As part of our effort to continue to help artists and art galleries thrive, we’re proud to bring you this week’s “Virtual Gallery Walk.” Browse the artwork below and click the image itself to learn more about it, including how to contact the gallery.
Want to see your gallery featured in an upcoming Virtual Gallery Walk? Contact us at [email protected] to advertise today – don’t delay, as spaces are first-come first-serve and availability is limited.
Born in Brooklyn, Jane Freilicher (1924–2014) studied with Hans Hofmann and came of age in the heyday of abstract expressionism. Though she moved comfortably among such abstractionists as Willem de Kooning and Joan Mitchell, she remained committed to representation in her own art, much like her colleagues Fairfield Porter and Alex Katz.
Kasmin Gallery began representing Freilicher’s estate in 2017, and now its second show, “Parts of a World,” highlights her intimate domestic subject matter through 15 still lifes ranging in date from the 1950s through the 2000s.
Many of the works depict flowers, which Freilicher painted in the same spirit as Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, unconcerned by their traditional associations with femininity. They are seen, up close or at a distance, among the casual disorder of the artist’s studios in lower Manhattan and Long Island.
Exhibition Details:
“Parts of a World”
Through February 27, 2021
Kasmin Gallery, New York City
kasmingallery.com
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Contemporary Paintings > In 2020, Cynthia Rosen found time to experiment with her colorful abstractions of the landscape, and moved toward something many of us can relate to from the year: the still life. Here’s how and why her art has changed, and the relevance of a common, but unexpected, shape in her paintings.
BY CYNTHIA ROSEN
cynthiarosenartist.com
Forty years ago, I moved to Vermont to surround myself with the beauty of the great outdoors. I raised my family here and taught here; and for some years since, have sojourned in Massachusetts, New York, and Arizona, all of which offer outdoor gifts. Recently I moved back to Vermont where I reside full time. I am once again finding celebration in the sights and am delighted with the constant change of passing seasons, but now, I have come back in a truly new way. I have returned as a painter, quite often enjoying painting outside.
For those who don’t know me, I am a palette knife painter. I love the brush, and occasionally use it, but I am smitten with the knife. I love the purity of thick paint color, which I apply in conjunction with quick definitive strokes. It is not necessarily a gentle process, nor are my paintings. Rather, they are imbued with a restless energy, in my mind, reflective of the world about me. My landscapes are flooded with bits of color moving across the surface, often correlated by others to be ‘a painters version of stained glass’. I typically use broken color in which colors sit alone as opposed to blending adjacent colors.
While some of my landscapes are seen as abstractions, I consider them merely interpreting the essence of what I am seeing. The immense range of colors about me, the constantly changing light, more drastic than that in less treed and flatter lands, the flutter of leaves in the breeze and a world merely specked with the occasional inorganic structure created by civilization. But this year, Covid-19 hit and our lives were significantly changed, as reflected by an added direction in my painting.
Travel plans were canceled, galleries shut down and/or closed, at least temporarily, the nature of gatherings was altered, and for days on end, it all seemed like life turned a bit upside-down (in addition to added social/political stresses). While some chose to maintain life as previously known as much as possible during the pandemic, my family and I chose to maneuver through these new times with an abundance of caution. This brought me to a time of experimentation.
In an effort to learn how to paint, I have always ventured across boundaries of various medium and genres. And while most of my paintings have been landscapes in oil, I have enjoyed painting still lifes for the rare occasional change, particularly when hitting a streak of extreme weather. I chose not to endure the frigid temps while painting plein air. In doing so I realized there is something really nice and secure about in dealing with a still life. In fact, I painted a still life for an instructional video through Streamline Art Video. Is it a great painting? No, those don’t happen intentionally just because we have a desire or a few hours with which to produce. That would require working over a longer period of time. The quality of instruction is the intent of an instructional video.
