Kiechel Fine Art

Rockwell Kent & “Variations on Modernism”

Kiechel Fine Art — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:26:13 +0000

Among the first generation of American Modernist painters, Rockwell Kent’s work was strongly marked by his background as an architect and his plein air training. Through his work, he sought to give a creative response to the natural world that so captivated his imagination.

Greenland (Spring) reflects this desire: monumental renderings of sky, mountains, and sea, reduced to essential forms of light and dark, dwarf the foreground figures. The Arctic wilderness, most notably Greenland, provided the mystical bareness and endless expanses that mesmerized Kent throughout his career.

“In the Greenland paintings style and subject matter mesh completely. From the stark contrasts of light and dark, of pure unmodulated color, the artist creates a monumental, coherent style…Vast still spaces with processions of unbroken horizontals create surreal perspectives in which a man is dwarfed by the majestic face of the Arctic…As we look over his shoulder, this is perhaps how Rockwell Kent wishes us to see him: in and of the landscape, paying homage to Nature the best way he knew how, by painting it.” (R.V. West, Rockwell Kent: The Early Years, Bowdoin College Museum of Art exhibition catalogue, Brunswick, Maine, 1969. p. 7)

About Greenland Kent said, “In Greenland, one discovers, as though for the first time, what beauty is. God forgive me that I tried to paint it. “

Kent studied architecture for three years at Columbia University, but chose to shift his focus to fine art. He studied under William Merritt Chase, from whom he developed an interest in plein air painting. He then enrolled at the New York School of Art where he studied under Robert Henri with classmates, George Bellows and Edward Hopper. Unlike Henri and his classmates, Kent was never drawn to portraiture or still life painting. Instead, he developed his plein air landscape painting through extensive traveling. Of the diverse locations, both domestic and international, it was Greenland that had the most substantial effect on his artistic vision.

He traveled there first in 1929. At the time, he was already one of the most notable American Modernists. Yet, it is his Greenland paintings that matured and honed his style, becoming the most significant works of his career. “In his Greenland paintings, Kent brought to maturity a vision and form of expression singularly sympathetic to the dramatic, stagelike configurations of the arctic. He captured the intimidating majesty of icebergs and mountains soaring up from a horizontal background of dark seas and crowned by lowering clouds. In many of his paintings, the sense of remoteness and overwhelming power is intensified by the insignificant role of human beings in the composition. On the other hand, his sharing the lives of the natives so completely brought to his perceptions of them a warmth and intimacy…The Greenland ventures brought Rockwell Kent the kind of celebrity that is the dream of every artist.” (R.V. West, An Enkindled Eye: The Paintings of Rockwell Kent, Santa Barbara, California, 1985, p. 11)

Kent was not the only American Modernist capture the drama of the natural world. In our current exhibition, “Variations on Modernism,” two paintings by Emil Bisttram and Dale Nichols exhibit similar qualities. Bisttram’s Taos Mountain in Spring reflects the grandeur and limitless space of the Southwest. Nichols’ lifelong fascination with Guatemala is reflected in Untitled (Guatemalan Landscape and Figure), in which a massive mountains overwhelm a solitary figure in the foreground. (Read more about Nichols.) A small print by the artist manages to capture this same feeling, this time in a midwestern scene: a small farmhouse in the lower middle, is overshadowed by a large, rolling hill. An expansive night sky dominates the scene, enveloping the man-made structures.

Not all the works in “Variations on Modernism” are landscapes. Artists Howard Cook, Marino Marini, Ben Shahn, Louis Ribak, and Joan Miro are represented, and each has his own take on Modernism. The show is on display January 30 – February 17.

Request additional information about art.
View the show online.

