Collector Gina Puzzuoli finds inspiration in the stories behind the artwork hanging in herwestvirginia home
-
By John O’hern
When Gina Puzzuoli was growing up in Cleveland, her mother was crippled and her father, a student at Western Reserve University, would take her to the Cleveland Museum of Art on weekends because it was free. Curious, even at that early age, she was fascinated by the labels for the works of art. Many of them noted that the works were gifts to the museum. She wondered, “why, if you owned that would you give it away?” Her father replied, “if they hadn’t, we wouldn’t have got to see it!”
Although she valued old things, her family was poor. “art was valued,” she comments, “but we didn’t have anything. My father always stressed to me that you need to make a difference in life… that life is a gift and you’d better not waste it.”
Today, Gina is a psychiatrist at the Charleston, west Virginia, outpatient clinic of the Hershel “Woody” williams VA Hospital in Huntington and owns Stray Dog Antiques in Charleston— chock-a-block full of other people’s treasurers awaiting their new homes.
Next door she lives among her own treasures—her husband Gary Needham, their dogs and cats, and an important collection of art by women artists.
Over the years, inspired by the labels at the Cleveland Museum, she has given away many pieces—to friends, to the Cleveland Museum and to museums in Westvirginia, the Huntington Museum of Art and the Art Museum of West Virginia University, her alma mater. In medical school in the early ’70s the five women students weren’t particularly welcomed. “we worked hard to succeed,”
she comments, “and I got to be a little bit of a feminist.” When she was able to afford to buy art for herself
“the first few happened to be women,” she explains. “i thought, ‘wait, this makes sense!’
“The first piece was by Nell Blaine. I had read about her and learned she had gone to Mykonos to study the color. while there, she contracted polio. Her artist friends raised money to bring her home where she was in an iron lung for year. She was paralyzed but learned to paint with her left hand. My brother was injured in a car accident in the ’80s and was paraplegic. Dealing with my brother, Blaine’s story hit home in a poignant way. I read that her work was at Fischbach Gallery in Newyork. I got myself gussied up and flew from west virginia to Newyork.
I got off the elevator and as I walked into the gallery I began to lose my nerve. Larry Dicarlo greeted me. When I told him I was interested in Nell Blaine’s paintings, he offered me coffee and said he would bring out some of her paintings. He showed me all this work
but there was one of a spring bouquet with an eggplant that I loved and it was in my price range! Larry said he would send it to me and if I wanted to keep it, I could send him a check.
“I went back to Newyork for an opening at Fischbach and Larry sent me over to the Robert Schoelkopf Gallery to see the work of Louisa Matthíasdóttir. The Schoelkopfs sent me the painting I wanted and I sent them a check. Later,
I bought a Louise Nevelson… and
I knew I was on a path.”
She would often go to Cambridge, Massachusetts, for weekend courses to maintain her accreditation. She would stay in Boston at the Copley Plaza which was near the famed Newbury Street and its galleries. She began reading about late 19th- and early 20th-century Boston and New England women artists whose work she found at
Childs Gallery.
“I’ve also bought a few really, really good pieces through Katherine Degn at Kraushaar Galleries in Newyork,” she comments. For Gina, the story is important—the story of the artist first and then the story of the work itself. “The story is why I’m a psychiatrist,” she says. Gary interjects, “it’s the story in the painting and the story of the person. I could listen to Gina’s stories
about the artists all day long.”
“Edith Dimock was married to William Glackens,” Gina relates. “after Glackens died, she was so distraught she destroyed the body of her work she still had. Katherine Degn had found a little watercolor and she mentioned she knew of three other watercolors. Dimock’s story filled my soul. I was on a mission and bought the paintings—one at a time. “When I began collecting,” she continues, “people started giving me books on women artists. Linda Nochlin had written an essay ‘Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?’ and I bought her books. I had to fall in love with the artists before I would consider their art. a lot of these women, not unlike myself, were not necessarily valued for their work in the beginning. Their work is about their talent and their energy. I’m fortunate to live with their energy in my home.”
On the back wall of the staircase are—top to bottom, left to right—an oil by Edith Bry (1898-1991), a work by Rosemarie Beck (1923-2003), a watercolor by Joan Mitchell (1925-1992), (top) an 18th-century sampler, an ink on paper by Dora Maar (1907-1997), a drawing by Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899), a watercolor by Lillian Greene, (top) an etching by Gabrielle de Veaux Clements (1858-1948), a drawing by Polly Kraft, a drawing by Francesca Alexander (1837-1917), a watercolor by Susan Schwalb (next to the Alexander from top) a work by Selina Trieff (1934-2015), a work by Gertrude Katherine Lathrop (1896-1986), a Francesca Alexander drawing and a watercolor by Anita Willets-burnham (1880-1958). Beneath the railing are, from top, a lithograph by Peggy Bacon (1895-1987), three drawings by Esphyr Slobodkina (1908-2002) and an oil by Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994), (bottom, from left) a lithograph by Nell Blaine (1922-1996) and an oil by Alice Kent Stoddard (1883-1976). The large piece on the right is by Elaine Hamilton-o’neal (1920-2010).
On the left are—left to right, top to bottom—three lithographs by Joan Snyder, Lynn Allen, Emmi Lou Whitehorse; a lithograph by Hung Liu; an oil by Susanne Simonson; a drawing by Mary Frank; a drawing by Pat Steir; an oil by Deborah Rosenthal; and a monograph by Marion Huse (1896-1967). On the table in the foreground is a pot by Bertha Tom (Navajo). The large oil painting is by Katherine Porter. On the right are, from left, lithographs by Miriam Schapiro (1923-2015) and Jaune Quick-to-see Smith. Beneath them are, from left, an oil by Beatrice Whitney Van Ness (1888-1891) and a watercolor by Nell Blaine (1922-1996). Beneath them are, from left, a drawing by Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) and a lithograph by Barbara Grossman. On the bottom is piece by Irene Rice Pereira (1902-1971).
