An Awesome Annual

By

-

June 1, 2017

Ddab526efe5d9f1ea8da2a9f511ba2410 — Rachel Pierson, “El Viejo,” charcoal on paper, 22 x 15 inches

Featuring more than 30 works of art from Studio Incamminati’s esteemed roster of artists and alumni, collectors can bolster their holdings and contribute to future generations of creatives during this can’t-miss annual exhibition.

Philadelphia’s Studio Incamminati is one of our nation’s premier academic ateliers, continually producing artists who have won national and international awards (and frequently profiled in Fine Art Connoisseur). Each year, the school hosts its annual artists and alumni exhibition and sale in early summer, presenting the discerning collector with an early opportunity to acquire masterworks and support future generations.

Robin Frey, “Joy,” oil on panel, 12 x 10 inches

Stephen Early, “Untitled,” oil on linen, 16 x 8 inches

Jason Patrick Jenkins, “Hindsight,” oil on canvas, 12 x 19 inches

Leona Shanks, “Blind Justice,” oil on linen, 20 x 16 inches

Carolyn Gabbe, “Dad’s Lemon,” oil on linen board, 10 x 8 inches

Shira Friedman, “One Fish,” oil on linen, 12 x 18 inches

Kerry Dunn, “Melissa,” oil on wood, 24 x 18 inches

On view at Avery Galleries in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, from June 2 through June 28, the group show will feature some 30 works of art, all available for purchase. Proceeds benefit the Studio Incamminati scholarship fund, helping the school “fulfill its mission of makings its education as accessible as possible to all deserving art students regardless of financial means,” they say.

To learn more, visit Studio Incamminati.

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.

Featured Lot: Dazzling Summer

By

Andrew Webster

-

June 1, 2017

0

M35499-1 007 — Joseph Kleitsch (1882-1931), “San Juan Capistrano,” 1923, oil on canvas, 22 x 26 3/4 inches, Private Collection

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 feature one of several outstanding American Impressionist landscapes available soon via Swann Galleries.

Swann Galleries in New York can barely wait to kick off its annual sale of American Art on June 15. This year, Swann has seen several blockbuster consignments to the gallery for this sale, among them a brilliant landscape by California Impressionist Joseph Kleitsch (1882-1931). Born in Hungary, Kleitsch immigrated to the United States in 1902, eventually taking up residence in such vibrant cities as Cincinnati, Denver, and Chicago. However, it was Kleitsch’s migration to the West Coast, particularly Laguna Beach, that proved to be the most important move, as he eventually became one of California’s most influential and important Impressionists.

“Laguna Beach was an epicenter of California Impressionism — a regional school of American Impressionism of en plein air painting, mostly practiced by expatriate Europe artists, living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California,” Swann Galleries reports. “The unspoiled, undeveloped coastline of Laguna Beach attracted many of these artists, who started a number of different local artist organizations, including the Laguna Beach Art Association (Kleitsch even opened his own school, the Kleitsch Academy, with his wife). Although he continued to paint portraits (he was an in-house portraitist for the esteemed Stendahl Gallery, Los Angeles), it was in Laguna where Kleitsch discovered his passion for landscape painting.”

Painted in 1923, “San Juan Capistrano” is a fantastic reflection of Kleitsch’s admiration for the jewel-toned colors and rich textures that abound in Southern California. From a perch in the shade, viewers find themselves presented with myriad colors from a tree. Vines drape and hang from the trunk and are filled with purples, oranges, greens, and blues. Just beyond are the sunbaked dunes of San Juan Capistrano.

Auction estimates are between $100,000 and $150,000. To learn more, visit Swann Galleries.

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.

Portrait of the Week: Gustave Courbet, “The Desperate Man”

By

Andrew Webster

-

June 1, 2017

6

In this highlight, view a historical and contemporary example of superb quality and skill: Gustave Courbet, “The Desperate Man.”

The self-portrait has long been employed by artists to convey different messages or psychological states in their art. In fact, the exploration of the inner being through self-representation has been well documented among some of the most influential and monumental figures in Western and Eastern art.

However, few artists have investigated their own souls to such an extent that their bodies of self-portraits provide an autobiographical description of their journey through life. Immediately, one thinks of Rembrandt, the 17th century Dutch master who left us nearly 90 representations of himself from the time he was an adolescent to months before his death. Similarly, other significant figures such as Max Beckmann, Albrecht Dürer, and Van Gogh have all been recognized for the deep psychological tone of their self- representations.

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) can be added to this illustrious group of artists. As one of the most recognized painters of his time, Courbet earned success as a young man, though a period of uncertainty and financial misery pervaded his life until the mid-1850s. Further, letters to family, friends, and patrons suggest that even as late as 1860, Courbet was susceptible to melancholy.

