Half a dozen lily flowering tulips are depicted in a milk glass vessel known as a “hand vase,” a popular design during the 1870s-80s. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Bowler’s composition is how a soft opalescence is carried across a conch shell, the vase, the flowers, and even the wall behind his still life. Note: for several decades this painting had been mislabeled as Bowler’s Lilies and Shell. About the Artist: Born in Syracuse, NY Bowler attended the Syracuse University College of Fine Arts and there received a postgraduate award for study in Paris. He was best known for painting official portraits of prominent political, military, and theatrical figures such as dancers Ruth St. Denis and Michel Fokine; humorist Will Rogers, actor Vincent Price, and explorer/author Richard Halliburton. Bowler also traveled to Washington, D.C. to paint portraits of Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Vice President John Nance Garner, among others. But Bowler also was passionate about landscapes and still lifes. A 1940 newspaper article implies that his two works at NDG were part of “a series of flower paintings done for all the tuberculosis hospitals in New York” (Allentown, PA Morning Call 31 Mar. 1940: 16). During World War II, Bowler served as Director of Design for a camouflage section of the 909th Air Force Engineers, organizing a 1943 show of their work at Macy’s Department store. It was after a 32-mile training hike that he painted a well-known image entitled “After the Hike”—a picture of his worn pair of army shoes—that was exhibited in the Library of Congress. Bowler also served as director of an arts program for the American Red Cross and as a USO portrait artist during the war (Syracuse Herald-Journal 23 July 1965: 14). After 1945 Bowler continued to live and work in Bucks County, PA. A critic attending the Phillips’ Mill Art Exhibition wrote that he had “all the majesty and power of great people who see great movements and think great things. A realist, his ‘Little Red Barn’ is characterized by a sensitive brush, a direct approach, rich colors and mellow overtones and an uninhibited technique — all contributing to the aching loveliness of this farm scene” (Muhlenberg Weekly 14 Oct. 1948: 2). In addition to producing many paintings, Bowler was an art teacher for much of his professional life. 1 work at Smithsonian American Art Museum. 3 works at Michener Art Museum. 2 more images at FAP.
A portrait of a woman looks off, away from a light source igniting the glaze on the canvas, casting a white glow across the surface: below her sits a still life layout of like-colored objects. In the shadow rests a cut-open orange sitting on the stem of a tulip of a similar hue. Beside it is an off-white bowl, holding unidentifiable fruits. About the Artist: Born in Staatsburg-on-Hudson, NY, Cole was named after two renowned painters of the Hudson River School: Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and John William Casilear (1811-1893). He attended school at the Riverview Military Academy in Poughkeepsie, NY (1900-04) and Harvard University (1905) before turning his attention to painting studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1905-11) and Académie Julian, Paris (1912). In 1909, he published a history in New England Magazine on Old St. Mary’s Church at Newton’s Lower Falls, illustrated by his own paintings. Cole served in the US Navy between 1917 and 1919, and beginning in May 1918 worked under William Andrew Mackay in a special unit for the camouflage of ships and submarines at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. During the final eight months of World War I, more than 1,200 US ships were painted with so-called “disruptive coloration”. After the war, he showed his talents at a Knoedler Gallery exhibition of Allied Commander portraits, Cole’s praised as “having a personality all their own with the dark rich coloring in the figures and the well-modeled faces contrasted against the dark background” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle 19 Oct. 1919: 77). He went on to exhibit his work widely, including the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago. A reviewer of his 1927 exhibition of 33 portraits at Ainslee Gallery wrote: “In all cases the portraits are distinguished by a sincerity and a happy achievement of the most difficult of all painters’ problems, that of satisfying both sitter and himself (Brooklyn Daily Eagle 13 Feb. 1927: 59). Cole became so well-known for his portraits that he was often commissioned to paint public and historical figures like President James K. Polk. 13 more images at FAP. His papers are at the Archives of American Art.
