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By Carol Sims
The Gist of It
Sometimes you can count on things coming back,
like the swallows of San Capistrano. Sometimes things come back
fortuitously. The return of John Sloan on Drawing and
Painting in the 2000 printing once again makes his teaching
book, The Gist of Art (the bulk of the text), readily
available. Sloan's teachings rise to the surface like a stubborn
chunk of Styrofoam that refuses to be submerged. Like a chunk of
Styrofoam, it can buoy collectors, teachers and artists today who
are swirling around in the whirlpool of today's art world.
Known as a member of ''The Eight,'' John Sloan
(1871-1951) first came to professional prominence as a
Philadelphia newspaper illustrator. He later moved to New York
City and painted some of his best-remembered city scenes. Equally
talented as a painter, illustrator and a poster artist, Sloan was
also a versatile teacher. He could teach abstract art as well as
representational art. Interestingly, he had a fondness for the
''ultra-moderns'' as he called them, and antipathy for artists
who recorded what they saw - a visual representation of reality.
A strong advocate of technique and memory painting, Sloan taught
his students at the Art Students League to paint a true mental
image rather than reproduce ''mere facts.''
The first three chapters ''A Point of View About
Life,'' ''A Point of View About Teaching,'' and ''A Point Of View
About Art'' make for fabulous reading. When he gets into the
teaching chapters, ''Drawing,'' ''Figure Drawing,'' ''Painting,''
one wishes one could see more than the few meager illustrations
that are given. The rambling essays are full of maxims and
exhortations. It demands to have Sloan in front of a blackboard
or expounding on examples during a slide presentation.
Sloan was keen on the predominance of form over
color. This theme comes through the many chapters devoted to
teaching art students. This doesn't mean that Sloan wasn't a
colorist. He just wanted color to be subordinate and supportive
to form. The complex systems of color described by Sloan
demonstrate his profound observation of the masters and his
attention to palette preparation. Other chapters relay his
expertise in other areas - correct application of varnishes and
glazes, how to make a painting endure by using the correct
sequence of layering various materials. He imparts specific
knowledge that collectors will find interesting and art students
will find intimidating.
While the text is a shadow of Sloan's teaching, it
still imparts its essence. ''Gist of Art is composed of notes
taken verbatim while Sloan was teaching in the classroom or
lecturing to an audience of laypeople who had some serious
interest in art,'' wrote Helen Farr Sloan in the introduction.
Sloan's brief text demands more thoughtfulness than the casual
reader will want to give it. People who are seriously interested
in art will study it.
Alla Prima
Alla Prima: Everything I Know about
Painting, while pricey, has helped establish Richard Schmid
as somewhat of a guru among his students. Fifteen years in the
writing, it distills the painter's most important observations
about painting realistically. If a student could ingest Schmid's
teachings through this book it would be a relative bargain. It is
a book for painters by a painter. Whether or not you ever intend
to pick up a brush, Alla Prima is an enlightening book.
Schmid was awarded the John Singer Sargent Award
in June 2000 from the American Society of Portrait Artists
Foundation. His portraits, landscapes and still lifes currently
sell in the $18/132,000 range. He is established as one of the
more sought-after representational (living) painters in the
country. Hence it is no wonder that Schmid is a role model for
many an aspiring painter. Alla Prima has achieved $1.4
million in sales since 1998 according to Kristen Thies, director
of West Wind Fine Art, Manchester Center, Vermont.
Schmid's view on painting is diametrically opposed
to that of Sloan. Reading the two books in succession will be
very useful for getting a well-rounded view of representational
painting. While Sloan advocated the painting of things - a mental
image, Schmid is a recorder of the visual aspect of reality. He
paints the appearance of things and advocates the use of linear
(visual) perspective, which Sloan scorned. In fact, Schmid hails
linear perspective and the painting of light rather than things
as landmark artistic breakthroughs in the history of art.
Schmid states ''When we do a Direct painting from
life, we use the exact shapes of color that light creates on a
subject to create a faithful illusion of what we physically
see.'' He also says ''The object is to capture a subject as it is
before any noticeable changes occur in it, to it, or in the
artist - like a very slow motion snapshot done by hand.''
Another point of divergence is their attitudes
towards modern art. ''I do not include the emergence of
abstraction as a milestone because I do not believe it fits in
with the continuity of painting development that I am describing
here,'' writes Schmid. On the other hand, Sloan embraced modern
art, if not in his own work, certainly as a proponent at The Art
Students League.
It is interesting to note that Schmid counts
Robert Henri, a member of The Eight, friend and mentor to Sloan,
as one of his most important influences. Schmid came across
The Art Spirit by Henri in his student days and it remains
a powerful resource for him.
After reading his treatise, collectors and artists
will understand Schmid's painting process - especially his mental
approach to the task at hand. A technical virtuoso with a
distinct voice of his own, Schmid's compounded knowledge is
impressive.
Modern Artists on Art
When words get heavy with metaphysical density,
they tend to get chopped into snippets. Sometimes artists are
given small quotes in art history books. One of the advantages of
Robert L. Herbert's tidy little book Modern Artists on Art is
that entire essays by such greats as Klee, Léger, Moore, and
Mondrian are presented intact.