Image list:
1. Rockwell Kent, Greenland (Spring)
2. Emil Bisttram, Taos Mountain in Spring
3. Dale Nichols, Untitled (Guatemalan Landscape and Figure)
4. Dale Nichols, Earth to Rest

Steven DeLair talks about “Variations & Contrasts”

Kiechel Fine Art — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:58:29 +0000

Last week, local artist Steven DeLair invited us into his studio to talk about his new work and his evolution as an artist. His current show, “Variations & Contrasts,” is the result of 5 years of explorations, as Steven abandoned old techniques and ideas in favor of following new “creative impulses.”

About the show, Steven says:

The paintings for this show were selected from a body of work completed over the past five years. The small works in the show are as a whole very different from work done prior to 2005/2006. The larger oils contain some elements of past work but are also a departure from the past.

My professional career began in 1981. The majority of my work was sold in California to local, national and international collectors. Arizona was also a big market with a local and national scope. In addition, I was represented in South Florida for approximately 10 years.

During the period between 1981 and 2005/2006 my approach to painting remained fairly consistent with some modifications and refinements. As the years passed, I increasingly felt a need to expand my creative impulses and venture into new areas in order to reinvigorate my working process.

This show represents a contrast with the past, as well as variations within the new work. Through my exploration of various materials and subject matter I have found new avenues of approach for the present and the future.

“Variations & Contrasts” is on view January 30 – March 9, with an opening reception Friday, February 3, 6-8 p.m.
View additional work.

Preview of Steven DeLair’s “Variations & Contrasts”

Kiechel Fine Art — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:12:38 +0000

Click to view slideshow.

Steven DeLair: Variations & Contrasts
January 30 – March 9
Opening Reception: Friday, February 3, 6-8 p.m.

View the show online.

New work by Steven DeLair featured in upcoming exhibition

Kiechel Fine Art — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:55:12 +0000

Kiechel Fine Art is pleased to announce the first exhibition for Steven DeLair at the gallery. The show, entitled Variations and Contrasts, will be on view from January 30th through March 9th. The opening reception will be held on Friday, February 3rd from 6 to 8 p.m.

Steven DeLair studied fine art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before living and working in Arizona. After nearly 30 years, he returned to Nebraska. His early works, realist large-scale oils, have recently been replaced by a new body of work exploring new methods, materials and style. This conscious break from the past has resulted in richly saturated watercolors and acrylics that balance the line between reality and abstraction. The few canvases in the show reflect the influence of his recent experimentation through more traditional methods. DeLair’s color and style, reminiscent of the Bay area painters, adds a unique perspective to the Nebraskan landscape.

DeLair’s work has been included in private and corporate collections internationally and featured in national publications.

View the show online.

(above)
Bay View Nude
2008, Pigmented ink on paper
4 1/4 x 6 1/8 inches

Featured Art: Mary Cassatt’s “In the Omnibus”

Kiechel Fine Art — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:27:49 +0000

In the Omnibus
ca. 1890-91, Drypoint and color aquatint
printed from three plates on laid paper,
the rare sixth state (of seven)
14 3/8 x 10 ½ inches
Initialed in pencil at lower left ‘M.C’
Breeskin 145; Mathews/Shapiro 7

Provenance:

Private collection, USA

In the Omnibus belongs to the famous group of ten color print subjects created by Mary Cassatt in Paris between 1890 and 1891. It is one of the most visually pleasing, compositionally accomplished and, in certain respects, distinct, examples in the series. At first glance, our attention is drawn to the triangular group of figures formed by the endearing child in a voluminous coat and bonnet bridging the laps of the elegantly dressed, contemplative mother and the dutifully preoccupied nanny. Next, we notice the broad river and distant bridge through the row of windows directly behind the trio of traveling companions. In the Omnibus is the only plate from this series in which Cassatt decides to let her women and children step out of the hushed, indoor settings in which they are typically involved with domestic activities such as bathing, dressing, catching up on reading and correspondence, caring for children, or offering tea to their friends. Her omnibus figures, by using modern, public transportation, come across as far more adventurous, and point to Cassatt’s artistic kinship with other mid-to late nineteenth century artists working in France such as Daumier, Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec, each of whom frequently showed an interest in chronicling contemporary, urban life.

