Collector’s Focus: Painters of Mountains
The French paleontologist and geologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) wrote, “The earth’s crust has not yet stopped heaving and plunging under our feet. Mountain ranges are still being thrust up on the horizon. Granites are still growing under the continental masses. Nor has the organic world ceased to produce new buds at the tips of its countless branches.”
As mountains become sand, many are still growing. The Himalayas gain about a centimeter a year. It is thought that the Rockies grow at a slower rate. I once began to read about the geology of the Santa Fe, New Mexico, area with volcanic peaks on one side of the valley and tectonic peaks on the other. I became hopelessly
lost in their complex history and was left with the romance of the Spanish who saw the mountains on the east in the red light of the setting sun and called them Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ).
Louisa Mcelwain (1953-2013) lived at the base of the Sangre de Cristos and ventured out in her pickup truck to paint both ranges in plein air—her canvases lashed to the back of the truck as she applied thick paint with masons’ trowels. Mcelwain painted the magic of desert, mountains and clouds from the perspective of deep religious faith. She wrote, “The act of painting outdoors is like a dance to the tempo of the evolving day, following the lead of the wind, impelled by the measured meter of shadows moving in their eternal celestial rhythms.”
G. Russell Case, immerses himself in the landscape, absorbs it, and produces paintings that are less literal representations of the scene than deeply felt interpretations. He says, “If it was all about copying a subject, this would have spelled burnout a long time ago.” His approach keeps his paintings fresh. In High Country, although non-specific in terms of place, he captures the clear light in the mountains and, in a way, their history, as the snows melt, erode the rock, and feed the river below. His sensitive use of shadow adds form and depth to his composition, spatial relationships always being a primary concern in his work.
Bill Davidson is immersed in plein air painting. He writes, “there is no faster way to accelerate your growth, as plein air quickly forces you to make decisions, but really the
most important thing about it is you just cannot get the color harmonies from a picture, and dark and light values are too blown out. Once you get the shape design right, really observing the harmonies and taking the time to mix the colors correctly is just amazingly enjoyable and rewarding, just paying attention to the subtle lighting effects.” In Teton Magic the translucency of the water and the solidity of the mountains set up a visual representation of their physical contrast. Ross Buckland is a self-taught artist whose paintings are most often about aviation. Painting airplanes he realized he needed to put them in a context, creating “a background or environment surrounding and supporting the main subject.” In It’s Not About the Fish, the only things flying are two geese. A fisherman and his dog gaze at the geese and the Tetons, experiencing the pleasure of being alone in nature, expanding the meditative aspect of fishing. He says, “…the work of other artists has become influential and inspirational. References now have a much wider base ranging from Sargent, Payne and Remington to Aspevig, Reynolds and Christensen. I consider myself fortunate to have spent some valuable time with Wilson Hurley, a master of both aviation and landscape art who greatly helped to open my mind and eyes to the importance of landscape.”
His painting reflects a quote from Robert Henri (1865-1929), “The object isn’t to make
art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”
In this special section, collectors can view additional works depicting the majesty of mountain scenes.
Ann Korologos Gallery in Basalt, Colorado, exhibits contemporary Western art including landscapes, ranch life, sculpture and still life works, among others. “Dan Young and
Dinah Worman share their awe of Western landscapes and thick application of oil paint to create texture and dimension, walking the line between abstract and representational,” says Caroline Iles, Ann Korologos Gallery manager, discussing two of the artists represented at the gallery. “However, Dinah’s approach is to take an aerial view and flatten out the landscape, capturing the light in order to define the mountain, while Dan is a more representational plein air painter who explores abstraction.”
Art dealer John Pyson is an expert in the Western art world, dealing primarily in Native American works. However, through a close friendship and interest in his artwork, Pyson has collected more than 180 paintings of nature artist Eugene J. Diodato (1935-2013) over the years. Diodato was known for his landscape oil pieces, spending the last 25 years of his life immersed in nature, painting mostly in the Upper Arkansas Valley.