Gunnar Footballing

Gunnar Footballing

with his father at a playground in
Reykjavik, Iceland, August 5, 2021,
painted December 26, 2021
8" x 10" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, Gifted to his parents to complete
their watercolor set of all three children

Sun Setting in a Winter Woods

Sun Setting in a Winter Woods

The view from my driveway high on Fort Ridge in Shapleigh, Maine, December 22, 2021, painted December 26, 2021 7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam, and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough 100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed.
$150

Winter Watercolor Quiz

Winter Watercolor Quiz

Can you match the artist to the art of each winter watercolor?

You may not think of some of these artists as watercolor artists but...

And all of these artists have watercolors in museums.

The artists in alphabetical order, with the paintings in random order below:

Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), American
Charles Demuth (1883-1935), American
Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921), American
Konstantin Kryzhitsky (1858-1911), Russian
Dodge MacKnight (1860-1950), American
John L. Pappas (1898-1976), American
Fairfield Porter (1907-1975), American
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Dutch

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Answers:
1)  Abbott Handerson Thayer
2)  Charles E. Burchfield
3)  Vincent van Gogh
4)  Fairfield Porter
5)  Konstantin Kryzhitsky
6)  Charles Demuth
7)  John L. Pappas
8)  Dodge MacKnight

The Full Answers and More, Fascinating:

1
Monadnock in Winter
Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921)
Watercolor on paper, 12" x 10" (w x h), 1912
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art,
Bentonville, Arkansas

Wiki edited:
Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921) was an New Hampshire artist, naturalist tand teacher. As a painter of portraits, figures, animals and landscapes, he enjoyed a certain prominence during his lifetime, and his paintings are represented in the major American art collections. He is perhaps best known for his angel paintings, some using his children as models.

During the last third of his life, he worked together with his son, Gerald Handerson Thayer, on a book about protective coloration in nature, titled Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom. First published by Macmillan in 1909, then reissued in 1918, it may have had an effect on military camouflage during World War I. Unfortunately, it was roundly mocked by Theodore Roosevelt and others for its assumption that all animal coloration is cryptic.

Thayer also influenced American art through his efforts as a teacher, training apprentices in his New Hampshire studio.

Read more fascinating biography notes about this noted New Hampshire artist at Wiki HERE.

2
Winter Sun
Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), American
Watercolor on paper, 20" x 14" (w x h), 1915
Burchfield Penney Archives

Wiki edited:
Charles Ephraim Burchfield (1893-1967) was an American painter and visionary artist, known for his passionate watercolors of nature scenes and town-scapes. The largest collection of Burchfield's paintings, archives and journals are in the collection of the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo. His paintings are in the collections of more than 109 museums in the USA and have been the subject of exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Hammer Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as other prominent institutions.

3
Miners in the Snow: Winter
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Dutch
Transparent and opaque watercolor, pen in brown ink, on wove paper, 1882
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Wiki edited:
Van Gogh, in 1881 at 27-years-old, met Anton Mauve was the successful artist Van Gogh longed to be. Mauve took Van Gogh on as a student and introduced him to watercolor, which he worked on for the next month before returning home for Christmas.

In 1885 Van Gogh painted several groups of still lifes. During his two-year stay in Nuenen, he completed numerous drawings and watercolors and nearly 200 oil paintings. His palette consisted mainly of somber earth tones, particularly dark brown, and showed no sign of the vivid colors that distinguished his later work.
Van Gogh's time in Arles, 1888-1889, became one of Van Gogh's more prolific periods: he completed 200 paintings and more than 100 drawings and watercolors.

4
Landscape
Fairfield Porter (1907-1975), American
Watercolor and pencil on paper, 23" x 16" (w x h)

Farnsworth Art Museum and Painting Perceptions edited notes:
In a Fairfield Porter letter to Arthur Giardelli, written at Great Spruce Head Island, Maine, August 3, 1968 Porter said, "When I paint, I think that what would satisfy me is to express what Bonnard said Renoir told him: 'make everything more beautiful.' This partly means that a painting should contain a mystery, but not for mystery's sake: a mystery that is essential to reality."

Fairfield Porter (1907-1975) was an American painter and art critic. He was the fourth of five children of architect James Porter and Ruth Furness Porter, a poet from a literary family.

While a student at Harvard, Porter majored in fine arts; he continued his studies at the Art Students' League when he moved to New York City in 1928. His studies at the Art Students' League predisposed him to produce socially relevant art and, although the subjects would change, he continued to produce realist work for the rest of his career. He would be criticized and revered for continuing his representational style in the midst of the Abstract Expressionist movement.

