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Lot Essay
Thomas Moran is perhaps the most renowned painter of the American landscape. Awed by the majestic qualities of North America, he sought to capture its beauty and power in canvases that express the sense of potential and possibility that is unique to the American experience.
Moran's landscapes belong to a style of painterly naturalism that depend on Abstract Expressionism and visual brilliance for effect. For Moran, nature provided the raw stimulus to the artist's imaginative capacities. While the landscape was a fundamental element, the artist drew equally on his own internalized experience and vision. In an interview published in 1889 Moran noted: "I place no value upon literal transcripts from Nature. My general scope is not realistic; all my tendencies are toward idealization. Of course, all art must come through Nature...but I believe that a place, as a place, has no value in itself for the artist only so far as it furnishes the material from which to construct a picture."
Moran and his wife first visited East Hampton, Long Islan, New York, in the summer of 1878 and quickly fell in love with the quaint village "with its main street shaded by magnificent elms and poplar trees, and its quiet lanes where one might meet sauntering cattle or flocks of hissing, honking geese. It was so like a peaceful English village that it won Moran's heart and filled him with nostalgia. He remained loyal to it for the rest of his days. Two scenes he loved above all others, he once declared--the Grand Canyon of Arizona with its kaleidoscopic colors...and the town of East Hampton with its heartwarming, antique, rural charm." (T. Wilkins, Thomas Moran: Artist of the Mountains, Norman, Oklahoma, 1966) Numerous other artists such as William Merritt Chase and Childe Hassam traveled to East Hampton as well, seeking serene settings for their summer work, thereby forming a small but impressive art colony. In 1884 Moran built "The Studio", the first fully equipped artist's studio in East Hampton, which became the artist's home until the end of his life.
The Passing Shower, East Hampton demonstrates how East Hampton appealed to the artist's romantic sense of color and his mastery of atmospheric effects. Moran idealizes the grassy Long Island countryside by piling the sky with clouds and casting an ethereal breaking light onto the rich, green foliage. The effect is dramatic yet serene, "with land and sky united harmoniously by the light reflected from the surface of the painting." (R.G. Pisano, Long Island Landscape Painting: 1820-1920, New York, 1985)
This painting will be included in Stephen L. Good's and Phyllis Braff's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Moran's work.
Please be advised that persons who may be beneficiaries of the Walter E. Brown, Jr. Living Trust may bid on their own account for this lot.
Moran's landscapes belong to a style of painterly naturalism that depend on Abstract Expressionism and visual brilliance for effect. For Moran, nature provided the raw stimulus to the artist's imaginative capacities. While the landscape was a fundamental element, the artist drew equally on his own internalized experience and vision. In an interview published in 1889 Moran noted: "I place no value upon literal transcripts from Nature. My general scope is not realistic; all my tendencies are toward idealization. Of course, all art must come through Nature...but I believe that a place, as a place, has no value in itself for the artist only so far as it furnishes the material from which to construct a picture."
Moran and his wife first visited East Hampton, Long Islan, New York, in the summer of 1878 and quickly fell in love with the quaint village "with its main street shaded by magnificent elms and poplar trees, and its quiet lanes where one might meet sauntering cattle or flocks of hissing, honking geese. It was so like a peaceful English village that it won Moran's heart and filled him with nostalgia. He remained loyal to it for the rest of his days. Two scenes he loved above all others, he once declared--the Grand Canyon of Arizona with its kaleidoscopic colors...and the town of East Hampton with its heartwarming, antique, rural charm." (T. Wilkins, Thomas Moran: Artist of the Mountains, Norman, Oklahoma, 1966) Numerous other artists such as William Merritt Chase and Childe Hassam traveled to East Hampton as well, seeking serene settings for their summer work, thereby forming a small but impressive art colony. In 1884 Moran built "The Studio", the first fully equipped artist's studio in East Hampton, which became the artist's home until the end of his life.
The Passing Shower, East Hampton demonstrates how East Hampton appealed to the artist's romantic sense of color and his mastery of atmospheric effects. Moran idealizes the grassy Long Island countryside by piling the sky with clouds and casting an ethereal breaking light onto the rich, green foliage. The effect is dramatic yet serene, "with land and sky united harmoniously by the light reflected from the surface of the painting." (R.G. Pisano, Long Island Landscape Painting: 1820-1920, New York, 1985)
This painting will be included in Stephen L. Good's and Phyllis Braff's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Moran's work.
Please be advised that persons who may be beneficiaries of the Walter E. Brown, Jr. Living Trust may bid on their own account for this lot.