In this still life we see upon a sideboard a pot planted with large lillies, as well as smaller flowers growing around them. There is a book open, which looks to be a highly stylised Bible, propped up in its own rectangular vessel. Given the painting's title which one is the Easter Bouquet--the one including lillies (a traditional symbol of resurrection) or the Bible itself? Both are illuminated against a dark background that seems to encompass more than just shadows. About the Artist: About the Artist: Among the most accomplished and internationally known of the New Deal Gallery artists, Burliuk called himself “The Father of Russian Futurism” with good reason. He was an important figure in early 20th-century avant-garde circles, collaborating or exhibiting alongside painters like Kandinsky, Picasso, and Rousseau; writing poetry with Mayakovski, Yessenin, and Gorky; and counting as friends composers like Rachmaninoff, Scriabine, Gershwin, and Prokofiev. He painted a portrait of groundbreaking filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. The multitalented artist—whose name sometimes is spelled Burlyuk—was born in Kharkov, Russia, attended various art schools in Europe, and became an energetic creator of multimedia happenings that anticipate performance art: drinking tea under a suspended piano; staging an exhibition of paintings in a coal mine. His constantly changing style has been characterized as Fauvist, Cubist, Futurist, Social Realist, and Neo-Primitivist. Burliuk lived through the Russian revolutions before relocating to Japan (1920-22) and then eventually to America (1922), claiming to have crossed into Alaska using as his passport a Vanity Fair article about him. He became a US citizen in 1930 and lived the rest of his life on Long Island. Between 1923-1940 he worked as art editor and proofreader for a communist newspaper published in New York called Russkiĭ golos (Russian Voice). Throughout his life Burliuk was a prolific painter (creating an estimated 18,000 pictures), self-published with his wife Marussia the art magazine Color and Rhyme (1931-1966), and wrote several important manifestoes—including “Slap in the Face of Public Taste” (1912). Of particular interest for his two works at the NDG and others from the 1930s is a 1926 manifesto entitled “Universal Camp of Radio Modernists” and its vision of an animistic force in the world that infuses his paintings regardless of style: “Everything—from the tiny bug to a tea-spoon—has its specific soul. The whiskey bottle that was on the table is there still forever, but abstract. Consciousness is the possession not only of man, the insignificant particle of creation, but of Mother Nature as well.” 6 works at the Whitney Museum of American Art. 18 works at the Museum of Modern Art. 16 works at the Ukranian Museum. 399 works at WikiArt. 1 more image at FAP. His papers are at Syracuse University.
This painting depicts a seascape scene in muted tones, its background a washed-out, cloudy sky with a blurred ship in the distance. The middle ground consists of a pastel-toned rocky bank and sea. In the foreground, four men are docked in a small rowboat: two are wearing red bandanas, two have oars in action, one man is holding a wooden chest. The person that is the closest and the most in focus, presumably their captain, is standing on shore with tools, two guns, and rope at his feet. It would seem that they're preparing to bury treasure for contemporary viewers to find. About the Artist: Born in Naples, Italy, Arcamonte stated his occupation as that of “decorator” when he immigrated to the US in 1906. That trade seems to have persisted alongside his aspirations as a painter, for many years in New York and then after World War II in Miami, FL. In 1937 his paintings were exhibited at the Opportunity Center, a program connecting artists “to the art collector of modern means and undertakes to produce works to fit special requirements” (New York Evening Post 5 June 1937: 7). 1 painting at Godwin-Ternbach Museum. 2 more images at FAP.
On a purely aesthetic level, this portrayal of rural farm life in autumn is quite clearly done in a painterly matter: quick brushstrokes with a specific choice to omit most detail. It can be assumed that the light-handed application of paint was a specific technique chosen to represent the image’s literal depiction of a calm day in autumn. In the context of its allocation to a tuberculosis sanatorium, the oak tree itself can be analyzed as a symbol of strength--a diagnosis of the disease in the 1930’s meant a slow death. About the Artist: Abernathy, Inez. (1873-1956) Born in Summerville, AR, Abernathy studied at the Art Academy in Cincinnati and later in Europe. She supported herself by teaching art and elocution at Belmont College (TN), Stanford Female College (KY), Columbia Female Institute (TN), the University of Arkansas, and the Florida Female College. At this last institution, when a fire broke out Abernathy guided her students to safety rather than saving her own art and equipment; the Florida legislature passed a special bill to help compensate her loss (The Weekly True Democrat 29 Sept 1905: 1). She studied art for a period in Paris, and her painting “Reverie” was shown at the 1902 Salon des artistes français, described by one reporter as “the full-length figure of a girl seated, with a background of dull blues and yellows. A springtime freshness pervades the picture” (San Francisco Chronicle 26 Oct. 1902: 6). Her works were exhibited at the Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, and the National Academy of Design. Two more digital images from FAP. <o:p></o:p>
Against New York's skyline in the background, people relax in boats upon a body of water. The colors are cooler, with lots of dark and bright greens, and also lots of blues. The boaters are painted in warmer colors, along with red, to make them stand out more. Abernathy's brushstrokes are thick and heavy, giving this painting a rough texture. About the Artist: Born in Summerville, AK, Abernathy studied at the Art Academy in Cincinnati and later in Europe. She supported herself by teaching art and elocution at Belmont College (TN), Stanford Female College (KY), Columbia Female Institute (TN), the University of Arkansas, and the Florida Female College. At this last instution, when a fire broke out Abernathy guided her students to safety rather than saving her own art and equipment; the Florida legislature passed a special bill to help compensate her loss (The Weekly True Democrat 29 Sept 1905: 1). She studied art for a period in Paris, and her painting “Reverie” was shown at the 1902 Salon des artistes français, described by one reporter as “the full-length figure of a girl seated, with a background of dull blues and yellows. A springtime freshness pervades the picture” (San Francisco Chronicle 26 Oct. 1902: 6). Her works were exhibited at the Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, and the National Academy of Design. Two more images from FAP.
