Sunday, June 28, 2009

Camilla Connolly - Australian


Cape York - Wall Drawing and Table, 62 x 102 cm

The warm colours, and combination of interior and landscape, are reminiscent of Bonnard.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Childe Hassam


The Ledges

Image with a sense of unity from a blue-orange contrast throughout, and unified impressionist brushwork. The static square format helps balance the energetic brushwork.

Frederick Childe Hassam (b. October 17, 1859, Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts) was a prominent and prolific American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionism in America.

Hermann Herzog


Western Landscape, 18.25 x 24.75 inches

Bierstadt


The Conflagration

Semi-abstraction influenced by Turner.

Arthur Lemon


The Wooing of Daphnis

The near black tones in the trees brings out the white of the cows in this bucolic scene.

Helen Sheldon Smillie 1854-1926


When the Dew is in the Grass

Ross Dickinson - American


Valley Farms, approx 40 x 50 inches

Friday, June 19, 2009

Gustave Cimiotti - American


Summer Hillside, 1920, 15 x 18 inches

The sky has been pushed up to the top of this composition, making the expanse of hillside more powerful. A much stronger image than if the horizon had been placed according to the rule of thirds. Chosing a squarish format, rather than a rectangular one, gives a feeling of stability and rest, which suits the subject - a hill. But the curving diagonals provide visual energy, and lead the eye from the hilltop to the pond - a small area of blue in the lower right corner to nicely balances the blue sky at the top of the painting.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Dorrit Black - Australian


The Olive Plantation, 1946, 63.5 x 86.5 cm


In the Foothills


Landscape painting of the 30's and 40's was often characterised by robust structure, reflecting the dramatic upheavals of the period. It's worth looking at these works if your landscapes have become too vague. Cezanne was the precursor of this kind of painting. Outlines are strong but also broken. Without this breaking of lines, the image would become captive and lifeless.
See also this work by Ross Dickinson

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Emile Friant


Voyage a l'infini, 150 x 120 cm


Robert Havell


 
Sunlight streaming through glorious clouds produces a mood of the sublime.