Sarah Lamb – Artist Exhibition

October 28, 2011 — Spanierman Gallery, LLC

PRESS RELEASE
Sarah Lamb
November 10 – December 10, 2011
Contact: David Major (davidmajor@spanierman.com)
Gallery Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9:30am-5:30pm

Sarah Lamb - Sunflowers, 2011

Sarah Lamb, "Sunflowers," 2011, oil on linen, 23 x 25-7/8 inches

Spanierman Gallery is pleased to announce the opening on November 10, 2011 of Sarah Lamb, presenting new still lifes in the venerable tradition of the eighteenth-century French painter Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and the seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish painters of the Golden Age.  Depicting humble forms of everyday life bathed in a delicately varied light, Sarah Lamb’s paintings capture the rhythmic cadences of her motifs, revealing their beauty, while reminding us of their worldly transience.

Lamb honed her art by absorbing the lessons of European academic painting.  She began her training in Italy and at L’Ecole Albert Defois in Les Cerqueux sous Passavant, in France’s Loire Valley. Moving to New York in 1996, she trained with Jacob Collins at his Water Street Atelier during its early years. She also attended New York’s Art Students League and received instruction from Sarah Brown in Atlanta.

Sarah Lamb’s still lifes remind us to stay aware and awake to the life around us. As the British-born art critic, John A. Parks, noted recently: “Sarah Lamb brings to her work a robustly sensual grasp of the world. Her keenness of eye and joyful brush make the whole enterprise feel freshly alive as she reminds us what the really wonderful things in life are.”

Lamb was featured in a recent solo exhibition, held at the New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut, from August 13 to October 30, 2011.

View the exhibition online

View the exhibition brochure
PDF download times may vary

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Sarah Lamb at the New Britain Museum of Art

August 12, 2011 — Spanierman Gallery, LLC

New Britain Museum of American Art

Contact: Claudia Thesing
860.229.0257 ext. 213

Press Release

New Britain Museum of American Art to Present: NEW/NOW: Sarah Lamb

 New Britain, Conn.—Cheney Gallery: Sarah Lamb—Still Life Painter and Realist, Aug. 13- Oct. 30 2011.

Sarah Lamb paintings at New Britain Museum of Art

Sarah Lamb paintings on view at the New Britain Museum of American Art

Beginning August 13th the New Britain Museum of American Art’s Cheney Gallery will feature Sarah Lamb, the latest artist in the NEW/NOW series. Intrigued by the art of trompe l’oeil, Sarah Lamb is among a younger generation of American painters who carries on the tradition of representational realism. Eighteen of her recent still-lifes and landscapes will be included in her exhibition. Lamb’s work will be on display through October 30, 2011. An opening reception is planned for Thursday, August 18, 5:30-7 p.m. with remarks by the artist at 6 p.m.

Sarah Lamb provides a convincing reassurance that the academic tradition in painting has a continuing vibrancy and relevance today. Her incredibly beautiful paintings are a fusion of classically realistic style with a bold compositional sense. Still-lifes by Lamb recall the tradition of the art of the 18th century French painter, Jean-Baptiste- Simeon Chardin. Her work reveals the beauty of familiar, everyday objects.

Sarah Lamb - Pomegranates, 2010

Sarah Lamb, "Pomegranates," 2010, oil on canvas, 11 x 18 inches

In a self-description, Lamb says, “Being predominantly a still-life painter and a realist, I’ve always been seduced by the art of trompe l’oeil. The genre seems a natural fit with the subjects I find interesting, the compositions I’m drawn to, and the way I see the world through paint.” These words are an accurate portrayal of the young artist as is evident by the way in which she is drawn to arresting colors and subtle textures while at the same time honing a fascination with the way light absorbs, reflects, and shines through objects.

Lamb was born in Petersburg, VA, studied in Italy and France and is an alumna of the prestigious Water Street Atelier in Manhattan, led by her mentor, Jacob Collins. She boasts an impressive exhibition record in fine galleries coast to coast and a large following of admiring and discerning collectors. She currently resides with her artist husband David Larned in a 300-year old farm outside of Philadelphia near Chadd’s Ford and is represented by the Spanierman Gallery in New York, where she recently had a sell-out solo show.

