The Art of Emil Carlsen

Soren Emil Carlsen (1853 – 1932) was a Danish born American Impressionist. He embodied the “starving artist” stereotype and was unfortunately not recognized for his talent as a painter until much later on in his career. Influenced by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Carlsen was famous for painting still life subjects and eventually became known as “The American Chardin”. Carlsen also served as a well-respected art teacher in Chicago, San Francisco, and New York for over 40 years.

(Carlsen, Emil. Iron Kettle and Clams. c. 1926. oil on canvas mounted on board. Private collection.)

Carlsen was from an artistic family and his family taught him how to paint. As a young adult, he studied architecture at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen for four years. After graduation, he got a job working in Chicago as an architectural draftsman but, he soon decided that he did not like the sedentary lifestyle, so he decided to become an artist. He then studied with the Danish marine artist Lauritz Holst and became the first teacher of drawing and painting at the Chicago Academy of Design.

(Carlsen, Emil. Teapot and Onion. oil on canvas. Private collection.)

Thirsty for more formal artistic training, Carlsen traveled to Paris where he first set eyes on the work of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin from the Rococo period in 1875. He then moved to New York and began to paint still life, similar to the work of Chardin but, he struggled to sell his work, so he taught classes at the Art Students League as well.

(Carlsen, Emil. The Fan. oil on canvas. Private collection.)
Carlsen was accepted into an exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1883, where he finally was recognized for his talents. He was then offered a position as the director of the San Francisco Art Association’s School, so he moved to California in 1886. In 1904, he married and moved to a quiet town in Connecticut and painted until his death.

(Carlsen, Emil. The Wooded Interior. oil on panel. Private collection.)

Carlsen’s spacious compositions are timeless, elegant and display his excellent draughtsmanship. His soft flawless brushwork combined with the luminous qualities of paint create a tranquil atmospheric effect. His painting technique was meticulous and labor-intensive as he combined the effect of glazing (building up layers of thin paint) with scraping, painting, and then scraping again to build up a final impasto as the finale.

(Carlsen, Emil. Still Life with Oriental Works of Art. c. 1901. oil on board. Private collection.)

Carlsen was at first only recognized for his still life paintings but, later on, he was eventually recognized for his landscape and his marine paintings as well. There are very few books written about Carlsen, he is the unsung master whose paintings are now today scattered into the hands of many private collectors but, his work is very much appreciated here!

Enjoy! :)

References 

• emilcarlsen.com

The Art of Dennis Miller Bunker

Dennis Miller Bunker (1861 – 1890) was one of the earliest painters in America to adopt the new innovative impressionistic style in the late nineteenth century. His career promptly spiraled up to the top of the art world and then came to a crashing halt, as he died unexpectedly from meningitis at the young age of twenty-nine. At the time of his death, he was well respected and personal friends with other legendary artists such as John Singer Sargent and Thomas Wilmer Dewing.

(Bunker, Dennis Miller. Pink Rose. c. 1886. oil on canvas.)

Bunker was born along with three sisters in New York City to a modest family of Quaker heritage. His father was the secretary and treasurer of the Union Ferry Company, which provided transportation between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Not a lot is known about Bunker’s childhood until he began to formally study art.

(Bunker, Dennis Miller. The Pool, Medfield. c. 1889. oil on canvas.)
In 1876 at the age of 15, Bunker joined the newly founded Arts Students League of New York and enrolled in New York’s Academy of Design. He was a quick study and he began to mature as a painter within only a few years. His work proved to provide great clarity with mesmerizing strength.


(Bunker, Dennis Miller. Tree. c. 1884. oil on canvas.)

Around 1880, Boat pictures and landscapes were selling at the time and Bunker was keenly aware of the art marketplace. He began to focus on painting marine subjects, mostly boats at low tide and so he sold well. He soon moved into figures and landscapes, although when he couldn’t afford to pay for a model he painted flowers.

(Bunker, Dennis Miller. Jessica. c. 1890. oil on canvas.)

Bunker left New York to study abroad. He traveled to Paris and enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts which was a very prestigious art school. It had an extremely rigorous training program and it gave him the perfect credibility to become an art teacher at a young age when he returned to America.

(Bunker, Dennis Miller. Cottage. c. 1889. oil on canvas.)

At the youthful age of twenty-four, Bunker began teaching at the Cowles Art School in Boston. He taught cast drawing, artistic anatomy, and composition. That same year, he was given his first solo exhibit at Noyes and Blakeslee Gallery, which opened unimaginable opportunities for him.

(Bunker, Dennis Miller. Yellow Rose. c. 1887. oil on canvas. museum.)

Bunker’s work is highly memorable for its individuality and force. In its limited use of color, alluring modeling of form and aesthetic elegance, Bunker’s captivating and unusual paintings successfully make the perfect balance between abstraction and representation, and his work is much appreciated here!

Enjoy! :)

References

• Hirshler, E. Dennis Miller Bunker, An American Impressionist. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 1994.

The Art of Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917) was born in Paris, France. He worked in a wide range of media, including oil, watercolor, chalk, pastel, pencil, etching, and photography. He is well known for the elegant ballerina dancers that he painted. While most of the artists focused on their stage performance, Degas was unique in that he captured random informal scenes from dance class or their rehearsals. His compositions seem spontaneous, but they were extremely daring at that time.

(Degas, Edgar. L'etoile [The Star]. c. 1878. pastel on paper. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.)

