In the Heat
Hawthorne Fine Art showcases summer scenes
Through August 31
Hawthorne Fine Art 12 E. 86th Street, Suite 1425 New York, NY 10028 t: (212) 731-0550 www.hawthornefineart.com
The pervasive sunshine and sparkling-blue waters of summertime have long inspired people to examine the world around them. In a new exhibition, Hawthorne Fine Art will display a group of paintings that highlight the exhilaration of the season.“we found that each work presents summer as a time of leisure and contemplation of nature’s beauty. The season also seems to foster a closer relationship between figures and their natural environment,” says Jennifer C. Krieger, managing partner of Hawthorne.the works on view come from Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Charles Wilson Knapp, Alfred T. Bricher, John Henry Hill, Eastman Johnson and many others.
Water—from seas, lakes and rivers—is featured prominently in many of the paintings on display, capturing the cool relief from the encroaching heat of a summer’s day. Noted for his New England seascapes, Bricher’s watercolor Low Tide, Indian Rock, Narragansett, RI shows a hazy day on the rocky coast. Krieger notes, “This piece, while delicately drafted, uses the watery medium to almost convey the temperature and freshness of the waters around Narragansett, a summer hotspot for artists.”
Prendergast transports viewers to join sea bathers on the French coast with his Harbor-finistère.the work has a
sense of idyllic escapism, and was most likely executed early in the artist’s career. “[It] reflects the French influence in Prendergast’s style, particularly referencing Boudin’s cool hued elegant depictions of seaside communities around the coast of France,” according to Krieger.
In Fishermen by a Brook, Knapp reflects the way summer brings many a renewed interest in the nature around them, a time when the weather calls to give into one’s sense of adventure. In it, two men stand in the middle of a dense forest, isolated from the rest of the world. Krieger says, “This work relays the closeness of man to nature as the fishermen remain nestled in the dramatic gorge.”
The exhibition of summer paintings remains on view at Hawthorne Fine
Art in New York through August 31.