Related Programming

Opening Reception
Thursday, August 18, 2011: 5:30-7pm
Artist’s Remarks: 6pm

*The NEW/NOW Series is made possible by the generous support of Marzena and Greg Silpe.*

New Britain Museum of American Art
Museum Hours
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: 11am-5pm
Thursday: 11am-8pm
Saturday: 10am-5pm
Sunday: Noon-5pm
Closed on Mondays and national holidays.

Tours
Tours for school and adult groups are available by appointment and should be booked four weeks in advance.

Admission
Adults: $10; Senior Citizens: $9; Students: $8; Children under 12: free. Free admission from 10am-noon on Saturdays.

Café
The Café on the Park serves American fare with regional emphasis.

Museum Shop
The Museum Shop offers unique items related to the Museum’s collection.

Directions:

From Interstate 84:
Take Exit 35 onto Rt. 72. Take Exit 8. Follow signs to Museum.

From Interstate 91:
Take Exit 22N (Rt. 9 North). Take exit 28 onto Rt. 72W to Exit 7. Follow signs to Museum.

56 Lexington Street
New Britain, CT 06052
www.nbmaa.org

Accredited by the American Association of Museums

The New Britain Museum of American Art is a member of the state-wide Connecticut Art Trail, a partnership of fifteen world-class museums and historic sites. Visit www.arttrail.org for information on member museums, lodging packages, Trail Getaway itineraries and the new $25 Art Pass. Make the Connecticut Art Trail the centerpiece of your next travel experience!

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Cultural Fusion: Still Lifes by Yin Yong Chun

April 16, 2011 — Lisa N. Peters
Yin Yong Chun in his studio

Yin Yong Chun in his studio

Lisa N. Peters

One of nine artists in our exhibition, Contemporary Still-Life Paintings, Yin Yong Chun paints in a realist style derived from the great art traditions of Europe, yet his subject matter is drawn from Chinese art forms produced over thousands of years. This convergence came naturally to Chun, who was born in China and moved to the United States when he was in his forties. “I realized,” he says, that “these two cultures together create something special and unique.” Many elements of Chun’s work are symbolic, from his backgrounds, which are all from ancient Chinese paintings; his vases, mostly of porcelain, which include their own miniature landscapes or figural imagery; his flowers, which represent purity and love; his fruits, which are a part of daily life; and his walnuts, which stand for “peace and family unity in Chinese culture.” At the same time, the beauty of these forms goes beyond race or nationality. Chun states: “art is not limited by national border. And this is why beauty is something that can be understood by everyone.” While he considers the meaning of his motifs, he also seeks to express their beauty, such as the flowers he paints in which he “likes to show their blossom effect.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Still Life Lives!: The Art of Lynn Veitzer and Michael Siegel

April 12, 2011 — Lisa N. Peters

Lisa N. Peters

Lynn Veitzer, "Flourite Sanctum," 2010, oil on canvas, 30 1/4 x 31 inches

Lynn Veitzer, "Flourite Sanctum," 2010, oil on canvas, 30 1/4 x 31 inches

Still Life Lives! Spanierman Gallery is showing the work of ten still-life artists working today.  In this age of virtual reality, their paintings take a stand, making us aware of our continued connection to physical objects and their sensuous materiality.

Among them are Lynn Veitzer and Michael Siegel, whose works are featured here.

Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Lynn Veitzer received her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and studied at the New York Academy of Art.  In 1998 she became part of the Water Street Atelier in Brooklyn.  She uses the medium of still life to consider the cyclical nature of the physical world, creating sensuous multi-layered and witty images that reflect the influence of the art of the old masters and of the Surrealists, such as René Magritte and Joseph Cornell. While referring to certain cultural understandings, her images evoke a sense of mystery.  The artist states: Read the rest of this entry »

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James Lechay’s “Abstract Impressionism”

April 5, 2010 — Spanierman Gallery, LLC
James Lechay - Untitled (Still Life)

James Lechay (1907-2001), "Untitled (Still Life)," 1994, oil on canvas, 32 x 28 inches

