Friday, December 28, 2012

Painting the Invisible




Giuseppe de Nittis, The Sea during a Tempest, 1877.
Attilio Pratella, Fisher boats on the sea by Capri.
Giovanni Fattori, Storm.
Pietro Fragiacomo, Nocturne.

These Italian marines first struck me as slightly boring in their simplicity, but the more I looked at them, or into them, the more evocative they became.
The main subject of the composition seems to be just a boat or a bush, but the real subject of each painting is something less concrete: the power of a storm, the stillness of a shallow bay, the marine wind on a deserted beach, or the soothing wonder of moonlight on water.
These invisible inner qualities make a painting great.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Winslow Homer Exhibition



Only a couple of weeks left to see an exhibition of late works by Winslow Homer, produced while he was living on the coast of Maine.
The exhibition, at the Portland Museum of Art, closes on December 30th.

For more information about the exhibition, visit the website: portlandmuseum.org

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Upcoming Christie's Auction




Jules-Achilles Noel (French), Battling the Elements, 35.6 x 65.1 cm.
Michael Vaughan (English), Sunlight through the rigging, oil and acrylic, 55.3 x 81.4 cm.
michael-vaughan.com
Pavlo Prosalentis (Greek), Steam Yatch foundering in a Storm.
David James (Irish-English), Lashing waters of the Atlantic, 1896, 25 x 50 inches.

Lots in an upcoming Maritim Art sale at Christie's.
www.christies.com


Monday, November 12, 2012

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

MacConnal-Mason Gallery










Montague Dawson, A Roll to Loo'ard, 1956
David James, The Morning Tide, 1898
Philip Sadee, Bringing in the Catch, 1879

These works are for sale at the MacConnal-Mason fine art gallery in London:
www.macconnal-mason.com

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Some Australian Marines





Arthur Streeton, Fossil Bay, Mentone.

Conrad Martens, The Heads Port Jackson.

Ken Taber, Morning Storm, NSW.



Neil Taylor, Shadow Tide, Acrylic.

Piguenit, The League-long Roller Thundering on the Reef.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Reading



Rowland Wheelwright, A Quiet Moment.
Charles Sprague Pearce, Reading by the Shore, c1883-1885
Sir William Orpen, Grace Reading at Howth Bay.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Albert Julius Olsson






Albert Julius Olsson (1864—1942) was born in London, the son of a Swedish father and English mother, the 'artist was within him' and he was wholly self-taught. A daring yachtsman, some of his marine scenes look back at the coastline from onboard ship. His work was in the late impressionist style of Henry Moore.
From the examples of his paintings I can find on Google image search it seems Olsson was particularly fond of painting the sea in moonlight.





Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Winslow Homer - Fishing





Kissing the Moon
Saco Bay
The Herring Net
Fog Warning
The last painting, Shark Fishing, 1885, is a watercolor.
Homer's work as an illustrator seems to have given him a wonderful eye for image-making. He makes strong, iconic images that reproduce well, and would not be out-competed by text.
This is due to: interesting viewpoints, simplicity of design, zooming in to the subject, strong tonal contrasts, and energetic lines.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Maritime Time

















Charles Vickery, Racing Clippers 'Ariel' and 'Taeping', 30 x 40 inches.
Geoff Hunt
Harvey T. Dunn, For a Space of Minutes, 1915
Unknown, Rogue Wave, Queen Mary
Gordon Grant