Portrait of Jack Butler
Object number2017.65.12
Artist
Dennis Karchner
Copyright holder
Ruanaidh Cards
Date2007
MediumInk; Paper; Paperboard; Adhesive; Adhesive tape
Credit LineGift of Arthur Joseph Rooney, Jr.
DescriptionColor print on paper of a football card. Rectangular white paper with rounded rectangular printed image of male football player in full-length three-quarter view facing slightly proper right. Figure is kneeling on his proper left knee and resting his proper right arm on his proper right bent knee. Figure wears Pittsburgh Steelers football uniform, holds helmet in hands, and has football on ground in front of his proper left knee. Figure kneels on green grass football field with goalposts in the right background and trees behind with blue sky. Light brown border. Text above and below figure. Paper has white margins around printed football card. Paper is mounted on rectangular white paperboard.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth (Print mounted on board): 28.063 × 21.5 × 0.125 in. (71.3 × 54.6 × 0.3 cm)Height x Width (Print only): 24.125 × 18.625 in. (61.3 × 47.3 cm)
SignedArtist signature printed in white in bottom right corner of grass “KARCHNER” and printed signature in the left card margin near bottom left corner “Denny Karchner”.
InscriptionsBlack, yellow, and white text above figure “Jack Butler / 1951-1959 / ALL PRO DEFENSIVE BACK / 80”.
Player has yellow “80” on chest.
Football has black text “Wilson” and “ “THE DUKE” ”.
Silver, black, and yellow text below figure “PITTSBURGH / STEELERS”.
Player signature in black ink on his proper left leg “Jack / Butler”.
Card’s right margin has reproduced handwritten inscription “ “A Man for All Searons” - ARJ ”.
MarksBlack printed text at bottom center of football card “© RUANAIDH CARDS” and below card in margin “ALL COPY, ARTWORK AND IMAGING ARE COPYRIGHT 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED”.
Historical NotesMore than 30 years ago, Art Rooney, Jr. and his wife Kay visited the Circle Art Gallery in San Diego, California. By the time they left, a new passion had been born. Unable to buy a seascape that had sold while they shopped, Rooney purchased a portrait instead. Painted by Merv Corning, the work featured Cincinnati Bengals’ wide receiver Isaac Curtis, a player Rooney admired. Over the next several years Rooney returned to the gallery while in San Diego on scouting trips or at Steelers’ games and bought more of Corning’s art. Eventually Corning called him, beginning a friendship and artistic partnership that lasted until the artist passed away in 2006. Rooney gradually transitioned from a buyer of art, to commissioning specific pieces. He began to collect what he knew and loved – paintings that depicted members of the great Steelers’ teams of the 1970s. Rooney had scouted many of these players and had come to know and respect them as athletes, but also as men. Over time Art Rooney’s collection has broadened to include pieces by two other artists and to represent his life, his work, and the special relationships he developed through football. Originally from Clearfield, Pa., Dennis Karchner began drawing as a young child. He studied at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. After years working in the screen-printing business, he returned to his first love, drawing and painting. Based in Cody, Wyoming, Karchner is known for his Western art, images of native peoples, cowboys, and even current outdoorsmen, such as the Steelers’ Brett Keisel. His pencil and oil renderings are rich in detail and use the raw, natural landscape of the West as a background. After seeing a portrait Karchner painted of broadcaster Curt Gowdy, Art Rooney Jr. contacted him. The two have worked together for the past six years to capture “the warriors” of the gridiron in paint. This painting features Art Rooney, Sr.’s brother Dan – The Chief’s baseball teammate, lifelong friend, and religious counselor Label TextIn addition to sending the players trading cards of their portraits, Rooney sometimes has limited edition prints made that he shares with the players, donates to museums such as the History Center and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and allows his alma mater, St. Vincent College, to auction as a fundraiser. Though artist Merv Corning and Art Rooney, Jr. became close friends, they never met face to face. They talked often on the phone and Rooney corresponded by postcard and letter. His notes led Corning to create “postcard” art, for printing on thick cards that looked like trading cards, and corresponding “posters” of those images. Rooney used these cards to write to Merv and also for notes to players, family, and friends. Many are trademarked “Murray Cards” on the bottom, a private joke between the two men that referenced Maggie Murray (Rooney), Art’s grandmother. After Merv Corning passed away, Art Rooney had Karchner create this card art for him. These cards are marked “Ruanaidh,” not Murray. Pronounced Ru-ah-nee, this is both the Gaelic word for Rooney, and the title of Art Rooney, Jr.’s memoir about his father and the Rooney family, published in 2008.
Related person
John Bradshaw Butler
(1927 - 2013)
Collector
Arthur Joseph Rooney Jr.
Related institution
Pittsburgh Steelers
Related institution
Wilson Sporting Goods Company
Related institution
James Gallery
On View
Not on view
Ron Mahoney
Ron Mahoney
Mervin Allen Corning
Ron Mahoney
