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Small Town, NY
Although a train platform in the foreground bears the name “Small Town,” the frame of Yaghjian’s painting had referenced Beacon, NY before getting crossed out in favor of this more universal theme. We are invited to ascend a wooden stairway into a…
The Checkerboard Cloth
Not rendered with perfectly accurate optics, Archer’s still life nevertheless is a creative study in perspective and visual planes. Upon a table covered by the eponymous checkboard-patterned cloth, a crystal decanter and copper teapot sit…
Vase of Tulips
A photograph doesn’t do justice to Sarkadi’s deft use of color and texture upon his paper medium. Were the painting’s few splashes of white removed, we would see three stems of tulip, along with a bit of greenery, in a glass jar set inside of a bowl.…
Edge of the Garden
At least two questions are implied by this painting’s title: which edge of the garden, and what is a garden? Due to a flattened plane and Sarkadi’s composition we see a row of hollyhocks and other tall flowers at the bottom of the canvas, with no…
Open Road
This painting uses a curious system of perspective. Objects in the distance—like mountains, birds, a tall tree, or the sky above—appear more figurative and natural than those nearby. Closer by, where we might expect to see detail, are abstract…
The Spring Tree
Vivid colors are accentuated via the time of day at which this painting is set—either at sunrise or sunset—and by comparison to a pale blue sky. The titular “spring tree” probably is a cherry in bloom, but a taller one also seems to display blossoms.…
September
Golden light from low in the sky, at right, evokes a moment of gratitude for a year’s harvest—seemingly of corn shocks drying in the field. A person carrying a stick pause in front of one. Lush fields, green trees, and a gorgeous sky are shown to…
Playtime
In subject matter if not in style, there are resemblances between this painting and Georges Seurat’s famous A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884, but even more so William Blake’s “The Echoing Green.” Here the spirit seems exuberant as the painting's…
September Bouquet
The vividness of this still life is the result of its muted brown background, combined with Rollo’s free use of white paint to highlight the tips of flowers in a vase. Shadows from light at the left side of his painting are minimized, creating an…
The Constitution and the Guerrere
This painting depicts a naval battle of consequence, during the War of 1812, between the USS Constitution and HMS Guerriere some 400 miles southeast of Nova Scotia. The latter ship was only part of a Royal Navy with large numerical advantage,…