Displaying items by tag: nature

Van Gogh’s sweeping depictions of nature, like a detailed study of a moth or a flower, the rain-soaked French countryside or sun-scorched wheat fields, preoccupied his work and his thinking throughout his career.

“I’ve been a van Gogh nut ever since I was a teenager,” said Richard Kendall, a curator at large at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., who organized “Van Gogh’s Van Goghs: Masterpieces From the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam” at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1998.

Leonardo da Vinci always impressed on his students the importance of depicting nature accurately. He wrote: “Painter, you should know that you cannot be good if you are not a master universal enough to imitate with your art every kind of natural form.” Indeed, his own paintings and drawings of the natural world are as scientifically accurate as they are beautiful.

Five centuries on, scientists and art historians are trying to work out to what extent Leonardo had a hand in both versions of "Virgin of the Rocks" – the one in the Louvre, in Paris, and the replica in the National Gallery in London.

The New York Botanical Garden announces its major 2015 exhibition, "FRIDA KAHLO: Art, Garden, Life," focusing on the iconic artist's engagement with nature in her native country of Mexico. Opening on May 16, 2015, and remaining on view through November 1, 2015, the exhibition will be the first solo presentation of Kahlo's work in New York City in more than 25 years, and the first exhibition to focus exclusively on her intense interest in the botanical world.

Visitors to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory will walk through a stunning flowershow re-imagining Kahlo's studio and garden at Casa Azul ("Blue House") in Coyoacán, Mexico City.

The Fenimore Museum of Art in Cooperstown, NY is currently hosting the exhibition Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision. The show presents a number of important works by key figures in the movement including Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), Thomas Cole (1801-1848), Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), Jasper F. Cropsey (1823-1900) and Asher Durand (1796-1886). Nature and the American Vision was organized by the New-York Historical Society and made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts.

The exhibition aims to communicate the Hudson River School artists’ fascination with the American landscape. The mid-19^th century movement was influenced by romanticism and is defined by its paintings that celebrate nature’s sublimity and exude an almost ethereal quality. Many Hudson River School painters regarded nature as an indefinable manifestation of God, which strongly influenced the movement’s aesthetic qualities.

Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision will be on view at the Fenimore Museum of Art through September 29, 2013. The Fenimore, which is operated by the New York State Historical Association, specializes in American Folk Art, Indian art and artifacts, 19^th century genre painting and American photography.

The Sterling and Francine Clark Institute in Williamstown, MA recently received its most considerable gift of American paintings since its founding in 1955 and is holding an exhibition to celebrate the major acquisition. George Inness: Gifts from Frank and Katherine Martucci presents eight landscapes by the influential American painter George Inness (1825-1894) dating from 1880 to 1894. The works will appear alongside two Inness paintings collected by the Clarks themselves. The show will highlight Inness’ later work when he moved away from his signature plein-air style towards a more conceptual aesthetic that relied on the use of light and shadow.

The Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg significantly influenced Inness and inspired the artist to look at nature through a more spiritual lens. Inness moved away from straightforward depictions of the natural world towards a style that blended realism with a sense of otherworldliness. Inness achieved this through color, composition and painterly techniques that involved the gentle blurring of natural forms.

Highlights from the exhibition include Sunrise in the Woods, The Road to the Village, and Green Landscape. George Inness: Gifts from Frank and Katherine Martucci will be on view through September 8, 2013.

The Panoramic View: The Hudson and the Thames, which is currently on view at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, NY, focuses on the panoramic vista, a form that became popular among artists in the late 18^th century. The term panorama was originally coined by the Irish painter Robert Barker (1739-1806) to describe his wide-angle paintings of Edinburgh and London. The form was ideal for members of the Hudson River School and other artists entranced by the natural world as it allowed them to capture the sweeping grandeur of the landscapes that inspired them.

The Panoramic View includes works by Robert Havell, Jr. (1793-1878), an English artist who emigrated from London to New York and painted both the Hudson and the Thames; founder of the Hudson River School, Thomas Cole (1801-1848); and Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900), a first-generation member of the Hudson River School. The exhibition features loans from galleries, private collections, and museums including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The New-York Historical Society.

A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies The Panoramic River, which is on view through May 19, 2013.

Best known for his dynamic and powerful seascapes, painter Winslow Homer (1836–1910) spent the last twenty-seven years of his life working diligently in a studio in Prout’s Neck, Maine. It was here, isolated on the craggy coast, that Winslow’s work matured and he created some of his most admired paintings. While in Maine, Homer became fascinated with the untold power of the natural world and often explored the theme in scenes of man versus nature, particularly the ocean.

Beginning September 25^th, after a multi-year, $2.8 million restoration by the Portland Museum of Art, Homer’s studio will be open for public tours. After Homer’s death, the studio was passed down from family member to family member and ultimately landed in the hands of his great-grandnephew, Charles “Chip” Homer Willauer. Willauer, now 74, spent many summers living in his great-granduncle’s studio and began to worry about the future of the building. Hoping to preserve the significant piece of American art history, Willauer sold the studio to the Portland Museum of Art in 2006 for $1.8 million.

The Museum took the undertaking very seriously and went to work on renovations. The foundation was stabilized, the balcony and windows were replaced, the chimney was restored, and the exterior returned to its original green hue with brown trim. The museum ultimately raised $10.6 million to pay for the purchase and renovation of Homer’s studio as well as an endowment and educational programs and exhibitions.

To celebrate the renovation and opening, the museum will present the exhibition “Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine,” featuring 38 oil paintings, watercolors and etchings that Homer created in his secluded studio. “Weatherbeaten” will run through December 30^th.