It is not a book to read from cover to cover in
one sitting. An essay or two a day will keep the thought well
occupied without fusing together wisps of ideas that float among
the pages. Then they can be savored. The thought processes of the
great modern artist-writers deserve this. These are not just
inkhorn critics. These are the creators. Let's listen to what
they have to say.
Herbert has chosen the authors with care. Each of
the 17 essays brandishes a torch of modernism and is presented in
chronological order. The first essay is by Gleizes and Metzinger,
who wrote on Cubism in 1912. Henry Moore's three succinct essays
conclude the book; his ''Primitive Art'' essay was written in
1941. Some of the essays are long; some are short. Some make
sense; some don't. Of course they don't all agree or even
synchronize. The editor also notes that some of the great modern
artists, namely Picasso and Braque, ''remained silent'' and let
their work stand without words.
While a few of the essays were written in English,
many of them were translated. Originals were published in French,
German, Russian and Italian. Herbert gives a brief introduction
to each author and notes which translation was chosen. In the
case of Kandinsky's ''Reminiscences,'' Herbert's wife
retranslated the influential German Der Sturm version to
make it more readable. Herbert cites the other translations, just
in case we want to compare them.
Herbert got his Ph.D. from Yale University, and
taught art history there from 1956 to 1990. After Yale, he taught
at Mount Holyoke College where he is Andrew W. Mellon Professor
Emeritus of Humanities. The first edition of Modern Artists on
Art came out in 1964, while he was at Yale. One can only imagine
the countless art history students who have benefited by studying
the artists' texts of the 1964 edition. Before it was published
scholars would have had to dig for the essays in far-flung and
foreign publications.
The expanded 2000 edition includes writings of
Schwitters, Lissitzky, Léger and Ernst to include ''salient
statements of the 'machine esthetic' and of Dada and
Surrealism,'' states Herbert. Modern Artists on Art will
give everyone a better understanding of modern art, whether they
are proponents or not.
A Feast of Color
Published just after the September 2000 exhibition
of his work at the Beadleston Gallery in New York City, Wolf
Kahn Pastels is a feast of color that would do nicely on the
table even if you never read a word. That would be a shame
however, because the text gives us Wolf Kahn from Wolf Kahn, as
well as a perceptive and glowing introduction by art historian
Barbara Novak.
Kahn writes ''I believe that every artist has one
medium that determines the way he uses every other one. In
Turner's case, for example, the artist's oil paintings aspire to
the quality of watercolor. Daumier's use of line and tone into
every medium recalls the marks that a lithographic crayon makes
on a stone. Van Gogh's brush marks and palette-knife slashes are
the colored equivalents of the lines a quill pen makes on paper.
In my work, the determining medium is pastel.''
While there are few how-to tips in Wolf Kahn
Pastels, there is a feeling of a demonstration/workshop in
progress with many of the essays that make the reader feel like a
privileged participant. The color plates are complemented by
short lucid descriptions of the inspiration for the adjacent
images. The artist unravels the frame of mind and/or
circumstances that led to the success of each picture. The reader
can see exactly what he is talking about because of the proximity
of the relevant image and the specific nature of the text.
Kahn makes freeing observations on the formal
artistic concerns underlying his pastels. He is more concerned
with attitudes and an open-minded freshness, than he is with the
conventional and restrictive ''let me show you how it's done.''
In fact, Kahn doesn't insist on good drawing in order to create
good art although he is an excellent draftsman. ''The role of
drawing is, for the contemporary artist, a question each artist
must solve anew. 'Knowing how to draw' is no longer an absolute
necessity.''
Born in 1927 in Germany, Kahn was sent to
Cambridge, England two weeks before the outbreak of World War II.
He finally rejoined his family in the US at age 13. Just six
years later, he entered Hans Hofmann's School in New York City.
While inspired by Abstract Expressionism, he never abandoned the
pictorial elements of landscape. Well-known as and artist and a
teacher, Kahn is a member of The National Academy of Design in
New York and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and
Letters. There is an excellent chronology in the book detailing
his many life-long achievements.
This book will appeal to those who love Kahn's
luscious pastels because it is saturated with his beautiful
images. It will also help develop an informed eye.
John Sloan On Drawing and Painting, by
John Sloan; 1939 American Artists Group; 1944 General Publishing
Company, Ltd., Toronto, Canada; reprinted by Dover Publications
Inc., Mineola, New York, 1977 and 2000, paperback, $7.95.
Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting, Richard
Schmid, 1998 Stove Prairie Press, LLC, Fourth printing, April
2000; distributed by West Wind Fine Art, Manchester, Vermont,
800/939-9932; 204pages, 118 color plates, hardcover, $95.
Modern Artists On Art, Second Enlarged Edition Edited by
Robert L. Herbert; 2000 Dover Publications, Mineola, New York;
185 pages, paperback, $9.95. Wolf Kahn Pastels by Wolf
Kahn, 2000, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York City, ISBN
0-8109-6707-3; 156 pages, 100 plates in full color, hardcover,
$45: (also available as ISBN 0-9109-6729-4, a full-cloth slipcase
edition limited to 750 signed copies, $95).
