The American Scene
Just saw a wonderful exhibit
of painting by
Gerrit V. Sinclair (1890-1955)
at Richard Norton Gallery
here in Chicago
leading me to ponder the disappearance
of this genre of painting.
Has the American scene itself vanished ?
Or have painters just stopped painting it ?
I suspect it's just that the contemporary artworlds
tend to ignore it.
The highbrow is ashamed of America,
and the middle brow
mostly wants to look at cowboys and Indians.
************
Don't you love the above scene ?
It's as tight as a Giotto fresco,
but instead of saints on the way to Jerusalem,
it's kids on the way to church, school, or somewhere.
How charming!
I really like this guy,
depicting himself here
in his Paris studio
(he only lived there a year)
He was proud to be painter,
.... and also a father.
This was his view of the Louvre
... as kind of a scary place
where the Addams family might live.
And of course it's scary.
Everything about European history is scary
to a middle class person
from the Midwest
Here he is back at home,
looking at "th Beer Line"
pulling into Milwaukee
What a fine way to pass the day.
and who would know more about a painting class
than the person who spend his entire career
teaching them
(35 years at the Layton School of Art)
Yes -- it's sweet and charming.
But it's not just a corny illustration.
It's energies are resolved.
So it is also a painting.
Here we have Midwesterners at the beach.
A sturdy lot -- not especially sensual
in their near-nudity.
And I'm doubting whether Sinclair ever painted the nude
except here....
where he imagines a policeman looking over his shoulder,
nightstick ready for action
(and the artist is not even looking at the girl,
whose knees are held tightly together)
Another scene
of a nice, clean upper Midwestern city
that might feel just a little oppressive
to it's stalwart citizens
Whatever happened to American Scene painting ?
Whatever happened to museums conceiving themselves
as centers for regional art?
The two questions are the same.
of painting by
Gerrit V. Sinclair (1890-1955)
at Richard Norton Gallery
here in Chicago
leading me to ponder the disappearance
of this genre of painting.
Has the American scene itself vanished ?
Or have painters just stopped painting it ?
I suspect it's just that the contemporary artworlds
tend to ignore it.
The highbrow is ashamed of America,
and the middle brow
mostly wants to look at cowboys and Indians.
************
Don't you love the above scene ?
It's as tight as a Giotto fresco,
but instead of saints on the way to Jerusalem,
it's kids on the way to church, school, or somewhere.
How charming!
I really like this guy,
depicting himself here
in his Paris studio
(he only lived there a year)
He was proud to be painter,
.... and also a father.
This was his view of the Louvre
... as kind of a scary place
where the Addams family might live.
And of course it's scary.
Everything about European history is scary
to a middle class person
from the Midwest
Here he is back at home,
looking at "th Beer Line"
pulling into Milwaukee
What a fine way to pass the day.
and who would know more about a painting class
than the person who spend his entire career
teaching them
(35 years at the Layton School of Art)
Yes -- it's sweet and charming.
But it's not just a corny illustration.
It's energies are resolved.
So it is also a painting.
Here we have Midwesterners at the beach.
A sturdy lot -- not especially sensual
in their near-nudity.
And I'm doubting whether Sinclair ever painted the nude
except here....
where he imagines a policeman looking over his shoulder,
nightstick ready for action
(and the artist is not even looking at the girl,
whose knees are held tightly together)
Another scene
of a nice, clean upper Midwestern city
that might feel just a little oppressive
to it's stalwart citizens
Whatever happened to American Scene painting ?
Whatever happened to museums conceiving themselves
as centers for regional art?
The two questions are the same.
1 Comments:
Interesting, Chris... A little biography of a particular sort of painter and way of life, defended against the outer world.
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