An important feature of the works comprising Cassatt’s 1890-91 color series is the fact that, like all prints, each example is unique. The lines etched into the plates can wear down, different amounts of pressure can be applied during printing and, as in the case of prints such as these which include so much color, the exact hues and saturation levels of the carefully applied inks will always vary. This particular impression of In the Omnibus is beautifully balanced throughout, with the etched lines consistently distinct and the colors wonderfully harmonious. It is an example of the sixth step (otherwise known as “state”) in the artistic development of this composition. By the seventh state, Cassatt and her master printer, M. Leroy, were ready to print the final edition of 25 impressions. The sixth state, offered here, is much rarer. To date, only one other impression has been recorded. It is owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

(In the Omnibus and The Banjo Lesson, along with essays, are featured in our recent catalogue here.)

Join us for a holiday party!

Kiechel Fine Art — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:56:02 +0000

Click to view slideshow.

Warm up with hot cider and great art tonight at our Holiday reception, 6-8 p.m. New and recent works from our local contemporary artists are on display, as well as select pieces from our 20th century collection.

View the show online.
View highlights.

CONTEMPORARY:
Judith Cherry
Neil Christensen
Bill Coulter
Steven DeLair
Stephen Dinsmore
Hal Holoun
Dan Howard
Keith Jacobshagen
Karen Kunc
Barry Monohon
Deborah Murphy
Gary Pummel
Francisco Souto
Josie Stauffer
Diana Woods
Faridun Zoda

20TH CENTURY:

Thomas Hart Benton

John Steuart Curry

Pablo Picasso

…..and more!

New work featured in our holiday exhibition

Kiechel Fine Art — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:52:16 +0000

Our summer and winter shows always feature an eclectic mix of work from all of our local contemporary artist, and this holiday show is no exception.

Barry Monohon, best known for his impressionistic pastel landscapes, contributes two pieces that are wildly different. Barry has been quietly doing these concrete sculptures for several years now, but we just recently got a hold of a group of them. Our holiday show is the first opportunity we’ve had to display them at our gallery.

Steven DeLair, an artist new to our gallery, will be showing his recent body of work in a solo exhibition at Kiechel Fine Art in January and February. Four drawings in our holiday show serve as a preview to this upcoming exhibition. DeLair’s work has been included in public and private collections internationally, as well as featured in national publications. We’re privileged to count him among our artists and excited to offer a sneak peak at his work.

Steven DeLair, left. Dan Howard, right.

Diana Woods contributes three paintings from her new abstract series. Like DeLair, she’ll be featured in an upcoming group show this spring.

Francisco Souto and Pablo Picasso, left. Diana Woods, right.

The show will be on display through January 20th, with a reception tonight from 6-8 p.m. Stop in to find the perfect holiday gift!

View the show online.

Lincoln Journal Star reviews Dale Nichols book and exhibition

Kiechel Fine Art — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:35:19 +0000

Nichols exhibition, catalog detail life and work of Nebraska-rooted artist
L. Kent Wolgamott, Lincoln Journal Star
Published: November 12, 2011

(Excerpt from article) This is the final week for “Dale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism” at David City’s Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art. But it will remain on view, in a fashion, in the fine catalog the museum created in conjunction with the exhibition.

The catalog, written by Bone Creek’s associate curator Amanda Mobley Guenther, already has, for good reason, taken first place in the Mountain-Plains Museum Association book competition.

In tracing the life of Nichols, who was born in David City in 1904, briefly studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, worked as an illustrator before beginning to paint professionally at the urging of William Kentridge in the mid-1930s, and spent most of his life in Arizona and Guatemala, Mobley Guenther has provided a valuable biography of a Nebraska-rooted artist.

