Hawthorne Fine Art Hosts Gathering of Bermuda Luminaries

On Tuesday, January 8th, over 75 friends and members of the Bermuda National Gallery gathered at Hawthorne Fine Art for a reception and private viewing of our current exhibition, Isles of Tranquility: Paintings of Bermuda by Clark Greenwood Voorhees (1871-1933). Guests included His Excellency the Governor, The Hon. George Fergusson and Mrs. Fergusson; and Premier, The Hon. Craig Cannonier, JP MP and Mrs. Cannonier; as well as Bermuda National Gallery Executive Director, Lisa Howie; Founding Trustee, Dr. Charles Zuill; and Tucker Hewes, President of the Bermuda Fine Arts Foundation. During the course of the evening, the Governor and The Premier both delivered speeches. Additional speeches were given by Jennifer C. Krieger, Managing Partner of Hawthorne Fine Art; Gary L. Phillips OBE JP, Chairman of the Bermuda National Gallery and Franklin Hill Perrell, Trustee of the Bermuda National Gallery. Also in attendance were Bermuda’s Minister of Finance, The Hon. Everard ‘Bob’ Richards JP, MP; and Minister of Economic Development, Dr. the Hon. E. Grant Gibbons JP, MP.

 

Jennifer Krieger standing with His Excellency the Governor of Bermuda, The Hon. George Fergusson; Premier, The Hon. Craig Cannonier, JP MP; and Gary L. Phillips OBE JP

Mr. Gary L. Phillips, OBE JP; Mrs. Margaret Fergusson; Governor, The Hon. George Fergusson; Ms. Helen Clark; Mrs. Tricia Phillips; Minister, The Hon. Bob Richards

This exhibition, which runs through January 18, 2012, is only the second full-scale show of the artist’s work in three decades. Kept largely private by a sprawling family of artists and intellectuals, the paintings of Clark Voorhees have very rarely been exhibited in public. Beginning in 1919, Voorhees and a small group of fellow Old Lyme artists began to spend their winters in Bermuda, where the artist purchased a house that he named “Tranquility.” The lush, nuanced studies he produced there reflect Voorhees’s life-long interest in the natural sciences, as thoughtfully observed in Dr. Edward Harris’s review of the exhibition in the December 15^th edition of The Royal Gazette. Dr. Harris praised the work as being “not only of artistic value,” but also “of significance to the historian and archaeologist, and indeed the natural scientist, for the artist captured the nature of the place, but without any intention that an historic state was being embedded in ink and paint on his canvas.”

For this and other reasons, the exhibition is very much representative of the interests of the gallery and Jennifer Krieger, who is known for uncovering hidden treasures of American art and incorporating them into carefully curated exhibitions. Isles of Tranquility includes 20 paintings of Bermuda landscapes by Voorhees all of which have been kept in the hands of the family and are available for viewing and for sale for the first time.

Other paintings by the artist are on display in the collections of the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, CT, and the Chicago Union League Club.

We hope you will be able to visit Isles of Tranquility at  74 East 79^th Street between Park and Madison Avenues before the close of the exhibition on January 18th. Additionally, please feel free to browse the online PDF version of the catalogue, or contact us to request a hard copy.

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Winter Scenes for the Winter Solstice

On this winter solstice, the official start of winter and the shortest day of the year, what immediately comes to mind is the exquisite selection of winter scenes hanging at Hawthorne Fine Art.

Walter Launt Palmer, Hoar Frost (click to enlarge)

Best known for his paintings of snowy landscapes, Walter Launt Palmer (1854–1932) is well represented in the gallery. A true master of color effects, Palmer used warm pinks and purples to create shade and depth while still maintaining the bright white purity of the soft fallen snow. This technique was revolutionary and influential in the late-nineteenth century. Hoar Frost, the largest Palmer painting currently in the gallery, overwhelms the viewer with its stunning prismatic light effects. The snow covered ground, bare trees, and feathery underbrush dance with sunbeams rendered with lively strokes of rosy pigment, creating a sense of warmth and welcome despite the frigid winter’s day.

Walter Launt Palmer, Brook in Winter (click to enlarge)

Likewise, Palmer’s pastel Brook in Winter is illuminated with alternating patches of orange- and blue-hued snow. The reflections on the shimmering surface of the brook are rendered with quick but precise strokes of green, blue, orange, and yellow, continuing the coloring effects that infuse Palmer’s work with vitality.

WIlson Irvine, Winter in the Connecticut Hills (click to Enlarge)

Wilson Irvine (1869–1936), an American Impressionist associated with the Old Lyme Art Colony in Connecticut, used similar color techniques in his Winter in the Connecticut Hills to achieve a sun-dappled effect. The rich lavender-blue tone used for the shadows creates a dynamic surface, drawing the viewer’s eye up the snow covered hill to the charming red farmhouse. The earthy reddish-brown tones of the trees and house emanate life and warmth even amid the chilly landscape.

Lauren Sansaricq, Winter's Full Moon, 2009 (click to enlarge)

In stark contrast to these warm sun-filled scenes is Lauren Sansaricq’s (b.1990) contemplative and almost haunting Winter’s Full Moon. The icy blue tonalities of this image are interrupted by the pulsing orb, whose light seems to gently swirl downward onto two figures captivated by the clarity and magnificence of this New Year’s Eve full moon.

Alice Hirsch, Hudson River in Winter, N.Y., 1916 (click to enlarge)

In further opposition to these crisp, countryside and wilderness landscapes is Alice Hirsch’s (1888–1935) urban winter wonderland, Hudson River in Winter, N.Y. One of Hawthorne Fine Art’s newest acquisitions, Hudson River is typical of Hirsch’s thick, brushy Impressionist technique and choice of New York City subject matter. The depiction of the icy Hudson River exemplifies Hirsch’s interest in the light effects and unusual reflective qualities of the water’s surface. However, her experimentation leans more toward the texture and application of pigment as opposed to the diverse color spectrum employed by Palmer and Irvine. Although academically trained, Hirsch demonstrates a similar devotion to New York scenes as the Ashcan School, known for their rejection of the academy’s conservatism, especially in her search for beauty along the busy and industrialized shores of the Hudson.

Hawthorne Fine Art wishes you very happy holidays and all the best for the New Year. And for those of you who still await your first snowfall of the season, enjoy!:

Walter Launt Palmer, The First Snow, 1898 (click to enlarge)

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