With apologies to JSSargent
Miss Gen X Watercolour Study 22″ x 30″
Copyright 2009 Jean Burman
Okay apologies also to my American friends for the headline… but it got your attention didn’t it? ~grin~
And not before time either I hear you say! I know I’ve been AWOL but it’s been a hectic and tumultuous month… with many a blank canvas, idle keyboard and empty white screen before me. *Sigh*. But whilst my creative get-up-and-go “got up and went”… I busied myself in the real world checking stuff out.
Confuscius say: Try as you might to get photo straight -
photo taken hastily before security throw you out -
always going to be crooked!
Not the least of my comings and goings over the past month included a much anticipated visit to The Queensland Art Gallery… where some of my favourite artists on the planet had gathered “posthumously” for the American Impressionism & Realism Exhibition – a landmark Exhibition from the Met (you know… THAT Met… The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York).
As an aside… how they let these priceless artworks (by the likes of greats such as John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, James McNeill Whistler and Thomas Eakins) out of their sight… let alone out of the country… and half way across the planet to delight us here… is anyone’s guess. But it apparently had something to do with the recent renovation in the American Wing at that famous institution… and the need to house the works [someplace else] until the repairs were done.
Australia would seem to be an “extreme solution”… but there you have it. And it’s all good news for us besides.
Incidentally… this is the first time these works have travelled away from the Met… and we should be so honoured to have them visit us here in Queensland. Speaks volumes I guess for the clout that the folks at the Queensland Art Gallery have in seeking out and hosting Exhibitions of this callibre. Last year we had The Picasso Collection. Before that… Renoir to Picasso from the Musee de l’Orangerie in Paris. Oh what bliss (grin)
I thought it was kind of weird and eerie though how Michael Jackson appeared in the promo video clip leading up to the event. Why Michael? Why now? How could they have known before it happened? Yes… he is (or was) an American Icon… and I do get the connection. But how strange it all seems now he has gone. Take a look.
American Impressionism & Realism Promo
Okay… where’s Michael? Who moved him? And why? Is he no longer an American Icon? Perhaps this was someone’s misguided idea of showing respect… but I think he should have stayed in the clip. I feel sure he would have liked that. But oh well.. au revoir now to all that. And at least he’s still on the front of the brochure!
Getting on with the show. For me the standout was the JSSargent room. And I wasn’t alone there either. It was a complete joy to see the faces of people as they rounded the corner into the room where these collossal works were hung. Priceless in fact. The faces I mean (as well as the artworks!).
But my very favourite surprise was the Robert Henri which I wasn’t expecting… hadn’t been advertised… and just showed up unannounced around by the Homer. I’ve loved that guy ever since I first picked up a copy of The Art Spirit
A “must read” for all artists who haven’t!
And the Winslow Homer of course… wow so awesome
Another Sargent…
and then there… by the Sargent was Australian artist Hugh Ramsay’s beautiful “The Sisters”. You can see the influence.
Ramsay travelled extensively and was hugely influenced by John Singer Sargent which is clearly evident in the exquisite treatment of the silk in the gowns worn by his sisters in this scene. Ramsay died from tuberculosis two years after completing this work… and his sister Jess who is the subject on the right… died four years after that from the same disease.
Just goes to show that it doesn’t matter how much talent or potential you’ve got… life (and death) go on regardless. Such a loss. Such a senseless loss.
But then isn’t all loss senseless?
All I can say is… if you’re in Queensland… or even if you’re not… get yourself on a plane, into a car, onto a bus or train… to see this Exhibition for yourself.
You won’t regret it.
It’s incredible.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Loved your post, Jean. Wish I were close enough to see this exhibit. It must be fantastic to see in person.
Thanks Vernita
Yes it was. I had thought I may never get to see an original Sargent… but there you have it. All good things come… eventually (grin)
I’d love to have seen some of his watercolours… but under glass I’d imagine them to be too fragile to risk shipping so far away. I especially want to see his watercolours as I love the way he would drag the brush across the rough paper leaving sparkles of light across it’s path. That’s surprisingly hard to do convincingly… but like the master he was… he achieved it effortlessly.
There are still some artists nowadays who use this technique effectively but more and more it seems that watercolour artists are losing the spontaneous whites… shooting for a more orchestrated placement. I know of at least one very successful watercolour artist who wouldn’t be seen dead leaving any white paper showing. Funny isn’t it how attitudes and approaches change… go around… and come around all over again. I guess that’s what you’ve got to call progress? (grin)
I love Sargent especially the watercolors. Down among the trenches a lot of painters leave mhites but their work isn’t in the magazines. Roger
So glad, Jean, that you go to see some of those works spectacular works that we New Yorkers have hogged for too long. I favor the watercolors of both Sargent and Homer, though the oils are wonderful too! I agree about watercolor today. It’s become all about trying to “compete” with oils and acrylics, and in so doing loses freshness. Meanwhile, so many artists have embraced the (to my mind) idiotic notion of “plein air” as a style or school of painting, when all it is, really, is painting on location. All it’s done is produced a lot of really bad pseudo Impressionist oils that might have been better as watercolors.
I love our Miss Gen X, Jean, and I think JSS would have too.
Oops, a couple of typos there…. most egregiously referring to YOUR painting as OUR painting.
A very good impressionist named Tunis Ponsen was born in Holland but came to Chicago as a young man. He went out of fashion after wwII and retired to a Michigan farm. A local gallery acquired his residual paintings about 20 years worth. The watercolors are much better than the oils but sell for a tenth the price.
Thanks Roger and John
Roger… I think you’re right about artists in the trenches. It does make you wonder who’s pulling the strings when it comes to what’s in vogue… what kind of art makes it into the magazines and why. I checked out Tunis Ponsen and can see why you can so relate. I esp love the energy of the lines in Apple Tree In Winter. It’s almost electric!
Watercolour has always commanded a lower price than oils or acrylics and (honestly) I have never been able to see why… when the medium demands so much more of the artist… especially when it’s executed in the spontaneous way it was born to do. There is something really honest about watercolour… there are no secrets there. When the medium comes off the brush everything about the artist is revealed. The way it is laid down… (whether in tentative dabs or laid out in glorious fluid brushstrokes)… the artist personality/spirit is revealed right there on the paper. There is no escaping it! LOL
John… your typo made my day! To think that Miss Gen X could belong to whoever sees her would be a dream come true for me. So thank you! I hope you’re right about JSS… I’d hate to incur the wrath of that great man (((chuckles)))
Yes… I was a little disappointed there were no watercolours in the exhibition… but like I said… it wasn’t unexpected given the nature of the medium and the support… and I guess… sadly… the lesser respect afforded watercolour.
(I’d love to see Homer’s “Palm Tree Nassau” someday for real. The subtle nuances of color and light are palpable even in print… so I can’t begin to imagine how magnificent the original might be)
I think you’re right about watercolour these days chasing the shirttails of oils and acrylics by becoming more like them. What results in some cases is a kind of “paint by numbers” predictability. Technical perhaps and true to the subject… but boring nonetheless.
I’ve never quite got the hang of en plein air… something to do with the climate, the bugs, and the incessant toppling over of my little travel easel. Sheesh… it’s like trying to start a jallope in the rain when you’ve got the Ferrari parked in the garage! LOL
Hi Jean,
What an interesting blog you have presented to the table!
I have tried watercolour and to be honest, felt uncomfortable with it as I felt I was just filling in the holes and could not get a grip on how to do different textures. But I think that is because I like to paint so big. Sometimes I water my paint right down to get a “washed out” effect or to bring some light into a shape. I do admire those who can master the skill of making watercolours work for them..instead of the other way around! I have to agree that art is fashion, as art usually depicts the era of the artist and what they see and how they see it. The styles of each era remain, because people liked them and bought them…so there for are kept and remembered. A style, an idea or a piece of history?
As for plein air.. I would like to try it. But I would have to be camping out under the stars as well, until it was done!
)
Thanks Jools
I think watercolour makes a lot of people uncomfortable. It’s a pretty demanding medium. Especially working big. There’s no time to think… you just have to “do”. Knowing precisely what to do and when to do it (timing is everything) can take years to get the hang of and I think that’s why so many people give up and go on to oils etc.
But eventually a style kind of settles in. I think that’s why it’s so easy to see an artist’s signature style in watercolour. Not to mention their personality! LOL With oils acrylics pastels (and even sculpture) the process is slower and there is more time to bring the thinking mind into the process. More time to collaborate with the medium. Watercolour has a determined will of it’s own and will always respond best to an intuitive approach. Which ain’t easy ~grin~
With watercolour the hard yards have to be done before any paint hits the paper… and then once it’s on there it’s all systems go… watching, waiting, checking on drying rates and moving the board to get the paint where you want it with no run backs.
I used to liken it to fly fishing as opposed to fishing from the beach or a boat…. where you sit patiently pondering the world *sigh* and your place in it until something comes along and takes the hook. Fly fishing is all about the technique… get it wrong and you’ve got the lure hooked in the back of your hair in a tangled mess (you gotta trust me on this! LOL) Same with watercolour.
As for fashion (in art or anything)… it’s fickle… and too easily manipulated in the hands of vested interests.
As for en plein air. Ahhh it’s for the birds! (((chuckles))) But I do like camping out…