On the left is an oil by Dorothy Morang (1906-1994). On the adjoining wall are oil paintings by, from left, Morang, Virginia True (1900-1989), Louisa Matthíasdóttir (1917-2000), beneath it is a Lilla Cabot Perry (1848-1933) and another Virginia True.
BELOW: Above the bed are, from top, a lithograph by Louise Nevelson (1899-1988), an etching by Helen Farr Sloan (1911-2005) and a drawing by Dora Maar (1907-1997). On the adjacent wall are (top to bottom, left to right) a Louise Nevelson lithograph, a woodblock by Eliza Draper Gardiner (1871-1955), an etching by Doris Lee (1905-1983), a piece by Anette, a Jenny Lewis etching, an etching by Betty Waldo Parish (1910-1986) and a Louise Knight drawing. In the next column are, from top, an etching by Agnes Martin (1912-2004), a drawing by Beatrice West and a lithograph by Lee Bontecou. Next to them are, from top, an etching by Wanda Gág (1893-1946), a watercolor by Nura Ulreich (1899-1950) and a lithography by Peggy Bacon (1895-1987). On the far right are, from top, a work by an unidentified artist, a piece by Anette, a drawing by Molly Luce (1896-1986) and a collage by Lesley Dill.
The large oil on the left is by Melissa Meyer. Next to it are two portraits by Kay Sage (1898-1963). On the adjoining wall is an oil by Perle
Fine (1905-1988). Next to it are, from top, an oil by Louise Fishman, a watercolor by Dorothy Dehner (1901-1994), a work in handmade paper by Mildred Fisher Landon and a work by Margaret Burchfield. Above the door are, from top, two watercolors by Beatrice Whitney Van Ness (1888-1891). To the right of the door is a fabric piece by Louise Kruger (1924-2013). Above the door on the right is a lithograph collage by Miriam Schapiro (1923-2015). Leaning against the shelves on the left is an oil by Molly Luce (1896-1986). The tall tree and fox are made of steel by Nik Botkin. On the glass-topped table is a piece by Grace Hartigan (1922-2008). The Navajo pot is by Bertha Tom.
At the top are, from left, lithographs by Miriam Schapiro (1923-2015) and Jaune Quick-to-see Smith. Beneath them are an oil by Beatrice Whitney Van Ness (1888-1891) and a watercolor by Nell Blaine (19221996). Beneath them are a drawing by Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) and a lithograph by Barbara Grossman. On the bottom are a watercolor by Irene Rice Pereira (1902-1971) and a work in modeling paste, acrylic and plaster by Barbara Goldstein. On the upper right is a collaged photo by Yael Robin.
Gina Puzzuoli and Gary Needham relax with their dogs Violet, Dexter and Pete. Behind them on the top row are, from left, an oil by Natalie Hays Hammond (1904-1985), a watercolor by Molly Luce (1896-1986), a collage by Sydney Raynes (1907-1968) and a watercolor by Deborah Rosenthal. Next are, from left, a watercolor by Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), a photo by Debbie Hill, a watercolor by Diane White and two drawings by Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970). Beneath the White is an oil by Helen Miranda Wilson and beneath the Knights is a Diane White watercolor. On the next row, from left, are a watercolor by Martha Walters, a watercolor by Gwen John (1876-1939) and a watercolor by Edith Dimock (1876-1955). On the next row are, from left, a gouache by Pat Adams, a watercolor by Sarah Mcpherson (1894-1978), a positive etching by an unknown artist, a lithograph by Lesley Dill and an oil by Katherine Freeman. On the bottom row are, from left, a gouache by Doris Lee (1905-1983), a pastel and crayon by Anne Ryan (1889-1954), an oil by Celia Adler (1889-1979) handmade felt and stitching by Adrian Blackstock. Beneath it is a piece by Gary’s mother, Janice Needham. Above the lamp are a watercolor by Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) and a lithograph by Dorothea Tanning (1910-2012).
At the top is a Jane Hammond collage. Beneath it, from left, are a piece by Blanche Lazzell, a drawing by Joan Mitchell (1925-1992) and a drawing by Georgia O’keeffe (1887-1986). Above the table are, from left, a drawing by Eva Hesse (1936-1970) and an etching by Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945). Above the cabinet is an oil by Gary Needham.
On the upper left is a collage by Lesley Dill. Beneath it are, from left, a watercolor by Helen Farr Sloan (1911-2005) and a lithograph by Leonor Fini (1907-1996). Beneath them are, from left, an oil by Katherine Schmidt and a collage by Charmion Von Wiegand (1896-1983). Beneath the Von Wiegand is a drawing by Jane Wilson (1924-2015). Across the top of the wall are, from left, a watercolor by Helen Farr Sloan, a piece by Melissa Meyer and a lithograph by Elizabeth Murray (1940-2007). Beneath them are, from left, a large oil by Elsie Driggs (1898-1992), a lithograph by Leonor Fini, a watercolor by Nura Ulreich (1899-1950) and a lithograph by Ida Applebroog. At the bottom are, from left, a work by Katherine Schmidt and an oil by Virginia True (1900-1989).
On the left is a lithograph by Roberta Harley and, beneath it, a watercolor by Angelica Kauffman (1741-1807). On the adjacent wall are, from top, an oil by Helen Farr Sloan (1911-2005) and an oil by Theresa Bernstein (1891/95-2002). Reflected in the mirror are, from top, watercolors by Stella Snead (1910-2006) and Marjorie Organ (1886 -1931).