Art Knowledge News
Rare Works by Clark Voorhees to be Shown at Hawthorne Fine Art |
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| Written by Marshall N. Price |
| Monday, 02 November 2009 00:51 |
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Held closely by his family for generations, the paintings of Clark Voorhees have traditionally been hidden from the public eye. In this exclusive showing, scheduled to run for 3 months, Hawthorne Fine Art will highlight 30 significant paintings by Voorhees depicting a range of subjects which include Newport, RI; Old Lyme, CT and Bermuda. Select works will be for sale.  Gallery owner
Jennifer Krieger considers the exhibition an extraordinary honor. "It is
exceedingly rare to uncover a hidden trove of work by a first-rate American
Impressionist, especially one with so many polished large-scale works," she
explains. "Voorhees' works possess technical and stylistic qualities that
unquestionably parallel those of his contemporaries Willard Metcalf, William
Merritt Chase, John Twachtman and Childe Hassam." The exhibition will be accompanied by a scholarly catalogue written by Marshall N. Price, noted art historian and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Academy of Design. Price comments, "This exhibition not only helps to reveal an understudied artist, but also sheds much needed light on Voorhees' important contributions to the art colony at Old Lyme, Connecticut." Although trained as a chemist at Yale, Voorhees was more interested in collecting bird nests and sketching. His journal entries after his long bike rides reveal an artistic eye and soul: “The country we passed through on the way up was an ideal New England farming district. . . The road passes by very old farm houses and by fresh bottom lands covered in wheat.” In 1894, he began taking art classes in the evening that eventually led to his studying at the Académie Julian in Paris and touring around Europe with his new artistic friends. He was so enamored with Old Lyme that he bought a house at the end of the painting season and moved there permanently with his new wife the following summer. Named Ker Guen, meaning “white house” in Dutch, the Voorhees house overlooked the Connecticut River and, along with the lush flower-filled gardens, was painted by several Old Lyme artists. Coming early to Old Lyme and staying late, Voorhees’ artistic style ran the gamut from dark tonal landscapes to brighter impressionistic scenes. Fascinated with moonlight and snow, Voorhees would adapt his style to the particular subject at hand. Other paintings by the artist are on display in the collections of the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, CT, and the Chicago Union League Club. Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~ |
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