A hilly landscape sets a picturesque scene of three vibrantly colored roses, placed in an ornate ceramic vase. Seemingly supported by a small black table, the vase and the roses overlook a hilly landscape with green grass and a bright blue lake. The sky behind it is a calming blue grey that contrasts sharply with the dark black table. The crisp edges of the table are also in contrast with the rolling hills, and the curved nature of the roses, including the rounded design of vase and how it is decorated. The combination of a clear sky, and pastel colors of pink, blue, green, and tan have a calming effect on the eye. About the Artist: The son of Irish immigrants, Alger was born in Boston, MA and studied at the Lowell Institute of Design and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Around 1914, he began dividing his time between Massachusetts and showing his work in New York group exhibitions; a 1921 review of the Whitney Studio Club declared that its “chief interest centers about the technical novelty of John Alger. He has painted some sand dunes with a sweeping grace despite the fact that his colors, always modest, are laid down flatly and without accent” (New York Tribune 18 Dec. 1921: 50). Another admiring critic thought Alger had “developed a point of view which represents the utmost in simplification without, however, becoming in any sense of the word an abstractionist” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle 7 Mar. 1926: 66). Alger was a founding member of the Salons of America. In later years, he seems to have taught art lessons in addition to his painting. 5 more images at FAP.
This landscape portrays the rural mountainous region in western Massachusetts known as the Berkshires. Sketched entirely in black and white, the rolling hills and clusters of trees appear almost gloomy. A series of farms, divided by thin wire fences, make up the majority of the middle ground. The top half of the lithograph shows a series of light grey clouds, providing a sense of movement that parallels the tall, wispy grasses in the foreground. About the Artist: Born in the Bronx, New York, Brandfield studied at the National Academy of Design, the Art Student’s League and Cooper Union. According to one profile he was “an accomplished woodblock artist and lithographer active in the graphic arts division of the New York City WPA. He has been exhibited at the Chicago Art Institute, Los Angeles Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art and the New York Public Library” (A-D Magazine 6.5 [June-July 1940]). As of 1932 Brandfield was working at the New York Public Library; in 1939, his lithograph “Circus” was selected for a traveling WPA show that stopped in places like Butte, MT; Casper, WY; and Miami, OK. He moved to California at least by 1960 and lived in Grover Beach beginning in 1977, where he continued to work as a printmaker. 6 works at National Gallery of Art. 3 works at Smithsonian American Art Museum. 17 works at Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2 works at Newark Museum.1 work at Baltimore Museum of Art. 1 work at Detroit Institute of Arts. 3 more images at FAP.
Cole's painting is very still and serene. There is virtually no movement--even the water is calm--and the air appears suffused with a hazy glow. The scene's imbalanced composition leaves a space for an implied sunrise or sunset at right. Cole's simplification into a few chosen objects draws our eyes to the boats in the water, their color contrasting with the surrounding scenery. About the Artist: Born in Staatsburg-on-Hudson, NY, Cole was named after two renowned painters of the Hudson River School: Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and John William Casilear (1811-1893). He attended school at the Riverview Military Academy in Poughkeepsie, NY (1900-04) and Harvard University (1905) before turning his attention to painting studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1905-11) and Académie Julian, Paris (1912). In 1909, he published a history in New England Magazine on Old St. Mary’s Church at Newton’s Lower Falls, illustrated by his own paintings. Cole served in the US Navy between 1917 and 1919, and beginning in May 1918 worked under William Andrew Mackay in a special unit for the camouflage of ships and submarines at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. During the final eight months of World War I, more than 1,200 US ships were painted with so-called “disruptive coloration”. After the war, he showed his talents at a Knoedler Gallery exhibition of Allied Commander portraits, Cole’s praised as “having a personality all their own with the dark rich coloring in the figures and the well-modeled faces contrasted against the dark background” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle 19 Oct. 1919: 77). He went on to exhibit his work widely, including the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago. A reviewer of his 1927 exhibition of 33 portraits at Ainslee Gallery wrote: “In all cases the portraits are distinguished by a sincerity and a happy achievement of the most difficult of all painters’ problems, that of satisfying both sitter and himself (Brooklyn Daily Eagle 13 Feb. 1927: 59). Cole became so well-known for his portraits that he was often commissioned to paint public and historical figures like President James K. Polk. 13 more images at FAP. His papers are at the Archives of American Art.
A cool colored, slightly impressionistic seascape, "Open Sea" displays the tumult and beauty of waves on the ocean juxtaposed with the serenity of passing clouds overhead. The artist uses the natural contrast between the blue and white colors to evoke mixed feelings of relaxation and suspense. About the Artist: Born in Odessa, Russia, Alexandrovich was trained in Belgium and France before immigrating to the US in 1925 (his citizenship sponsor was fellow marine artist Ragnar Olson). At a 1939 show, his art was praised as “bringing to the painting of the sea a sympathetic understanding and a subtlety of expression that set his work apart....Unlike the majority of painters of the sea, he knows the value of mystery and suggestion, and yet with it all contrives to convey a sense of the ocean's resistless weight and might” (New York Sun 29 April 1939: 12). 1 more image at FAP.