Collector’s Focus: Winter Lands
Some people feel the winter landscape is best experienced through the window of a cozy room. Some revel in the cold and snow. Animals experience it as home. Michael Godfrey is “drawn to the high places. There is something spiritual about mountains that I find irresistible.” He observes, “A landscape artist has to have some knowledge of many disciplines (geology, chemistry, physics, architecture), to understand the world in which they are trying to create. An artist must observe with the idea that what is
observed must be interpreted and distilled. For a landscape artist, it is just as important what you do not include in a work as what is eventually laid down.” In his painting Downhill Run the skier is almost incidental to his treatment of the landscape despite the skier’s vivid red parka. Enjoying the thrill of his run the skier may not notice the subtleties of light through the trees and the atmospheric treatment of the distant peaks that Godfrey has set him in. “I paint,” Godfrey says “to help people notice
the special moments that happen every day, especially the drama when light first splashes across a scene.”
The winter landscape is also home to animals. Ned Aldrich was born in the middle of New York City. He says, “there’s not a lot of wild there” which may explain his affinity for open spaces and the wildlife that inhabit it. Often the animals are depicted in their wider environment. At other times they are up close and personal. In either case, Aldrich strives for and captures their essence as individual creatures with whom we share the landscape. A white wolf in white snow is an artistic challenge but Aldrich explores the subtleties of texture and color in what appears to be a monochromatic scene. The Arctic wolf’s Intention is disconcerting as it stares directly at the viewer. Nevertheless, it is intent upon detecting its next meal in the harsh world of winter.
The colorfulness of the snowy landscape is often a subject for Josh Elliott. Karen Mcwhorter, curator of the Whitney Western Art Museum in Cody, Wyoming, writes, “Elliott’s best work stands apart in its quiet elegance, technical merit and the artist’s unique talent for depicting western light and atmosphere.” Elliott interprets the landscape rather than rendering what he sees. He says, “Copying nature, that misses the point of art. I am aiming towards creating art, I want my work to be expressive, but truthful. I want my voice to come through. I am interested in bold designs, strong shapes, expressive color and evident brushstrokes.” David Grossmann traipses out into the winter landscape wearing “boots made for polar expeditions that are warm to minus 148 degrees!” His strong but simple compositions recall the two-dimensional design aesthetic of Asian art. In Trees and Shadow on Bright Snow, the trees become design elements, separated visually from their grounded roots.
Waking up on a snowy morning, the light is vastly different from an otherwise dull winter day. It invites experiencing it physically. These artists show us what to look for when we venture out into a world beyond the window of a cozy room.
Throughout the pages of this special collector’s focus, readers will find winter and wildlife scenes from some of the West’s top
artists and galleries.
“This year, Ann Korologos Gallery is exploring the West through its seasons, starting with winter, with a group exhibition capturing the illustrious colors, textures, and moods of snow,” says gallery owner Ann Korologos. “Peter Campbell, Ewoud de Groot, Michael Fain, Simon Winegar and Dan Young are among the featured artists. Winter is the season to see the raw structure of the West, a time where the flowers and foliage fall away, and we are left with soft light, stark contrasts, long shadows and a peaceful world blanketed with snow. Each artist depicts winter in a way that showcases what they love most, and it’s interesting to observe how varied their passions are—a contrast that speaks to the diversity of the West. Our artists reveal just how many colors are in the ‘white’ of snow, and each interprets the quiet quality of the season in their work. Winter’s serenity offers a compelling beauty, appropriate to hang year-round.”
Alaska transplant Chip Brock, who was born and raised in Kansas, is a true outdoorsman. This, combined with his Alaskan adventures, is the inspiration behind his art, which focuses heavily on wildlife. “Wildlife grabs everyone’s imagination at one time or another,” says Brock. “Ask anyone visiting Alaska what they hope to see and you will always get an answer that includes wildlife sightings. Living my outdoor lifestyle in Alaska the past 10 years has given me the opportunity to experience things most only dream of. As a representational oil painter whose primary subject is wildlife, I work hard to share the animals and my experiences in the wild through my art.”
Kaye Franklin finds boundless inspiration
this time of year. “Winter scenes are one of my favorite subjects to paint,” Franklin says. “The time of day is very important to capture the beautiful shadow patterns on the snow.
I love the late evening or early morning for the warm and cool effects and the contrast.”
Artists Michael Godfrey and Robert Moore, whose paintings can be found at Trailside Galleries in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, use the unique quality of the gray winter light to capture the ethereal, almost spiritual season of winter.
“Winter puts the wide spectrum of summer and fall hues and intensities to sleep for the year, leaving beautiful grays and neutral colors,” Moore reflects.
Godfrey skillfully translates his emotional and spiritual engagement with the landscape onto the canvas. Inspired by the many moods of light, his goal is to capture and interpret these moods on canvas. In his handling of color and surface, Godfrey softens the edges implying detail rather than actively stating it, concentrating on the experience of the moment.
Ron Kingswood tends to perceive nature, regardless of the season, as form and structure. He is inspired by the quietness of nature. His clarity of vision is inspired by that silence.
The team behind Gerald Peters Gallery believes that the genre of wildlife art is not solely about the animal, but incorporates all aspects of nature. It can be representational or abstract, but it still requires artists with a deep knowledge of their subject. Those are the artists collectors should purchase as their artwork will stand the test of time.
When collecting art this season, Mountain Trails Galleries recommends focusing on
pieces that speak to you, regardless of budget. “When looking at landscape paintings many of our clients like to purchase pieces that depict a local scene or a location that is meaningful to them,” the Mountain Trails Galleries team says. “The painting is a daily reminder of the time they spent in Park City.”
As a backcountry cook in remote wilderness hunting camps and pack trips, artist Maggi Neal formed a deep connection to the mountains, mules, horses and wildlife of Wyoming and Montana. She strives to bring these experiences to life through her artwork, and is thrilled when her art sparks a memory for someone. “That’s what it’s all about,”
Neal says, “bringing back memories, stories, laughter and even tears to the people who view my art.”
Fascinated by wildlife from an early age, Charles M. Russell (1864-1926) grew up constantly sketching and modeling small figures. It wasn’t long before he became proficient at both. In his teens he traveled to the west and became a working cowboy while drawing in his spare time. In addition to the cowboys and Indians he loved to portray, he also studied and painted the wildlife around him. In Flying Hoofs, Russell shows a herd of wild horses being threatened by wolves. The horses surround the young
ones and turn their most lethal weapons, their hooves, toward the pack.
In addition to being an artist, Frederic Remington (1861-1909) was a hunter. In his early days he would often paint various phases of the hunting experience. In Thanksgiving Dinner for the Ranch, Remington considers the end of the chase and presents two phases well known to hunters—that of triumphantly bearing home larger game; and that of consoling himself for the lack of it.
Emil Lenders (1865-1934) considered the American bison—depicted in In the Teeth of the Blizzard—the true King of the Beasts, a distinction which he believed “should not go to a crouching, slinking, animal of the cat family.” “The buffalo is the American animal,” Lenders would say. “This was his only home…he should be preserved just as he is for future generations.”
The gallery at Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserve, located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, features works from Charles M. Russell, Frederic Remington, Emil Lenders and other historic Western painters. Linda Stone, the curator of art at Woolaroc, advises that when collecting art, you should always buy what you like. “If you wouldn’t hang a piece on your wall, don’t buy it,” she says. “Don’t buy art expecting it to increase in value, buy it because it speaks to you. Buy what brings you joy.”