5
Gathering Branches in Winter
Konstantin Kryzhitsky (1858-1911), Russian
Watercolor and gouache on paper, 19" x 14" (w x h), 1903
Christies 2012 British auction sold GBP 11,250 ($15,000)

Wiki edited:
Konstantin Yakovlevich Kryzhitsky (1858-1911) was a Russian landscape painter and drawing teacher of Ukrainian-Polish descent. In 1877, he entered the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts. He completed his courses in 1884, receiving the title of Artist First-Class and a gold medal for his painting The Oaks. From 1884 to 1906, he taught drawing at the "Nikolaevsky Orphan Institute" in Gatchina.
In 1880, he became one of the first members of the Society of Russian Watercolorists.

In 1889, his painting "Forest Vista" was purchased by Tsar Alexander III and he was named an Academician. He visited France and Germany in the 1890s and exhibited at the Exposition Universelle (1900). That same year, he became a full member of the Academy. Later, he served as Chairman of an art society created by a bequest from his friend Arkhip Kuindzhi. He often returned to the area around Kiev to paint landscapes in oils and watercolors.

In 1910, he was accused of plagiarism by the tabloid press because one of his paintings was similar to a work by Yakov Brovar (1864-1941). Apparently, the resemblance derived from a photograph taken in the Bia?owie?a Forest, that was later used as a model by both artists, and involved a single, distinctive tree. When this was pointed out, his critics declared that using a photograph for a painting was a form of cheating. Due to the negative publicity and its effect on his reputation, he committed suicide. His maid found him in his office, where he had hung himself and left a suicide note.

6
Green Trees in Snow
Charles Demuth (1883-1935), American
Watercolor on paper, 1908

Wiki edited:
Charles Henry Buckius Demuth (1883-1935), American, was a painter who specialized in watercolors, turning to oils late in his career, developing a style of painting known as Precisionism.

"Search the history of American art," wrote Ken Johnson in The New York Times, "and you will discover few watercolors more beautiful than those of Charles Demuth. Combining exacting botanical observation and loosely Cubist abstraction, his watercolors of flowers, fruit and vegetables have a magical liveliness and an almost shocking sensuousness."

Demuth was a lifelong resident of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The home he shared with his mother is now the Demuth Museum, which showcases his work. He graduated from Franklin & Marshall Academy before studying at Drexel University and at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA). While he was a student at PAFA, he participated in a show at the Academy, and also met William Carlos Williams at his boarding house. The two were fast friends and remained close for the rest of their lives.

He later studied at Académie Colarossi and Académie Julian in Paris, where he became a part of the avant-garde art scene. The Parisian artistic community was accepting of Demuth's homosexuality. After his return to America, Demuth retained aspects of Cubism in many of his works.

7
Elmwood Street in Winter
John L. Pappas (1898-1976), American
Watercolor over pencil on paper,
13" x 10" (w x h), circa between 1898 and 1929
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan

Ask Art edited:
John L. Pappas (1898-1976) was born in Florina, Greece to Lazaros and Sophie (Voikos) Pappas. John L. Pappas expressed his talents in two arts, painting and cooking. In Detroit he operated a restaurant, cooking, his daily occupation, while winning a degree of distinction as a painter. Probably few patrons of his restaurant were aware that his art hangs in the Detroit Institute of Arts. John and his wife, Anna, married in 1920 and had two daughters.

8
Freshly Fallen Snow
Dodge MacKnight (1860-1950), American
Watercolor on paper, 22" x 15" (w x h), 1903
Denman Waldo Ross Collection
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

Ask Art edited:
The largest collections of MacKnight's works are at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, where there is an entire room dedicated to his watercolors. Visit the MacKnight Room at the Museum online HERE. And a Cape Cod winter watercolor in the room HERE.

A friend of Van Gogh and the post-impressionists, Dodge MacKnight, despite being widely admired in his lifetime, this American artist is now largely forgotten. Dodge MacKnight, born William Dodge MacKnight (1860-1950), in Providence, Rhode Island, was an American painter. MacKnight painted watercolors for most of his career. His colorful works were appreciated by amateurs in Boston, who were receptive to impressionist aesthetics. He painted mostly landscapes and was considered as the equal of John Singer Sargent.

MacKnight lived in Fontvieille at the time when Vincent van Gogh was living in Arles. In 1888, they met through the Australian impressionist John Russell. MacKnight became a friend of van Gogh. John Russell painted renowned individual portraits of both van Gogh and MacKnight. Read more about his time with Van Gogh and the post-impressionists HERE.

The Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) and the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge (Massachusetts) also have collections of his paintings.

Ina the Pear Tree

Ina the Pear Tree

on snow painted December 24, 2021
10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $300

Olympic Curling Gold...

Olympic Curling Gold
10th End 2018

with Tyler George, painted on December 17, 2021,
10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed,
gifted to Tyler George visiting Portland, Maine

Catching the 1877 Monet...

Catching the 1877 Monet Train

based on Claude Monet's
La Gare Saint-Lazare
painted on December 3, 2021, 14" x 11"
(w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper, framed, $500

Claude Monet's Train Station Series
The Gare Saint-Lazare Monet Paintings

1
La Gare Saint-Lazare
Claude Monet (1840-1926), French
Oil on canvas, 41" x 30" (w x h), 1877
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France

Monet's first series of paintings was of an engine-smoky glass-covered train station. After working on rural landscapes, Claude Monet returned to Paris in 1877 and made a dozen oil paintings of the Gare Saint-Lazare railway station in Paris. The Impressionist painting series captures the smoky interior of this Paris railway station, in varied atmospheric conditions and from various points of view. The works were, in part, a response to the criticism of his painting Impression, Sunrise, which was exhibited at the First Impressionist Exhibition in April 1874, and also fashionable depictions of technical progress: the modern steam train and the newly extended iron and glass train shed at the station.

Eight of the paintings were exhibited at the Third Impressionist Exhibition in Paris in April 1877. They were admired by Émile Zola, who later wrote his 1890 novel The Beast Within, a tense, psychological thriller that based on the train between Paris and Le Havre.

2
The Gare Saint-Lazare: Arrival of a Train
Claude Monet (1840-1926), French
Oil on canvas, 39" x 31" (w x h), 1877
Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums,
Cambridge, Massachusetts

3
Arrival of the Normandy Train,
Gare Saint-Lazare
Claude Monet (1840-1926), French
Oil on canvas, 32" x 23" (w x h), 1877
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

4
The Gare St-Lazare
Claude Monet (1840-1926), French
Oil on canvas, 29" x 21" (w x h), 1877
National Gallery, London, England

After his return to France from London, Monet lived from 1871-78 at Argenteuil, on the Seine near Paris. In January 1877 he rented a small flat and a studio near the Gare St-Lazare, and in the third Impressionist exhibition which opened in April of that year, he exhibited seven canvases of the railway station. Monet's exceptional views of the Gare St-Lazare resemble interior landscapes, with smoke from the engines creating the same effect as clouds in the sky. Swift brushstrokes indicate the gleaming engines to the right and the crowd of passengers on the platform.

See the entire set of 12 Gare Saint-Lazare (Monet series) on Wiki HERE.

Winter Arrives in a Sprinkling

Winter Arrives in a Sprinkling

seen from an upstairs window
of my yard on November 27, 2021,
painted November 27, 2021,
12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $400

Winter Arrives in a Sprinkling Study

 

Winter Arrives
in a Sprinkling Study

seen from an upstairs window
of a wild blueberry bush in my yard on
November 27, 2021, painted November 27, 2021
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $150

Giving Thanks to...

Giving Thanks to
Running Out of White Paint

for houses in Stonington, Maine looking
out to the sea on October 24, 2021,
painted November 25, 2021
10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $300

Seaside Ledge Fall Sky

Seaside Ledge Fall Sky

Looking southwest
from Sandy Point Beach
towards the Cousins Island shore with
the mainland in the distance from under the
Ellis C. Snodgrass Memorial Bridge, which his
company built, to Cousins Island, Yarmouth, Maine,
seen on October 17, 2021, painted November 18, 2021
10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $300

Docked for the Night

Docked for the Night

at the public dock at the
end of the day in Stonington, Maine on
October 24, 2021 painted on November 18, 2021
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $150

4th Pond Variation Study 3

4th Pond, Blue Hill, Maine,
Variation Study 3

in the Kingdom Woods Conservation
area on October 25, 2021, painted November 6, 2021
12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $400

Those Bright Fall Colors

Those Bright Fall Colors
A Visual Art Essay
in Five Watercolors and Three Oils

Color at these 7 Art Museums:
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York (2)
Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, Tennessee
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York New York
Erie Art Museum, Erie Pennsylvania
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado

This first painting is one of my top ten all-time favorite paintings. I'm always drawn back to it at the museum. It's like looking at it for the first time, so fresh, the paint looks wet, the colors bright, the air is crisp, here's familiar fall Maine woods, the deep blue high autumn sky, the movement within the frame, the composition keeping my eyes moving, the loose yet sure brushstrokes, the conversation it has with me, and it's uplifting.

