimovsky's night classes at the Fine Arts Institute, along with his best friend & business partner, Ub Iwerks, as well as other colleagues from the Film Ad Company. Disney continued gaining valuable (and sometimes painful) experience as a cartoonist, animator, filmmaker and businessman in Kansas City before moving on to Hollywood in 1923.

C.A. Wilimovsky (right) at the Kansas City Fine Arts Institute. This photo is from a KCAI history book with the caption: The 1917-18 catalogue boldly declared, "An Art School is not a luxury. Today the world demands beauty of design as much in its workshops as in its art galleries. The Art School, by teaching how to produce this effect, has become a necessary factor in modern life." (Submitted by author Dr. Roland Sabates)

In the Wichita Eagle article below, we see a detailed summary of Charles Wilimovsky's distinguished career prior to 1918 (Submitted by Warren J. Hartmann) 

The Wichita Daily Eagle (Wichita, Kansas) Wednesday, March 20, 1918

FINE ART EXHIBIT AT MARTINS STORE -- Wilimovsky Paintngs to be On Exhibition for Two Weeks.

Fourteen paintings by the famous artist Charles A. Wilimovsky are on exhibition at the Martin store for two weeks beginning Monday, March 18. The exhibit was brought here by two of Wichita's prominent local artists, C.A. Seward and Ed Davison.

Four of the pictures to be exhibited are: "Missouri Trees," of Swope Park in Kansas City; "Gianbologna's Fountain," in the King's Garden at Florence, Italy; "The Lake," an Italian scene; "Lake of the Woods," Swope Park, and "Lake Taneycomo," a scene in the Ozark mountains.

Those seeing the exhibit are apt to think the paintings are from several different artists, for the style is so versatile.

Wilimovsky studied landscape painting with John C. Johansen after his Chicago Art Institute study. In 1908 he won the John Quincy Adams European teaching scholarship. Then he lived abroad for three years, spending eight months in Paris, where he got three pictures in the Salon. He was in England, France and Belgium during the three years, but spent most of his time in Italy, where he met William M. Chase in Florence, who became interested in him, bought one of his pictures and invited him to become one of his students. He was exhibited in the Modern Art Gallery in Rome and in the Florentine Society of Artists in Florence.

He came to Kansas City in 1914, after teaching in the Art Institute in Chicago, in the Fine Arts School there and in the Milwaukee Art School.

He is now painting landscapes and devotes much of his time to etching. Every summer he paints in the Ozarks and last summer spent two months painting with an art colony in New England. He exhibits annually in eastern shows.

The exhibition will be a treat to Wichitans, for Wilimovsky's pictures are to be found in some of the finest collections in Chicago and other cities.

The Wichita Daily Eagle - March 24, 1918: Wilimovsky, who is an American painter who has studied both in the United States and abroad, especially in Italy, is able to express in his landscapes much of the best of the two countries. The paintings are so different in style that observers find it hard to believe that they are by the same artist...

Marguerite Drusilla Thompson-Wilimovsky

(July 1889 - May 1919) with Daughter Florence - 1916.

Bill's first wife Margie was killed during the "Spanish Flu" Pandemic.

The Flu Pandemic (January 1918 to December 1920) killed more than 100 million people worldwide running up a greater toll than the Black Death (Bubonic Plague) of the Middle Ages. So many soldiers were stricken & incapacitated that it contributed to the end of the catastrophic Great War.

Mr. Wilimovsky surely would have been aware of local newspaper reports about this epidemic breaking out at nearby Camp Funston (now Ft. Riley). Thousands of Americans sent to fight in the Great War passed thru this military base. From there, exposed enlisted men spread the lethal disease throughout the world.

Soldiers who succumbed to the Pandemic at Camp Funston, Kansas, 1918

Countries involved in World War I were concerned about the morale of their fighting men, so when they had to acknowledge deaths from this devastating pandemic, they nicknamed the ailment the "Spanish Flu" because Spain was a neutral country that was not involved in the conflict. However, modern research proves that the source of the January 1918 outbreak was in Haskell County -- near the southwestern corner of Kansas -- less than 400 miles from Kansas City where Wilimovsky lived & worked.

Postcard depicting an original work created during a trip to Branson, Missouri, sent to his future wife, Dorothea: "Sunday - Gee, what hot days & frigid nights -- oh for a dozen blankets -- Bill"

Here is the front of the above postcard: August 18, 1919. He spelled her name wrong -- It should be BRAZZEL. This mail arrived 3 months late: A note by the Post Office says, "Found 11-20-19 on tracks. Evidently Lost from Train 8,20,1919"

Lady in Chair with Dog
This is a rare photo-realistic painting by Charles Wilimovsky. The woman appears to be his first wife, Marguerite (see photo above). After her tragic death in 1919, Bill's artwork was transformed into intensely emotional visual poetry, commonly known as Impressionism.

See the Next Part of the Story: 1920 thru 1929
SEE Charles Wilimovsky's whole story here:

Biography by Granddaughter, Laramée Lyda-Craft