A ‘Still Life’
Controlled light (if painted in a studio) and objects that don’t move! How nice is that? And my trusty palette knife, an old friend at this point, even for painting still lifes. (My favorite knife being the RGM #50 or other brand equivalent in shape, size, and flexibility, which does not hold too much paint, making it very controllable and an angled neck to keep my fingers out of the paint.)
Stability in Shapes
But, interestingly enough, I have recently found myself drawn to painting circles. And, I attribute this to being stuck at home. Am I walking in circles? Is my mind going around and around, over details or thoughts? Actually I think it is the comfort a circle provides. A circle gently contains. Well, you say: ‘So does any geometric shape’. Yes…but a circle acts like a target and you can not get cornered into a section like you can with straight edged geometric shapes.
A square contains but due to its flat surface seems to ground one more. A triangle directs the eye like the tip of an arrow. A more organic shape, like an amoeba, is related but adds a sense of a fluid movement due to the uneven weight distribution. But a circle simply contains. I have rarely used circles in painting…until now. Yes, I have painted objects such as vases with the fullness they embody and the elliptical curvature of their base and/or top; but never painted circles as the focus of a painting, until now.
Excuse me for a moment as I will digress to tell you when my interest in circles and still lifes began. Upon learning art history in the 70’s, I remember loving the boldness of Wayne Thiebaud’s color, his clearly defined use of shapes, and at times, patterns, usually viewed from above. I simultaneously loved the gentleness of William Bailey’s tonal works, also with clearly defined shapes but from a frontal perspective with a virtual opposite kind of formal structure.
During this time, my own image making was either on the grey scale (somewhere between the extremes of black and white) or basically monochromatic (the variations of one color) without well defined shapes, for I had transitioned from tightly drawn images to the world of ‘Color Field’ painting (part of the Abstract Expressionist movement). I was creating primarily monochromatic modulating surfaces onto which I drew a movement of slightly colored marks reflecting the movement of time. Time…seems to be a subliminal obsession that can still be found in my work to date.
So jumping to today, thank you to Covid-19, age, and too many cold grey days for my liking, I have found myself spending part of my time painting still lifes. But, instead of the occasional endeavor, these paintings seem to be becoming part of a series, a series filled with circles. I am loving the control and containment that circles afford, in a time so out of our control.
Where will this fledgling series will take me? I am not sure. For now, circles are comforting and the stability of shapes are a wonderful alternative from my normally energetic mosaic-like strikes of color highlighting movement and change.
Has my technique changed? No, I am still a committed palette knife painter (for now) but I have found comfort in the more controlled shapes and structure that have found voice in my present vocabulary. Our journey in making art will always be an adventure spurred on by the curiosities of our hearts and mind.
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Cynthia Rosen’s “Still Life with Palette Knife” workshop is is perfect for artists who are screaming out for help or who have reached a point of frustration and want to find their own personal voice as they expand their skills.
Artists wishing to go beyond traditional approaches will absolutely LOVE this! Don’t shy away from this video just because you may never have used a palette knife — it’s SO much more than that.
This is a chance for you to bring new energy and drama to your paintings. Learn more about the art video workshop “Cynthia Rosen: Still Life with Palette Knife” here.
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The Gardens of Villa Rufolo
24 x 36 in.
Pastel
$3,400
Available through the artist
Lisa Cunningham: “The Gardens of Villa Rufolo sit high atop the Amalfi Coast in the beautiful town of Ravello, a charming village in Southern Italy. I found this place to be peaceful and serene, with stunning views of the coastline below. I loved the patterns created by the sunlight beaming through the pergola above and the towering columns lining the walkway of this cliffside paradise.”
Lisa is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and her work is held in private and corporate collections. She is also a member of American Women Artists, The Salmagundi Club, the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, and the American Artists Professional League.