1
Gloria October, Shin Pond, Maine
Carl Sprinchorn, (1887-1971), Swedish, American
Oil on canvas, 34" x 26" (w x h), 1946
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine

Source: Wiki
Carl Sprinchorn made extensive visits to camps and hamlets in the North Maine Woods and the paintings and drawings he made there came to be his most celebrated works. A biographer called him a "composite of opposites," saying that he was as much at home in the New York art world with its sophisticated artists and wealthy patrons as he was in rural boarding houses and lumber camps.

2
Landscape
Auguste Renoir 1841-1919), French
Watercolor on off-white laid paper, 13" x 9" (w x h), 1889
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York New York

Source: MET notes
In the summer of 1889 Renoir rented a house in Aix-en-Provence from Paul Cézanne's brother-in-law. The artists were close friends for some thirty years, and the influence of the extraordinary Cézanne is strongly evoked in Renoir's work, not only in this landscape watercolor but in the many paintings made that summer in Aix.

3
Untitled (Landscape)
Beauford Delaney (1901-1979), American
Watercolor on paper, 23" x 15" (w x h), circa 1940
Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, Tennessee

Source: Widewalls and Wiki
Beauford Delaney was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Harlem writer James Baldwin at 15 years-old met painter Beauford Delaney and the two kindred spirits developed a strong and lasting friendship united by similar life difficulties both had experienced. Baldwin was an ongoing witness to Delaney's evolution and was fascinated with the painter, whom he saw as a father figure, muse, and model of a dignified gay man of color. The painter produced several works portraying Baldwin or inspired by him, while the writer devoted several novels and essays to his mentor and friend. He is remembered for his work with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as his later works in abstract expressionism following his move to Paris in the 1950s. Beauford's younger brother, Joseph, was also a noted painter.

4
Still Life
Lee Krasner (1908-1984), American
Oil on paper, 25" x 19" (w x h), 1938
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York

Source: Wiki
Lee Krasner was an abstract expressionist painter, with a specialty in collage. She was married to Jackson Pollock. Although there was much interaction between their two styles, the relationship somewhat overshadowed her contribution for some time. Krasner is now seen as a key transitional figure within abstraction, who connected early-20th-century art with the new ideas of postwar America, and her work fetches high prices at auction. She is also one of the few female artists who had a retrospective show at the Museum of Modern Art.

5
Movement of Vaulted Chambers
Paul Klee (1879-1940), Swiss, German
Watercolor on paper mounted on cardboard, 11" x 9" (w x h), 1915
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York New York

Source: Wiki
Paul Klee was a Swiss-born German artist who explored color theory, writing about it extensively. He and his colleague, Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, both taught at the Bauhaus school of art, design and architecture in Germany. His works reflect his dry humor and his sometimes childlike perspective, his personal moods and beliefs, and his musicality.

6
Autumn on Presque Isle (Pennsylvania)
Wilda Sundberg (1930-2021), American
Watercolor on paper, 2017
Erie Art Museum, Erie Pennsylvania

Source: Various, Newspaper, Erie Art Museum
Presque Isle State Park, Pennsylvania includes a marina, lighthouse, Lily Pond, Pine Tree Beach, and cabins.

In 1949 Wilda received a National Scholastic Scholarship to attend the Albright Art School of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. In 1951 she married fellow artist Carl Sundberg and began teaching children's classes at The Art Center of Erie/Erie Art Museum from 1951 to 2017. Wilda would meet her students on Presque Isle to paint, if good weather, and if not, at the Erie Art Museum classroom. Wilda Sundberg was a founding member of the Northwest Pennsylvania Artist Association. She was a board member of the Erie Art Museum and taught watercolor classes there, always holding her classes outdoors, weather permitting, and then in the classroom at the museum. She was featured in a 2020-2021 retrospective exhibition, Wilda Sundberg: A Life in Watercolor, at the Erie Art Museum, Erie, Pennsylvania. She completed her journey through life at 91 years-old on September 9, 2021.

