Thursday, December 17, 2020 – Which is your favorite image?
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2020
The
238th Edition
From Our Archives
IMAGES OF WINTER FROM THE
ARTIST’S EYE
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN
ART MUSEUM
WINTER SCENES
Nicola Victor Ziroli, Bridges in Winter, 1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.88
Bridges in Winter is an example of the urban scenes that were popular with artists working for New Deal art programs in the 1930s. The snow-covered bridge in the painting is similar to the series of bridges (including the Clark Street Bridge) that span the Chicago River, providing an essential link between the two halves of the city. The bridges can be raised easily to allow river traffic to pass through when needed. Chicago’s bridges may have served as inspiration for the artist, as he spent a great deal of time there. In the foreground a crowd of people gather at one end of the bridge, with more people behind them in the distance. A newspaper boy waves his arm in the air as he hawks his newspapers. The stormy sky could be the customary chill gray of a Chicago winter, or it could allude to the troublesome times Americans faced during the Great Depression.
Birge Harrison, Winter Sunset, ca. 1890, oil on wood mounted on wooden cradle, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1984.23
- In his 1909 book, Landscape Painting, Birge Harrison described color as “dancing” in nature, and he was especially fascinated by the subtle tones in a wintry landscape. In this image, he painted the pinks and purples of a winter sunset reflected and diffused across broken ice. The dark boats trapped by the frozen water and the pale colors evoke an environment that is both harsh and beautiful.
“Color is very closely allied to music. Both are sensuous and [passionate], playing directly upon the emotions …” The artist, in his book Landscape Painting, 1909
- George Catlin, Buffalo Chase in Winter, Indians on Snowshoes, 1832-1833, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.416
- In the summer, plains bison led mounted pursuers on dangerous chases. Winter snows, however, made tracking buffalo safer and easier, slowing the animal’s escape and allowing Indian hunters on snowshoes to move easily over the ground. Catlin traveled in the West in the warmer months and never witnessed such a hunt, but he undoubtedly heard descriptions from both Indians and whites and may have seen the first known representation of it, by the Swiss-Canadian artist Peter Rindisbacher. Catlin painted this work in his studio during the winter of 1832–33.
John Henry Twachtman, End of Winter, after 1889, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of William T. Evans, 1909.7.65
Twachtman drew inspiration from his seventeen acres of land in Greenwich, Connecticut, and his paintings of the property express the emotional and spiritual comfort he found there. This image describes the beginning of the seasonal transition from winter to spring. Twachtman depicted bare trees and an icy, swollen brook, but allowed the brown primed canvas to show through his thinly applied paint so that a feeling of warmth and regeneration could emerge. Twachtman created many images of streams and brooks, and these ceaselessly moving bodies of water might have held a deeper significance for him. By the time Twachtman painted his Connecticut landscapes, American artists and intellectuals had been interested in Buddhism for more than two decades, and the artist himself had studied Zen philosophy and Japanese art. (Pyne, “John Twachtman and the Therapeutic Landscape,” in Chotner et al., John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes, 1989) This may account for the meditative quality of his pictures, the sense of looking not at an actual landscape, but at an inward image of something seen long before.
Saul Kovner, Winter, n.d., lithograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Audrey McMahon, 1968.98.15
Henry Gasser, Winter Parking, ca. 1935-1945, watercolor and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Paul W. Doll Jr., 1979.120.1
Benson B. Moore, Winter on the Anacostia, n.d., softground etching and drypoint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Sade C. Styron, 1970.149
Henry Carter Johnson, Winter Landscape, 1939, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.184
Aldro T. Hibbard, Rockport in Winter, ca. 1940, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of International Business Machines Corporation, 1969.122
Harold Weston, Giant Winter Evening, 1932-1958, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Faith Weston, 1977.124.2
THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
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WEDNESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
FORMER CITICORP BUILDING IN 2005, WHEN THERE
WERE NO OTHER STRUCTURES NEAR THE SITE.
ALEXIS VILLEFANE GOT IT RIGHT
TUESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
New York City Waterfalls is a public art project by artist Olafur Eliasson, in collaboration with the Public Art Fund, consisting of four man-made waterfalls placed around New York City along the East River. The most famous was at the Brooklyn Bridge in lower Manhattan.BILL SCHIMOLER GUESSD IT RIGHT
Text by Judith Berdy
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