Degas began painting at an early age. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts which was one of the top art schools in France at that time. He also studied under Louis Lamothe, who was a former pupil of Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres. With this education, he was well on his way to becoming a traditional artist.

(Degas, Edgar. Bailarinas entre bastidores [Four Ballerinas behind the Stage]. c. 1898. oil on canvas. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Russia.)

After a trip to the Louvre in 1864, his work changed radically. Here Degas encountered an accidental meeting with Manet, a famous painter at the time. Manet influenced Degas in the new emerging contemporary style of Impressionism.

(Degas, Edgar. Le tub [The Tub]. c. 1886. pastel on card. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.)

During this time, the industrial revolution produced metal tubes of paint that were portable so it was now possible to paint outside the studio and landscape painting was all the rage. The Impressionists were interested in the effects of light, and they hoped to infuse their scenes with immediacy. Degas was unlike the majority in that he did not use flecks of intense color and he was not interested in painting landscapes or the practice of en Plein Air, a French term which means to paint “in the open air”.

(Degas, Edgar. Four Dancers. c. 1899. oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.)

Degas did however try to capture the moment in his work but, he preferred to work inside his studio. Here he painted from memory or sketched from models, who posed for him. He also mimicked the random effects of the new technology of photography.

(Degas, Edgar. La classe de danse [The Dancing Class]. c. 1874. oil on canvas. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.)

Degas said, “no art was ever less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and of the study of the great masters; of inspiration, spontaneity, temperament, I know nothing.”

(Degas, Edgar. Before the Ballet. c. 1890. oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.)

Degas was a master of movement. He intentionally avoided borrowing poses from classical statues or the Old Master paintings and he loved to capture off-guard moments. Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between his oil paintings and his pastel paintings. Degas purposely painted his oils to have the appearance of a piece created with pastel and his work is much appreciated here! 

Enjoy! :) 

Reference: King, R.

Art. New York: DK Publishing. 2008.

The Art of William de Leftwich Dodge

William de Leftwich Dodge (1867 – 1935), also known as W. de Leftwich Dodge was born in Bedford, Virginia. As an American impressionist painter, he is most well known for his murals. Murals, during his time, were regarded as an essential element of most public architecture, theaters, municipal buildings, and even privately owned homes.



(Dodge, William de Leftwich. Venus in Atrium. c. 1908. oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.)
Dodge spent most of his childhood growing up in Paris and Munich where his mother resided to pursue her own art studies. In 1895, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he studied with Jean-Léon Gérôme.



(Dodge, William de Leftwich. Death of Minnehaha. c. 1892.
oil on canvas.)
At nineteen years old he was awarded the gold medal of the American Art Association for history painting depicting the death of Minnehaha, the subject of Longfellow’s popular poem, Hiawatha.



(Dodge, William de Leftwich. Stepping in the Fountain. c. 1916. oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC.)
In 1893, he was offered the chance to decorate the dome of the central building of the Colombian Exposition, the famous “White City” in Chicago. He was only 26 years old when he accepted the commission.



(Dodge, William de Leftwich. Untitled (study for ceiling,
Empire Theatre, N.Y.). c. 1932. pencil and crayon on paper. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC.)



(Dodge, William de Leftwich. Meditation. c. 1897. oil on canvas. Renwick Gallery, Washington DC.)
Dodge’s work displays all of the wonderful characteristics and qualities of American Impressionism, but his emphasis on light along with his subtle brush strokes which are visible is absolutely breathtaking and his work is much appreciated here!

Enjoy! :)

Reference: Smithsonian American Art Museum

The Art of Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt (1844 – 1926) was an American painter and printmaker who settled in Paris in 1874, which was the year that the first Impressionist exhibition took place. Cassatt met the famous artist, Degas three years later and, through him, became a member of the Impressionist group. Cassatt came from a well-connected family and, in her later years, she did much to aid the Impressionists’ cause by finding American buyers for their works.


(Cassatt, Mary. The Child’s Bath.
c. 1893. oil on canvas.
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.)
The Impressionists developed their own subject matter, celebrating modern Parisian life. They revolted against the traditional academic art subjects which were well accepted at the time. In place of morally uplifting heroic stories from the past, the Impressionists painted everyday life scenes of urban and suburban pastimes, chores, and landscapes.


(Cassatt, Mary. Young Woman Sewing.
c. 1880. oil on canvas. Musee d’Orsay, Paris.)
The subject matter became less important than the way that it was painted. For most impressionists it was merely a vehicle for showing how light sparkled and changed, affecting color with highlights and shadows.


(Cassatt, Mary. Lilac in a Window.
c. 1880. oil on canvas.)
Cassatt exhibited the “Young Woman Sewing” at the final impressionist show. She was a talented painter, specializing in pictures of mothers with children, but she was an even greater graphic artist. Her colored etchings appear deceptively sparse and simple but were executed with an impressive blend of subtlety and delicacy.


(Cassatt, Mary. Self Portrait. c. 1878. gouache on paper.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.)
The 1890s were Cassatt's busiest and most creative time. She had matured considerably and became more diplomatic and less blunt in her opinions. She also became a role model for young American artists who sought her advice. She is one of the extremely few female painters, who would become famous for her impressionist painting, during the movement and her work is much appreciated here!

Enjoy :)

Reference: King, R. Art. New York: DK Publishing, 2008.