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Tales from the Easel: American Narrative
Paintings from Southeastern Museums, circa 1800-1950
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Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer, Thomas Hart Benton, Childe Hassam
and Reginald Marsh are among the many artists represented in this
fascinating exhibition.
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Title: Happy Days, ca. 1910-1920
Artist: Edward Potthast (American 1857-1927)
Medium: Oil on Panel
Dimensions: 12 1/2 x 16 inches
Collection: Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, Virginia,
Acquired: With funds provided by the Horace G. Fralin Charitable Trust
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
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Title: Winter 1946, 1946
Artist: Andrew Wyeth (American b. 1917)
Medium: Tempera on Composition board
Dimensions: 31 3/8 x 48 inches
Purchased: with funds from the State of North Carolina
Reproduced: by special permission from Andrew and Betsy Wyeth, 2003
and the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
Famous for his depictions of Brandywine
Valley in his native Pennsylvania Andrew Wyeth is a focal point of the
enchanting Tales from the Easel which looks at American artists who capture
images of a then relatively new country and it's celebrations, successes,
daily life and heartaches.
Title: Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1856-71
Artist: George Caleb Bingham (American 1811-1879)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 29 x 36 inches
Collection: Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk VA,
Gift: Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. in Honor of Walter P. Chrysler Sr. 83.589.
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879) captured a defining moment in American
History, with his interpretation of the historic moment when General George Washington
crossed the
Delaware.
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Title: Engineer's Dream, 1931
Artist: Thomas Hart Benton (American 1889-1975)
Medium: Oil on Panel
Dimensions: 29 7/3 x 41 3/4 inches
Collection: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN
Gift: Eugene Buxton Whitnel Funds 75.1.
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
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Originally a proponent of modernism it
wasn't until his 1920 era change into regionalism that Thomas Hart
Benton found his greatest success as an artist.
He had a profound influence on his student Jackson Pollock when
teaching at the Art Student's League of New York in 1930.
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Monet had a great impact on Winslow
Homer (1836-1910) the noted landscape and marine painter. |
Title: Rab and the Girls, 1871
Artist: Winslow Homer (American 1836-1910)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 29 x 36 inches
Collection: The James M. Cowan Collection of American Art,
The Parthenon, Nashville, TN
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum.
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After Whistler and Eakins, Homer is regarded as the
greatest painter of his era. Homer appreciated the different use of light
and color favored by the impressionists.
Childe Hassam was one of a group of ten American painters including
Rothko and Gottlieb who exhibited together from 1898 to 1919 in both New
York City and Boston. The Ten had banded together after resigning from, in
their opinion, the too conservative and unwieldy Society of American
Artists.
Title: Avenue of the Allies, 1917
Artist: Childe Hassan (American 1859-1935)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 18 x 15 inches
Collection: Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah Georgia
Bequest: Elizabeth Millar Bullard, 1942.
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
Reginald March (1898-1954) usually opted to depict the seamier
side of New York life including Coney Island as among his favorite subjects.
He liked to reflect then contemporary subjects using the manners of the Old
Masters.
Title: Subway-14th Street, 1930
Artist: Reginald Marsh (American 1898-1954)
Medium: Egg Tempura on Canvas
Dimensions: 36 x 48 inches
Collection: Hunter Museum of American Art,
©2003 Estate of Reginald Marsh/Art Students League, New York/Artist
Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
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Columbus Museum Director Tom Butler describes the exhibition,
"The defining theme of this exhibit is the love of narrative. The South
is a great literary center with a history of recording, both orally and in
writing, our collection history." He adds, "The penchant for
collecting narrative art in the South is no accident. Just like the history
of the South, these images are a mix of the difficult and the optimistic.
What this collection indicates is a rich narrative tradition in a country
with a short history. Much of the subject matter illustrated in these works
is about events that occurred within our recent collective memory, so they
take on added value." |
Title: Café Fortune Teller, 1933
Artist: Mary Hoover Aiken (American 1907-1992)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 33 5/8 x 28 7/8 inches
Collection: Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah Georgia
Gift: Friends of Mary Hoover Aiken, 1975
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
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Title: The Shoppers, 1908
Artist: William Glackens (American 1970-1938)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 60 x 60 inches
Collection: Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk VA,
Gift: Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
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Robert Henri influenced William Glackens and convinced the reluctant artist
he should paint. Glackens exhibited as one of "The Eight". |
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It is not unusual for artists to use their talents to illustrate their
social commentary such as Thomas Waterman Wood who depicted important events
and changes such as His First Vote.
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Title: His First Vote, 1868
Artist: Thomas Waterman Wood (American 1823-1903)
Medium: Oil on Board
Dimensions: 20 x 12 1/2 inches
Collection: Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
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Title: Three for Five, 1890
Artist: John George Brown (American
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 60 x 35 1/2 inches
Collection: Birmingham
Museum of Art
Gift: Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Ireland through the Art Fund Inc.
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
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Themes include Scripture and Literature, Personal Visions, American
History, War and Peace, Art and Politics, Country Life, Community Life,
Family and Domestic Life, First Acts: An American Childhood, and Final Acts.
Tales from the Easel features seventy masterpieces. The
exhibition is organized by the Columbus Museum and The Speed Art
Museum of Louisville, Kentucky.
The exhibition curator is Dr. Charles Eldredge, Director Emeritus
of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
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Title: The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, 1917
Artist: Bryson Burroughs (American 1869-1934)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 18 x 36 inches
Collection: Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
The Columbus Museum
Title: The Columbus Museum, exterior
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
The Columbus Museum is the second-largest art museum in
Georgia and is one of the largest in the Southeastern United States.
Naturally the Columbus Museum concentrates on American Art and has an
excellent collection of materials that illustrate the history of the
Southeast and the Chattahoochee River Valley. The Museum celebrates it's
50th anniversary in 2003.
The popular attraction recently added a second location
known as the Columbus Museum Uptown which focuses primarily on contemporary
art.
Title: The Columbus Museum, interior
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
Exhibition Schedule:
Columbus Museum:
February 8 through April 11, 2004 Tampa Art
Museum: April 25 through July
11, 2004
The Speed Art Museum: September 24 - December 12, 2004
El Paso Art Museum: January 16, 2005 through April 10, 2005
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Title: Memory (Girl with Poppies), 1877
Artist: Elihu Vedder (American 1836-1923)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 28 3/4 x 15 x 15/16 inches
Collection: High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Gift: Julie and Arthur Montgomery
Image Courtesy of The Columbus Museum
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