Significantly, between the years 1840 and 1850, Courbet produced nearly 24 self-portraits that offer his viewers a glimpse into the formulation of his early identity and psychological evolution. As scholar Dominique de Font-Reaulx has noted, “the early self-portraits are a window into the artist’s early training and development. The visual habits formed in these works would continue throughout his oeuvre.”

However, Courbet is seldom recognized as being connected to the themes and ideologies of the Romantics, who enjoyed the apex of their success around the time of Courbet’s birth in 1819. Courbet found his career in a transitional period that saw Romanticism coming to a close and subsequently, the birth of realism and modernism in European visual culture. However, his early self-portraits would seem to argue differently, suggesting Courbet was acutely aware of and inspired by traditions extending back to Dürer in the 16th century and Rembrandt in the 17th.

Gustave Courbet, “Self-Portrait as the Desperate Man,” 1845, oil on canvas, 18 x 22 in. (c) Private Collection 2016

Courbet’s “Self-Portrait as the Desperate Man” is one early example, produced in 1845, at the apex of the artist’s melancholy and Romantic disillusionment. Courbet presents himself frontally in a tight, claustrophobic, horizontal frame. His expression seems to be one of both fear and psychosis. His arms are raised to his head, clenching his dark hair, with tensed muscles bulging from his wrists and forearms. There is no escape, and the confrontation with the viewer achieves an intensity rarely witnessed in the history of art.

It has been suggested that Courbet’s goal was to “share the intensity of a moment in which the artist, having come to the end of his Romantic education and suddenly overcome at the spectacle of his imminent downfall, finds the strength to repudiate a destiny that is not his.” In this way, it proves to be a key work in the artist’s life, and it remained in his studio until his death.

Albrecht Dürer, “The Desperate Man,” circa 1515, etching, 7 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. (c) Metropolitan Museum of Art 2016

This was Courbet’s chance to express what he had not done in his letters and his desire (to use his words), “to bury the amorous follies of my youth.” This is precisely why self-portraiture was so attractive to Romantic artists, and it touches the core nature of self-portraiture as a genre. Indeed, in this way, Courbet’s “Desperate Man” is quintessential Romanticism in every sense of the term.

Pushing it further, Courbet could have appropriated Renaissance imagery, which would add yet another Romantic tone. Consider Albrecht Dürer’s etching “The Desperate Man” of 1514 — the central figure bears a strikingly similar gesture and mood. Note the clenched fists that grasp the figure’s hair and the raised arms, which seem too similar to Courbet’s rendering to be mere coincidence.

To learn more, visit the Musee d’Orsay.
(This article was originally published in 2017)

> Visit EricRhoads.com to learn about more opportunities for artists and art collectors, including retreats, international art trips, art conventions, and more.

> Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, our free weekly e-newsletter

> Subscribe to Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, so you never miss an issue

The Stakes Get Higher

By

Andrew Webster

-

June 1, 2017

0

F2856 — The beautiful inner courtyard of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

It was arguably one of the most famous art heists in history: In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, a pair of thieves disguised as Boston police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and left with 13 works of art valued at more than $500 million. To further the recovery effort, the museum’s board of trustees has just made an announcement.

Members of the board of trustees at Boston’s famed Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum recently announced their approval to double the reward from $5 million to $10 million for information leading to the return of 13 works of art stolen from the institution in 1990. The increased offer is effective immediately and expires at midnight on December 31, 2017.

The reward increase is, in fact, the second since the theft in 1990. In 1997, the museum raised the reward from $1 million to $5 million, making it the largest private reward in the world. The recent increase to $10 million “sends a strong message that Museum officials are serious about their commitment to bring the works back to the Museum,” according to the Gardner’s website.

Rembrandt van Rijn, “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee,” 1633, oil on canvas, 63 x 50 1/2 inches, © Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Johannes Vermeer, “The Concert,” 1664, oil on canvas, 27 x 25 inches, © Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Anthony Amore, the museum’s security director, adds, “We encourage anyone with information to contact the museum directly, and we guarantee complete confidentiality. This offer is a sign that our investigation remains active. Our hope is that anyone with knowledge that might further our work will come forward.”

The March 18, 1990 theft remains the largest art heist in history. Among the artworks that were taken were Johannes Vermeer’s “The Concert” — one of only 36 surviving paintings by the Dutch painter — and the only known seascape by Rembrandt van Rijn, titled “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee.”

“Typically, stolen masterpieces are either recovered soon after a theft or a generation later,” Amore continued. “We remain optimistic that these works will ultimately be recovered.”

Anyone with information should contact Anthony Amore at 617.278.5114 or e-mail [email protected]

To learn more, visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

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.

