Friday, January 22, 2021 – IT ALWAYS LOOKS SO EASY, UNTIL THE FIRST FLOP ON THE ICE

By admin

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2021

The

268th  Edition

From Our Archives

Let’s Take a Spin on the Ice

Atlas Obscura

Agnes Tait, Skating in Central Park, 1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.15

Agnes Tait had long wanted to make a large, festive painting of winter revelers in Central Park, but without a patron she could not take on this project. When the Public Works of Art Project gave her support in the winter of 1933–1934, the artist had her opportunity. As skaters and sledders flocked to the frozen lake and snowy slopes of Central Park, Tait joined them to sketch the winter fun. Then she retreated to her studio to make her painting.

Tait showed the park in late afternoon as the Manhattan sky began to blush and the street lamps to glow, but skating and sledding were still in full swing. Once she had the landscape painted, Tait added figures in groups to create a colorful pattern against the snow and ice. The dark branches of the bare trees make a more subtle design against the white snow and mist and the golden sky. Around the ends of tree branches and in patches along the snowbanks, Tait painted areas of gray into which she drew snow-covered twigs and grasses by scraping away the gray paint with the end of her paintbrush.

Frank McClure, Skating on the Potomac, ink, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Frank McClure, 1979.98.318

Winslow Homer, Skating on the Ladies’ Skating Pond–Central Park, from Harper’s Weekly, January 28, 1860, 1860, wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, Gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian, 1996.63.108

Winslow Homer, Skating at Boston, from Harper’s Weekly, March 13, 1859, 1859, wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian, 1996.63.31

Avery F. Johnson, Skating on Bonaparte’s Pond (mural study, Bordentown, New Jersey Post Office), ca. 1940, oil on canvas mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.6

Palais de Glace Ice Skating Rink Paris – Vintage Advertising Poster by Jules

Chéret 1896 

Currier and Ives 

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EDITORIAL

What a relief, a joyous transition from daily trepidation to a new day of enlightenment and truthfulness.

Judith Berdy

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c)

Sources

Wikipedia

Smithsonian American Art Museum
Google Images

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