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H o f s t r a U n i v e r s i t y M u s e um

Don Resnick: Essence of Place

H o f s t r a U n i v e r s i t y M u s e um

Don Resnick: Essence of Place May 13-August 15, 2014 Emily Lowe Gallery

Curated by Karen T. Albert Associate Director of Exhibitions and Collections Hofstra University Museum

Front cover credit: Don Resnick (American, 1928-2008), Marshes, 1983, oil on linen, 40 x 50 in. Gift of David Resnick and Iwonka Piotrowska. Hofstra University Museum Collections, HU2009.9. © Don Resnick

It was in the late 1990s that I first encountered the work of the artist Don Resnick. I was transfixed by his brilliant use of color upon his canvases, and the way his highly trained artist’s eye and hand combined with his extraordinary talent to express a deep affinity with nature and the environment. For in Don Resnick we find one of those rarest of creative adventurers, an artist with the ability to transform the blank canvas into new realms of quiet tranquility that abound with a wonder at the delicacy of the natural world, or synthesize experiential strands, based upon his memories of place, into canvases bursting with infinite majesty. In either circumstance, as we look at these newly imagined distillations of time and place, our senses are sharpened and we are welcomed into environments that we might otherwise have overlooked, or failed to comprehend, as we are introduced with a new clarity to their intricate beauty, ethereal delicacy, or magnitude of meaning. Don Resnick had a deep commitment to our environment, to protecting our estuaries, forests, fields and coastlines. In each canvas, he captures for us the magnificence that nature has provided, and in his way beckons us to protect and preserve the valuable gifts of this earth.

FOR e WoR D

In developing the exhibition Don Resnick: Essence of Place, curator Karen T. Albert, associate director of exhibitions and collections at the Hofstra University Museum, worked closely with the Resnick family in making selections that guide us through exquisite glimpses into this artist’s journey. As Karen made her selections, her focus was upon the landscapes and seascapes in oil, watercolor, and works on paper that comprise an important aspect of Don Resnick’s life work. The selections presented here concentrate on the artist’s interpretations of natural locations on Long Island or at a family summer enclave in Maine. We owe much gratitude to the Resnick and Shaw families, with special thanks to Jeanette Resnick for her ever gracious welcome into her home and Don’s studio on numerous occasions. This catalog is particularly enriched by two insightful and eloquent essays written by the artist’s son and son-in-law, David A. Resnick, acting commissioner, NYC Department of Design and Construction, and Howard Shaw, president and director, Hammer Galleries, NYC. Their words provide essential insights into the artist’s sensibilities, commitment to his art, his process, and his abounding love of place, as well as family.

Beth E. Levinthal

Executive Director, Hofstra University Museum

Leaden skies. Moonlit forests. Rocky cliffs. Misty marshes. Throughout the history of art, from ancient times to the present day, the natural landscape has inspired artists to attempt to capture its pristine beauty. In Western art (European and American), landscape painting held a low position in the hierarchy of painting genres until the 19th century. History and religious painting, along with portraiture, were more highly regarded, while the landscape served as a vital component of the background. The importance of the genre was raised in the 19th century when artists such as John Constable (1776-1837) and J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) in England, and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (17961875) in France, focused on the landscape as their subject matter. Constable’s studies of the English countryside emphasized atmosphere and changes of light, which influenced the later impressionists. Romantic painter Turner captured the elemental forces of nature with his pioneering use of light and color to convey mood and emotion. Corot, a leading member of the French Barbizon School, painted in the neo-classical tradition even as his work anticipated the en plein air innovations of impressionism.

