Little Gems by Howard Russell Butler and Alson Skinner Clark

December 14, 2009 — Spanierman Gallery, LLC

Howard Russell Butler - Swimming at Bald Head Cliffs, ca. 1915-21

Howard Russell Butler (1856–1934), "Swimming at Bald Head Cliffs," ca. 1915-21, oil on canvasboard, 8 x 10 inches

Alice Hammond

What I like most about small paintings is their sense of character, and the way they often exude personality and charisma through modest proportions.   Whereas the size of a large, monumental work conveys its significance—and demands our attention—smaller works must have something else, a special quality to draw us in and compel us to look at them.   It’s as though small paintings have to work harder—or at least differently—to get noticed.

Howard Russell Butler’s flourishing strokes depict a bather enjoying swirling, jewel-toned water in Swimming at Bald Head Cliffs, Maine, ca.1915-21.  It’s a very loosely painted work, and Butler experimented with a broad palette, throwing dabs of dark green, bright purple, dark blue, orange, gold and deep red across the canvas.  He created the swimmer with just a few, quick little strokes—dotting his head with a bright red bathing cap as the finishing touch.   Read the rest of this entry »

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Peter Poskas

November 2, 2009 — Spanierman Gallery, LLC
Lisa N. Peters
A second exhibition at Spanierman Gallery of the work of Peter Poskas will be opening November 5. The thirty paintings on view—images of the rural farms of Connecticut and the sun-washed coasts of Maine–are quiet worlds that we feel we can enter, due to perspectives that involve us and a subtle, measured, and carefully observed sense of light that expresses the specific moment. Poskas preserves on canvas places that are threatened by development. At the same time, he conveys optimism about the perpetuation of the past by depicting places where structures from a past era have been lovingly maintained—old parts have been repaired rather than ripped out and new ones have been integrated seamlessly with old ones.
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Betty Parsons in Maine

October 29, 2009 — Spanierman Gallery, LLC

Katherine Bogden

Betty Parsons-Moonlight, Maine

I cannot remember a time in my life when I wasn’t deeply in love with the state of Maine. There is something in the wild, coastal waters and thick, old-growth woods that instantly casts away the urbanite in me and calls forth my rural roots. For someone working in the field of 19th and 20th century arts, this is probably a good thing, for countless painters have traveled to our easternmost state to paint and take in the area’s plethora of natural beauty.

These works are, for the most part, easy to recognize—sometimes almost down to the exact location. There are others, however, that represent the state in a less literal manner. One such painting is Moonlight—Maine by Betty Parsons. Intrigued by this dramatic painting, we recently decided to see what more there was to know about Betty Parsons and my favorite state.

Although it is well-known Parsons traveled widely, we didn’t know if she had spent extensive time in Maine or merely passed through. What first clued us in that she might have spent extensive time there was a very brief quote from a 1975 New Yorker profile written by Calvin Tompkins in which Parsons states:
After Europe, I went out to Wyoming for three weeks and stayed with my friend Hope Williams, who has a ranch near Cody. I did a lot of painting there. And then I was at my cottage in Maine for two weeks. Read the rest of this entry »
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A Gallagher Moment

October 12, 2009 — Spanierman Gallery, LLC
By Lisa N. Peters

In the middle of our last 8 am (groan) staff meeting, Ira Spanierman, who was conducting the meeting, rose from his chair mid-sentence. Looking toward the wall of the gallery to his left, he seemed elsewhere for a moment, and then said: “THAT is a really beautiful watercolor!” Even though Sears Gallagher’sPine Trees and Coastline, Monhegan, Maine has been in our inventory for a while, and even though hundreds of watercolors have passed through the gallery over the years, this one struck a nerve for Ira. It was as if he was seeing it for the first time and in doing so momentarily left the work day behind to imagine being in this peaceful natural place. Those of us who could crane our necks to see this image felt similarly.

What I think Gallagher caught in this watercolor, and in others, is a sense of places and times when being in nature is comfortable, calming, and pleasurable. Here we can imagine coming out of a thick woods to an open sunlit ledge, with grooves perfect for sitting and relaxing. There is just the right level of warmth: the temperature is not too hot, the sunlight not too bright. Pine trees rising in front of us provide shelter and imply safety from the steep drop to the water’s edge, but instead of blocking our view, their forms are spare and leafy enough that we can see through and around them to the sea. The composition probably prompted Ira’s comment also. The vertical arrangement is a golden section, with the trees measuring approximately double the height of the rocky ridge. The scene’s feeling of harmony evokes the truth of Pythagoras’s “music of the spheres.”
Gallagher’s handling is varied, moving between broad translucent washes and tighter, Impressionist dabs. The seeming effortlessness of his method matches the expression of satisfaction in the outdoor life that I believe was what he was after in his art. (There must have been a reason, after all, that he spent “50 summers” on Monhegan Island.)
It would be interesting to compare one of Gallagher’s Monhegan watercolors with one of Edward Hopper’s, created at the same time, to consider how the artists’ visions of life translated into the way they saw and depicted the world around them. Whereas Hopper’s images so often have a subtle uneasiness, Sears Gallagher’s so often have a subtle sense of ease.
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