Timeless 1
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Timeless
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T
Dear Friends,
wo years ago we celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of Zaplin Lampert Gallery. In recognition, we produced a retrospective catalogue of some of our favorite, not to mention some of the most important, works of art that we had the privilege of representing during those three decades. Last year, we created a follow-up catalogue, aptly entitled Encore. The theme was the reunion of “good friends”: special works that had previously come and gone through the gallery. Once again, we were enjoying the opportunity to offer those works to another group of collectors.
By timeless, I’m referring to those qualities that hold appeal from generation to generation, from place to place, and as a result, have withstood the test of time. Images by the hand of an accomplished artist communicate something of the human element that we can recognize, and it connects all of us, whether it has to do with a spiritual ceremony, a reverence for the natural world, or the quest for beauty. These are all fundamental characteristics that link us with each other, as well as with our past and our future. Beyond that, another essential factor that distinguishes timelessness is excellence of execution. I believe that the work displayed in these pages is evidence of some of these artists’ finest efforts.
I hope you enjoy looking at these images as much as we have enjoyed them in the gallery, and that you can take the time to savor a moment with them. Warmest regards,
Richard Lampert, May 2019
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This year, the art selected for our catalogue speaks of something else, an idea both meaningful and inspiring that exists at the heart of true artistic endeavors everywhere. One word sums it up: Timeless.
Primarily, Timeless features the work of esteemed artists who were drawn to and were inspired by the American West. This is Southwestern Art, it is Western Art, but mostly, it is strong American Art. We can still imagine the exhilaration and the hardships experienced by the early explorer artists George Catlin and Karl Bodmer, and share the wonder of the western landscapes that Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt brought before the awed American public in their day. These artists affected public sentiment and likely whet the appetite for others who followed and who chronicled the many facets of life and landscape in the region that is our main focus in these pages. Among them are W.R. Leigh, Charles Russell, Edward Curtis, members of the Taos Society of Artists and Santa Fe art colony, Nicolai Fechin, and Leon Gaspard. And finally, adding a nod to a quintessential American artist, we’ve included two paintings by Andrew Wyeth, whose thoughtful words inspired the title of this year’s catalogue.
F
echin
1881–1955
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Nicolai
“A
rt, like the whole of our life, submits to the eternal law of change, and any attempts to stop it at one particular level are like vain attempts to stop time itself.”
– Nicolai Fechin, “Fechin on Art,” from Nicolai Fechin, Mary N. Balcomb Portrait of Eya c. 1920–1922 Oil on canvas 211/2 x 201/2 inches Signed lower right
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Out of Doors, Alexandra Fechin c. 1915–1920 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches Signed lower right
Leon
G
aspard
1882–1964
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“A
ll European rules for color harmony are ignored; the color tone is pure Asiatic. These paintings, we are reminded, did not come from a student’s color chart in the Art Students League. They come from the hinterland heart of Eurasia, despite the French Impressionist technique that applied them to canvas.” – Frank Waters, Leon Gaspard
Kirghiz Girl – Cossack 1922 Oil on board 14 x 11 inches Signed lower left
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G
aspard
1882–1964
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Leon
Above Two Zuni 1922 Oil on canvas on board 93/4 x 131/4 inches Signed lower left Left Woman at Taos Pueblo c. 1930 Oil on board 151/4 x 20 inches Signed lower left
Joseph Henry
S
harp
1859–1953
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Pueblo Drummer c. 1920 Oil on canvas 16 x 20 inches Signed lower right
C
ouse
1866–1936
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Eanger Irving
Above The Camping Place 1924 Oil on canvas 24 x 29 inches Signed lower left Right Western Sunlight c. 1916–1917 Oil on board 8 x 10 inches Signed lower left
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“T
aos was everything Couse had dreamed of. The Taos people and their routines of life at the Pueblo satisfied all of his artistic requirements and desires. He recognized that in the Pueblos of the Southwest he had found the ideal Indian subjects for his paintings.” – Patricia Janis Broder, Taos: A Painter's Dream
Bierstadt
1830–1902
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Albert
Above The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak 1869 Chromolithograph 163/4 x 273/4 inches Signed in the plate lower right Right A Storm in the Rockies - Mt. Rosalie 1869 Chromolithograph 181/4 x 32 inches Signed in the plate lower right
Thomas
M
oran
1837–1926
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Left Cliffs of the Rio Virgin (a.k.a., Quarries of the Gods, View of the Virgin River) 1913 Oil on canvas 20 x 30 inches Signed and dated lower right Above Tuolumne River Near the Head of the Great Cañon c. 1890 Oil on paper, mounted on board 123/4 x 93/4 inches Artist’s cypher lower left
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Victor
H
iggins
1884–1949
“H
– Mabel Dodge Luhan, as quoted in Higgins, Dean Porter
Rounded Mountain Forms c. 1924–1927 Oil on canvas 24 x 271/8 inches Signed lower right
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e has a dramatic appreciation of the contrast between the scope and violence of nature when it is unleashed upon these vast ranges that surround our high tableland; and the indomitable unconquered spirit of men living in scattered hamlets that hug the land.”