Curator’s Statement

American landscape painting also came into prominence during the 19th century when a powerful artistic connection was made between pride in America’s vast wilderness and its seemingly limitless potential. The painters of the Hudson River School, a loose association of artists active from 1825 to 1875, including Thomas Cole (1801-1848), depicted a romantic, idealized and panoramic landscape often imbued with a spiritual reverence. American impressionists, taking cues from the French impressionists, portrayed fleeting atmospheric effects, incorporating broad brushstrokes and vivid colors. Artists such as William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), Childe Hassam (1859-1935) and John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902) desired to record modern life using a modern style. Known for its emphasis on light and color, American impressionism focused on familiar subjects and a rapid technique, which had a deep impact on American painting. Continuing in the American landscape tradition, Don Resnick’s paintings reveal the influence of both traditional landscape painting and modern art. As an artist, he took a known subject matter and transformed the typical into the extraordinary. Similar to the artists who came before him, he was interested in depicting the beauty of nature — stressing its changing atmosphere, light and mood. Rather than observing from a distance, Resnick takes the viewer with him into his landscapes to share his personal experience of the particular place and time. Viewers are drawn into the environments depicted in his paintings, and it

is almost as if they can smell the salt air, feel the breeze coming off the water, or hear the rustling of the trees. Resnick was

In other paintings, such as Flight, the horizon line is almost at the bottom of the canvas; most of the painting is of the clouds

dedicated to capturing the essence of the American landscape. This exhibition features works of art that depict two of Resnick’s

swirling in the sky.

favorite locations: his home region of Long Island and Maine, the site of numerous family vacations. Don Resnick was born in New York in 1928. He was a graduate of Hobart College, located in Geneva, New York, where he

varies from strong bold colors to soft pastel hues. Resnick’s visible and loose brushstrokes and broad sweeps of color are taken

majored in Western civilization. He continued his studies at The School for Social Research in New York City and at the

from his knowledge of the modern masters of the 20th century, including his former teacher Kokoschka. His gestural strokes are

Internationale Akademie für Bildende Kunst in Salzburg, Austria. In New York Resnick studied under some of the most

reminiscent of abstract expressionism. Although Resnick’s work may appear casual or spontaneous, he made conscious and well

important artists of the time: landscape and maritime painter Julian Levi (1900-1982), abstract expressionist sculptor Seymour

thought out decisions regarding all the elements of each painting, such as the composition and color palette.

Lipton (1903-1986), and social realist artist Raphael Soyer (1899-1987). During the summers of 1956 and 1957, Resnick traveled to Austria to study with Oskar Kokoschka (Austrian, 1886-1980). Resnick acknowledged that Kokoschka, known for his expressionist portraits and landscape paintings, was his greatest influence. He explained that Kokoschka taught his students not specific techniques but rather the importance of “being in the moment” and truly experiencing what they see every day. This had a profound effect on Resnick’s working method as he would spend time observing, being inspired by what he saw, and then creating a work of art that would capture the essentials of his experiences. Resnick’s paintings are not documentary or exact depictions of a location but rather they are his responses to his experience of that place. While on site he would make quick sketches, usually in pencil, which would enable him to recall his memories later in his studio. He was not an en plein air painter;

In addition to painting, Resnick worked in a wide range of media: ink, pencil, watercolor and printmaking, particularly etching. He always had a sketchbook in hand, creating visual diaries of his life and what he had seen. Family and friends remember him with a constantly moving pencil. The black and white drawings and etchings reveal Resnick’s mastery of line and his ability to create contrasts of light and shadow, often using a simple cross-hatching pattern. His smaller scaled works on paper are more detailed and more finely drawn than his oil paintings. The forests in Woodland Series and Woodland Series #20 seem to be created by a mosaic pattern of colored tiles. Resnick conveys the sense of a dense forest, but the style and medium differ greatly from his oil paintings.

his paintings were started and completed in his studio. Regarding his working method Resnick stated, “I never start a picture

Prior to his death in 2008, Resnick had reiterated, “The inspiration for my paintings is the intense experience of a place — its

with a set plan. I wait for a moment of true feeling to come. It’s the sensation evoked by the remembrance of the feel of a

particular light, its particular space — at a unique moment in time.”2 In today’s fast-paced world, with the constant intrusion of

particular place — its light, space, forms, and colors. And while I paint, I try to keep that initial feeling alive.”1

cell phones, text messages, Facebook updates and Twitter feeds, Don Resnick’s work reminds us to enjoy the moment, to

Light and color are principal elements in Resnick’s work. The quality of the light in each painting sets the tone of the work. The viewer can sense the bright sunshine in Edge of Wetlands and the coming storms in Harbor Island I and Steely Sky. Sunsets and sunrises can be seen in the luminous pinks, salmons and oranges he used to masterful effect. The canvases seem to glow from within. The density of the Maine woodlands is highlighted by the dappled sunlight coming through the tree branches to the forest floor. In some of the forest paintings the horizon line disappears completely, emphasizing the thickly wooded site.