Featured Artwork: Matthew Sudlow

By

Andrew Webster

-

May 31, 2017

0

FA_Sudlow — "Fingers Crossed" by Matthew Sudlow

“Fingers Crossed”

Cast Bronze

15l x 14h x 13d in.

Limited edition of 10

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!

-Matthew Sudlow

View more of Matthew’s work at MatthewSudlow.com

Featured Artwork: Linda Glover Gooch presented by the Grand Canyon Celebration of Art

By

Andrew Webster

-

May 31, 2017

0

FA_GCA — "The Edge of Time" by Linda Glover Gooch

“The Edge of Time”

Oil

22 x 24 in.

Linda Glover Gooch, 2017

The 9th annual Grand Canyon Celebration of Art will feature 25 artists painting plein air at the Grand Canyon September 9-16, 2017, with an exhibit and sale of their work opening at Kolb Studio on the South Rim on September 17. Each of the participating artists creates a studio painting for the exhibit, which hang in the exhibit along with the plein air work they paint during the event. The exhibit and sale will be open daily through January 15, 2018.

This year the event is celebrating the women artists—both historic and contemporary–who have taken on the unique challenges of capturing the splendor and vastness of the Grand Canyon on canvas. Nine of this year’s artists are women.

Our featured artist, Linda Glover Gooch of Mesa, Arizona, has participated in the Celebration of Art for 8 years. She has spent countless hours painting the canyon, both on her own and sharing her skills with students during a number of workshops co-sponsored by Scottsdale Artists School.

Of her studio painting this year, The Edge of Time, Glover Gooch notes:

“Each day at the Grand Canyon brings on new and beautiful scenes as well as many visitors from around the world. It seemed right to include them in this view

of Maricopa Point as the visitors perch themselves along the rim, Taking the time to stop, they absorb the beauty of the canyon with its majestic views and the billowing cloud formations that take center stage.”

For more information and a schedule of events please visit

https://www.grandcanyon.org/arts-and-culture/9th-annual-grand-canyon-celebration-art

or contact Kathy Duley [email protected] or 480.277.0458

Featured Artwork: Kelli Folsom

By

Andrew Webster

-

May 31, 2017

3

FA_Folsom — "Brass and Antique Creamer" Kelli Folsom

“Brass and Antique Creamer”

16 x 20 in.

Oil on Panel

Available through the Artist’s Studio

Kelli Folsom is an emerging artist specializing in dramatic light and shadow still life painting. Since graduating from art school with her B.F.A. from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in 2011 she has received numerous awards and scholarships for her work including, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Anna Lee Stacey scholarship, Southwest Art and American Art Collector Magazine’s Award of Excellence and the Oil Painters of America Honorable Mention Award in Figurative art. Kelli’s work has also been featured recently in PleinAir magazine. Her work has been exhibited in many museum shows, represented by several galleries, and is in numerous private collections across the country.

She loves capturing the many different textures, patinas and surface qualities that can be found in still life. Her work is imbued with a sense of movement, light, atmosphere and color that makes the painting feel like it’s alive and real. She feels there is no better way to get this lifelike quality into the work than by working directly from nature. She enjoys taking a great deal of time to set up the still lifes in her studio finding objects that work well together and create a visual story.

Some of Kelli’s greatest still life influences are William Merritt Chase, Frans Mortelmans and contemporary artists David Leffel, Sherrie McGraw and Gregg Kreutz. She has worked to perfect a look of depth and luminosity through an alla prima painting technique.

“I have always loved painting still life. It is amazing the memorable connections we can have with things. I delight in hearing that one of my paintings reminded someone of their childhood, of gardening or cooking with their grandmother.”

Kelli Folsom is a member of OPA, AWA, AIS, WAOW, and LPAPA.

View more of Kelli’s work at www.kellifolsom.com

Featured Artwork: Matthew Bird

By

Andrew Webster

-

May 31, 2017

0

FA_Bird — "Still Life with Venus de Milo" by Matthew Bird

“Still Life with Venus de Milo”
29 x 22 in
Transparent watercolor on paper

Available through the artist

Matthew Bird is an American painter. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he graduated with honors from the Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn, New York, in 2000. He is a Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society and his award-winning watercolor paintings have been exhibited in juried shows across the United States, as well as in Canada, China, Greece, Hong Kong and Italy.

“My still life paintings are influenced by the Dutch and Flemish painters of the 16th and 17th centuries, which I’ve always found fascinating. Working on still life paintings allow me the opportunity to paint many different textures and surfaces in great detail.”

Transparent watercolor is Matthew’s medium of choice, which may be a little unusual for someone who has been so influenced by the great oil painters of the classical tradition. “I love the properties of watercolor and the way it captures light. Edgar Whitney said, ‘White paper showing through a transparent wash is the closest approximation to light in all the media, and light is the loveliest thing that exists.’ I agree completely!”

