Herschel C. Logan

It was at the Olivet Institute that Logan met fellow artists like Glenn Golton, Louis Grell, and Harry Muir Kurtzworth. A friendship with C.A. Seward, a well-known Kansas printmaker, heightened Logan's interest in woodcuts; it also put Logan in contact with other printmakers such as Lloyd Foltz, Charles Capps, Clarence Hotvedt, and Leo Courtney and painter Birger Sandzen from nearby Lindsborg. It was through these friendships that Logan learned the art of printmaking, and that eventually led to their founding, with others, the Prairie Print Makers society in 1930. There Logan “lent his skill as a craftsman and instinctive aptitude for carving wood blocks that had established his national recognition by the age of twenty-three.” Logan gained considerable recognition for his body of editioned woodcuts, most of them about Kansas. He was exhibited extensively in the Mid-West, but also at international exhibitions in Los Angeles and at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Logan worked from life, using photographs or sketches he made on location, often finding inspiration in simple structures by the roadside while driving. He would spend several days studying and refining a sketch before proceeding. In 1938 Logan collaborated on a book entitled “Other Days in Pictures and Verse”. Presenting a nostalgic view of "The Good Old Days" in small town America, it incorporates 12 woodcuts, prose poems by Everett Scrogin, and decorations by C.A. Seward. Portraits were another favorite subject for Logan. Twelve prints of famous Americans were gathered into a book with short biographies, and later reissued as a calendar by the Consolidated Printing Company. Famous printers and printmakers throughout history were another focus of Logan's portraiture. He produced over 100 portraits in pen in ink for a book project “Great Names in Printing Through Six Centuries” that was never realized despite having lithographic reproductions prepared and possible page mockups. Fifteen of these were published posthumously in the miniature book Portraits of Some Famous Printers as a keepsake for the 1992 joint meeting of the Roxburghe & Zamorano Clubs. Logan abandoned fine art printmaking in general after 1938. Logan himself recalled “...after my friend Seward’s long illness and death [Jan 31, 1939], I simply lost interest in making prints.” “But perhaps more to blame were Herschel’s restless energies which were diverted to other enterprises.” By then he had thoroughly explored his love of the Kansas countryside from farms to towns to landmarks, often revisiting scenes often in different seasons or different times of the day. Logan later reflected “After World War II, abstract art and painting became more popular and took over, and printmaking just kind of fell apart." Logan did not completely abandon woodblock printing, nor its companions linocut and rubber plates. Throughout his career he advocated woodcut as a desirable medium for a straightforward presentation of an idea in his commercial work and designed many woodcut logos, emblems and bookplates. This extended to a woodcut style – he emulated woodcuts in many of his commercial work and later drawings, a technique he developed for advertising purposes, “satisfactory and yet may be produced quickly and with less difficulty”. Logan continued to produce numerous portraits throughout his life, generally in pen and ink. A large collection is found in his “Little Portraits of Famous Americans”, a miniature book from 1973.

Since his Consolidated Printing days Logan had been fascinated by the art and craft of printing and publishing. In 1940 he built a small-scale working model of Gutenberg's press out of wood for a display as part of the 500th Anniversary of Printing. In 1973 he purchased a Baby Reliance Hand Press and started a new career as a publisher of miniature books. The Log-Anne Press, named after him and his wife, operated out of a studio behind their Santa Ana home. The company published some 50 books.

An extensive collection of over 1600 prints (published and unpublished), books, paintings, drawing, studies, sketchbooks, original wooden blocks and other artifacts, plus Logan's collection of cartoon and illustrator art, can be found at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University. All their holdings have been digitized. Additional collections: • Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Research Library. Herschel Logan: Artist Files • Charlotte M. Smith Collection of Miniature Books, University Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries: a large collection of Log-Anne Press and other miniature books • Cleveland Museum of Art, Ingalls Library. Logan, Herschel C., 1901-. artist file • Emprise Bank Art Gallery • Kansas Museum of History • Sandzén Memorial Art Gallery • University of California, Irvine, Langson Library.The Westerners collection • Ablah Library. Wichita State University, Artist File: Herschel C. Logan • Wichita Art Museum, 170+ items including most of Logan's miniature books.

