Victorian Mansions

Every single house has so much to it. It screams detail, whether you are speaking about the architecture, shape, size, or features, each displays a certain characteristic. I was always very fascinated by painting houses. The shadows and captured light shows so much about a house. Also, the environment in which the house was in could really play a new spin on the interpretation of the structure itself. To concentrate on one of my most well know houses painting, "House by the Railroad", really captures all of these elements that were just mentioned. I created this image by using all of the inspiration from the houses I saw throughout New England and Paris. Everything from the windows, the doors, the size, the chimneys, the columns, the roofs, they are all smaller elements that make a house, a house. The windows in this particular house really make a statement. They are very tall, which lets in a lot of natural light, which also captures a lot of shadows on the house itself. The fourth floor attic is very different therefore can capture a lot of viewers' eye. The columns on the first floor make the size of the house even more dramatic. As you can see, there's so much to think about in this painting. Your eye can be drawn to any detail.

"House by the Railroad"

Ambiguity of Art

When art critics started to begin speaking about my work, they not only judged what was created but people were also highlighting my good and bad times of my career. They spoke and still do speak highly about my hard work and devotion to my artwork. They really spoke especially about each step that I took to have this amazing and successful career. My art isn't displayed in the Whitney Museum, or the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or even the Museum of Modern Art just because one random day I decided to paint on a canvas and make a career out of it. I had to go to school, master my skills, and really make a name for myself. Each and every artist sees and/or views the world differently and uses all of these different mediums to create a sense of expression of the world. Many critics say that my art can display loneliness just because its a painting of a solo figure sitting in a room. But, thats necessarily what I was going for. Don't people just sit by themselves and just look out at something and wonder? I wanted to display scenes of life, and people are constantly sitting thinking about something. But, then again, art gives you that power of creating your own individual view on any piece of art. So, I leave others to think what they want to think about each piece. Take what you want from it and develop your own story. That is what makes art so ambiguous. This can be a good or bad thing. A figure, person, place, or color can have a deeper connection to one person, but not the other. Its all about the viewing experience.

"Summertime"

Who Were my People?

Usually my worked varied from these specific places that were alone, but the other half of the time, there were people in these scenes. In my works, the number of people varied. Their were people who were by themselves, scenes with couples, and some with a larger group of maybe abut four people. Usually with larger groups, each person was similar but also different in some weird way. Each scene told a different story. That is why I wanted to leave it up to each individual viewer. When I did paint a solo painting, they were usually of women, often looking down, looking out the window, or reading. The scenes were isolated and some were very peaceful. Some of the women looked curious, upset, sad, or even relaxed. Again, it has a lot to do with the viewer. With the larger groups, there was often a scene involving conversation. This is to represent human connection and interaction. Because of my past experience with illustrations, those same characteristics of a "story" has carried over to my painting. In addition, the facial expressions and features were not as clear, their faces didn't ever really show as much detail.

"The Room in New York"

"Morning Sun"

How to Distinguish my Art.....

Every artist has their "thing". This "thing" could be a constant use of a medium, material, style, a certain color, object, etc. After studying or even being introduced to a new artist, you can usually find that "thing" that distinguishes that particular artist from another. There is essentially no simple artist. Viewers might think that its simple, but really the detail is so exact and specific. So what distinguishes me? Well, my art is concentrated on the everyday American life. Every day brings something new, whether its fear, a challenge, or even a truth, we always end the day and begin a new one. I wanted to capture that typical life. But by using figures, I was also interested by the concept of architecture. For example, the daily objects that I was constantly painting were people in hotels, theatres, diners, restaurants, trains, streets, gas stations. These were all common everyday things that people passed everyday. People aren't necessarily stopping to look at people sitting in these places, so why not paint what people really look like on a daily basis? Then, going off of my Cape Cod interests, landscapes were always appearing in my sketches. I just couldn't stay away from the simple of our world in which we are surrounded in every single day. My brush strokes were always heavy, exaggerating dark colors and intense shadows. These were essentially my subjects.

"Chop Suey"

"Gas"

Every Single Summer in Cape Cod

So my New England stage then started........There are so many amazing places in New England, but I chose to spend every single summer starting in 1930, to paint and sketch Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I made the decision with my wife, Josephine, also an inspiring artist to build a house right by the beach and just explore as much as we could. Jo especially loved when I did watercolors and was always so encouraging with my artwork and was always willing to help me and give me feedback. Jo and I chose to locate in the town of Truro, where we built our house in 1934. Taking trips to the beach scenes, seeing the ocean, and the beauty of the long landscapes was always so breathtaking to come back to every summer. One of my favorite objects that I captured was the lighthouses. I found myself constantly sketching them, from all different angles and perspective. They were never boring to me because the amount of detail each one had. They have their own uniqueness to them. The shadows, colors, windows, the lights, the shape, the location were all always different. Another favorite of mine of watching the action of the ocean. The waves hitting the rock, the beautiful shades of blue and the reflections from sailors venturing out on their boats. Cape Cod was definitely my place and I never wanted to stop going. Every visit brought something new.

"Cape Cod Evening"

"Corn Hill"

"The Lighthouse at Two Lights"

"Gazing at the Sea"

The Beginning.......

Well, I should probably start from the beginning. I was born in 1882, in Nyack, New York. I had a loving family, who supported my artistic wants and encouraged me to use my skills and create a life with art. I knew very early on that I wanted to be involved with the artistic world, because expressing myself through paintings was all I wanted to do. When I graduated high school, I continued on with this artistic path, by attending a school of illustration in NYC. I learned the skills of an illustrator but, I wanted to start something else. So, soon later I went to the New York School of Art, which is where I started to develop into an American painter. Some of my friends and I went on to study abroad in Europe. After going to Paris for the first time, we just kept on coming back because there was so much, like I mean so much. The architecture, the views, the environment, and the people always caught my eye. After traveling abroad for a couple of years, I came back to New York and continued created art in a studio, and my pieces were then showed through many different exhibits. I had definitely made progress as an artist, realizing that it was a very unpredictable life. You not only have to please yourself, but also your audience. With that being said, I started to widen my range of artwork, like more than just oil painting. In addition to painting, I also reevaluated my sketching skills and became a pro at etching. Being a little more realistic about my range of artwork really gave me a new perspective on life of an artist. After these many years of first declaring myself as an artist, I then transitioned myself into a new part of my life............New England.

"Notre Dame de Paris"

"Paris Street"

"Le Bistro"