Anticipation: Artist, Author Steve Scheuring Proud That Allied Exhibition Will be in His Neighborhood

The Reading Public Museum

By Steve Scheuring

I always enjoy and look forward to the Allied Artists of America’s annual show. The live exhibition of award winners and other invited works is a great opportunity to connect with some amazing artists, and the level of work is always top notch. I was especially thrilled to find out the 2025 live exhibition—the 112th annual—will be “on my home turf” at the Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA, just a stone’s throw away for all our East Coast members (website: https://www.readingpublicmuseum.org/).

This year’s live exhibition is especially exciting. Normally, our show runs for a few weeks to a month. However, the 2025 show will run from September through January; four months, in a museum! Opportunities for artists to share their work in a prestigious venue for that amount of time are scarce.

The Reading area is home to some great artists/writers/musicians. Keith Haring, the pop art icon, is from Kutztown, right up the road. One of his sculptures, which can be seen in the photo below (red sculpture on the floor, far left), is in Reading’s permanent collection. Famous American author and art critic John Updike is from Shillington (a suburb). His novel, Rabbit Run, is based loosely in Reading (called Brewer in the book) and reflects Updike’s memories of growing up in the area. And if you’re looking for a good read about our art world, I suggest Updike’s essays on art, “Still Looking”, “Just Looking”, and “Always Looking.” And suburban Reading was musician Taylor Swift’s childhood home.

The museum boasts some amazing work. Part of Reading’s permanent collection, Julien Dupre’s “The Balloon” (1886) always fascinated me as a kid. Was drawn to its large size, yet the focal point of the painting is this tiny spec of a hot air balloon in the distant sky. I had a similar reaction when I saw Theodore Gericult’s “The Raft of The Medusa” in the Louvre in Paris. Shipwreck survivors all struggling to stay alive on an overcrowded raft dominate the massive painting’s foreground. Yet site lines draw your gaze to a distant, faint rescue ship, which takes up a very small part of the painting on the horizon. In both paintings, the contrast of large painting, small subject draws the viewer into the scene: we the viewer become a participant in amazing work.

Hermann Ottmar Herzog’s “El Capitan, Yosemite” (1876), guards the stairs to the 3rd floor art exhibits. His work is reminiscent of the Hudson Valley landscape painters: expansive scenes, layers of foreground and background, celebrating nature’s beauty. I yearned to visit mountains and scenes like this when I was a kid (still do).

My wife’s family and I are fond of Berks County artist Christopher High Shearer (1846-1926). He lived in a rural area near my wife’s ancestors, and my wife’s family owns some of his paintings. We love Shearer’s woodland landscapes. I’ve always been drawn to the large painting in Reading’s Collection, “Schwartzbach” (1874). Like Herzog, Shearer masterfully layers the scene, differentiating many foreground and background layers. “Schwartzbach” is unique in that Shearer’s foreground rocks are built up in relief, almost like a German wood cutting, adding additional dimensionality to the painting. This painting calls to that Germanic/Black Forrest/Pennsylvania Dutch part of my ancestry.

Come on out to the Reading Museum and the Allied Artists’ 2025 exhibition. I’ll be proud to show off the amazing artwork of our organization to the Reading area. Can’t wait for our members to see some of the amazing artwork at the museum that inspired me to be an artist. To all my Allied Artists colleagues: I look forward to seeing you and your artwork.

We hope you make it to the opening reception and awards ceremony, which will be held Saturday October 18, 1-4 p.m. And if you need a recommendation for a local spot to eat (wings at Jimmy Kramer’s Peanut Bar are a must), seek me out!

Artist Steve Scheuring in front of a painting by Christopher High Shearer at the Reading Museum