Rosemary Hornak
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Rosemary Hornak (born February 3, 1951) is an American visual artist, known for her late twentieth-century contributions to American
Folk Art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...
; art collector; philanthropist; the sister of founding
Photorealist Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can ...
and
Hyperrealist Jean Baudrillard ( , , ; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as we ...
artist,
Ian Hornak Ian Hornak (January 9, 1944 – December 9, 2002) was an American draughtsman, painter and printmaker. He was one of the founding artists of the Hyperrealist and Photorealist fine art movements; credited with having been the first Photoreal ...
; and the mother of art dealer and historian,
Eric Ian Spoutz Eric Ian Hornak-Spoutz (born August 3, 1983) is an American art dealer,Tom Watts, "Harrison Township art dealer is quick study," Macomb Daily, Feb. 15, 2012Jameson Cook, "Dual depictions presented of a prominent art dealer gone bad," Macomb Dail ...
Tom Watts, "Harrison Township art dealer is quick study," Macomb Daily, Feb. 15, 2012Jameson Cook, "Dual depictions presented of a prominent art dealer gone bad," Macomb Daily, Feb. 14, 2017 Stephen Bennett Phillips, "Ian Hornak Transparent Barricades," exhibition catalogue, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Fine Art Program, Washington D.C., 2012Ken Johnson, "Ian Hornak, 58, Whose Paintings Were Known for Hyper-Real Look," New York Times, December 30, 2002


Early life, education and family

Hornak was born in
Mount Clemens, Michigan Mount Clemens is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 16,314 at the 2010 census. It is the seat of government of Macomb County. History Mount Clemens was first surveyed in 1795 after the American Revolutionary War by Christ ...
on February 3, 1951, to Frank Hornak, a gentleman farmer, and formerly a member of the
United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...
; and Rose Hornak (née, Vagich), a homemaker, and formerly the owner of a confectionery in Brooklyn Heights, New York. Both of Rosemary Hornak's parents immigrated to the United States from Slovakia as
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
tensions arose in Europe in the years preceding
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. Before her emigration, Rose Hornak, who was American born, was educated in Prague. Rosemary Hornak had two older siblings, Michael Hornak, and
Ian Hornak Ian Hornak (January 9, 1944 – December 9, 2002) was an American draughtsman, painter and printmaker. He was one of the founding artists of the Hyperrealist and Photorealist fine art movements; credited with having been the first Photoreal ...
. Ian Hornak later became a prominent visual artist, one of the founders of the
Photorealist Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can ...
and
Hyperrealist Jean Baudrillard ( , , ; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as we ...
movements, and a member of the New York School. Rosemary Hornak learned to paint as a child by watching and working alongside her brother Ian at the family farm in Michigan. Ian Hornak later recalled during an interview with Patsy Southgate in
The East Hampton Star ''The East Hampton Star'' is a weekly, privately owned newspaper published each Thursday in East Hampton, New York. It is one of the few independent, family-owned newspapers still existing in the United States. The owners live in East Hampton Town ...
an idyllic childhood with his sister and described her as his “best friend” in both childhood and adulthood. Hornak graduated from
College for Creative Studies College for Creative Studies (CCS) is a private art school in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,400 students and focuses on arts education. The college is also active in offering art education to children through its Community Arts Par ...
in
Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
with a degree in Advertising Design in 1978.


