September Issue 2001
Hampton III Gallery in Taylors, SC, Features American Fine Prints Exhibit
John
Locke
Through Sept. 29, Hampton III Gallery in Taylors, SC, is exhibiting works from American print makers working from the turn of the century through the 80's. These artists include such notables as Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, Rockwell Kent, John Taylor Arms, John Sloan and Howard Cook. In all, thirty seven prints are on display. On Sept. 1 at 2pm, Sandra Rupp, director of the gallery, will talk about the exhibition.
Thomas Hart
Benton
Among the works included in the exhibition are three wood engravings by Grace Albee. In 1932 Albee was one of the first Americans to receive a solo exhibition in Paris. In 1976, the Brooklyn Museum devoted an entire wing to her retrospective. Albee uses fine lines and soft modulated grays to create her landscapes. Forgotten Things (1943) is an example of a modest Pennsylvania farm scene, a subject for which she is known.
Fritz Eichenberg was the founder and director of the Pratt Graphic Center in Manhattan. His delightful wood engraving The Steps (1954) reflects life in New York. A dozen varied personalities congregate on the small stage of the apartment steps, engaging in a multitude of activities: mothering, courting, debating. The solid, rich black areas are encased by fine white lines of demarkation.
An Iowa landscape July Fifteenth (1938) by Grant Wood is a lithograph that projects the fertility of the land. Nature stretches out in expansive rolling mounds that are carved out by patches of plantings. A hint of a building shows through the foreground of trees. A distant cloud is formed by a passing train. The soft tones and curved lines created by Wood's stone markings create a gentle idealism that exhibits a country rich in nature's offerings.
Clare Leighton is represented by four wood engravings. A strong, independent woman, she made a mark on the art world by helping to revive the interest in print making that was resurrected during WWI and WWII. The simple work tasks attracted her and became her choice of titles: Threshing, Haymaking, Sowing, Scything, Limbing, To the Milking, Sheep Shearing, Corn Shucking, to name a few.
Doris Lee
Doris Lee has been described as an American scene painter. Her charming depictions of Mid-Western America combine a style of realism and modernism. The lithograph Helicopter (1948) creates a playful look at farm life. A couple looks up from their plot of page three land to view a strange new machine flying overhead. Albert Reese in American Prize Prints of the 20th Century described her:
"Doris Lee is blessed with an infectious humor akin to some of the American primitives with whom her work has much in common. In both we find a touch of phantasy and the decorative note that lends a rhythm and a pleasing grace to the subject."
Prentiss
Taylor
Prentiss Taylor is known to students of the Charleston Renaissance. Although born in Washington, DC, during the first half of the 20th century, he travelled often to the South contributing to the art climate in Charleston, SC. Assembly Church (lithograph, 1936) and Service Club (lithograph, 1939) are included in this exhibition.
Other prints in the exhibition include three etchings by John Taylors Arms (noted "as America's finest 20th century etchers"), two lithographs by Howard Cook, five prints by Jay McVicker, Etching Press (1949) by Charles Quest, and two woodcuts from Quest's contemporary at Washington University, Werner Drewes. These prints, along with others, represent a variety of mediums: etchings, lithographs, aquatints, silkscreens, woodcuts, wood engravings.
For more information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings or call the gallery at 864-268-2771, or e-mail at (hampton3gallery@mindspring.com).
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