Painting of the Day, February 3, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 9:04PM Tweet By Donna Poulton
Philip Henry Barkdull, Designed Landscape: Symphony in Color, 1930, oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in. Springville Museum of Art. Credit: Springville Museum of Art Philip Henry Barkdull (1888-1968) was a Utah artist and teacher who studied for two summers under Birger Sandzen in 1927 and 1928 when he taught summer school in Utah. He adopted Sandzen’s bravura style, characterized by thick impasto, pure color and broad-brush strokes, the best example of which can be seen in Designed Landscape: Symphony in Color. This painting has been described by Dr. Vern Swanson as “…shining out like a beacon amidst the ‘foggy grey’ of many of his contemporaries.” After a railroad accident, Barkdull limited his career to teaching printmaking and drawing.
Related story: Birger Sandzén: Ecstasy of Color
