Joan Elkin’s Artwork: A Q&A with Molly Elkin, Jan Garden Castro, Joel Minor

Joan Elkin’s (1932–2022) paintings are on display in an exhibition at the John M. Olin Library, Stanley and Joan Elkin’s Artistic Kingdom. Joan, who was married to acclaimed novelist and WashU professor Stanley Elkin, was a prolific visual artist, creating watercolor and oil paintings, prints, and collages over five decades, from the 1970s to the 2000s. Molly Elkin, the daughter of Joan and Stanley; Jan Garden Castro, poet, critic, and co-founder of River Styx literary magazine; and Joel Minor, curator of the Modern Literature Collection at WashU Libraries, explore and discuss Joan’s artistic vision, her paintings, and their legacy at WashU.

How did you (Joel) go about selecting the paintings that would best represent Joan and Stanley Elkin’s intertwined artistic and personal lives for the exhibition?

Joel: Most of all, I wanted variety in the mediums (oils, watercolors, prints) and the subject matter. While Stanley Elkin is featured often, and they are part of the Stanley Elkin Papers, I knew there were many other people depicted in her work I wanted to include. I went through the images on joanelkin.com and tried to make selections as representative as possible of the whole. There were so many favorites, it was hard to choose. I’m glad the website and digital exhibit are there for people to peruse more of them. 

When did Joan start painting? Was she formally trained? Who were some of her favorite artists?

Joel: Joan took night-school drawing classes while she and Stanley were living in Champaign, Illinois, as he pursued his doctorate at the University of Illinois and she taught fifth graders (she had a degree from UI in education). When Stanley started teaching at WashU in 1960, she happily gave up teaching and devoted more time to art, in particular, painting.

Later in life, after Stanley died, she continued oil painting but also took some art classes in the WashU University College and branched out to watercolors and intaglio printing. 

Molly: Her favorite artists included Klimt (we would visit Klimt’s stunning portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer at the Neue Gallery on an annual basis); Seurat (you can see a nod to Seurat’s pointillism in the backgrounds of many of her paintings); Modigliani and Vuillard (she loved the warmth of his interiors of daily domestic scenes). 

Joel: In Series 16 of the Stanley Elkin Papers you’ll find listed what we have of Joan’s artwork permanently in Special Collections: thirteen works of original art, seven collages of book and magazine art, a number of tear sheets, and eight collages of personal photographs (mainly family but also colleagues and friends). Most of these hung in the Elkin home for decades, along with a lot more works of art we couldn’t acquire, unfortunately. I wanted them all!  

What are some of the stories and emotions that Joan conveys through her paintings of family and friends over the years?

Joel: Looking at her work, I know there must be stories behind the people looking back at you, but they are not necessarily revealing much in their faces or activities. I like that air of mystery about them. That said, since they were originally captured as photographs, they were often posing for the camera, presenting themselves to viewers beyond their present moment, inviting them to notice.

Probably the most consistent aspect of Joan’s work is taking human subjects from personal photographs and painting them into different settings. I encourage readers to peruse her work at joanelkin.com or in the Artistic Kingdom digital exhibition, to see what I mean. She most often used family photos of close and distant relatives.

Another common feature I noticed is leafless trees, but there are also ornate interiors, open roads, brick residential neighborhoods, and geometric shapes as settings, too. People from wedding photos were a common subject.

Jan: Trees without leaves often symbolize winter or death, and greenery of various types stands for spring. In addition to the seasons, Elkin’s scenes often show life and death in various ways. Her art reminds me of great antecedents in art. Elkin’s body of work conveys strong connections among family members. The harmonious (possibly idealized) relationships in her art are teachable moments for viewers: life should be this good all the time! Stanley was Joan’s favorite subject; his persona, posture, and cane, due to multiple sclerosis, suggest that pain, too, is part of life. Elkin’s oeuvre is playful, loving, and original.

Did Joan have a creative process that you think viewers should know about?

Joel: It is hard to describe her creative process, which involves a meticulous grid mapping of the photographs she used. Joan’s daughter, Molly, made some home videos with her phone where she interviews Joan as she is creating a painting. I encourage readers to watch those to learn more; it is fascinating.

What do you find most interesting and compelling about Joan’s paintings?

Molly: Her landscapes are fascinating: vibrant colors, cypress trees arranged on made-up hillsides, homes and villas a little off perspective and scale, cascading water, meticulously detailed rock walls, and wood bridges.  I want to go to these imaginary places!  I also love her depiction of empty chairs, always arranged in a way that you can see the ghost of the conversation that just took place by the people who are no longer seated in those fabulous Adirondack chairs, schoolroom chairs, wicker ones, wooden ones.   

Jan: Joan Elkin’s art is notable for its intimate and intricate painting style, which adds depth as it brings forward each image. Elkin painted family and friends in poses that focus on sharing positive emotions and favorite moments. Her settings are often both realistic and symbolic—the family home at 225 Westgate, the garden in spring, a broadening path toward a sunny horizon, an interesting wall in Europe, a café in Italy, a huddle of chairs at the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference.

In which years did Joan make portraits of WashU English department faculty/students? Who are some of the subjects of these paintings (famous writers, colleagues, etc)? Are they permanently on display on campus?

Joel: The WashU English Department commissioned two works from Joan: “Jarvis Thurston and His Circle,” 1982, for the occasion of Thurston’s retirement, and “The English Department,” 1992. For the former, Joan depicted a casual social setting of Thurston, his wife, the poet Mona Van Duyn, and other writers/faculty, including Stanley. For the latter, the entire English Department is facing the viewer and applauding. It features Howard Nemerov, Gerald Early, Naomi Lebowitz, and many others. Both paintings hang in Duncker Hall and have been reproduced for English Department posters and the website.

Artistic Kingdom is on view in Olin Library until July 13, 2025. Joan Elkin’s art can also be viewed online on the companion digital exhibition at WashU Libraries.