Ernest L.
B
lumenschein
1874–1960
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“B
eauty and drama are the things that move me most, and we find plenty of both in our wonderful Southwest. To get it on canvas is my happy job.” – Ernest Blumenschein, letter to Lutcher Stark, July 30, 1957
Apache Country Prior to 1927 Oil on canvas 25 x 301/4 inches Signed lower left
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B
erninghaus
1874–1952
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Oscar
The Wood Haulers, Taos, New Mexico c. 1919 Oil on board 101/2 x 12 inches Signed lower left
William R.
L
eigh
1866–1955
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Pueblo Village 1911 Oil on board 6 x 9 inches Signed lower left
F
leck
1892–1977
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Joseph
House in the Sun 1924 Oil on canvas 14 x 14 inches Signed lower left
Carlos
V
ierra
1876–1937
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Rio Medio c. 1920 Oil on board 177/8 x 24 inches Signed lower right
E
llis
1897–1985
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Fremont
After the Ride c. 1930 Oil on artist board 16 x 20 inches Signed lower left
Joe Anna
A
rnett
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Sunflowers and Dahlias Oil on linen 22 x 28 inches Signed lower left
Will
S
huster
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1893–1969
And This God Too – Pueblo Indians Before Shrine 1932 Oil on canvas 36 x 30 inches Signed lower right
Howard
S
chleeter
1903–1976
“S
– Alexander Masley, “The Art of Howard Schleeter,” New Mexico Quarterly, Volume 22, 1952
Spanish Colonial – Our Lady of Light 1940 Oil on Masonite 45 x 22 inches Signed lower left
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chleeter’s paintings offer intriguing surprises of bewitching effects. He is an experimenter in unorthodox methods of color mediums. . . . In any exhibition of paintings of artists of the Southwest, Schleeter’s style is unique. This is not the result of an eclectic fusion of borrowed styles and mannerisms, but rather of a slow evolution resolving itself in what one can call the Schleeter style.”
B
ierstadt
1830–1902
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Albert
The Last of the Buffalo 1891 Photogravure 16 x 271/4 inches Signed lower right
Edward S.
C
urtis
1868–1952
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Son of the Desert 1904 Silver photograph 131/8 x 10 inches Signed lower right
C
urtis
1868–1952
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Edward S.
CaĂąon de Chelly 1904 Goldtone photograph in original frame 11 x 14 inches Signed lower left in the plate
“N
ear the end of the Blackfeet summer, Curtis told Grinnell his mind was set. He would embark on a massive undertaking . . . a plan to photograph all intact Indian communities left in North America, to capture the essence of their lives before that essence disappeared.” – Timothy Egan, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis
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The Three Chiefs 1900 Goldtone photograph in original frame 11 x 14 inches Signed lower right in the plate
M
oran
1837–1926
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Thomas
Above Hot Springs of Gardiner’s River, Yellowstone National Park c. 1875 Chromolithograph 93/4 x 14 inches Signed in plate with artist’s cypher, lower left Right The Castle Geyser, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park c. 1875 Chromolithograph 93/4 x 14 inches Signed in plate with artist’s cypher, lower left
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“I
have always held that the grandest, most beautiful, or wonderful in nature, would, in capable hands, make the grandest, most beautiful or wonderful pictures, and the business of the great painter should be the representation of great scenes in nature. All the above characteristics attach to the Yellowstone region, and if I fail to prove this, I fail to prove myself worthy the name of painter.” – Thomas Moran, letter to Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, expedition leader of the U.S. Geological Survey to Yellowstone, March 11, 1872
B
odmer
1809–1893
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Karl
Sih-Chida & Mahchsi-Karehde c. 1840 Hand-colored aquatint line engraving 191/2 x 161/2 inches
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Pehriska-Ruhpa c. 1840 Hand-colored aquatint line engraving 161/2 x 14 inches
George
C
atlin
1796–1872
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“M
y painting-room has become so great a lounge, and I so great a ‘medicine-man,’ that all other amusements are left; and all other topics of conversation and gossip, are postponed for future consideration. The chiefs have had to place ‘soldiers’ (as they are called) at my door, with spear in hand to protect me from the throng, who otherwise would press upon me; and none but the worthies are allowed to come into my medicine apartments, and none to be painted, except such as are decided by the chiefs to be worthy of so high an honour.” – George Catlin, North American Indians: Being Letters and Notes on Their Manners, Customs, and Conditions, Written During Eight Years’ Travel Amongst the Wildest Tribes of Indians in North America 1832-1839, Volume 1
North American Indians c. 1844 Hand-colored lithograph 171/2 x 13 inches
Henry
F
arny
1847–1916
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A Blackfoot Hunter 1902 Tempera and gouache 101/4 x 71/4 inches Signed and dated lower right
Charles M.