7
The Wheat Field / Champs de Ble
Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958), French
Oil on canvas, 32" x 26" (w x h), circa 1906
25 1/2 × 32 3/16 in. (64.77 × 81.76 cm)
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

One of a group of artists called the Fauves, or wild beasts, Vlaminck was greatly influenced by the work of Vincent van Gogh and admired his use of thick paint applied in swirling, expressive strokes. Like Van Gogh, Vlaminck was drawn to the image of wheat fields and painted them throughout his career. In this scene, the artist used bright, clashing color applied with spontaneous brushstrokes to caption the movement of the wind-blown stalks.

8
Sweet Thing
Lisa Yuskavage (1962- ), American
Watercolor on paper, 22" x 30" (w x h), 1993
The Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado

The Aspen Art Museum hosts reputable shows but has no collection. This painting in the show, Wilderness, is a retrospective of fifty paintings in collaboration with the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Source: Aspen Art Museum
Lisa Yuskavage is known for her technical skill matching the old masters and her revolutionary approach to figurative painting. New York Times critic Roberta Smith called Yuskavage "the premier bad-girl painter of the naughty late 1990s." However, she's used landscape in her work since the earliest watercolor series from the 1990s.

4th Pond Variation Study 2

4th Pond, Blue Hill, Maine,
Variation Study 2

in the Kingdom Woods Conservation
area on October 25, 2021, painted November 5, 2021
12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $400

4th Pond Variation Study 1

4th Pond, Blue Hill, Maine,
Variation Study 1

in the Kingdom Woods Conservation area
on October 25, 2021, painted November 4, 2021
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $150

Leaving the Beech

Leaving the Beech

American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) trees
and their fall foliage leaves by my home in Shapleigh, Maine
on November 3, 2021, painted on November 3, 2021,
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $150

Stonington Harbor Lobstertraps Ready

Stonington Harbor
Lobstertraps Ready

from the Dockside Bookstore dock,
Stonington, Maine painted
plein air on October 24, 2021
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $150

The Art of Conversation

 

The Art of Conversation

on the back deck at Dockside Books and Gifts,
a tiny bookstore with perhaps the best collection of
coastal Maine related books, with knowledgeable owner,
Al Webber, at 62 West Main St, Stonington, Maine, painted
plein air on that deck on sunny October 24, 2021
12" x 9" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $400

The Art of What? Quiz

The Art of What? Quiz
Eight paintings in this visual essay
featuring what theme?

This visual essay features the art of:
6 men and 2 women;
3 Americans and 5 Europeans
from Britain, Germany and Ireland

1
Poetry Reading
Milton Avery (1885-1965), American
Oil on canvas, 56" x 44" (w x h), 1957
Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute, Utica, New York

Avery's work is seminal to American abstract painting. While his work is clearly representational, it focuses on color relations, not concerned with creating the illusion of depth as most conventional Western painting. Avery was often thought of as an American Matisse, especially because of his colorful and innovative landscape paintings. His poetic, bold and creative use of drawing and color set him apart from more conventional painting of his era. Early in his career, his work was considered too radical for being too abstract. Yet, when Abstract Expressionism became dominant his work was overlooked, as being too representational. (Source: Wikipedia)

2
Conversation in a Field
Basil Blackshaw (1932-2016)
Oil on board, 11" x 13" (w x h), 1952-1953
Ulster Museum, Belfast, Ireland

Basil Blackshaw was born in Northern Ireland in 1932. His work was partly autobiographical, much concerned with people, animals, places and experiences. Blackshaw studied at Belfast College of Art and in Paris. He lived in Antrim, Ireland. (Source: Artists in Britain Since 1945 by David Buckman)

3
The Conversation
Romare Bearden (1911-1988), American
Lithograph, 28" x 22" (w x h), 1979
Tougaloo College Art Collections, Tougaloo, Mississippi
Romare Bearden Foundation
An original lithograph can be purchased for $6,400 at 1stdibs HERE.

His well-known visual motif, the train, suggests to the viewer the Great Migration (African American), a mass movement of blacks from the rural South to the urban North, in search of sanctuary and job opportunities. (Source: 1stdibs)

Romare Bearden (1911-1988) was an African-American artist, author, and songwriter. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from New York University in 1935.
Connie Mack offered Bearden a place on the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team fifteen years before Jackie Robinson became the first Black player in major league baseball. Sources conflict about whether Mack thought Bearden was white or told Bearden he would have to pass for white. Despite the Athletics World Series in 1929 and 1930, and the American League pennant in 1931, Bearden decided he did not want to hide his identity and chose not to play for the Athletics. After two summers with the Boston Tigers, an injury made Bearden rethink the attention he was giving to baseball and he put greater focus into his art, instead.

