Bøger af Scott A. Shields

The most in-depth examination of the rich and varied careers of one of California's premier artistic couplesFeatures previously unpublished works and new scholarshipPositions the artists within the context of their peers, both in California and nationallyAccompanies a major retrospective exhibition at the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA (30 April-27 August 2023); travels to the Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA (14 October 2023-7 January 2024; and the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN (28 January-30 March 2024)An Esquire Top 25 for 2023 In reaction to the widespread pursuit of Abstract Expressionism in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Paul Wonner and William "Theophilus" Brown were among the artists in the San Francisco Bay Area who began to re-engage with the visible world, applying the gestural style of action painting to depictions of people, landscapes, and still lifes. Together, the couple aligned themselves with this new direction and became leading practitioners of the style known today as Bay Area Figuration. Over time, both artists' works became less gestural and more overtly representational. Brown became known for his psychologically evocative landscapes with classic bathers, as well as for his lonely urban scenes. Wonner received greatest acclaim for his "baroque" still lifes laden with everyday objects, animals, and flowers. Published to accompany the most comprehensive exhibition of the artists' work ever mounted, this exquisite publication offers an in-depth study of these trailblazing artists. Exhibition at the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA (30 April-27 August 2023) travels to the Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA (14 October 2023-7 Jan 2024); and the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN (28 January-30 March 2024).

One of the most gifted of the historic California plein-air painters, Edgar Alwin Payne (1883-1947) utilized the animated brushwork, vibrant palette, and shimmering light of Impressionism, but his powerful imagery was unique among artists of his generation. While his contemporaries favored a quieter, more idyllic representation of the natural landscape, Payne was devoted to subjects of rugged beauty. Largely self-taught, he found inspiration and instruction in nature itself. His majestic, vital landscapes, informed by his reverence for the natural world, are imbued with an internal force and an active dynamism. An avid traveler, Payne was among the first painters to capture the vigor of the Sierra Nevada, and his travels through the Southwest resulted in equally magnificent depictions of the desert. In Europe he rendered the towering peaks of the Alps and the colorful harbors of France and Italy. His unending quest to convey the "unspeakably sublime" in his landscapes won him widespread acclaim-one prominent critic called him a "poet who sings in colors." Released in conjunction with the traveling exhibition organized by the Pasadena Museum of California Art, Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey presents more than 125 reproductions of Payne's paintings, drawings, and decorative arts, as well as rarely seen photographs from the artist's travels and selections from his personal collection of compositional studies. Essays by Peter H. Hassrick, Lisa N. Peters, Scott A. Shields, Jean Stern, and Patricia Trenton trace Payne's development as he traveled the world, discovering magnificence in diverse settings ranging from the California coast, the Sierra Nevada, and the stark Southwest desert to the Swiss Alps and the harbors and waterways of Europe. A richly researched chronology by Shields presents the biographical influences that shaped Payne's illustrious career.