The Olana Partnership 2013 Frederic E. Church Award Gala

Our forthcoming advertisement in Olana’s 2013 Frederic E. Church Award Gala Journal

Hawthorne Fine Art is pleased to announce The Olana Partnership 2013 Frederic E. Church Award Gala, which will be held on Thursday, May 23 at the New York Public Library. The honorees at this year’s Gala are Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Stephen Hannock, acclaimed contemporary landscape painter. The work of these two individuals has brought the study and appreciation of American art to great prominence and embodies the Gala’s celebration of the Extraordinary American Landscape.

Musical artist and art collector Sting, with his wife, Trudie Styler, and acclaimed artist, Christo, will present the awards to the honorees.

Elizabeth Broun is being honored for her significant influence in expanding an understanding of American art during her 30-year tenure with the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM). During her tenure, the museum has developed a significant national education program, and has become a leader in distance learning, Web-based resources, and new media. As director during a $283 million renovation of the SAAM’s historic landmark building, she championed the creation of and secured funding for several innovative new public spaces, including the first art conservation facility that allows the public permanent behind-the-scenes views of the preservation work of museums, and the only visible art storage and study center in Washington, D.C. with thousands of artworks on public display.

Stephen Hannock is an important contemporary landscape painter inspired by the works and philosophies of the Hudson River School, whose work hangs in many of the country’s most important museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Gallery of Art. In addition, Stephen’s work is in numerous private collections. Not only does his work often directly reference 19th century paintings and locales, but also important landscapes and issues of today, particularly environmental concerns.

Because of her commitment to building collections of American landscape painting and producing scholarly publications, Jennifer Krieger is among the members of The Olana Partnership’s Landscape/Viewshed Advisory Committee. The Olana Partnership supports the conservation, preservation, development and improvement of the Olana State Historic Site, which is open to the public throughout the year. Its goal is to inspire the public by preserving and interpreting Olana, and to create the most widely recognized artist’s home and studio in the world, vibrant with the activity of students, visitors and scholars.

We hope you will join us in honoring the work Elizabeth Broun and Stephen Hannock, and in celebrating the Extraordinary American Landscape. Please see below for further details and to RSVP.

Event: The Olana Partnership- Frederic E. Church Award Dinner

Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013

Location: New York Public Library, Celeste Bartos Forum – New York City
5th Avenue and 42nd Street

Time: 7pm Cocktails
8pm Dinner, Awards, and Live Auction

Tickets: Tickets can be purchased starting at $1,500. To purchase tickets contact Cailin Fitzgerald at (212) 921-9070 ext. 11 or email: olana@thejfmgroup.com

Attire: Black Tie

 

In addition, to view benefit auctions, please follow the link below:

http://olana.org/pdf/StephenHannockAuctionItemNiagara.pdf

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Summer Reading: American Paintings & American Prose

Happy summer, everyone! Hawthorne Fine Art is proud to announce the second installment of Summer Reading: American Paintings & American Prose, which may serve as a charming companion to your peaceful summer moments.

This beautifully illustrated catalogue presents highlights from HFA’s inventory, thoughtfully paired with segments of historic and contemporary writing. Paintings include images of the American West, tranquil winter scenes, and a fiery sunset painted by contemporary artist Lauren Sansaricq. The accompanying prose varies from beautifully descriptive and meditative passages, to excerpts that raise issues of environmental conservation. Jennifer Krieger, Managing Partner of Hawthorne Fine Art, writes in her introduction, “While we can still behold and appreciate the sites and vistas that attracted artists to paint our native scenery over a hundred years ago, we must strengthen our dedication to and our efforts in pre­serving them.”

Two recent acquisitions included in this catalogue are In the Arctic by William Bradford (1823­­–1892) and Summer Idyll in the Hudson Valley by William Hart (1823–1894). Bradford, who grew up on the Massachusetts coast during the height of the New Bedford whaling industry, consistently showed interest in and talent for depicting whaleships. After befriending Frederic Church (1826–1900), who is known for his adventurous expeditions to South American and the Arctic, Bradford was inspired to travel. He sailed for Labrador for the first time in 1861, and continued to return throughout the 1860s. However, the artist’s most epic voyage occurred in 1869 when funding from New York art collector and banker LeGrand Lockwood allowed Bradford to travel further into the Arctic. Traveling a total of 5000 miles during this three-month journey, Bradford sketched icebergs, glaciers, and polar bears, and completed his travelogue, The Arctic Region, published in 1873. In the Arctic (1875), which typifies the Romantic preoccupation with exploring the outer limits of civilization, is an important example of the crystalline Arctic vistas that Bradford continued to produce during the mid-1870s to illustrate his 1869 expedition. This image is paired with an exciting description of Frederic Church’s arctic expedition written by Reverend Louis Legrand Noble, who is best known for his biography of Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole (1801–1848).

William Bradford, In the Arctic

William Hart’s Summer Idyll in the Hudson Valley (1849) is a rare and very early example of the finely detailed, bucolic American landscapes for which the artist was best known. Completed while the artist was still living in Albany, NY, this painting is one of few extant works from the period prior to Hart’s move to New York City in 1853. This pastoral vision of America as a New Eden was popularized by the American Art Union, which promoted and disseminated works by young American landscape painters such as Hart, John F. Kensett, Frederic E. Church, and Jasper F. Cropsey in the 1840s and early 1850s. The Italianate building that appears nestled within a group of trees at the water’s edge is typical of the “Tuscan” villas that replaced the Federal style mansions of the previous era. Leading the Romantic architectural movement were landscape architects Andrew Jackson Downing and Alexander Jackson Davis. Downing and Davis called for “natural” architecture following English Gothic and Italian Renaissance models, which strived for harmonious integration within the landscape, unlike box-shaped Federal houses. Hart’s painting appears alongside a segment of Thomas Cole’s “Essay on American Scenery” (1836), in which Cole calls for deeper attention to the aesthetics of scenery amid the Edenic paradise of America.

William Hart, Summer Idyll in the Hudson Valley

To view more exciting paintings and their accompanying prose, you may view Summer Reading in its entirety on the Hawthorne Fine Art website. The catalogue is also available in hard copy and may be requested on our catalogue page.

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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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Pre-Winter Warmth and Brilliance: Walter Launt Palmer’s Views of Venice

As we hunker down for a long, cold winter, I thought it would be comforting to gaze upon the vibrant colors and light of a distant (although not always warmer) location, focusing on views of Venice by Walter Launt Palmer (1854-1932).

After sharing a studio with Frederic E. Church (1826‒1900) in the famous Tenth Street Studio building, Palmer departed for Europe in 1881, intending to paint the many lavish interiors to be found there. He took this opportunity to visit Venice, where he remained for two months, sketching, painting, and photographing views of Piazza San Marco and the Grand Canal, which soon became one of his favorite subjects. It is in his Venice pictures that his artistic experimentation is most evident, with certain works bearing the sleek realism of the academic mode, and others exploiting the more painterly qualities of the Impressionist style.

Palmer, Sailboats, View of Venice, click to enlarge

Hawthorne Fine Art’s most recent acquisition by Palmer is Sailboats, View of Venice, which depicts a distant view of the magnificent Campanile and Basilica of San Marco, most likely seen from the island of Giudecca to the south of Venice. Like many of his Venetian scenes, Palmer includes both the impressive architecture of the Piazza San Marco, the iconic waterways of the city, and the sailboats so common in the Venetian landscape. In this scene, however, Palmer prominently features the brilliant golden-yellow sail and two boats, partially obscuring the view of the Venetian architectural skyline. In addition to focusing on this mode of transportation as the primary subject, Palmer also explores the unusual landscape of Venice, emphasizing the rocky coast through the creation of a prominent foreground that recedes deeply into the picture plane. The viewer’s eye is led to the central subject through a fractured reflection in the foreground, culminating in a splash of intense color in the boat’s sail. The sail, illuminated by golden light from the setting sun streaming from the left/west creates a stunning contrast against the cloudy blue water and the rosy Venetian skyline in the distance, proving Palmer’s ability to represent “the iridescent charm of the Queen of the Adriatic.”[1] While still using the traditional warm underpainting technique common among nineteenth century American landscape painters, Palmer experiments with the effects of light in an Impressionist manner. Palmer exhibits his knowledge of Impressionist theory of shade and shadows though his use of green to depict the shadows of the three boats, and a blue-purple hue to create depth in the rocky foreground.

A second image, Venice Moonlight, focuses on the stunning skyline of the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. This work features technical drafting of the architectural features of the Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore, soft and seamless gradations of color in the twilight sky, and a thick application of pigment to depict the golden moon and its eerie reflection on the water’s surface. Masterfully done, this image glows with its own inner light, capturing the splendor and mystery that must have enchanted both Palmer and his patrons.

Palmer, Venice Moonlight, 1903, click to enlarge

Although Sailboats, View of Venice is undated, Venice Moonlight is dated to 1903, almost twenty years after the artist’s first trip to Venice. Palmer continued to produce his popular Venetian scenes up until his second trip to Venice in 1904. This makes dating any of Palmer’s undated images of Venice very difficult, and it is near impossible to know when Sailboats, View of Venice was completed. Palmer’s devotion to this fascinating and beautiful subject, however, led one critic to remark: “His canals, churches, and boats exhibit a quality of atmosphere, a sensitive blending of that rare tone given by age and decay, with the noon day light or the evening mist. He has not given us the Venice of Turner, nor that of Ziem, and yet it fails not, it is worth living with and dreaming about.”[2]

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[1] “The Society of Landscape Painters,” Brush and Pencil 4, no. 2 (May 1899): 126

[2]. Theodore Purdy, “Walter Palmer’s Landscapes,” Town and Country (September 28, 1901).

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New York Night

At the turn of the 19^th century, night had become no longer fearful, but fascinating. With the invention of the incandescent light bulb in the 1870s, dark streets and homes were suddenly illuminated by the collective humming of modern electricity. What we now take for granted was once an object of awe for an entire generation. This was especially true for artists of all mediums at the end of the 19^th century, who, guided by the then radical example of James McNeill Whistler’s nocturnes, turned to these new dazzling lights for inspiration.

Currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the exhibition Night Vision: Photography after Dark explores the revolutionary effect electric lights had on the earliest photographers of the night. The light bulb and the first technology for photographing in low-light conditions came into the world only a decade apart. While lights first became available in the 70’s, nighttime photography first became possible in the 80’s. One of the earliest practitioners of this new photography was Edward Steichen, whose serene twilight and moonlight photos were greatly influenced by the atmospheric effects found in Whistler’s nocturnes. Like Whistler, Steichen was not capturing an object in his art, but rather a mood. Writing in 1901 of the woods at dusk, Steichen explains, “What beautiful hour of the day is that of the twilight when things disappear and seem to melt into each other, and this great feeling of peace overshadows all.” Steichen’s photograph Woods Twilight, 1899, which is included in the exhibition, perfectly embodies his sentiment in the remarkable way its soft contours blur the boundaries between tree and air, reality and impression.

There was something inherently ethereal about the night and the glowing orbs of the lights that artists were driven to capture. In Moonlight on the Hudson, 1884 (pictured above), Walter Launt Palmer captured that same feeling of evening peace felt by Steichen only 15 years later. Using pastel where Steichen used a camera, Palmer renders the woods draped in night with equal gentleness and serenity.  In his journals from the time, Palmer writes of taking his canoe out on the Hudson River for solitary fishing trips, and this very canoe can be seen floating in the foreground of the piece. The brightness of the moonlight bursts through the clouds and splashes across the water, as if Palmer is capturing a descent from heaven, rather than a simple reflection. In the distance on the far bank play the brightly colored lights of a nearby town. They are welcoming and energetic, offering shelter from the night. All these elements combine to create so much more than an ode to night. It is an ode to the feeling of night, to the way it can wrap us in a lulling cloak.

Both Steichen’s photograph and Palmer’s painting can be viewed only a few blocks from each other at the Metropolitan Museum and Hawthorne Fine Art. We recommend taking a tour of the 19^th century night to find that same “great feeling of peace” described by Steichen and to bask in the beauty of the evening.

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Summer Reading

We are pleased to announce our hot off the press, new gallery catalogue titled Summer Reading: American Paintings & Prose. When creating this publication, we wanted to provide you with a lovely little booklet that can serve as a welcome companion in your summer travels. In Summer Reading, we have paired passages from great works of American literature with a beautiful selection of our current offerings. As gallery owner Jennifer Krieger explains in her introduction, “We wish to create an intimate connection between the artworks and you, one in which you sense their fascinating past and where they can serve as companion in your present.”

James Fenimore Cooper is paired with Alfred Bricher; Soren Emil Carlsen with Herman Melville; Walter Launt Palmer with Henry David Thoreau. It is a feast of text and image that we hope you thoroughly enjoy. If you would like to receive a copy, please email us at info@hawthornefineart.com. We would be happy to send you a complimentary catalogue. To peruse this and other of our publications in PDF format, please visit the CATALOGUES page of our website.

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