Winter 2019 Preview

Winter 12 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com J .M.W. Turner, Hans Hofmann, Claude Monet, Walter Launt Palmer, and Joseph Whiting Stock are all artists featured in our Winter issue. In different ways, elements of natural forces inspired them all, but in particular, Turner, Monet, and Hofmann. On view at Mystic Seaport Museum, Connecticut, its only venue in North America, J.M.W. Turner: Watercolors from Tate , shows the Romantic artist’s visionary experimentation and radical style in the context of his watercolors. Not generally created for display but as sketches to capture the surroundings that inspired him during excursions, Turner’s watercolors offer a more intimate connection with the genius whose work anticipated the modern art movement in the next century. The artist used the unforgiving medium of watercolor to explore various techniques to amplify the emotive forces and energy within nature through color, light, and a sense of motion. Describing these expressive and fragile works, author Nicholas Bell (pages 64–71) notes that it was “Turner’s dexterity in watercolor [that] defined what was achievable within the simple ingredients of water, paper, and pigment.” Also enchanted with nature’s mutable character, impressionist Claude Monet had a more controlled approach to his art. Rather than record nature as it presented itself during his sojourns, as did Turner, “Monet was intentional in his choices and strategic in his travels . . . [having] a clear vision of the compositions and color palettes he intended to explore,” says Angelica Daneo in Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature (pages 98–103). Like Turner, Monet understood the power that light and atmosphere held in revealing the character of his subject, be it haystacks, people, or buildings. Artist Hans Hofmann also used color and light, in his case, for abstract works. Looking to the “push-pull” forces in nature as inspiration (pages 80–87), he stated, “Nature stimulates in me the imaginative faculty to feel the potentialities of expression which serve to create pictorial life.” In America’s Southwest, the Pueblo potters hold a sacred respect for nature steeped in tradition. For thousands of years, the techniques of making pottery vessels and the deep-seeded heritage they hold have been passed down, with successive generations incorporating their personal imprints. Among the traditions are motifs, sometimes representational, sometimes abstracted, taken from nature, such as a spider to mean good luck. Specific motifs are often favored by a particular family, as in the Chapella family’s use of butterfly imagery in their work. In this issue, Scott Shields (pages 72–79) introduces us to some of the Southeast’s most prominent artisans in clay. The work of these and other artists discussed in this issue reveal their deep reverence for nature and its sublime beauty. Enjoy! Johanna johanna@antiquesandfineart.com Photography by Ellen McDermott LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Established 1976 Clive Devenish Antiques P.O. Box 6720, Incline Village, Nevada 89450 (510) 414-4545 www.clivedevenishantiques.com clivedevenishantiques@comcast.net Member: Antiques Dealers' Association of America Circa 1910 41”" x 27½" (poster only) 28" high x 28" wide