R
ussell
1864–1926
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“S
even years ago a boy of fourteen years left his home in St. Louis and came to Montana, going into the Judith Basin, where he got employment on a cattle ranch and has remained ever since. With the lapse of years and growth to manhood the young fellow developed into an expert cowboy . . . But the spark of artistic genius, implanted in his soul, soon made itself visible . . . Mr. Russell’s forte lies in depicting animated scenes . . . all drawn from his Montana life on the range and their faithfulness is surprising.” – “A Diamond in the Rough,” Helena Weekly Herald, May 26, 1887
The Broken Rope 1902 Watercolor 193/8 x 281/8 inches Signed and dated lower left
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B
aumann
1881–1971
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Gustave
Taos Placita
1927 Color woodblock print 28 of 125 91/4 x 11 inches
Signed lower right with hand-in-heart chop
“A
– Calla Hay, “Gustave Baumann,” El Palacio, Volume 78
Hopi Katzinas
1925 Color woodblock print III - 55 of 125 12 x 123/4 inches
Signed lower right with hand-in-heart chop
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Koshare with a Puckish face stands sentinel on the roof of the house . . . where Gustave Baumann, internationally famed artist, lived for nearly 50 years, . . . It is significant that Koshares are the delightmakers of the pueblos. Baumann was a delightmaker in the world of art, a thoughtful man with a sense of fun which often surfaced in the diverse works which flowed from his mind, his heart, and his extremely facile hands.”
Gene
K
loss
1903–1996
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“I
saw that I must so far as possible be a sponge; soak up everything I saw; must know the manners and customs of the people and their employments—in short, absorb all that it was humanly possible to absorb. I started in to paint, paint, paint!” – The artist on his first impressions of being in the Southwest
Rugged Land 1934 Drypoint and aquatint Edition of 30 103/4 x 133/4 inches Signed lower right
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Church at Trampas, New Mexico 1936 Drypoint, roulette, and aquatint Edition of 30 9 x 12 inches Signed lower right
A
pplegate
1881–1931
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Frank
Spring at Chimayo, N.M. c. 1920 Watercolor 111/2 x 171/4 inches Signed lower right
James
A
sher
1944–2019
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Interior – Cordova Church 1993 Watercolor and gouache 19 x 27 inches Signed lower right
W
yeth
1917–2009
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Andrew
Rod and Reel 1975 Watercolor 21 x 295/8 inches Signed upper right
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W
yeth
1917–2009
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Andrew
Snowed In 1980 Watercolor 193/8 x 261/2 inches Signed lower left
“P
– Andrew Wyeth, “Andrew Wyeth: An Interview,” Life, May 14, 1965
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eople talk to me about the mood of melancholy in my pictures. Now, I do have this feeling that time passes—a yearning to hold something— which might strike people as sad. And I grant you, my things aren’t high key in color or joyous or Renoiresque . . . I think the right word is not ‘melancholy,’ but ‘thoughtful.’ I do an awful lot of thinking and dreaming about things in the past and the future—the timelessness of the rocks and the hills—all the people who have existed there. I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the landscape.”
Š2019 Zaplin | Lampert Gallery
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Designer Alex Hanna, Invisible City Designs Photographers Jamie Hart and John Vokoun Color Separatons Firedragon Color
651 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 505.982.6100 zaplinlampert.com
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651 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | 505.982.6100 | zaplinlampert.com