See more work at matthewbird.com

And go behind the scenes via Instagram: _matthewbird_ and Facebook: Matthew Bird Studio

Featured Artwork: Chantel Barber

By

Andrew Webster

-

May 31, 2017

0

FA_Barber — “Radiance” by Chantel Barber

“Radiance”

Acrylic on panel

6 x 6 in.

Available through the artists online gallery:

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/chantel-barber/radiance/580313

Chantel’s passion for art began flourishing at age 12 when she was mentored under local San Diego artists. She continued to study art, largely self-taught, while living in Newport, Rhode Island, and Keflavik, Iceland. While enrolled in a college art course, a fellow student introduced her to acrylic paints, and she soon found it to be a medium dominated by abstract art. But her first love was portraiture for which she found little advice. As she dreamed of perfecting her skills as an acrylic portrait artist, Chantel continued to learn from professional oil painters and translated their teachings into acrylic techniques. All the while, she remained active in local art communities.

In 2006, Chantel opened her own art business called Chantel’s Originals near Memphis, Tennessee. Chantel soon benefited from workshops and demonstrations with outstanding artists including Dawn Whitelaw and Michael Shane Neil. Chantel is currently the National Coordinator of the State Ambassador program for the Portrait Society of America, and is also a member of The Chestnut Group and the National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society. She is past President of Artists’ Link in Memphis, Tennessee.

Chantel has been featured in solo art shows and has participated in numerous group shows at premiere Memphis venues including the Dixon Gallery and Gardens. Her award winning paintings are in private and public collections throughout the United States and overseas. Her work is published in Acrylic Artists magazine, American Art Collector, and Fine Art Connoisseur. Chantel resides in Bartlett, Tennessee, where she teaches online and in workshops throughout the United States.

View more of Chantel’s work at www.chantellynnbarber.com.

Featured Artwork: Susan Nicholas Gephart

By

Andrew Webster

-

May 25, 2017

0

FA_Gephart — “Cloudscape Before the Bypass” by Susan Nicholas Gephart

“Cloudscape Before the Bypass”

oil

10 x 30 in.

About the Artist:

As a young child hiking the woodlands and creeks by her family’s farmhouse outside of Philadelphia, Susan, developed a deep appreciation of the earth and an interest in depicting it in her artwork, as did her father, pastel artist Thomas Nicholas.

“All my life I have been inspired by the beauty of our fragile earth environment… Responding to the sound, smell, and light of the environment influences each of my paintings, my interpretations. The essential elements of these paintings are color, shape, sense of atmosphere, and the emotion of the moment,” says Susan.

“I strive to capture and convey a spiritual message of nature’s importance and connection to man. There is an inner peace and balance in response to the landscape that continually rejuvenates my love of painting Sky, Water and Earth.”

Susan’s unique use of color, texture, and atmosphere indeed reflects her passion for plein air painting and her work captures the landscape with spontaneity and directness. Her colorful, impressionistic, award-winning plein air pastels and oils are in nationwide private and permanent collections, such as The Penn State Conference Center, Lock Haven University, Penn College, The Williamsport Susquehanna Towers Hospital, and The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art.

In addition to co-founding the Plein Air Painters of Central PA, Susan has also made art instruction a regular part of her successful career. Since the mid 1980’s, she has instructed students of all ages, sharing her love of nature and painting out of doors. For Hameau Artist Retreats Susan organizes workshops and classes for all proficiency levels and all art mediums. The programs are supported by top national art supply companies, such as Gamblin Artists Oil Colors, Jack Richeson & Co., Inc., Multimedia Artboard, Savoir Faire: Sennelier & Fabriano, and Unison Pastel Sandpaper

In the past year Susan’s pastel “Hameau Farm Sunset and Clouds” was published in the PleinAir magazine feature article, “The Many Moods of Clouds,” and she was a featured an “Artist to Watch” in Pennsylvania Crave Magazine.

In 2018 Susan will serve on the faculty of the 7th Annual Plein Air Convention & Expo in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Memberships:

Associate Member of the Pastel Society of America

Signature Member of the Central Pennsylvania Pastel Society

Plein Air Painters of Central Pennsylvania

Education:

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania State University , Cum Laude (1979)

Associate in Arts, Montgomery County Community College, Magna Cum Laude (1977)

Publications:

Fine Arts Connoisseur magazine

Pastel Journal

PleinAir magazine

Pennsylvania Crave Magazine

Galleries:

Faustina’s Gallery, Lewisburg, PA

Green Drake Gallery and Art Center, Millheim, PA

Nicholas Studios, Bellefonte, PA

State College Framing Co. & Gallery, State College, PA

Visit Susan’s website to see more of her work and learn of upcoming exhibits and scheduled workshops. www.snicholasart.com

WEEKLY NEWS FROM THE ART WORLD