Susie Barstow Exhibition

Susie Barstow (1836-1923) was a Hudson River School painter who is now enjoying a small exhibition at the Thomas Cole House and Museum in Catskill, New York.

The exhibit includes some of her finished oils, many of them from private collections, together with her field studies, watercolors, and demos. 

Barstow was a formidable hiker and outdoors enthusiast. The curators say: "Barstow often left her traveling companions to hike and sketch on her own, enjoying continuous bouts of wanderlust....It was not uncommon for Barstow to hike 8, 10, or 12 miles, only then to set down and commence with the task at hand."

I loved the fact that they included some small canvases just pinned on the wall, which makes it feel like you're visiting her studio.

The painting above was probably done as a composition demo. You can see her experimenting with the idea of putting a tree on the right, and then painting over it. 

Exhibit cases include some of the art supplies she would have used, including these "camel hair pencils." (Brushes used to be called pencils.) The camel hair was held by feather quills, with orange dowels put into the open end when they were in use.

The exhibition "Susie Barstow and Her Circle" includes paintings by other artists including paintings by Fidelia Bridges and Laura Woodward. It will be on show at the Thomas Cole Historic Site through October 29th, 2023.

For those who can't make it to the show, there's also a new book by Nancy Siegel called Susie M. Barstow: Redefining the Hudson River School.

Susie Barstow on Wikipedia

Fidelia Bridges Exhibit in Wisconsin

An exhibition now at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum portrays the life and career of botanical watercolorist Fidelia Bridges (1834-1923). 

The museum website says: "Despite inauspicious beginnings as an orphan growing up in Massachusetts, she became one of the preeminent women artists of her time and was the first woman member of the seminal American Watercolor Society. As an artist, she developed an elegant and exacting style, most often portraying birds and botanicals."

The exhibition Fidelia Bridges: The Artful Sketch will be at at the Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin through August 27, 2023, and admission is free.

Dog Art Exhibition in London

There's an exhibition of dog art this summer in London all summer which includes  The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner by Edwin Landseer and Brizo by Rosa Bonheur.

Brizo by Rosa Bonheur

‘Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney’ will be on display at The Wallace Collection from 29 March to 15 October 2023

Children's Book Art in Massachusetts

Garth Williams (1912-1996) Cover Study, Crayon and ink on paper, From: I Like Everything

The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield is hosting an exhibition of children's book illustration that includes over 140 original works, including art by Beatrix Potter, Garth Williams, Maurice Sendak, and Dr. Seuss.

The show has a number of gouache originals created for the Little Golden Books series. 

Feodor Rojankovsky (1891-1970), The Nursemaid, 1949,

Gouache on board From: Big Elephant by Kathryn Jackson

When he was interviewed about how he got started, Feodor Rojanskovky recalled a moment in his childhood when, "I was taken to the zoo and saw the most marvelous creatures on earth...and while my admiration was running high, I was given a set of crayons."

There are many other illustrators represented, including Rosemary Wells, Richard Scarry, Chris Van Allsburg, Hilary Knight, David Shannon, and Dennis Nolan. Some of the characters of literature represented include Babar, Eloise, Madeline, the Cat in the Hat and Dick & Jane. 

The exhibition "Childhood Classics" will be on view through April 30, 2023 at the Berkshire Museum, which is located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Orientalism Meets Western Art

Henry Farny, Mesa Village, 15 x 9.4 inches, gouache, 1891.

The Denver Art Museum is presenting an exhibition called "Near East to Far West" which pairs French Orientalist painting with the art of the American West.

The curators describe the combination in this way: "In Near East to Far West, visitors will be encouraged to compare the visual and historical aspects of French Orientalism and artworks of the American West and reflect on the impact of these representations into the present....The styles, motifs, and meanings of both French Orientalism and western American art reflect fears, desires, and curiosities about "unknown" lands during the process of colonization."

This exhibition Near East to Far West is on view in Denver from March 5, 2023, through May 29, 2023.

Sargent and Spain

Sargent and Spain is an exhibition and catalog focusing on the artwork that John Singer Sargent produced in Spain over many decades of his career. 

In the late 19th century, Spain was a somewhat exotic country whose rail system had just begun to open up to European travelers.

Sargent's excursions to Spain were a welcome escape from his career as a portrait painter. He always brought his sketching supplies with him, and the works in the exhibition / catalog include everything from oil portraits and landscapes, watercolors, pencil drawings, pen and ink sketches, to even bas-relief sculptures.

He always had a goal or objective in mind for each of his seven excursions to Spain. The exhibition is organized according to these thematic studies. The first goal was to capture the spirit of the flamenco dance in the big Salon painting El Jaleo. 

The original painting, now at the Gardiner Art Museum in Boston, did not travel to Washington, DC for the show, but it appears prominently in the catalog.