The paint was most often applied in thin layers of color with the raw canvas showing through on occasion. His color palette

Sullivan, Terry. “From Eye to Heart to Hand.” American Artist, August 1996, p. 48.

contemplate and appreciate the wonder and beauty of the natural environment in which we live. As we open our eyes and minds to see and experience that which we see every day, Resnick’s paintings take on a greater importance and meaning as they have captured a landscape that is ever-changing and, in many instances, at risk.

Karen T. Albert

Associate Director of Exhibitions and Collections, Hofstra University Museum

Resnick, Don. “An Ecstasy of Place.” Orion, March-April 2005, p. 46.

My father’s paintings and drawings are his life’s work. They necessarily exist on their own, yet they are also signifiers of his life, of his time and place. In the conjoining of this expression there is the “work” — the paintings and drawings themselves, which exist as art objects (landscapes mostly) and as artifacts or constructed objects (canvas, wood, staples, paper, paint and graphite). Then there is his “life,” the life of a teacher and a husband and a father, and his experience of nature. This was an artist’s life, where moments of mindfulness and participation are developed in the fullness of time, through cycles of observation and action. Now that I have many years of distance from the day-to-day experience of being with my father as he painted, what strikes me is how the paintings and their making deal with time and more broadly, temporality: my own time, and that of my sister and mother as we grew together with him and his work, the artist’s time taking in the experience and making the work, and then the painting itself, as an evocation of a singular moment in a natural place. Not a snapshot, and yet not an impression either, each painting is a condensation and distillation of an experience of place, a communication of being with nature. As a child, I would sit for hours posing in a chair when I wanted to go out to play, or help him build stretchers, and stretch and staple canvas on the studio floor. Dad would take us to Planting Fields, to Robert Moses State Park, to Caumsett, to Target Rock, all exciting places for a 10 year old to explore, for about an hour … then waiting … waiting while he sketched (can we go now, please?). Then other times, waiting while he went through galleries, bookstores, waiting for him to emerge from his studio to drive me to my friend’s house, waiting while the time passed by. Over the years the studio became smaller and smaller, to the point where there was only a narrow path leading to the easel, flanked by a stack of paintings many feet deep on one side, and rows of art books and sketch books piled high under the windows.

Thoughts on My Father’s Work as an Artist

And then there were the times when I would enter his studio and stand transfixed by a painting in progress, a riot of color and brushstrokes tracing undergrowth, or a leaden sky over a trace of ocean, these landscapes familiar and new at the same time, each singular and unique, yet collectively feeling connected and continuous, like views from different windows of the same train. While the landforms are occasionally spectacular, as with the bluffs of Monhegan Island in Maine, or Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, they are most often the natural landscapes of Long Island. These are everyday scenes, the coming together of sea, sky and brush

that has formed the natural landscape of this island for thousands of years, and still can be found scattered in preserves and in

canvasses become dense with vertical tree trunks and now and then the hint of a clearing. The penetration of the gaze deepens

the few remaining margins and interstices within the highly suburbanized and traffic-choked place Long Island has become in

and the canvasses are often highly color saturated and shade toward one end of the spectrum. The detail becomes more precise,

the last century.

and one’s eye moves more slowly across the paintings. He also begins doing more watercolors and graphite drawings, which

Don believed in the discipline of painting and drawing; he studied the work of artists from all eras who shared his belief in the importance of the discipline, and whose work resonated with him — from van Gogh, to Kokoschka, to Diebenkorn. While the

become increasingly meticulous. There is a condensation of the work, a slowing down for both the artist and the viewer — more hours per square inch.

work proceeded from this conviction in the power of painting and drawing, these remained just means to an end, and were

Don’s paintings and drawings exist as embodiments of time and as evocations of place. They are manifestations of a belief in

ultimately subservient to his desire to communicate something true about the natural world around him — a world in which the

painting as a vital medium of human expression, no matter the loneliness of the pursuit. For my part, all that time I spent as a

experience of nature was growing increasingly elusive, and therefore increasingly valuable.