Career

Following her brother, Ian Hornak's relocation to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
in 1968, and his subsequent relocation to the artists colony in
East Hampton, New York The Town of East Hampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, at the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town in the state of New York. At the time of the 2020 United States census, it had a tot ...
where he purchased a large home and studio, he and his life-partner,
Julius Rosenthal Wolf Julius Rosenthal Wolf (1929–1976)"Jay Wolf, 47, Producer, Casting Director and Agent," New York Times, June 14, 1976 was an American casting director, producer, theatrical agent, art collector, art dealer, and the vice president of General Amus ...
brought Rosemary Hornak out to their homes in New York City and East Hampton where they introduced her to their milieu which included,
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
,
Alex Katz Alex Katz (born July 24, 1927) is an American figurative artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints. Early life and career Alex Katz was born July 24, 1927, to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, as the son of an émigré who h ...
, Lowell Nesbitt,
Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...
,
Fairfield Porter Fairfield Porter (June 10, 1907 – September 18, 1975) was an American painter and art critic. He was the fourth of five children of James Porter, an architect, and Ruth Furness Porter, a poet from a literary family. He was the brother of photo ...
,
Lee Krasner Lenore "Lee" Krasner (born Lena Krassner; October 27, 1908 – June 19, 1984) was an American abstract expressionist painter, with a strong speciality in collage. She was married to Jackson Pollock. Although there was much cross-pollination be ...
, and
Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter ...
. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Rosemary Hornak exhibited her artwork in group gallery exhibitions primarily in New York, and Michigan. In 1993, she earned her first New York solo exhibition at the historically prominent Clayton Liberatore Gallery where her work captured the attention of leading New York art critic and craft proponent, Rose Slivka. While Hornak had largely exhibited mostly traditionally rendered landscape and still life paintings up until that point, at her brother Ian Hornak’s urging, she chose to debut a series of paintings and pastel drawings that were derived from her exposure to
Neo-expressionism Neo-expressionism is a style of late modernist or early-postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called '' Transavantgarde'', '' Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wilden'' ('The new wild ones'; 'N ...
in New York and had been quietly created between her studio in Detroit and her brother’s studio in East Hampton over a period of many years. Perhaps the most distinctive element of those artworks was the support that they were executed upon—-antique American mirror frames. Slivka wrote in
The East Hampton Star ''The East Hampton Star'' is a weekly, privately owned newspaper published each Thursday in East Hampton, New York. It is one of the few independent, family-owned newspapers still existing in the United States. The owners live in East Hampton Town ...
, “...the artist paints a lush and magic world of omniscient narural forces, flowers, and birds. Her work is somewhat reminiscent of that of her brother, Ian Hornak, but with a looser softer, freer stroke, and a spiritual, otherworldly, devotional focus that is more connected with outsider art with a folk and religious character.” Of Hornak’s technique, Slivka observed, “Working in a variety of media, including acrylic, oil, pastel, watercolor, and ink, Ms. Hornak creates a world amplified with mysterious knowledge reflected in explosions of color. Her later works are painted on the mirror sections of old
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...
and Moderne-style dressers. She removes the mirroring and paints on the wood backing, including the frames.” Of Hornak's subject matter Slivka stated, “The parrot, it’s gamut of color and form exaggerated, is a favorite theme. The artist who lives in Michigan, and often visits the East End, has two parrots of her own. She learns about color, she says, from them.” Slivka concluded, “In their recognition of spheres of knowledge apart from human understanding, Ms. Hornak’s paintings have an innocence, passion, and obsession of the folk artist…. With an educated knowledge of her tools and materials, Ms. Hornak is nevertheless very much a folk artist, dazzled by the sheer excitement, mystery, and color of the world, and a secret knowledge of birds and flowers. Ultimately she tries to render the visual music of an evolving universe. Her work combines authenticity with corn, and an invincible coupling.” Hornak's artwork is owned by the permanent collections of the
Detroit Historical Museum The Detroit Historical Museum is located at 5401 Woodward Avenue in the city's Cultural Center Historic District in Midtown Detroit. It chronicles the history of the Detroit area from cobblestone streets, 19th century stores, the auto assembly li ...
, and within the Ian Hornak Papers at the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
’s
Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...
.


