Remembrance of Mortimer Spiller (December 28, 1922-March 19, 2014)

The Burchfield Penney Art Center mourns the passing of long-time friend and patron Mortimer Spiller on March 19, 2014 at the age of 91. Mort, as he was known to friends, was a Western New York businessman, collector of art and memorabilia, and jokester with a mischievous sense of humor. He served for decades on the museum’s Advisory Council, and later on the Board of Trustees.

Mort and his wife Harriet, became important patrons of the Charles Burchfield Center almost from its inception on December 9, 1966. To celebrate the museum’s tenth anniversary in 1976, they made a significant donation of 285 objects relating to Charles E. Burchfield and 62 works by other artists, including early drawings by Burchfield’s daughter, Catherine. Ten years later, in November 1986, highlights were exhibited in Selections from the Spiller/Burchfield Collection in the then-named Burchfield Art Center. These materials, originally stored in Burchfield’s Gardenville studio, include:

• 9 youthful drawings of fables from around 1908
• 4 floor plans of his home in Salem, Ohio made in 1908 that later contributed to the renovation and preservation of the home by the Burchfield Homestead Society
• 2 nature drawings of apple blossoms and mushrooms, 1910
• 3 wood engravings made in collaboration with J. J. Lankes, 1923-26
• 58 doodles
• 2 hand-written catalogues of 1915 sketches which identify the subjects of sketching sessions during the artist’s formative year
• Award certificates and medals, including The Chancellor’s Medal awarded by the University of Buffalo in 1944
• Correspondence

Over several decades, the Spillers made frequent gifts that have enriched the Charles E. Burchfield Archives with manuscripts and objects that help define the breadth of Burchfield’s interests, reveal his closeness to his family, and show how his career developed. Unique objects include Burchfield’s manuscript titled “The Evolution of Art,” that we believe was written in 1911 when he was class valedictorian of Salem High School.

The Spillers continued to donate art by other Western New York artists. For example, in 1989, they donated six photographs made collaboratively by Ethelyn Pratt Cobb and Otto John Gaul. They gave watercolor paintings by Burchfield’s daughters Martha B. Richter and Catherine Parker in 1997 and 2001, respectively. In 2001, they also donated a WWII-era drawing by Tony Sisti. Harriet died in 2008, and Mort continued to make donations of art and archival materials, including a glazed porcelain pot by Sylvia L. Rosen in 2009. Artworks and archival material that the Spillers donated often are incorporated into thematic exhibitions presented at the Burchfield Penney Art Center and are loaned in traveling exhibitions to other institutions across the country. Their patronage helped the museum to grow both in substance and national stature.