Sargent managed to capture fleeting expressions of fast-moving figures in dim light.

Sargent would undertake some impressively difficult perspective challenges, or scenes with complex layers of details. His precise pencil preliminary drawings underlie even casual looking sketches.

Spanish Fountain, 1912, watercolor and gouache over pencil

It's interesting to see how Sargent wove white gouache into his watercolor practice. The sprays of water coming out of the fountain are a thin drybrush line over previously painted passages.

Also, the caustic reflections on the underside of the bowl of the fountain are accomplished with opaque passages of gouache.

The catalog is lavishly illustrated in color with all of the 120+ artworks, plus other related photos and paintings by other artists. The text explores what it was like to travel in Spain during Sargent's era, and how his interest in Velazquez informed his approach to painting, and how he incorporated church iconography into his Boston murals.

The exhibition at the National Gallery in Washington will be on view through tomorrow, and then it continues at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Legion of Honor (February 11–May 14, 2023)

If you visit the National Gallery, don't miss the eight additional Sargents in the American galleries, including several of his full size portraits.

Andrew Wyeth's Images of Death

Andrew Wyeth, Spring, 1978, tempera, 24 x 48

Andrew Wyeth was always fascinated by the subject of mortality.

Andrew Wyeth, Dr. Syn, 1981, tempera on panel (21.5" x 19")

Before his own death in 2009, he painted several visions of skeletons, funerals, and gravesites.

Andrew Wyeth, Drawing from Funeral Group

He worked on preliminary sketches for a composition of himself lying in a coffin, surrounded by the people who were important to him, such as his wife Betsy, and his models Helga and Anna Kuerner.

This "Funeral Group" of sketches offers a tantalizing hint at a composition that he never completed. "I might die before it's done," he said. "Maybe you'll only have a pile of loose ideas." 

Andrew Wyeth, Snow Hill, tempera on panel, 48 x 72 inches, 1989

The Funeral Group sketches, along with a few selected finished works on the subject of death and life, are included in an exhibition currently on view at Colby College Museum of Art in Maine. The exhibition will be up through October 16, 2022.

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Wikipedia on Andrew Wyeth

Museum catalog: Andrew Wyeth--Life and Death. 

Wyeth Drawings on Display

Undercover Study by Andrew Wyeth, 1970, pencil

It's a rare treat to be able to see drawings and studies by members of the Wyeth clan.

 

N.C. Wyeth, seated nude, charcoal, 1900.

The art produced by the Wyeth lineage—N.C., Andrew, Carolyn, and Jamie—grows out of a tradition of academic drawing and close observation. 

In the case of Andrew, Carolyn, and Jamie, it wasn't an atelier or an art school setting where they learned these skills, but something passed down privately through the family.

Andrew Wyeth, charcoal portrait of Martin Leonard, 1936

The Fenimore Art Museum is currently displaying these mostly unpublished and unseen drawings. They're divided into several categories; academic renderings, figure studies, anatomy drawings, observations of the model, and animal sketches.

  N.C. Wyeth, Oisin in the Land of Youth (composition drawing), 1940, graphite

Victoria Wyeth, Andrew's granddaughter, curated the show with the help of her uncle Jamie. 

They offer the benefit of an insider's perceptions. They recall, for example, that Carolyn would walk around in  studio wearing her father's knickers, which were eccentric even in N.C.'s day.

Jamie Wyeth, pig drawing, 1969

There are a lot of kinds of observational drawings on view, so the art student or practicing artist will enjoy the behind-the-scenes glimpses. 

However, I wish there were more imaginative drawings, thumbnails, process pieces and a few finished paintings that would have shown the complete evolution of an idea from first concept to the end result. 

Andrew Wyeth, Undercover Study, 1970, watercolor (included)

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Drawn from Life: Three Generations of Wyeth Figure Studies is at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY through September 5

Enchanted Exhibition in Tennessee

The Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee is showing a fantasy art exhibition, and it's turning out to be a success. 

Chief Curator Nandini Makrandi says: "The exhibition has gone extremely well, with larger than usual attendance for us. It’s been really fun to see everyone enjoying themselves in the galleries."

Cara McGowan, Director of Marketing & Communications, says the response has been "overwhelmingly positive. Visitation has been strong, with lots of first-time guests (or those who haven’t been to the museum in a while) coming to see the exhibition."

Adera Causey, Curator of Education, says the museum has developed lots of programs for adults and kids connected to the exhibition. She says: "our summer campers have been delighted by it and it has inspired lots of monster-, dragon-, sword-, and fairy-themed art works by our campers." She says that the show has brought in lots of new guests, but also has helped existing audiences see the museum in new ways, too.

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Enchanted: The History of Fantasy Illustration" will be at the Hunter Museum through September 5, after which it travels to Flint, Michigan. The original curator and organizer of the traveling exhibit is Jesse Kowalski of the Norman Rockwell Museum. 