Personal life

In 1978, Hornak married Carl Spoutz, a
Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
descendant, and the scion of a commercial real estate development family that was active in the Midwestern and Southwestern United States mostly during the early to middle portion of the twentieth-century. Prior to her marriage with Spoutz, she dated the son of organized crime figure, Anthony Giacalone while she was attending College for Creative Studies and working in
Grosse Pointe, Michigan Grosse Pointe is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 5,421. Grosse Pointe is an eastern suburb of Metro Detroit along Lake St. Clair. It is located along East Jefferso ...
. Hornak and Spoutz had one child,
Eric Ian Spoutz Eric Ian Hornak-Spoutz (born August 3, 1983) is an American art dealer,Tom Watts, "Harrison Township art dealer is quick study," Macomb Daily, Feb. 15, 2012Jameson Cook, "Dual depictions presented of a prominent art dealer gone bad," Macomb Dail ...
in 1983, who was his uncle, Ian Hornak's namesake, and later became an art dealer, historian, and executor of his uncle, Ian Hornak's estate. Hornak and Spoutz divorced in 1993.


Art collection

Rosemary Hornak became the sole beneficiary of her brother, Ian Hornak's estate upon his death in 2002, in accordance with his Will. Hornak inherited her brother's real estate holdings in East Hampton, New York; his personal property and effects; his collection of fine art; a collection of his own artwork; and his entire library of intellectual property rights. Her son Eric Ian Spoutz was appointed as executor of his uncle's estate in 2003. In addition to the artwork she inherited from her brother's estate, Hornak amassed a collection of artwork with a focus on American artists active in New York during the second half of the twentieth-century. In addition to her ownership of the largest collection in the world of artworks by Ian Hornak, she is also the owner of the largest collection in the world of artworks by Lowell Nesbitt, to whom she was introduced by her brother in the early 1970s.


Philanthropy

Using both her own personal collection, and many objects from her brother's estate, Hornak has been responsible as majority lender, along with her son as co-curator, of exhibitions at museums and organizations throughout the United States including at
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. * Indiana Univers ...
's
Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction (often shortened to The Kinsey Institute) is a research institute at Indiana University. Established in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1947 as a nonprofit, the institute merged with Indi ...
, the
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts Washington County Museum of Fine Arts (WCMFA) is an art museum located in Hagerstown, Maryland, United States. The building is located off Park Circle and serves as a centerpiece in Hagerstown City Park. The museum was donated in 1929, by Mr. an ...
, the and the Forest Lawn Museum Museum. In 2013, Hornak loaned a collection of her brother's artwork to
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the mon ...
where it was co-curated by her son, and Stephen Bennett Phillips into a major Ian Hornak retrospective placed on display in the
Eccles Building The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building houses the main offices of the Board of Governors of the United States' Federal Reserve System. It is located at the intersection of 20th Street and Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. ...
on the occasion of
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
's second
Presidential Inauguration A presidential inauguration is a ceremonial event centered on the formal transition of a new president into office, usually in democracies where this official has been elected. Frequently, this involves the swearing of an oath of office. Examples o ...
, with an accompanying monograph written by the co-curators, and published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Systems. Hornak's collection has been the subject of numerous catalogues and monographs published by museums and American federal government organizations. the
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts Washington County Museum of Fine Arts (WCMFA) is an art museum located in Hagerstown, Maryland, United States. The building is located off Park Circle and serves as a centerpiece in Hagerstown City Park. The museum was donated in 1929, by Mr. an ...
, the Kinsey Institute,Marci Creps, "On Exhibit: Jan 19, 2014" Hoosier Times, Jan. 19, 2014 and the
Anton Art Center The Anton Art Center, formerly known as the Carnegie Library, is a Neo-Classical building and Art Center located in Mount Clemens, Michigan, United States.Anton Art CenteCarnegie Library. Retrieved November 1, 2013. The building was listed on the ...
.Maryanne MacLeod, "Art Center showcases revolutionary exhibit: Nationally celebrated Ian Hornak retrospective," Macomb Daily, Jun. 26, 2014


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornak, Rosemary 1951 births Living people 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American women painters People from East Hampton (town), New York People from Mount Clemens, Michigan College for Creative Studies alumni American people of Slovak descent