child impatiently waiting, and the time spent wandering the parks and preserves we frequented as a family, has been layered into

Don’s artistic process remained consistent over his life. The direct experience of nature was the primary engine for the work. He would be in a place, and would work hard to be fully present, often drifting away from the rest of the family to be by himself, in the moment, then making charcoal sketches and taking a few snapshots. The sketches were sometimes used as studies for the paintings, and many are quite powerful evocations in their own right, but they were primarily used as a sort of experiential map.

the paint strokes of these canvasses, and is given back to me every time I gaze at them.

David Resnick February 3, 2014 New York City

He never painted in the field; the experience of the place was a singular activity that occurred outside of the creation of the work. Like the in-breath and the out-breath, these were separate and distinct entities; there was the place and the experience of the place, and then there was the painting and the experience of the painting. The paintings recognize the continuum of the natural world — the trees and the utility pole, the sky and the barn all exist in this singular moment and place. Stylistically the work changed over the years in a way that mirrors aspects of life’s arc from youth to middle age and into old age. Early work is fast and large, broad strokes moving quickly across the canvas, layered color and strong foregrounds with equal parts sky and land; the view is straight ahead. Often the horizon would tilt from left to right, like a Doppler shift showing the speed and energy of the painting activity in those years. As time passes, the viewpoint shifts as the artist’s gaze is raised or lowered, shifting the horizon up or down. Many of the skies fill 80-90 percent of the canvas, and seascapes become painterly color fields, almost abstract. In the late 1990s into the early 2000s he moves into the woods, losing the horizon entirely as the

The inspiration for my paintings is the intense experience of a place, its particular light, its particular space – at a unique moment in time. This is the case whether I am standing along the wind-blown Atlantic coastline, hiking near a small tidal inlet, or walking by a rippling mountain stream. Painting is my way of sharing what I have seen and experienced. Painting is my story. So, if while viewing my work others see nature in a new and vital way – seeing the natural world as a place in need of protection – then I have succeeded in some small manner.

– Don Resnick

My name is Howard Shaw, and I am the director of the Hammer Galleries in New York City. I have been an art dealer for more than 30 years. Don Resnick was my father-in-law. Rather than discuss the formal qualities of Don’s art — the colors, the composition, the influences of artists such as Turner, Monet and van Gogh — I will leave that to Karen Albert, the curator of the exhibition. To give a sense of the extraordinary art and life of Don Resnick, I am going to discuss two paintings that are not in this exhibition.

Life Essentials: Beauty. Truth. Love.

One of Don’s favorite quotes was by van Gogh: “I should like to paint in so simple a way that anyone with eyes can see clearly what is meant.” This does not mean that one sees and understands instantly everything in one of Don’s paintings. As I was to discover, it is a process, as much for the viewer as it is for the artist. The first painting of Don’s I ever saw was hanging in Don and Jeanette’s living room in Rockville Centre more than 10 years ago. I liked it immediately and commented on it during every visit. I later saw many of Don’s other paintings, but this particular one was and still is my favorite. It is of a sunset by the Okavango River in Shakawe, Botswana. Next to the river is the hut where Don’s daughter, my wife, Helen, lived for two and a half years while in the Peace Corps in the early ’90s. Don and Jeanette visited Helen for a month in Botswana, and after they returned Don made a series of major paintings. Don and Jeanette later gave this one to us as a wedding gift. When I first saw the painting, I was struck by the exquisite colors of the sunset — the pinks, oranges, reds, and purples, all flowing into each other and softly reflected in the pale blue waters of the river. On one level, the painting is about the natural world, about the landscape and unique light of Africa. Later I would learn of Don’s fear of flying and what a herculean effort it

was for Don to take the long flight to Africa. So, in addition to everything else, I came to see this painting as one about a father’s

Beauty. Truth. Love. Don boiled life down to its essentials. He loved his family and friends. He searched for truth and beauty

love for his daughter. And maybe that is the reason I love it so much.

in the world and in his painting, every single day. And he left the world a better place than he found it.