See more of Lisa’s work on her website
Stay connected with Lisa and subscribe to her newsletter
Galleries:
Cooper & Smith
10 Main Street
Essex, CT 06426
Patricia Hutton Galleries
47 West State Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
Max Ginsburg is a painter with a conscience, using traditional realism and exquisite technique to explore his feelings about the human condition. Unafraid to paint the provocative and controversial social issues of our times, Ginsburg is helping bring representational painting into the contemporary age — a venture that began some 70 years ago.
Prolific New York-based painter Max Ginsburg is today one of the most respected and highly accomplished realist painters, but it’s been a long, arduous journey. Prior to his birth, his family had immigrated to the United States in 1912 and in 1920 became naturalized citizens. They then traveled to Paris, where Ginsburg was born, and in 1933 his family brought him back to the U.S., living in Brooklyn, New York, during the Great Depression. These economic hard times, which were both witnessed and experienced by Ginsburg and his family, raised the young artist’s conscience and compassion and instilled in him a sensitivity and heightened awareness of social injustice.
World War II also proved pivotal for Ginsburg, who is Jewish. “We lived in Boro Park, a Jewish neighborhood, right near Irish Catholic Sunset Park,” Ginsburg remembers. “The kids were extremely anti-Semitic, and often threatened to beat me up, claiming that I had killed Christ. [This is how i]ssues of social justice and man’s inhumanity to man became the focal point of my art.”
Ginsburg’s first formal training come in 1946, when he entered the High School of Music & Art in New York City. He later graduated, having been voted the “best artist of the class.” His next stop was Syracuse University on scholarship. It was during these early years that Ginsburg was first exposed to the evolving, modernist art world — a world he would continue to resist for decades.
“My most challenging experience as an artist was finding teachers and schools who could teach the skills needed to paint realistically and galleries who would exhibit realist art,” Ginsburg says. “Modern art was so pervasive and dominating in 20th-century art that the freedom of expression and the opportunity to develop realistic painting was severely limited.”
Ginsburg did what he had to do to support his growing family, taking employment as a commercial artist. However, his drive to develop his own fine art and creative voice forced a career change into teaching, and he began teaching at the High School of Art & Design — all while he continued to take an active part in the peace and Civil Rights movements, among other causes.
A formative relationship was forged in the 1970s, when Ginsburg and Irwin Greenberg began a Morning Painting Group in which many talented students would gather to paint from life. The students included Steven Assael, Costa Vavagiakis, Garin Baker, Ricky Mujica, and Mark Texeira, and many more. “We felt a commitment to the development of realistic painting and to the importance of giving serious, talented students an opportunity that was otherwise not available,” Ginsburg says.
In was during the 1970s and 1980s that Ginsburg’s fine art career really began to find its footing, as he earned gallery representation at Harbor Gallery, Gallery 306, Reyn Gallery, and the old Grand Central Gallery, to name just a few. Ginsburg was also achieving some financial stability as an illustrator and teacher, but says, “While I enjoyed earning the money and was grateful for the opportunity, I didn’t feel that the ideas and concepts were mine. From 1980 – 2004 I was so busy doing illustrations that I had little time to paint my fine art.”
After 24 lucrative years (1980-2004) of painting illustrations for the leading publishing companies, Ginsburg devoted himself to painting his fine art full time. He painted the reality of New York City life as he saw it, quite different from his illustration work.
Ginsburg’s process is strongly rooted in Old Master techniques, working alla prima, or painting directly on canvas and painting wet-on-wet. “I usually work on stretched canvas, but on smaller paintings I use gessoed hardwood panels,” the artist continues. “On a toned panel I start by blocking in the larger forms or shapes of the model posing, without a preliminary drawing. I am initially concerned with placement and design, followed by careful observation of the model’s proportions. I paint thinly at first, using turpenoid, as in a wash drawing. Then I work toward getting my values and begin using linseed oil as my medium. Color soon becomes a part of my process to help develop the forms — but constant and careful observation of the model is key to achieving my goal. As Charles Hawthorne once told my father, who was his student in 1920, ‘Paint what you see, not what you know.’”
