Former Kansas resident Mary Pavel of Titasville, Fla., recently donated a valuable Charles B. Rogers painting titled “Mid-October Day” to the Shafer Art Gallery at Barton Community College.
BCC Foundation Director Darnell Holopirek noted this was the second significant painting donation within the last week. Pavel chose the Shafer Art Gallery after she learned through Barton Community College’s website that the gallery has other Charles Rogers paintings in its permanent collection.
Rogers, who became internationally famous, was born Jan. 27, 1911 at Great Bend. (He died Dec. 10, 1987.) He became known as “The Kansan.” According to the BCC website, Rogers has 127 works of art (128 with the latest gift) in the college’s permanent art collection and its C. E. Denman collection.
The gallery also received a Biger Sandzén painting last week from Joe Unrein and his mother Barbara Unrein of Great Bend. Sandzén (Feb. 5, 1871 – June 19, 1954) was a Swedish-American painter who worked as art professor at Bethany College in Lindsborg. He best known for his landscapes.
Rogers studied at Bethany College, where he assisted Sandzén, who was head of the art department. When Sandzén decided to retire, Rogers, by then a graduate and instructor, was chosen to succeed Sandzén as head of the Bethany art department