 Book: Enchanted: The History of Fantasy Illustration

Exhibition about Lincoln Memorial Opens at NRM

Daniel Chester French in his studio

The Norman Rockwell Museum has opened an exhibition about Daniel Chester French and the Lincoln Memorial.

John C. Johansen (Danish-American, 1876-1964) Daniel Chester French in the Chesterwood Studio, 1926

The Museum partnered with nearby Chesterwood, the home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French, to assemble a trove of sculptural maquettes and artwork that detail how the memorial was conceived and executed.

John Russell Pope (1874-1937) Design proposal for a Monument to Abraham Lincoln 

(Mayan temple style), 1912.

One of the initial ideas for the building to house the memorial shows a stepped pyramid at the end of the Mall.

Among the artists attending were Shawn Fields, who illustrated a children's book called Monument Maker Daniel Chester French and the Lincoln Memorial, and Garin Baker, who created a massive mural about the making of the Monument called "28 Blocks." 

I'm represented by a grisaille sketch I did at the location, the first time I saw the impressive monument.

The other rooms of the museum are filled with extraordinary paintings by Norman Rockwell.

Norman Rockwell Museum

Color in French Art Prints

The Clark Art Institute in northwestern Massachusetts is presenting an exhibit of French printmaking called Hue and Cry: French Printmaking and the Debate Over Colors. It examines how color found its way into the world of black and white prints. 

Philibert Louis Debucourt, The Climb, or Morning Farewell, 1787, 

Color engraving on paper. The Clark Art Institute, 1955.1897.

The earliest prints were all black and white, using methods such as woodcut, wood engraving, and etching. When the technology made it possible to print in full color, tastemakers in France dismissed them, arguing that they were cheap and low-class. 

The exhibit includes fine examples of these early intaglio color prints, such as the one above.

When color lithography was developed, artists embraced it as a fast and efficient method that was perfect for large public posters. The show includes many prints by Jules Chéret, the master of the show poster.

Jules Chéret, Lady with a Mask [Comedy], c. 1891, Lithograph in sanguine on paper. The Clark Art Institute, 1955.2391.

I was also impressed by the informal sanguine prints by Jules Chéret, where he explores different arrangements of carefree figures. 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, An Englishman at the Moulin Rouge

The exhibition also includes prints by Pierre Bonnard, Mary Cassatt, Paul Cézanne, Maurice Denis, Camille Pissarro, Edouard Vuillard, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.  

I was hoping the show would include printed works by Alphonse Mucha. He was Czech, technically, but he was the major star in the Paris print scene, and his graphic works were extremely influential. Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen and Eugène Grasset were also notably missing from the show, perhaps because the Clark doesn't have good examples of the color prints in their collection. 

A secondary exhibit called "Competing Currents" about Japanese prints of the 20th century makes a perfect enhancement to the show. I'll share more about that on a future post. 

Hue and Cry: French Printmaking and the Debate Over Colors closes March 6. Admission is free for the month of January.

Enchanted Goes Next to Tennessee

  

"Enchanted: A History of Fantasy Illustration" will travel next to Tennessee in May 20, 2022 through September 5, 2022  

"Skeleton Pirate" and "Garden of Hope" 

Two of my paintings were part of the big fantasy exhibition, which happened summer 2021 at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

 

Artists also include Arthur Rackham, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Gustave Doré, NC Wyeth, Herbert Draper, Howard Pyle, Maxfield Parrish, Frank Frazetta, Winsor McCay, Jessie Willcox Smith, Joseph Clement Coll,  Willy Pogany, J. Allen St. John, Dean Cornwell, Virgil Finlay, Hal Foster, and many more.

The catalog produced by Abbeville, includes 180 images, mostly in color, with essays by Alice Carter, Stephanie Plunkett, and others.

After it goes to the Hunter Museum of America Art in Chattanooga, the exhibition "Enchanted: A History of Fantasy Illustration" will travel to the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI -- September 23, 2022 through January 8, 2023

Eden Musée

Eden Musée opened in 1884, and it served up amusements and exhibitions to New York City. In the basement was the Chamber of Horrors. Upstairs was a collection of paintings and a waxwork collection. And there was a theater for viewing motion pictures, magic lantern shows, and marionettes.  

"The intention of the Musee was to create a Temple of Art. It was filled with tableaux of icy solitudes, the burning sun of Africa as well as figures of distinguished persons, rulers, artists and scientists of the time. The Musee stood on 23rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues for nearly thirty years before closing its doors for the last time in 1915 - a sign of changing times. The collection from the Musee was then moved to Coney Island before it was completely destroyed in a fire in February 1932."

Online: Eden Musée on Wikipedia

Quote from: retailstorewindows

Book: Weird and Wonderful: The Dime Museum in America