He goes on, “In the case of larger multi-figure compositions, I would draw initial pencil sketches based on my concept. Then I would have models pose for painting studies to give me a greater individualized image of each person. Next I would sketch, in pencil on paper, the composition of these figures. Then I would grid the sketch, determine the size of the final canvas, stretch the canvas, grid it in proportion to my smaller sketch, and then, using charcoal, roughly indicate the placement of the figures on the gridded large canvas. Then the models would pose again as I block in the figures from life.”
Ginsburg takes an alla prima approach: “I start painting with large, basic shapes followed by the development of the smaller forms. But always from the beginning to the end of the painting the careful observation (drawing) of the model is constant and essential to reflect the unique character of the model’s form.”
“This is why I consider the human form so important in my art,” he says. “My painting is influenced and inspired by so many of the Old Masters who reflected the realities of social life in their time and even commented on morality, hypocrisy, torture, and war and peace, as a social conscience in their society. Involved in this discussion is the issue of narrative art and its various directions. I raise this issue because with the rise of ‘modern’ art in the 20th century, there has been a condemnation of social issues in art which exists even among many fine realist painters today.”
Note: In 2010, Max Ginsburg began teaching “painting from life” workshops in the United States and in countries around the world. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he is currently teaching his painting class at the Art Students League of New York online, and is also planning to teach his painting workshops online through Zoom. These will include painting demos of head and figure studies and lectures of Ginsburg’s work and many of the Old Masters who influenced him.
To learn more, connect with Max Ginsburg:
Website | Newsletter | Instagram | Facebook
This article was featured and written by Andrew Webster in 2017 in Fine Art Today and has been updated for 2021.
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Preview an exhibition with 27 Jan van Goyen (1596-1656) drawings taken from a sketchbook from a trip to Kleve in 1650-1651.
The sketchbook drawings of Jan van Goyen is on view at Jill Newhouse Gallery (New York) through January 20, 2021. View the e-catalogue at https://issuu.com/mireillemosler/docs/goyen_1_11.
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As part of our effort to continue to help artists and art galleries thrive, we’re proud to bring you this week’s “Virtual Gallery Walk.” Browse the artwork below and click the image itself to learn more about it, including how to contact the gallery.
Want to see your gallery featured in an upcoming Virtual Gallery Walk? Contact us at [email protected] to advertise today – don’t delay, as spaces are first-come first-serve and availability is limited.
Dressed in Red
By Matt Sievers
30 x 40 in.
Oil
$6,000
Matthew Sievers was exposed to many different forms of art from a very young age and developed an early passion for artistic expression. Son of the accomplished artist, Gregory Sievers, Matt began studying at his father’s knee. He learned from his father’s experience, passion, creative suggestions and encouragement, which inspired him to develop a truly unique style.
Matt’s recognizable impasto style includes spontaneous brushwork and liberal use of the palette knife, creating playful compositions that celebrate on a colorful canvas. His style reflects light in a particular way, giving him control over light and shadow. This strong and bold application edges his paintings toward three-dimensional sculptural renderings.
Matt has had the opportunity to study the art of different cultures while traveling in many parts of Africa and Europe. He studied art at Brigham Young University and Utah State University where his courses enabled him to experiment with various media and subjects. Despite studying art formally, Matt claims his greatest education has been from his father.
Matt’s work can be seen at the Celebration of Fine Art in Scottsdale, Arizona, January 16 – March 28, 2021. The Celebration of Fine Art is a unique art experience which gives visitors the opportunity to watch 100 artists in their working under one roof. Open daily from 10 am – 6 pm. Visitors enjoy strolling through the 100 artist studios under the 40,000 square-foot exhibit tent. Artists are on-site creating, allowing for the visitor to watch them at work, discover what inspires them and the techniques used to create the works of art.
Come to Scottsdale to see more of Matt’s works in person, and discover the stories behind each unique work of art. Contact us at 480-443-7695 or [email protected].
View more of his work at: www.celebrateart.com/meet-the-artists/matt-sievers
The Concord Museum is debuting a new exhibition titled “Home” by Loring W. Coleman, a notable plein air painter of New England landscapes through January 31, 2021.
In his 2011 autobiography, Coleman wrote about the exhibition’s title painting:
“Home…the title speaks for itself, for the painting represents the old farmhouses that still remain in New England and in my thoughts.”
In 2017, the Concord Museum was honored to receive an anonymous gift of forty-seven works of art by Loring Wilkins Coleman. Curator David Wood explained, “We are pleased to present this new exhibition that celebrates the work of an accomplished artist who had a strong Concord connection and who explored a changing New England with a sense of wonder and authenticity.”
“Home” will feature twenty-six of Coleman’s works in watercolor, which reward close looking. Drawn from real-life subjects in and around Massachusetts primarily, they are often monumental in size and incredibly detailed. Though he trained in oil painting, Coleman primarily worked in watercolor, a technique he taught himself. Watercolors let him play with tone, texture, and abstraction; they also require precision and speed. As Loring Coleman explained, “All painting is exciting, but watercolor painting is no easy matter. It doesn’t give the painter time to contemplate, because the paint is drying before his eyes and he has to move ahead quickly.”
Why this fascination with the old farms of New England particularly the crumbling barns? Henry Adams, Ruth Coulter Heeds Professor of Art History, Case Western Reserve University, stated “I think Loring Coleman was inspired by different crosscurrents of emotion, and it’s the interweaving of these crosscurrents that makes his painting authentic rather than trite. At the root of his emotional response to these things is something that clearly goes back very early, to his happy experiences on his grandparents’ farm in Concord, a respite from the misery of his childhood in 1930’s Chicago.
“Skilled with a gun or a fishing rod, gifted at woodman’s skills, handy at farm chores, he found a world he could master and in which he could excel. At the same time, what’s astounding about these paintings is the sense of sorrow and loss that runs through them- a sorrow over the decay and disappearance of the rural New England he knew as a boy.” (From the Foreword to the 2011 autobiography, “Loring W. Coleman: Living and Painting in a Changing New England,” published by Hard Press Editions)
“Coleman’s paintings are composites of familiar subjects, including old barns, houses, or roads set with dramatically scaled, and even haunting, composition. Dilapidated buildings, bare trees, peeling paint, and rusted vehicles are common features. Yet, there is beauty amidst the wreckage,” said Curator David Wood.
After a childhood in Chicago, Coleman lived at his grandmother’s Concord house, Tanglewood, on 200 acres overlooking the Sudbury River. He attended Middlesex School, where he was taught by Russell Kettell, whose influence on the Concord Museum is extensive. After service in War War II, Coleman taught for many years, including twenty-seven years at Middlesex School, while exhibiting his work across the country. He was an Academician of the National Academy of Design and a member of the American Watercolor Society, Concord Art Association, and Salmagundi Club.
On “Home”
“In 1982, my son Andrew gave me driving directions for locating a farm in Sterling, Massachusetts … I had no problem finding the farm and it was indeed one of the most handsome New England farms I had ever seen: a very stately house, a large barn, and three other buildings, some attached to the barn. What a beautiful site! … [In 2003] out of curiosity … I drove back to the farm, and every single building was gone except the house! I titled the painting ‘Home’. The title speaks for itself, for the painting represents the old farmhouses that still remain in New England and in my thoughts.”
On “Spectral Barn”
“As I began my drawing, a light drizzle soon changed to a very fine snow, almost like salt. The effect was startling. The barn gradually began to fade away, enveloped by the grey mist, so that the sky and barn became the same color. Only the faintest outline of the barn remained, accented by a few barn windows. I wondered at the value change in the grey-green stone wall as it receded. The ground was covered with frozen leaves. They too receded, lightened and disappeared in the distance. Only the striking dark tree and the black opening of the shed doors seemed to hold the composition together.”
On “New England Classic”
“A quintessential New England farm—Helen Gay’s barn and home, on Gay Road in Groton—sat right next to the old farm road. Helen and her daughter came out of the house each day to watch me paint. In my mind, the German Shepherd, from quite another farmyard, seemed like an appropriate visitor to the scene.”
On “Blue Door”
“When Tinka and I were on a cruise in Norway, we went ashore for a long, uphill walk through the town of Bergen. Exhausted, we sat down at the side of the road, and when I looked up, I was facing this wonderful door. I made a little pencil sketch, and I was so taken by the unusual color of the door, I placed my camera up close to take detailed photographs so that I could accurately render the beautiful blue when I returned to my studio.”
“Home: Paintings by Loring W. Coleman” will be accompanied by a number of creative public programs offered this fall and winter at the Concord Museum.
For more details about the exhibition and related events, please visit www.concordmuseum.org.
ARC Mourns The Loss Of Brian Yoder
From the Art Renewal Center (ARC):
The representational art community and ARC team suffered a terrible loss. Brian Yoder, beloved husband of Erin Murphy, father of Brianna Murphy, brother of Christopher Yoder, passed away from heart failure on January 9, 2021 in Pasadena, California. Brian was 59.
Brian was a founder of the Art Renewal Center, served as its webmaster for many years and stayed a member of our staff as a technical advisor until his passing. The ARC will be holding its next ARC Scholarship Competition this May and will be adding an ongoing scholarship award, the Brian Yoder Memorial Scholarship, as part of our annual scholarship competition to honor Brian and his contributions to the representational art community.
“The day I learned how to use a search engine on the internet in the mid 1990s, the first thing I searched was William Bouguereau and Brian was the first person to post information on Bouguereau online. This is how I found him. From there I learned about his Good-Art discussion group and was introduced to a whole group of like-minded people when it came to fine art. I am grateful for my longtime friendship with Brian and his time, creativity, sharp incite and the wealth of support that he contributed to the Art Renewal Center and the world.“ – Fred Ross
“Brian’s legacy endures in the lives of those he encountered,” said Erin Murphy. “His encyclopedic knowledge of myriad subjects, including philosophy, science, history, politics, economics, business, art, music, literature, design, and computer science were appreciated by all who knew him and always kept him poised for the next great debate. His visionary ideas were often years, if not decades, ahead of time.”
Brian was an inventor, creating his own coding language as a teen and an e-mail system for Central Michigan University in his 20’s. Entrepreneur Peter Norton persuaded Brian to move to California to analyze the technical side of companies. Norton wanted to acquire in building Symantec Corporation. As Director of Product Development, Brian spearheaded the launch of EarthLink TotalAccess. Numerous companies included Brian on their advisory boards in building start-ups or when acquiring other companies. Brian’s greatest asset to a company was team building. Brian was the ultimate teacher, applying an intense interview process because he wanted to assure that each candidate had the right stuff. He took team members under his wing, imparted his vast knowledge, and cajoled, goaded and coaxed them into using their abilities to their fullest. Nothing made Brian smile more than seeing someone thrive.
Outside of work, Brian’s life was his family, which includes his Thursday night club with best friends Mark Peter and Alex Dilts. Many of Brian’s friends attended over the years. Alex and Mark were steadfast in sharing a brotherly bond rarely seen in families, let alone friends. Brian met his equal and the love of his life, Erin Murphy, a technical writer and opera singer, and took to Erin’s young daughter, Brianna. He proposed marriage to Erin on Christmas of 2002. Brian and Erin wed on October 10, 2003, anniversary of “Atlas Shrugged” by his favorite writer, Ayn Rand.
“Brian loved art,” said Murphy. “He indulged his passion to educate the world about fine art and realized his goal in collaboration with Fred Ross with the creation of the Art Renewal Center.”
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Brian Yoder Memorial Scholarship.
