Words of Wisdom: Caspar David Friedrich

Caspar David Friedrich
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818)
94.8 X 74.8 cm
Kunsthalle Hamburg

"A painter should paint not only what he sees in front of him, but what he sees within. If he sees nothing within himself, he should desist from painting what he sees in front of him."

What's On View: February 2012

Here are just a few exhibits and shows going on during the month of February. Most are in the mid-Atlantic area, and near to where I live, though several are events further afield which I wish I could attend. I will update the list and re-post it as I become aware of other exhibits of interest. Scroll to bottom for previews of upcoming months.

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Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum (WI):  Dinotopia:
The Fantastical Art of James Gurney
January 28, 2012 - April 8, 2012

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Joshua Liner Gallery (NYC):  Resolve
January 26 - February 25

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National Gallery of Denmark (DK):  Hammershøi and Europe
February 4 - May 20

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Dulwich Picture Gallery (UK):  Van Dyck in Sicily:

Painting and the Plague 1624-25

February 15  -  May 27 

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Everson Museum of Art (NY):  From New York to Corrymore:
Robert Henri and Ireland
February 11 - May 13

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The Frick Art & Historical Center (PA):  Draw Me a Story:
A Century of Children's Book Illustration
February 11 - May 20

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Hirschsprung Collection (DK):  Krøyer - An International Perspective

November 11, 2011 - April 10, 2012

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Tate Britain (UK):  Migrations

January 31 - August 12

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Louvre (FR):  New Frontier:  l'art américain entre au Louvre

January 14, 2012 - April 16, 2012

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Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art (CA):  The Epic and the Exotic:

19th-century Academic Realism from  the Dahesh Museum of Art

January 14 - April 1

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Boca Raton Museum of Art (FL):  American Treasures:

Masterworks from the Butler Institute of American Art

December 13, 2011 - March 18, 2012

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Delaware Art Museum (DE):  Howard Pyle:  American Master Rediscovered
November 12, 2011 - March 4, 2012

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Norman Rockwell Museum (MA):  Norman Rockwell and
the Ghost of Christmas
November 19, 2011 - March 4, 2012

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Cleveland Museum of Art (OH):  Rembrandt in America
February 19 - May 28

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Montclair Art Museum (NJ):  George Inness:  Private Treasures

November 6, 2011 - April 1, 2012

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Delaware Art Museum (DE):  The Storyteller's Art:

Reimagining America Through Illustration

September 7, 2011 - December 2012

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Freer Gallery of Art (D.C.):  The Peacock Room Comes to America
April 9, 2011 - Spring 2013

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Krannert Art Museum (IL):  Jerusalem Saved!  Inness and the Spiritual Landscape
August 26, 2011 - May 13, 2012

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The Clark Institute (MA):  Rembrandt & Degas:  Two Young Artists
November 13, 2011 - February 5, 2012
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC):  Rembrandt & Degas:  Two Young Artists
February 2012 - May 2012

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Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PA):  Henry Osawa Tanner:

Modern Spirit

January 28 - April 15

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UPCOMING

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The Wallace Collection (UK):  The Noble Art of the Sword:
Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe
May 17 - September 16

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The High Museum of Art (GA):  Girl with a Pearl Earring:
Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis
June 22, 2013 - September 29, 2013

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Tate Britain (UK):  Pre-Raphalites:  Victorian Avant-Garde
September 12, 2012 - January 13, 2013

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Auction Preview: Heritage Illustration March 2012

Arthur Saron Sarnoff (1912-2000)
Couple Flirting
26.5 X 22 in.
oil on board

Heritage Auctions has recently added to their website the online catalog for the upcoming Signature Illustration Art Auction #5090.   Though there are still some pieces remaining from the estate of Charles Martignette, the overall selection of works in this auction is not of as a high caliber as their past few sales.  Still, there are some very nice paintings up for auction (many starting at remarkably low bids), and as always, Heritage offers wonderfully large images of all of the lots in the sale.

All works in the sale are available for preview in Beverly Hills on February 28th and 29th from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  The final bidding will take place in two sessions, the first on March 1st at 10:00 AM PT, and the second the following day at 12:00 PM CT.  For more information, visit Heritage's website.

J.C. Leyendecker (1874-1951)
The Arrow Man
30 X 20.5 in.
oil on canvas laid on board

McClelland Barclay (1891-1943)
The Tennis Player
32 X 22 in.
oil on canvas

Gil Elvgren (1914-1980)
An Orchid for Miss Sylvania
30 X 24 in.
oil on canvas

Gil Elvgren (1914-1980)
The Three Dollar Bill
21 X 33 in.
oil on canvas

Harold Anderson (1894-1973)
The Happy Greeting
27 X 50 in.
oil on canvas

Dean Cornwell (1892-1960)
Marcellus and Diana before Caligula
29 X 22 in.
oil on board

Andrew Loomis (1892-1959)
And Forbid Them Not
32 X 28 in.
oil on canvas

Tom Lovell (1909-1997)
Love in the Midst
19.5 X 19.5 in.
oil on board

James Bama (b. 1926)
The Ravishers
27 X 17.5 in.
oil on board

Stanley Borack (b. 1927)
Proposition 31
14 X 12.5 in.
gouache on board

"Proposition 31...  Is it Legalized Adultery or the Preservation of the Family?"
~ from the back book cover

Willy Pogany (1882-1955)
King Arthur
13.5 X 10.5 in.
mixed media on paper

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)
The Roadblock (preliminary drawing)
24 X 19 in.
pencil and charcoal on paper

Frank J. Reilly
Study for Kinsey Whiskey advertisement
10.5 X 13.5 in.
charcoal on paper

Worth Brehm (1883-1928)
Checkers in the Park
12 X 16 in.
oil on panel

Haddon Sundblom (1899-1976)
Coca-Cola advertisement
15 X 14 in.
oil on board

Why I Like Going to Auctions

Edmund Blair-Leighton
Godspeed (1900)
63 X 45³⁄₈ in.
oil on canvas

Godspeed (Lot 187) sold in New York City on April 18, 2007 for $1,048,000 USD

Tonight, I was reminded why I like go to fine-art auction previews when I watched Sotheby's video "The Spectacular 19th Century."  This short film runs under three minutes, but in that time, it showcases an often brilliant collection of artworks which have passed through the auction house's New York City facility during the past five years.  For many of these works, the auction house serves as the only public viewing these pieces are likely to get, so by attending the previews I have been treated to favorite paintings, such as Edmund Blair-Leighton's Godspeed, which I might not have otherwise been able to see in person.

If you cannot make it to the auction previews, there is always the sale catalog, a poor substitute, which, unfortunately, has become a quite pricey alternative in the recent years - there is even a market for used catalogs, when a decade ago, they could be picked up for free after the sale was over.  If you have an iPad, however, Sotheby's has now made their catalogs available for free, easy, interactive viewing.  

The Sotheby's Catalogue App is available for free download from iTunes, with plans for all of this year's catalogs to be available as each sale's lots are finalized.  Once a particular catalog is uploaded through the app, navigation is quick and simple, and best of all, the image of each lot in the catalog can be enlarged and manipulated with just a simple tap on the screen.  The digital versions of the upcoming 19th Century European Art sale, and the Orientalist sale should be included soon, and I look forward to 

adding them to my iPad.

Leighton and the Venetian Method, Part III

Leighton's contemporaries from whom he drew inspiration (clockwise from upper left):
Eugène Delacroix, Ary Scheffer, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Thomas Couture

"From an artistic point of view I am quite glad to leave Rome, which I, for a beginner, regard as the grave of art.  A young man needs before all things the emulation of his contemporaries;  this I lack here in the highest degree."¹⁴    Frederic Leighton, April 15, 1855, in a letter to Edward Steinle  

It was likely at the suggestion of Frenchman William Adolphe Bouguereau, whom Leighton had met in Rome, that the Englishman moved to Paris in September 1855.  Bouguereau, five years Leighton's senior, was already exploring classical themes in his own work, and this may have spurred the young Brit to explore the same subject after his move to France.  In any case, it appears that it was through Bouguereau that Leighton made the acquaintance of certain French critics and writers, including Baudelaire and Gautier,¹⁵ who first fostered the idea of "l'art pour l'art," an appealing idea to the passionate Leighton, who would bring with him back to England that same notion of "art for art's sake" and promote it there.

Frederic Lord Leighton
Pan (1856)
60 X 24½ in.
oil on canvas
private collection on loan to Leighton House

"Among the leading artists in Rome at this time, beside Cornelius,
were two French painters, Bouguereau and Gerome.  To these,
especially Bouguereau, who was a great believer in
'scientific composition,' Leighton was, on his own testimony,
largely indebted for his fine sense of form."¹⁶

In Paris, Leighton naturally gravitated toward the academically trained artists for his first lessons.  He sought out the master of line, Ingres, and went to Ary Scheffer, the master draughtsman.  Whether or not he met the romanticist Delacroix is unknown, but Leighton certainly asked mutual friends for an introduction.  As for Couture, Leighton admired his color and brushwork, and found students of the Frenchman to ask about their master's technique.  But of all the artists in Paris, it was Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, a painter of historical subjects, whom Leighton went to for the most advice - Leighton considered Robert-Fleury the best French colorist, and felt, from him, he learned much on the subject, and about technique in general.¹⁷

Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury
Galileo before the Holy Office