The other painting of Don’s (which hangs in our living room) is of Maine. Landscapes of Long Island and Maine make up the

Picasso once said: “A picture is not thought out and settled beforehand. While it is being done it changes as one’s thoughts

majority of Don’s work. He took his family to Maine every summer for more than 30 years. He loved its dense forests, the

change. And when it is finished it still goes on changing according to the state of mind of whoever is looking at it.” Some say

unspoiled, rugged beauty of its coastline, and its extraordinarily crisp, clear, ever-changing light. I was fortunate to go on a few

that a painting is only truly completed by the viewer. Twenty-nine of Don’s works are on view in this exhibition. They are waiting

of these trips. There were no distractions in Maine — no cell phone reception, no television, no computers, no homework for

for you to finish them.

the kids. It was a place of swimming holes and rowboats, novels and games of Scrabble, bonfires, lobster and cold beer. It was a place where Don knew he could spend uninterrupted time with the people he loved most in the world. Don loved Maine not only for the beauty of its landscape and the inspiration it supplied for his paintings but also because it was a place to be, in a

Howard Shaw February 2, 2014 New York City

phrase he often used, “intensely present” with the people he loved most in the world. Don studied with the great Austrian expressionist painter and teacher Oskar Kokoschka in Vienna in 1956 and 1957. In a biography of the artist, Don is quoted describing Kokoschka: Here was no ordinary man. As a teacher, he was an inspiration. Unlike others with who I had studied painting, he taught nothing about technique. Indeed he was not out to make us “professional artists” prepared for the gallery world … Rather his goal was to awaken in us awe before the beauty, wonder and mystery of life. It is difficult to put into words the magic of his teaching ... His observations were always vital, original and truthful. We were always keenly aware of how completely conscious and present he was. He gave utterly of himself, never dull, never unkind, and always sincere. I cannot help but think that these words also perfectly describe Don, who, like Kokoschka, was a painter and a teacher. He taught by his quiet example. He taught me a lot about love, about art, about being a parent, about courage, about life. While Helen was in Africa, Don wrote her a letter a week, about a hundred in all. In one letter Don wrote, “I’m just very happy to go out into my studio every day to do as well as I can. After all, my love of painting is what matters. Happiness lies in the moment of creativity — whatever form that creativity may take. Be it painting — writing — working with others as you are doing or caring for loved ones.” 14

Beach Flowers, 1985, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in. 16

Bluffs, Monhegan, 2004, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in. 17

Cold and Raw, no date, monoprint and drypoint, 7 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. 18

Dense Wood – Bristol, ME, 2002, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in. 19

Distant Island, no date, oil on canvas, 20 x 20 in. 20

Dusk, 2000, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in. 21

Edge of Wetlands, 1987, oil on canvas, 50 x 60 in. 22

Good Fishing, no date, etching and drypoint, A/P, 5 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. 23

Harbor Island I, 1974, oil on canvas, 40 x 39 1/2 in., Hofstra University Museum Collections, Gift of David Resnick and Iwonka Piotrowska, HU2013.20 24

Ledges, Maine, 1985, oil on canvas, 51 x 51 in. 25

Marshes, 1983, oil on linen, 40 x 50 in., Hofstra University Museum Collections, Gift of David Resnick and Iwonka Piotrowska, HU2009.9 26

Migration, 1980, oil on canvas, 41 x 48 in. 27

Night Wood, 1999, oil on canvas, 50 x 50 in., Hofstra University Museum Collections, Gift of Howard and Helen Shaw, HU2013.21 28

Quiet Pond, 1972-1973, oil on canvas, 43 x 51 in. 29

Rare Light, no date, oil on canvas, 47 x 60 in. 30

South Shore Dunes, 1985, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in. 31

Steely Sky, 1983, oil on linen, 42 x 50 in., Hofstra University Museum Collections, Gift of Howard and Helen Shaw, HU2009.10 32

Touch of Light, 1998, ink on paper, 22 x 28 in. framed 33

Trees, Streams, Marshlands Series III, 1987, pencil on paper, 22 x 28 in. framed 34