• Year — Event and works — Ref • 1925 — 1st Annual Kansas Artists Exhibition. Topeka • 1925 — 6th International Print Makers Exhibition, Los Angeles Museum Exhibition Park, March 1–29 • 1925 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, Feb 2-Mar 1 • 1925 — Philadelphia Art Alliance, Annual exhibition Dec 1925-Jan 1926 • 1926 — 2nd Annual Exhibition, Artists Guild of Wichita • 1926 — 7th International Print Makers Exhibition, Los Angeles Museum Exhibition Park, March 2-April 4, 1926 • 1926 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri • 1927 — 3rd Annual Kansas Artists Exhibition, Topeka • 1927 — 8th International Print Makers Exhibition, Los Angeles Museum Exhibition Park, March 1–31 • 1927 — 17th McPherson Exhibition • 1927 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, Feb 1-Mar 1 • 1928 — 9th International Print Makers Exhibition, Los Angeles Museum Exhibition Park, March 1–31, 1928 • 1928 — Library of Congress - Six wood block prints added to the permanent collection • 1928 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, Feb 1-Mar 1 • 1928 — Wichita Artists’ Guild • 1929 — 5th Annual Kansas Artists Exhibition, Topeka • 1929 — American Block Prints, Second Annual Exhibition, Mar 19–31, Wichita City Library, April at Mulvane Museum • 1929 — Kansas Free Fair, Topeka • 1930 — 6th Annual Kansas Artists Exhibition, Topeka • 1930 — 11th International Print Makers Exhibition, Los Angeles Museum Exhibition Park, March 1–31, 1930 • 1930 — Kansas Free Fair, Topeka • 1930 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, Feb 2-Mar 2 • 1931 — 7th Annual Kansas Artists Exhibition, Topeka, Oct 17-Nov 9 • 1931 — 12th International Print Makers Exhibition, Los Angeles Museum Exhibition Park, March • 1931 — Kansas Free Fair, Topeka • 1931 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, Feb. 1-Mar 2 • 1932 — 8th Annual Kansas Artists Exhibition, Topeka • 1932 — Kansas Free Fair, Topeka • 1933 — 6th Annual American Blockprint Exhibition, Jan 8–17, Wichita City Library • 1933 — 9th Annual Kansas Artists Exhibition, Topeka • 1933 — Kansas Free Fair, Topeka • 1933 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri • 1933 — Prairie Print Exhibition of Wichita, Kansa, Municipal Clubhouse, March • 1934 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri • 1934 — 15th International Print Makers Exhibition, Los Angeles Museum Exhibition Park, March, 1934 • 1934 — Kansas Free Fair, Topeka • 1934 — Rocky Mountain Print Makers Exhibition, Chappell House, Denver • 1935 — 8th Annual American Block Print Exhibition, Jan 10–20, Wichita • 1935 — 16th International Print Makers Exhibition, Los Angeles Museum Exhibition Park, March, 1935 • 1935 — Friends of Art, K.S.C. • 1935 — Kansas Free Fair, Topeka • 1935 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, Feb. 3-28 • 1938 — 9th Annual American Block Print Exhibition, Nov 20-Dec 5, [Wichita] • 1936 — 17th International Print Makers Exhibition, Los Angeles Museum Exhibition Park, March, 1936 • 1936 — Kansas Federation of Art, Prairie Print Makers collection, Apr-May 1 • 1936 — Kansas Free Fair, Topeka • 1936 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, Feb 2-Mar 2 • 1936 — Print-Makers Society of California, traveling exhibit • 1937 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri • 1938 — American Blockprint Exhibition, Wichita • 1938 — Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Graphic Art, Memphis, Tennessee • 1938 — Kansas Free Fair, Topeka • 1939 — Kansas Free Fair, Topeka • 1939 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, Feb 5-2 • 1939 — New York World's Fair • 1939 — Prairie Print Maker's Exhibit • 1939 — Six States Exhibition [6th Annual], Joslyn Memorial Art Museum, Omaha • 1940 — 13th Annual American Block Prints and Lithographs Exhibition, Jan 2-Feb 2, [Wichita] • 1940 — Midwestern Artists Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, Feb 4-25 • 1940 — Six States Exhibition [8th Annual], Joslyn Memorial Art Museum, Omaha • 1941 — Printmakers Society of California, traveling exhibit Central Library, Los Angeles • 1941 — Six States Exhibition [9th Annual], Joslyn Memorial Art Museum, Omaha • 1944 — Prairie Print Makers traveling exhibition • 1954 — Exhibit of Kansas Regional Print, Wharton Room, Manhattan Library • 1958 — Prairie Print Makers traveling exhibition • 1984 — Kennedy Galleries. Proofs of talent: American artists and the challenge of printmaking. May 1984 • 2007 — Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery 50th anniversary exhibition • 2018 — Prints of the Prairie: Herschel Logan's Kansas. Nov 13–15, 2018, The Coutts Museum of Art, El Dorado, Kansas. (30 prints on display) • 2020 — Telling a story: woodblock prints by Clare Leighton, J.J. Lankes, Herschel Logan. Jun 27-Nov 1, 2020, Wichita Art Museum, Ablah Gallery, Wichita, Kansas. • 2020 — The Printmakers at Ranchos de Taos. Aug-Sep, 2020, William R. Talbot Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico.