Van Gogh Writ Large

Photo from Discovery Place Museum

Vincent van Gogh seems to be everywhere I look these days. Here in my own North Carolina hometown, a local museum called Discovery Place has just opened a show called "Van Gogh Alive". The show comes to us from Moscow, and features larger-than-life projections of Van Gogh's paintings. The exhibit promises

Now and Then

"Peasant Woman at Montemurlo"
Oil on Cardboard, 10 x 5 1/2
Vincenzo Cabianca, 1860-62

In the course of my research for the recent post on the Macchiaioli, I came across some wonderful figurative work by Vincenzo Cabianca (one of the Macchiaioli). These 19th century Italian paintings immediately brought to mind the work of

Édouard Vuillard

"Lilacs"
Oil on cardboard, 14 x 11 1/8
Édouard Vuillard, 1892

Meet one of my favorite artists, Édouard Vuillard. I was first drawn to Vuillard's work because of his evocative paintings of interiors. As I learned more about him, I became fascinated by his early work as part of the "Nabis", a group of avant-garde French painters working in the 1890's. The Nabis rebelled against the old-line, classical academies of art, as well as against the new-fangled Impressionists. The term "Nabis" is from the Hebrew word for prophet. Indeed, these painters are said to have paved the way to what we know today as modern art.

Self Portrait
Eduard Vuillard, 1890

The rallying cry of the Nabis were the words of Maurice Denis. He said that a picture, more than representing a subject, "is essentially a flat surface covered with colors arranged in a certain order." The Nabis used color in purely instinctive ways, and were unconcerned with a literal representation of nature. Their work was abstracted and simplified. They often eliminated details, and flattened the subject matter. "Lilacs", at the top of this post, is a beautiful example of Vuillard's work as one of the Nabis. I also found the above self-portrait by Vuillard, which clearly reflects the Nabis sensibilities.

Self-Portrait
Édouard Vuillard, 1889

If you ever needed proof that an artist's style evolves over time, look no further than a second Vuillard self-portrait, immediately above. I am amazed that the same hand painted both of these pictures!

"Misa and Thadee"
Édouard Vuillard, 1897

Even more amazing is Vuilard's evolution from the Nabis days to his mature works. In fact, Stuart Preston notes that Vuillard never worked in the Nabis manner again, after he discovered his own true style. Preston might say that Vuilllard's own style was that of an "intimist"--a painter who undertook an intense exploration of the households of ordinary people. Preston calls this style a journey into the "mysterious poetic significance of everyday life and inanimate objects."

"Interior: Woman before a Window"
Oil on Panel, 24 3/4 x 22 3/4
Édouard Vuillard, 1900

I find Vuillard's interiors simply magical. His fascination with the decoration of the rooms is such that it often overwhelms or obscures the human figures. The rooms themselves seem to have a life of their own. I could not say it better than Andre Gide did. He said that Vuillard's work is art "speaking in a low tone, suitable for confidences". Intimate, indeed.

The Frame Game

Over the past few years, there seems to have been a shift away from the tried-and-true gold tone frames that held sway for such a long time. Lately I have been using frames

Berries and Brahms

"Best Berries"
6 x 10, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2014

Strawberries were on sale last week, and I could not resist a big carton of them for the studio. I was looking for a still life inspiration that would allow me to play with my reds, and wanted to venture afield from the beautiful radishes I have enjoyed painting over the winter. I set up a couple of different still life compositions with the berries, and turned up

The Macchiaioli

"Profile of Donna"
Silvestro Lega

Several different paths have converged over the past few weeks to bring me to the same destination: the Italian school of painters called "The Macchiaioli".  They painted in Tuscany in the second half of the 19th century. Like the French Impressionists, they broke with tradition

Keep a Bag Packed!

With plein air season and travel season upon us, I am following the advice they give to expectant mothers: Keep a bag packed by the door!

Here's what's in my bag:

Sorolla: Small is Beautiful

"Beach at Valencia"
5.25 x 10.5 inches, oil on wood panel
J. Sorolla, 1898

I have been reading the catalog from the Sorolla exhibit that opened in Dallas a few months ago. I was especially thrilled to find the chapter entitled "Looking Is Painting: Jottings, Splashes, and Color Notes of Joaquin Sorolla", by Maria Lopez Fernandez. I posted earlier about my admiration of Sorolla's small paintings. They are often called "apuntes", meaning "notes" or "jottings" in Spanish. My new reading has given me even more reason to be inspired by these wonderful little paintings. The most compelling concept is that the truthfulness and vigor of these small format paintings often eclipses that of the large format masterworks. In other words, small can be grand!

""The Beach, Valencia (Fisherwives)"
3.5 x 4.75 inches, Oil on cardboard
J. Sorolla, 1908

The apuntes are quite small oil paintings--usually less than 8 x 12 inches. They were typically painted in less than an hour. Since the brief painting session did not allow time for the artist to over-think, or to hesitate, or to re-work, the resulting paintings were said to reflect his true and unedited temperament. Some would even say that they are a glimpse into his soul. These tiny works reveal the "prima idea", or first artistic impulse of the painter.  

"A Sketch (Garden)"
7.125 x 9.5 inches, Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard
J. Sorolla, 1909

Many of Sorolla's apuntes were painted to explore the effect of changing light and color. Often they were done for the pure pleasure of painting. Sorolla never seemed to stop jotting down his color notes. In fact, he was often seen on the beach, working on his portable sketch box, searching and observing "with the eyes of a seafarer or an explorer". He was not happy if he was not painting, and he sometimes painted up to four studies a day. So it's no wonder that he left us almost 2,000 of these apuntes. They show such spontaneity and freshness!

"William E. B. Starkweather Fishing, Javea"
9.5 x 9.5 inches, Oil on composition board
J. Sorolla, 1905

In Sorolla's time, the small sketches of great artists were just starting to be considered works of art, standing on their own. Even though the large scale paintings were the ones that brought in the prestige and the money, Sorolla exhibited his small apuntes in major exhibitions, right alongside his large format canvases. Here's an example from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1911. I love the vertical columns of the small pieces by the doors.

For Sorolla fans, the exhibit "Sorolla and America" opens May 30 at the San Diego Museum of Art. It's not too late to see these works while they are assembled here in the US...

Rain or Shine...

"Trellis on the Bluff"
8 x 6, Oil on Linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2014

I have written earlier about the issues of plein air painting on a cloudy day. Now I turn to something even more frustrating--the PARTLY cloudy day.

Few things are more unsettling for me as a plein air painter than a partly cloudy day. As soon as I get into the zone of seeing my subject with clarity, the light abruptly changes, and everything looks very different.