Wiese Weekend

Kurt Wiese

On the weekend of May 18 and 19, the Friends of Freddy and the Hunterdon County Historical Society co-hosted a "Wiese Weekend," devoted to the illustrator of the Freddy books, who resided for the latter part of his life in Hunterdon County. Due in part to miserable weather and associated traffic problems, attendance was sparse. However, all who attended were delighted to do so despite coming from as far away as Boston and Texas.

I took so many photographs that I'm going to put them on separate pages. Here's a summary of what went on, along with links to the individual pages with photos and additional information:

Hunterdon County Library - The county library was the site of the most formal part of the event, as well as a small but impressive display from the library's collection of original illustrations.

Union Hotel - Site of our formal dinner as well as a set of paintings, once a mural, done by Kurt Wiese and Carl Ritz for the Works Progress Administration.

Hunterdon County Historical Society "Doric House" - On Sunday morning, we got an exclusive tour of their Kurt Wiese exhibit. The most entertaining element of the exhibit was a display of Christmas, birthday, and other cards Wiese illustrated himself.

Wiese studio - Our next Sunday morning stop was the actual Wiese studio, now extensively renovated but still a beautiful building and location.

Wiese friend and neighbor - Our last stop may have been the most thrilling of all, as friend and neighbor Nicholas Minginourch gave us a personal account of his relationship with Wiese as well as a chance to look through his extensive collection of Wiese illustrations, sketches, and letters.

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