In examining the “Ideology Behind the Artist,” she finds some fascinating connections — not only to his boyhood in David City, which provided the subject matter for most of his best-known work, but to art throughout history….

Read the rest of the story on the LJS website.
View work by Dale Nichols.

Hal Holoun at Fremont’s Gallery 92

Kiechel Fine Art — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:40:48 +0000

Work by Hal Holoun will be featured at the Fremont Area Art Association’s Gallery 92. The exhibition will be on view through November 25, with an artist talk November 15, 7 p.m.

Gallery 92 press release: Hal Holoun did not set out to be an artist but, when a teacher at Hastings College introduced him to the creative process, he pursued it with enthusiasm. Holoun earned a B.A. degree in Art and Education from Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska, and an M.A. in Painting from the University of Wyoming, Laramie.

Trained in abstract art, Holoun’s shift to landscape painting was prompted by his captivation with the interplay between earth and sky. Today, Holoun makes painting that are influenced by the rich tradition of American landscape artists, the painterly foundations of 20th century abstractionists, and a deep understanding of the elemental forces of nature to which he was exposed as a child. In finding the balance among those influences, Holoun creates landscapes that reach beyond simple realism. Many of his landscapes take place at either dawn or dusk when the colors are most intense and the earth-sky event most dramatic.

About his work, Holoun says, “My paintings are based on landscape experiences, but aren’t necessarily ‘tied’ to the physical light and form of any particular place. I’m more concerned with attempting to capture the core of the experience – abstracting or distilling light and form until some sort of balance occurs between the painting, and what inspired the painting. In what I feel is my best landscape work, the work goes beyond just rendering my reaction to a local scene – something spiritual and universal happens. This quality isn’t anything I project or calculate prior to painting. I only know it’s there once the painting is completed, and when that happens, it’s as though I wasn’t really involved in the painting; it’s more like I was a mirror or some sort of channel which allowed this image to be formed.”

Born and raised on a farm in Ord, Nebraska, Holoun lived and painted in Grand Island, Nebraska for many years. He now calls Bellevue, Nebraska his home.

His work has been included in numerous group and invitational exhibitions at such institutions as the Tucson Art Museum and the Museum of Nebraska Art. Holoun appeared on CBS-TV’s “Sunday Morning” with Roger Welsch in 1996 and has been featured in American Artist magazine. His work is included in the corporate collections of The Marriott Corp., Los Angeles, and First National Bank, Omaha.

View work by the artist
View Gallery 92 online

Grant Wood trunk on tonight’s Antiques Roadshow!

Kiechel Fine Art — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:30:35 +0000

Tonight watch a special episode of Antiques Roadshow that features the Grant Wood wig trunk available at Kiechel Fine Art! The trunk, along with three metal objects created by the artist, will appear on Junk in the Trunk, an episode with never-before-seen highlights from Roadshow’s 2011 season.

Grant Wood’s trunk was a family heirloom that traveled with the Wood family from Virginia to Iowa. Grant Wood inherited the chest from his aunt. Originally designed for ladies’ hair pieces, this trunk was used by the artist for his receipts and important papers. It was confiscated by the IRS during an investigation of back taxes from 1935-38.

The trunk is accompanied by three metal objects created by Grant Wood. Metalwork was a hobby for the artist. These pieces, from the collection of his sister Nan Wood, were created during his time at Turner Alley. An avid lover of hazelnuts, Wood fashioned the rectangular tray to fit on the artist’s easel for easy access. The round metal object was created for his mother, Hattie, to use as a flowerpot holder. The heavy design, crafted from the iron gear of a sead planter, was inted to counteract her post blowing off the window sill. The tapered object appears primarily decorative; it hung on the porch post of Grant Wood’s Iowa City home.

The trunk and objects are a part of our current show Defining America: Images of the 20th Century and appeared in our recent catalog.

Watch the Episode
Monday, November 7, 7 p.m. CST
Check your local listing for channel.

View the work online
View the exhibition
View the catalogue