He began his artistic career creating scenes of the American South. Later, he worked to express the humanity he felt was lacking in the world after his experience in the US Army during World War II on the European front. He returned to Paris in 1950 and studied art history and philosophy at the Sorbonne. (Source: Wikipedia)

4
Conversation - Two Seated Nudes
Robin Philipson (1916–1992), English
Oil on board
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK

Painter and teacher, born Robert James Philipson in Broughton-in-Furness, Lancashire. After attending Edinburgh College of Art, 1936-40, Philipson served in a Scottish regiment during World War II, then joined the staff of Edinburgh College of Art in 1947. Was appointed head of the school of drawing and painting in 1960, a post held until retirement in 1982. Philipson was knighted in 1976. He served on the Scottish Advisory Committee of the British Council and was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Fine Arts.  (Source: Artists in Britain Since 1945 by David Buckman)

5
Two Red Curtains Blowing
Lois Dodd (1927- ), American
Watercolor and graphite on paper, 15" x 11" (w x h). 1980
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey

Lois Dodd, born 1927 in Montclair, New Jersey, paints in Cushing, Maine, Blairstown, New Jersey, and New York City.

Over the course of a seven-decade-long career, Dodd has developed a practice of observational painting, much of it done outdoors. This grounding in nature allows her works to achieve a delicate balance between landscape and abstract compositions, as in this watercolor sketch of laundry drying in the breeze that presents an evocative study of the day's atmosphere and a variation of formal elements. (Source: Princeton University art Museum, edited)

As part of the wave of New York modernists to explore the coast of Maine just after the end of the Second World War, Dodd helped to change the face of painting in the state. Along with Fairfield Porter, Rackstraw Downes, Alex Katz, Charles DuBack, and Neil Welliver, Dodd began spending her summers in the Mid-Coast region surrounding Penobscot Bay. Attracted by inexpensive old farmhouses, verdant fields, and the bright sunshine, they sought both companionship and an escape from the demands of city life. The break from the city and its urbane art circles allowed them the freedom to explore new modes of painting, both landscapes and figures, that were anathema in the era of Abstract Expressionism. (Source: Wikipedia)

6
Conversation of Clowns / Clowngespräch
Christian Rohlfs (1849–1938), German
Gouache on canvas, 32" x 24" (w x h), 1912
Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany

Christian Rohlfs (1849-1938) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the important representatives of German expressionism. In 1929 the town of Hagen opened a Christian Rohlfs Museum. In 1937 the Nazis expelled him from the Prussian Academy of Arts, condemned his work as degenerate, and removed his works from public collections. A year later he died in Hagen, Westfalia at 88 years-old. (Source: Wikipedia)

7
Two Pears
Euan Uglow (1932-2000), British
Oil on canvas laid on panel, 9" x 6" (w x h), 1990
Private Collection

Euan Ernest Richard Uglow (1932-2000) was a British painter. Uglow was generally a shy artist who shunned publicity as well as honors, including an offer to become a member of the Royal Academy in 1961. However, he did become a trustee of the National Gallery in London in 1991, although, in his own words, he was generally ignored by the other trustees. (Source: Wikipedia)

8
Conversation Piece
Vanessa Bell (1879-1961), English
Oil on board, 12" x 10" (w x h), 1912
University of Hull Art Collection

Vanessa Bell (1879-1961), born Vanessa Stephen, was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of Virginia Woolf. (Source: Wikipedia)

Answer: The Art of Conversation

October to Fall Study 1

October to Fall Study 1

in the back fields behind my home
high on Fort Ridge in Shapleigh, Maine on
October 13, 2021, painted October 11-12, 2021
10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $300

October to Fall Study 2

October to Fall Study 2

in the back fields behind my home
high on Fort Ridge in Shapleigh, Maine on
October 13, 2021, painted October 11-13, 2021
15" x 11" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $700

Along the Trail to Autumn

Along the Trail to Autumn

at the edge of a field behind my home on
October 13, 2021, painted October 15, 2021
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $150

Lobsterboats Facing the Evening

Lobsterboats Facing the Evening

at high tide in Cape Porpoise, Kennebunkport,
Maine, painted plein air on October 8, 2021
10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $300

Lobsterboats in Mooring Space

Lobsterboats in Mooring Space

at high tide in Cape Porpoise, Kennebunkport,
Maine, painted plein air on October 8, 2021
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $150

Moored in Stillness

Moored in Stillness 

at high tide in Cape Porpoise, Kennebunkport,
Maine, painted plein air on October 8, 2021
10" x 8" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $300