Paul Rickert, “Captain Gross,” 1999, watercolor, 14 x 20 inches
GWatson Gallery in Stonington, Maine, is the proud host of an exhibition featuring local watercolors by an accomplished artist. Who?
GWatson Gallery recently opened a nice exhibition of watercolors by Paul Rickert, son of the noted artist and illustrator William Rickert. Having studied privately with the renowned Nelson Shanks, Rickert became attracted to Maine in the 1970s and started spending summers in Stonington and nearby Brooksville, eventually buying a vacation home there.
Paul Rickert, “Approaching Shadows,” 2017, watercolor, 12 x 16 inchesPaul Rickert, “Early Moonrise,” 2016, watercolor, 10 x 14 inchesPaul Rickert, “Behind Corners,” 2010, watercolor, 10 x 24 inchesPaul Rickert, “Late Glow Thoroughfare,” 2005, watercolor, 12 x 16 inchesPaul Rickert, “Clearing Storm Stonington,” 2017, watercolor, 11 x 24 inchesPaul Rickert, “Filling the Harbor,” 2017, watercolor, 12 x 16 inchesPaul Rickert, “House with a View,” 2001, watercolor, 14 x 20 inchesPaul Rickert, “Lobsters,” 2016, watercolor, 11 x 24 inchesPaul Rickert, “Near Dusk,” 2016, watercolor, 14 x 20 inchesPaul Rickert, “Entrance,” 2002, watercolor, 10 x 14 inches
Now, the artist will be showcasing many of these local works through September. To learn more, visit GWatson Gallery.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
New owner of Shain Gallery Sybil Godwin (left) and founder Gabrielle Shain (right)
A well-known gallery in North Carolina has a new owner after its founder has stepped down. It’s recognized as one of the most influential galleries in the Southeast, so collectors should take note of this new leadership.
Located in Charlotte, North Carolina, Shain Gallery is a renowned gallery that serves a long list of clients while representing over 45 nationally and regionally acclaimed artists. As announced last week, gallery owner and founder Gabrielle (Gaby) Shain has stepped down, appointing Charlotte native Sybil Godwin as its new owner.
“I am so happy to hand the reins to Sybil,” Shain said. “She has an exceptional knowledge of, and excellent track record within, the art world, and Sybil will continue to apply her discerning eye and a truly distinctive perspective. With nearly 15 years of experience at some of the best art galleries in the Southeast, she is the right person to take the gallery into this exciting new chapter.”
Godwin said, “Shain is one of the most influential art galleries in Charlotte, and I’m honored to carry forward Gaby’s legacy. We will continue to bring new artwork from our existing artists as well as introducing more established and emerging contemporary artists to the Charlotte community.”
Luke Allsbrook, “Atonement,” oil on canvas, 50 x 36 inches
Eminent artists who will continue to be represented by the gallery include Eric Abrecht, Luke Allsbrook, Melissa Payne Baker, Kristin Blakeney, Peggie Blizard, Carol Bodiford, Gary Bodner, Andy Braitman, Josh Brown, Dennis Campay, Veronica Clark, Jeff Cohen, Leslie Cohen, Tania Darashkevich, Yury Darashkevich, Jon Davenport, Arless Day, Emyo, Bill Farnsworth, Laura Fontaine, Estella Fransbergen, Chris Groves, Brian Hibbard, Karen Hollingsworth, Mark Horton, William Jameson, Geoffrey Johnson, Lynn Johnson, Karin Jurick, Christy Kinard, Chris Liberti, Carol Maguire, Nathaniel Mather, Casey Matthews, Yvonne Mendez, Craig Mooney, Shannon Nyimicz, Eric Olsen, Laura Park, Trip Park, Eileen Power, Susie Pryor, Carlos Ramirez, Lynn Sanders, Karen Scharer, Kim Schuessler, Saliha Staib, Caroline Swetenburg, Sally Tharp, and Connie Winters.
Peggie Blizard, “Cosmos and Plumbago, Rose of Sharon,” 30 x 24 inches
Upcoming exhibitions will feature work by Lynn Johnson and Emyo (8/18), Noah Desmond (8/24), Andy Braitman (9/8), Chris Liberti and Eric Olsen (9/22), Kristin Blakeney, Casey Matthews, and Lynn Sanders (10/6), Karen Hollingsworth (10/27), Jon Davenport and Christy Kinard (11/10), and Josh Brown (11/17).
Shain Gallery, located in the heart of Myers Park in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been on the forefront of the Charlotte art scene since opening its doors in 1998. To learn more, visit Shain Gallery.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
Rick Fine, son of the late artist Lucy Fine, is in search of a special individual who can help catalogue, organize, and represent her incredible oeuvre. Up for the challenge? Details here.
From April through June 2013, the Mobile Museum of Art in Alabama hosted an incredible retrospective surrounding the life and work of artist Lucy Fine (1923-2011). Now, her son Rick Fine is looking for a special individual to help him catalogue and organize her works so they can be shared with the public. Fine is also hoping the individual will partner with him to represent the artist’s work.
Image Courtesy Rick FineImage Courtesy Rick Fine
Lucy began her own personal journey into the world of creating art in her late 30s. She not only pursued, but flourished in many art mediums, from watercolor to serigraphs, sculpture, and mixed media. Her serigraphs distill dynamic relationships, triumphant balances, and subtle harmonies as well as deeply satisfying echoes of nature amplified and transformed into new perceptions.
Image Courtesy Rick Fine
In a fundamental sense, since so much of her work dances, her long association with American modern dance pioneer Benjamin Zemach was undoubtedly an important influence. But most important was her own unique vision with which she created symbolic presentations that have the power to evoke unconsciously processed and conscious feelings.
Image Courtesy Rick FineImage Courtesy Rick Fine
Fine is looking for a dependable person who is organized, has a background in museum or gallery work, and displays strong written communication skills. He’s hoping to get this project started as soon as possible, so candidates should contact him immediately at [email protected]
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
Eugene Verboeckhoven, “Sheep in the Barn,” 1876, oil on canvas, 30 1/2 x 38 3/4 inches
In this ongoing series for Fine Art Today, we take a longer look at the history and features of a soon-to-be-available artwork of note. This week we highlight a painting that emanates a soothing light within a 19th century barn. Who painted it?
“Sheep in the Barn” is a fantastic 19th-century painting deeply rooted in tradition and executed with detail and anatomical precision. In fact, that’s what its creator, Eugene Verboeckhoven, was known for. Born in 1798, Verboeckhoven was a Belgian painter, but throughout his career he experimented with sculpture and printmaking.
Verboeckhoven’s training as an artist began early under his father, Barthelemy, who was a sculptor. A frequent participant in the Ghent and Brussels Salons, the younger Verboeckhoven is specifically known as a master painter of animals and, along with several of his pupils, appears to have been one of the last links to a secular tradition with its roots deep in the 17th century, which linked observation of nature, studied composition, and idealized reproduction of reality.
Eugene Verboeckhoven, “Sheep in the Barn (detail),” 1876, oil on canvas, 30 1/2 x 38 3/4 inchesEugene Verboeckhoven, “Sheep in the Barn (detail),” 1876, oil on canvas, 30 1/2 x 38 3/4 inches
Verboeckhoven was a perfectionist, as evidenced in his works such as “Sheep in the Barn.” Scholars marvel at how prolific he was — leaving behind hundreds of sketches and studies that he used to assemble his compositions like a stage director. In some cases, other artists employed Verboeckhoven to enrich their works with some of his animals and figures. Indeed, many attribute Verboeckhoven’s talent to his drawing, which was apparently unrivaled.
“Sheep in the Barn” was executed in 1876 and is available via DF Art, Inc. in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada on August 29. Online bidding is also accepted via LiveAuctioneers. The viewer is presented with a tightly cropped, soft arrangement of sheep at center, who casually graze while bathed in a golden, warm light. Scattered around them are other creatures, including a rabbit, two lambs, and three chickens. Each of these animals has been meticulously rendered, each carefully studied and imbued with character.
Auction estimates are between $23,000 and $25,000. To learn more, visit here.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
In this ongoing series, Fine Art Today delves into the world of portraiture, highlighting historical and contemporary examples of superb quality and skill. This week we consider a moving visage by a 19th-century legend.
This week I find myself wondering what famed 19th-century painter John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) would have thought about his paintings becoming almost mythic objects themselves, 100 years after his death. Stunningly beautiful and highly coveted by collectors and institutions around the globe, works such as “Boreas” have a mystical aura about them that pulls viewers in.
Perhaps it’s his color? Those lively strokes of the brush? Maybe it’s his acute sense of texture, or the fact that many of his subjects were mythological characters themselves. Whatever the reason may be, there’s little doubt that Waterhouse possessed something great, a talent unable to be taught, a vision unable to be replicated.
This week’s feature portrait caused quite a stir in the art world some 20 or so years ago. Having been lost soon after its production in 1903, “Boreas” resurfaced in the mid-1990s at auction, realizing nearly $1.3 million — a then-world record. The sensation surrounding the painting was valid, as it’s surely a tour de force of Pre-Raphaelite perfection. Standing in profile, facing toward the viewer’s left, and imaged in three-quarter view, a woman braces her back against a nearly palpable wind; the painting is named for the Greek god of the north wind. With flowers in her hair, the woman wears a cool silk veil, which has caught like a sail in the wind. With her arms raised, the woman elegantly holds the veil firm. Her face is hypnotic in its calmness, which contrasts with the movement apparent around her.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
My fascination with the art of bonsai began over thirty years ago. Developing the process to cast intricate bronze bonsai trees, required roughly ten years of practice.
My mother was an active gardener and helping her earned me the affectionate nickname “hole digger.” One dreary winter day, she surprised me with a trip to the Philadelphia flower show.
The event was packed and before I knew it, I was swept up by a river of visitors and set adrift into the “hall of the moon gates,” a bonsai exhibition. On either side of a hallway, various trees were displayed through large round portholes. When I peered through these “moon gates”, I was instantly transported into a fantastic bonsai universe.
I have always been fascinated by the magic of nature: dinosaurs, Blue whales, giant Sequoia Redwood trees, telescopes, microscopes, and even a few unhappy snapping turtles collected from the creek near my house. Yet, bonsai was something truly bewildering and more interesting than big or small, magnified or snappy. It was something which simply shouldn’t be! I was instantly hooked.
As an adult, I experimented with a collection of my own living bonsai trees and as my interests evolved, and I developed my own bronze process, I discovered lots of things that shouldn’t be. For instance, I shouldn’t be able to make a mold of an entire tree but I can. I shouldn’t be able to use fragile wax for my patterns but I do. Nor, should I be able to instantly cast an entire tree and nearly eliminate the need for fabrication, or effortlessly polish my bronze castings and finish the most delicate features of my sculptures with rich, transparent patina without using any chemicals.
One of the most interesting aspects of my work is the actual casting of the bronze. Tracy Witherow, of ART Research Enterprises, once said to me—“Matt, you should name every piece you do, Finger’s Crossed!” There’s a good reason for her comment. I have to perfectly execute every single step, leading up to and including the actual casting, to avoid a total disaster on every tree.
Why adopt a casting process which essentially requires that I hit a hole-in-one on every step, every time? The answer is simple, it makes the accomplishment that much sweeter and that much more exhilarating. I get to transform a gale into a breeze and create a beautiful and timeless bonsai tree! I hope you enjoy!
Robert Reid, “Summer Breezes,” circa 1910-20, oil on canvas, 33 3/4 x 39 inches, Reading Public Museum
From the 1880s through the 1940s, many artist colonies sprang up around the United States, aiding the rapid development and appreciation of American Impressionism. One East Coast museum is delving into this story through more than 50 remarkable paintings.
“American Impressionism: The Lure of the Artists’ Colony” is a fantastic exhibition of more than 50 paintings, on view through November 12 at the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA) in Tennessee. Featuring works by monumental painters such as William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Ernest Lawson, Julian Alden Weir, John Twachtman, Chauncey Ryder, Frank W. Benson, and William Paxton, the exhibition seeks to illuminate the story of how Impressionism made its way from Paris, France, across the Atlantic, and into the hearts and minds of American artists and collectors. In particular, the exhibition draws focus to the many artist colonies that sprang up across the United States and how these groups became sanctuaries for Impressionism’s development.
Frank W. Benson, “On Grand River,” circa 1930, oil on canvas, 36 x 44 inches, Reading Public MuseumGuy Carleton Wiggins, “Gloucester at Twilight,” 1916, oil on canvas, 12 x 16 inches, Reading Public Museum
The exhibition will also highlight the importance of Knoxville as an artist colony. Via the museum, “Many of the nationally prominent artists represented in this exhibition have ties to East Tennessee and the KMA’s ongoing display ‘Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee.’ More than a dozen participated in large art exhibitions held in conjunction with Knoxville’s 1910 and 1911 Appalachian Expositions, and the 1913 National Conservation Exposition. Their paintings appeared alongside those of several East Tennessee artists represented in ‘Higher Ground,’ such as Catherine Wiley, Lloyd Branson, Adelia Lutz, Charles Krutch, and Hugh Tyler, to name a few. These sprawling and ambitious exhibitions were designed with the goal of bringing the ‘best contemporary art in America’ to people of the region. The displays highlighted art currents of the day, and allowed East Tennessee artists to demonstrate their proficiency in a national context.
Charles Webster Hawthorne, “A Study in White,” circa 1900, oil on canvas, 36 x 22 inches, Reading Public MuseumEdward Willis Redfield, “Winter in the Valley,” circa 1920s, oil on canvas, 36 x 50 inches, Reading Public Museum
“Among other ties, John F. Carlson served as a juror for the 1913 Expo art exhibition along with Knoxville impressionist painter Catherine Wiley. Robert Reid was one of Wiley’s art instructors during her studies in New York, and Mary Cassatt’s intimate domestic scenes inspired Wiley’s career-long interest in depicting women and children. Because of these and other connections, this exhibition offers a broader national lens through which viewers can assess the work of Wiley, Branson, Lutz, Krutch, Tyler and other ‘Higher Ground’ artists who also experimented with Impressionism.”
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
Jenny Wuerker, “Tisdale Divide,” 2017, oil on canvas, 44 x 96 inches
Don’t miss out on this fabulous husband-and-wife exhibition featuring breathtaking vistas and landscapes of Wyoming.
“Married to the Landscape” — a vibrant exhibition of landscapes by artist couple Aaron and Jenny Wuerker — is on view for one more week (through August 22) at Casper, Wyoming’s Nicolaysen Art Museum.
Aaron Wuerker, “Portal,” 2015, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inchesJenny Wuerker, “Looking East toward Pumpkin Buttes,” 2017, oil on canvas, 24 x 48 inchesAaron Wuerker, “Triangles,” 2017, oil on canvas, 12 x 36 inchesJenny Wuerker, “Tisdale Divide,” 2017, oil on canvas, 44 x 96 inchesAaron Wuerker, “Formation,” 2017, oil on canvas, 12 x 36 inchesJenny Wuerker, “On a Wide Open Plain,” 2013, oil on canvas, 64 x 144 inchesAaron Wuerker, “Horizon with Silos,” 2017, oil on canvas, 12 x 36 inchesJenny Wuerker, “Western Skies,” 2013, oil on canvas, 64 x 144 inchesAaron Wuerker, “Horizontals,” 2016, oil on canvas, 24 x 48 inches
The Wuerkers have been painting the Wyoming landscape together for nearly 25 years and “for each of us” they say, “the need to define an iconic American landscape has repeatedly surfaced. For Jenny, that means capturing the feeling of stark expanse in large paintings with big skies racing back to meet distant ridges and light stretching to the horizon. In Aaron’s work, the shapes of industrial objects mimic natural formations in the landscape, creating silent interactions. Ultimately, a realist perspective serves to celebrate the beauty of common places. In this recent body of paintings, we hope to share a vision of the Western landscape that one might identify the next time they see a massive cloud formation or road signs lined up with the horizon.”
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
Only you can be the judge! What ever happened to the expeditionary practice of journal painting? Did it simply evolve into the massive plein air phenomenon we’re witnessing today? One artist is keeping it alive through this extraordinary opportunity.
Artist James Lancel McElhinney incorporates many elements into his work, including history, nature, and travel, exploring itineraries and narratives that have shaped the American landscape. Now, the artist’s admirers and art enthusiasts alike have a chance to own a publication of his journal paintings, which are outstanding artworks in and of themselves. The deluxe edition of Hudson Highland Suite will be a limited edition of 50 11 x 14-inch archival digital prints based on seven of McElhinney’s Hudson Valley journal-paintings. Loosely bound in a fine Solander box with an accompanying chapbook, the publication is slated for release on November 1, 2017 with a retail price of $1,400.
Image courtesy James L. McElhinneyImage courtesy James L. McElhinneyImage courtesy James L. McElhinney
About the artist: Delaware Valley native James Lancel McElhinney discovered his calling as a landscape artist while studying at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. In 2001 he embarked on a 12-year painting project exploring the process of development, desecration, and preservation of 19th-century American battlefields. Since 2006 he has been working primarily in book form, reviving the genre of journal painting practiced by historic expeditionary artists.
Image courtesy James L. McElhinneyImage courtesy James L. McElhinneyImage courtesy James L. McElhinney
McElhinney’s work has been the subject of more than 40 solo exhibitions nationwide. He has taught at Pratt Institute, the Art Students League of New York, and other colleges and universities. He is the author of three books on drawing and painting, and has conducted nearly 100 oral history and podcast interviews for organizations such as the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, the Frick Center for the History of Collecting, Coleccion Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, the Center for Southern Jewish Culture, and others. McElhinney received a Visual Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, an MFA in painting from Yale, a BFA from the Tyler School of Art, and recently became an associate member of the Appraisers Association of America. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, the art-historian Dr. Katherine Manthorne.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
Mary Pettis, “Splendor in the Grass,” 2015, oil on linen, 21 1/2 x 36 inches
The Art Renewal Center (ARC) is one of the premier institutions in the world that seeks to promote and advance traditional, representational arts — meaning that earning its coveted distinctions is a dream turned into reality.
The Art Renewal Center (ARC) has several distinctions that any accomplished artist would want to hold. However, becoming an ARC Living Master™ is perhaps at the top of the list. To earn that honor, artists must have “dedicated themselves to becoming a realist artist with the wish to express our shared humanity through the visual arts,” ARC’s website says. “In addition, an ARC Living Master™ has mastered all the building blocks of great art as defined in the ARC Artist description, creating fully professional works of art, as well as some identifiable masterpieces. Beyond that, they have successfully created a body of work which demonstrates accomplished facility in their craft that compares to the maters of prior centuries. Their work demonstrates strong, reliable, poetic sensibilities which intertwine great universal subjects, powerful original compositions and mastery over all aspects of the craft, working seamlessly to enhance the chosen subject. They repeatedly are able to ‘suspend disbelief’ in the viewer eliciting empathy which is rooted in our shared humanity.”
Mary Pettis, “The Cycle of Lilies,” 2017, oil on linen, 29 x 48 inchesMary Pettis, “St. Croix Nocturne,” 2017, oil on linen, 24 x 36 inches
Sounds tough, right? Indeed, earning the ARC Living Master™ badge can take artists a lifetime of work and achievement and many applications. Recently, the ARC announced the induction of their newest Living Master™, and we’d like to take a moment to congratulate Minnesota painter Mary Pettis. In her work, Pettis “draws heavily upon her classical training and Russian influence,” the ARC reports. “Early in her career, Mary studied with Hungarian painter Bela Petheo; Richard Lack, at Atelier Lack; and Daniel Graves, who later became the founder of the Florence Academy of Art. In the 1990s, Jim Wilcox introduced her to the ‘wet-in-wet’ plein air approach and she moved her studio outdoors. Over the years, she continued her studies with various teachers including Zhang Wen Xin, Kevin Macpherson, Jove Wang, and James Shoop.
Mary Pettis, “Pastorale,” 2017, oil on linen, 16 x 20 inchesMary Pettis, “Living Waters-Io Valley,” 2016, oil on linen, 16 x 20 inches
“Now she divides her time equally between the studio and outdoors. Her decades of training and the experiences from hundreds of plein air paintings are a catalyst for a symbolic visual language of expression that celebrates the beauty, dignity and worth of this world and its inhabitants.”
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.
Fill your mind with useful art stories, the latest trends, upcoming art shows, top artists, and more. Subscribe to Fine Art Today, from the publishers of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.
