In Their Backyards: American Landscape Painters
The Hudson Valley has provided bucolic subject matter to generations of American painters including, most famously, the Hudson River School artists, but also many painters who followed them in their pursuit of capturing the visual magic of this special landscape. One such artist was the Iowa-born Walter C. Hartson (1866-1946) who settled in Wassaic, NY in 1917 and painted the landscape of the Hudson Valley and the Litchfield Hills for most of his career. Two paintings in our January 27th European and American Fine Art sale are fine examples of Hartson’s landscape painting in the Hudson Valley. Both works depict the rolling hills and expansive views that define the farmland of Dutchess County, with views of the mountains in the distance. In the 1930s, Hartson was asked to participate in the New York State WPA Project. His works for the Project involved painting historical buildings along the Hudson River and in Columbia and Dutchess Counties.
Another lesser-known American painter whose subject was the landscape of his environs was Hezekiah Anthony Dyer (1872-1943). Dyer was born into a prominent Rhode Island family and spent most of his career working in and around Providence. Known for his watercolors, Windswept Landscape in our upcoming sale is a lovely example of his talent in the medium and captures the shoreline of his home state in Dyer’s typical style. Rejecting the influence of the new Modern art movements in the 20s and 30s, Dyer remained steadfast to representational landscapes that depict the subject matter in “its most beautiful state.”
Russian-born painter Nicolai Cikovsky ( 1894-1984) emigrated to the United States in 1923 and eventually settled in the North Sea area on Long Island where he became a member of the Hampton Bay Group of artists. His plein air views of this area are his best-known and most successful works, using color and expression to capture the feeling of his adopted home. His painting North Sea Long Island, from 1958, shows the influence of the Blaue Reiter and Expressionist movements that were formative for Cikovsky and other émigré artists at this time.
The backyard of artist Dollie S. Nabinger (1905-1988) was across the country in Victoria, Texas. At age 13, Nabinger’s talent was noticed by a well-known local painter who accepted her as an apprentice and mentored her for seven years. Nabinger went on to study at the Art Student’s League in New York and the Academie Julian in Paris, returning to her home in Texas where she would focus on the landscape around her. Her painting Fall Season Between Nacogdoches and Henderson, TX is an example of Nabinger’s examination of the landscape she grew up in and the details of a specific time and place.
These works, as well as others by American landscape painters, are being offered in our European and American Fine Art sale on January 27, 2022.
Time & Location
European and American Fine Art
Thursday, January 27 at 11am