Painting of the Day, 31 October, 2011

By Donna Poulton

E. Martin Hennings studied at the Art Institute in Chicago and later in Germany before a commission took him to Taos, New Mexico where he ultimately settled. His exposure to the German Jugenstil also known as Art Nouveau seems to have influenced his landscape style in which the visual plane is flattened and the natural environment is patterned and curved. He was especially interested in the New Mexico Indians and painted them in nature for the remainder of his career.

Credit: wetcanvas.com

E. Martin Hennings (1886 – 1956), Riders at Sunset, (c.1935), oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in. Collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift of Arvin Gottlieb 1991.205.11

Painting of the Day, October 30, 2011

By Donna Poulton

Credit: Scottsdale Art Auction

Frank Tenney Johnson (1874 – 1939), The Night Hawk, 1936, Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in. Private Collection

Frank Tenney Johnson is one of the great American artists of the West. He studied with John Twachtman, Robert Henri, William Merritt Chase and he was especially interested in the work of Maxfield Parish and his influence can be seen in the painting, The Night Hawk.  Field and Stream magazine sent Johnson out west and he became one of their most popular illustrators. In 1938 Amon Carter bought every work in Johnson’s exhibition at the Grand Central Art Gallery in New York City.  He died from meningitis on New Years Day in 1939 after "kissing a pretty girl at a dance."

Painting of the Day, October 29, 2011

By Donna Poulton

Doug Braithwaite, Alley Parking, 2009, 32 x 36 in., Private Collection

Committed to painting outdoors rather than the comfort of his studio, contemporary artist Doug Braithwaite depicts ‘slice of life’ images from his everyday experience.  Working in both the urban and rural western landscape, Doug sees form and color reference in the most unlikely places. In this image of a back alley in Park City, Utah, Braithwaite achieves deep visual layering using the natural incline of the hill, the rhythm of the structures of the old mining town, and keyed light to interpret an otherwise commonplace scene.

Painting of the Day, October 27, 2011

FOR BRENDA

Credit: LA Weekly Photo Gallery

Georgia O’Keeffe, Black Cross With Stars and Blue, 1926, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.

Painting of the Day, October 26, 2011

By Donna Poulton

By the time Maynard Dixon painted On Coming Storm in 1941, he was dividing his time between his homes in Tucson, Arizona and Mt. Carmel, Utah.  His work became increasingly minimal reflecting his interest and search for inherently geometric forms in the western landscape.  His Modernist brush flattened the details while his traditional eye absorbed all of the pictorial elements.

Credit: Santa Fe Art Auction

Maynard Dixon, (1875-1946), On Coming Storm, 1941 [Arizona], oil on canvas, 36 x 40 inches

My object has always been to get as close to the real thing as possible - people animals and country. The melodramatic Wild West idea is not for me the big possibility. The more lasting qualities are in the quiet and more broadly human aspects of Western life. -- Maynard Dixon