Carol Lowrey

When I reviewed the gallery’s new acquisitions and saw James Lechay’s Untitled (Still Life), I thought to myself: “what a bold statement!”  It’s a fair-sized painting—32 by 28 inches—and consists of a limited number of shapes grouped together in such a way as to suggest a bouquet of flowers in a vase (the artist injecting a whimsical note into the composition by eliminating the stems of the blossoms).  Painted in a rich gold, edged by areas of raw canvas and set against a brown background, this is not just a semi-abstract still life; to me, it also represents a dynamic interplay of negative and positive space that invites further contemplation on the part of the viewer—as I stood back from the piece, the configuration of shapes took on other thematic possibilities, including that of an animal’s paw print; I just couldn’t stop looking.  Read the rest of this post on the Spanierman Modern blog.

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Luigi Lucioni: “Realism and Something More”

February 3, 2010 — Spanierman Gallery, LLC
Luigi Lucioni - Nostalgic Echoes

Luigi Lucioni (1900-1988), "Nostalgic Echoes," 1954, oil on canvas, 34 1/2 x 28 inches

Carol Lowrey

In February of 1932, the New York Times reported that William Sloan Coffin, the president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, had recently admitted that the museum had been paying scant attention to the work of contemporary American artists.  The writer for the Times went on, noting that the Met’s attempt to rectify the situation was now underway with the purchase of Dahlias and Apples, a still life by Luigi Lucioni, who was already represented in several public collections in the United States (“Metropolitan Buys Paintings by Lucioni,” New York Times, 24 February 1932).  That the venerable Metropolitan Museum decided to add a Lucioni to their holdings is not surprising, for this young artist––he was thirty-one years old––was the talk of the art world.  In fact, the Met’s picture was purchased from Lucioni’s sixth one-man show at the Ferargil Galleries––an exhibition (according to a notice in Art Digest, 1 March 1932) that broke all sales records for solo exhibitions held that season in New York.  But there’s more to this story: when the Metropolitan’s curator, Bryson Burroughs, saw Lucioni’s Pears with Pewter (1930), he decided that he liked it even better than Dahlias and Apples and an exchange was duly arranged (see Stuart P. Embury, The Etchings of Luigi Lucioni: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1984, 10).  I’m sure Lucioni didn’t care; his star was on the rise and he was now represented in the country’s leading art museum, a career marker that must surely have been thrilling for this up-and-coming American artist. Read the rest of this entry »

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After the Holidays: Still Lifes by Thomas Hope

January 5, 2010 — Lisa N. Peters
Thomas Hope, "Barrel of Cheer," ca. 1888, oil on canvas, 24-1/2 x 20-1/4 inches

Thomas H. Hope, "Barrel of Cheer," ca. 1888

Lisa N. Peters

Our still-life exhibition, opening January 19, includes two paintings by Thomas Henry Hope (1832-1926), an artist whose biographical details are still emerging. He is known to have come from England to America in 1864 whereupon he seems to have immediately begun service as a musician in the Civil War; he played the cornet and was a bandleader. He subsequently studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadephia, where his fellow students were William Harnett and John F. Peto, painters of trompe l’oeil still lifes, in which he also became a specialist. (He graduated from the academy in 1883.)

It is now thought that Hope was probably Peto’s cousin (Peto’s father was named Thomas Hope Peto), and he shared with Peto not only the playing of cornet, but also an ironic and wry attitude in his art. This is seen in Hope’s Barrel of Cheer (ca. 1888), an appropriate painting for the end of the holiday season in which we so often look with a melancholy eye at the cast-away empty bottles that have so recently been the source of our buoyant spirits. Their presence tells us that it is time to return to ordinary life, summarily casting aside the cheer we have just enjoyed. Hiding such reminders could have been the case for this barrel, no longer of cheer. It may have been stuck in a dark cellar, as the limited light in the work seems to have come in from a small window above, casting highlights on the askew bottles and their shiny labels, which remind us of the vanitas theme that life and its pleasures are transient. A hemp rope hanging over the barrel’s edge draws us into the convincing illusion of scene to which we can all relate.   Read the rest of this entry »

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