Wetlands in Dry Times, 2003, oil on canvas, 48 x 67 in. 35

Wetlands in Mist, 1990, oil on canvas, 50 x 72 in. 36

Woodland Series, no date, watercolor on paper, 10 3/4 x 7 7/8 in. 37

Woodland Series #20, no date, watercolor on paper, 11 x 8 5/8 in. 38

Woods/Rocks, 2004, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in. 39

Exhibition Checklist

All works by Don Resnick (American, 1928-2008)

Beach Flowers, 1985 Oil on canvas 40 x 50 in. Bluffs, Monhegan, 2004 Oil on canvas 48 x 48 in. Cold and Raw, no date Monoprint and drypoint 7 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. Dense Wood — Bristol, ME, 2002 Oil on canvas 48 x 48 in. Distant Island, no date Oil on canvas 20 x 20 in. Dusk, 2000 Oil on canvas 40 x 50 in. Edge of Wetlands, 1987 Oil on canvas 50 x 60 in.

Flight, 1985 Oil on canvas 40 x 60 in. Hofstra University Museum Collections Gift of David Resnick and Iwonka Piotrowska HU2012.53 Good Fishing, no date Etching and drypoint, A/P 5 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. Harbor Island I, 1974 Oil on canvas 40 x 39 1/2 in. Hofstra University Museum Collections Gift of David Resnick and Iwonka Piotrowska HU2013.20 Ledges, Maine, 1985 Oil on canvas 51 x 51 in. Marshes, 1983 Oil on linen 40 x 50 in. Hofstra University Museum Collections Gift of David Resnick and Iwonka Piotrowska HU2009.9

continued

Migration, 1980 Oil on canvas 41 x 48 in.

Sketchbook, 1989 Graphite or ink on paper 11 x 8 3/4 in.

Trees, Streams, Marshlands Series III, 1987 Pencil on paper 22 x 28 in. framed

Night Wood, 1999 Oil on canvas 50 x 50 in. Hofstra University Museum Collections Gift of Howard and Helen Shaw, HU2013.21

Sketchbook, 1999-2002 Graphite or ink on paper 6 x 6 1/2 in.

Wetlands in Dry Times, 2003 Oil on canvas 48 x 67 in.

Sketchbook, 2001-2002 Graphite or ink on paper 9 x 11 3/8 in.

Wetlands in Mist, 1990 Oil on canvas 50 x 72 in.

South Shore Dunes, 1985 Oil on canvas 40 x 50 in.

Woodland Series, no date Watercolor on paper 10 3/4 x 7 7/8 in. Woodland Series #20, no date Watercolor on paper 11 x 8 5/8 in.

Sketchbook, 1975 Graphite or ink on paper 8 1/2 x 5 3/4 in.

Steely Sky, 1983 Oil on linen 42 x 50 in. Hofstra University Museum Collections Gift of Howard and Helen Shaw HU2009.10

Sketchbook, 1984-1985 Graphite or ink on paper 6 x 8 3/4 in.

Touch of Light, 1998 Ink on paper 22 x 28 in. framed

Quiet Pond, 1972-1973 Oil on canvas 43 x 51 in. Rare Light, no date Oil on canvas 47 x 60 in.

Woods/Rocks, 2004 Oil on canvas 40 x 50 in.

All works are on loan from the estate of Don Resnick, unless otherwise noted.

HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY Stuart Rabinowitz President Andrew M. Boas and Mark L. Claster Distinguished Professor of Law Herman A. Berliner Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Lawrence Herbert Distinguished Professor HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM Beth E. Levinthal Executive Director Karen T. Albert Associate Director of Exhibitions and Collections Caroline S. Bigelow Senior Assistant to the Executive Director Kristy L. Caratzola Collections Manager Tiffany M. Jordan Development and Membership Coordinator Nancy Richner Museum Education Director Renee B. Seltzer Museum Educator Marilyn Zucker Museum Educator Graduate Assistant Frantz Lucien Jr. Graduate Student Staff Lauren Chessari Aram Pourmehdi Lindsay Ralbovsky Undergraduate Assistants Roberto Hernandez Nicholas Stonehouse Julia Szaniawska Caroline Wilkins

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