Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, The Hills of Genzano, ca. 1826, Oil on paper, laid down on cardboard, Signed on lower left, C. Corot, number in black ink on verso at upper left, P. L. 4169, 7 x 11-7/8". The Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, Photography by Schecter Lee.
John Constable, Hampstead Heath with Bathers, ca. 1821-22, Oil on canvas, 9-3⁄4 x 15-3⁄4", The Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, Photography by Schecter Lee.
Antoine-Xavier-Gabriel de Gazeau, Landscape with Tree Root, 1833, Oil on paper, laid down on cardboard; inscribed at lower left, Olevano 16, novembre 1833, 10-1⁄4 x 14-3⁄4", The Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, Photography by Schecter Lee.
Johan Christian Clausen Dahl, Sky Study, Oil on paper, 4 x 8-1⁄4", The Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, Photography by Schecter Lee.
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The Morgan Library
& Museum
225 Madison Avenue
at 36th Street
212-685-0008
New York
Studying Nature:
Oil Sketches from
the Thaw Collection
January 23-
August 30, 2009
Intimately scaled sketches made in oils and executed in nature are the subject of a new exhibition that presents more than 20 works drawn from the collection of Eugene V. and Clare Thaw, which chronicles the history of the genre in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The fresh and immediate quality of many of these sketches, the majority of which are executed on paper adhered to canvas, places them both literally and conceptually in between paintings and drawings. The complex circumstances of their creation and function has proved a fertile field of inquiry. The works showcase aspects of the role of the oil sketch in pedagogy and practice. The approach to natural motifs, such as still-life subjects, is seen in the closely detailed studies of branches, logs, and individual trees. The effort to capture ephemeral effects is evident in studies of clouds and storms, sunrises and sunsets, and waterfalls and fountains.
"These sketches are superb windows into the world of the artist at work," said William M. Griswold, director of The Morgan Library & Museum. "In them, one can almost feel the artist searching for just the right form and just the right palette. We are deeply grateful to Gene and Clare Thaw for sharing these works with the Morgan and for allowing us to present some of the best examples to the art-loving public."
The exhibition includes oil sketches beginning with the late-18th-century pioneers, such as Pierre-Henri Valenciennes (1750-1819), Simon Denis (1755-1813), and Francois-Marius Granet (1775-1849), with strong representation of 19th-century practitioners, including Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875) and John Constable (1776-1837), and concludes with the late stages of the oil sketch concurrent with the dawn of Impressionism, with works by Eugène Isabey (1803-1886) and Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878). The show features works by French, British, German, Belgian, Scandinavian, and Italian artists working in both their native lands and abroad.
Among the works on view is Jean-Michel Cels's Clouds and Blue Sky, one of a group of eight studies of clouds and sky that Cels executed between 1838 and 1842, and John Constable's Hampstead Heath with Bathers (ca. 1821-22), a study of the sky emphasizing cloud morphology and weather effects. Using a distinctive palette of dark and light greens and gray with pink accents, Corot executed The Hills of Genzano while working outdoors during the summer of 1826; he later reprised the same view in a deliberately constructed composition with a rider and peasants. Such works reveal the wide range of technique and function of the landscape oil sketch during this period.
Studying Nature: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection is organized by Jennifer Tonkovich, Curator, Drawings and Prints, The Morgan Library & Museum. |
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