untitled
shark vs the universe
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
gracie abrams
Fai_Ryy
Noah Kahan
EXPECTATIONS
Mike Driver
d e v o n
🩵 avery cochrane 🩵
Misplaced Lens Cap
One Nice Bug Per Day
❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
Claire Keane
h
oozey mess
Cookie Run:Kingdom Official!
No title available
official daine visual archive
Color Me Curious
seen from Türkiye
seen from Tunisia
seen from India
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Guatemala
seen from Malaysia
seen from Vietnam
seen from Pakistan
seen from Qatar
seen from India
seen from United States
seen from Algeria
seen from Colombia
seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from Hungary
seen from Germany
seen from Malaysia
seen from United Kingdom
@tucsonmuseumofart
Collection Connections: Horse Series
Richard Thorpe McLean
American (U.S.), b. 1934
Banana Beau, 1980
serigraph, 211/250
Gift of Sarah Schuster. 1995.233
Though considering himself a still-life painter, McLean’s most popular theme are realistic horses and their riders. Basing many of his images from horse magazines, whether of racehorses and jockeys, horses on a farm, or military horses, the artist’s work has hyper- realistic, photographic qualities.
Collection Connections: Horse Series
Lon Megargee
American (U.S.), 1883-1960
Wild Horse Race
woodblock print
Gift from the Bernard and Jeanette Schmidt Estate, 2012. 2013.5.11
Megargee evokes the spirit of a wild horse race with the sweeping, curved lines and stark color contrast. He utilized the concept of using positive and negative space in this woodblock print. In a sense, using negative space creates a visual effect that tricks the eye to see an image. Here, there are horses and cowboys full of action and excitement.
Collection Connections: Horses Series
Paul Brach
American (U.S.), 1924-2007
Last Light, 1984
oil on canvas
Acquired with funds provided by Ben Heller. 2001.40.1
Brach, though born in Brooklyn, NY, wanted to either become and artist or ride horses. In fact, for several summers he worked on a ranch in Arizona during his teenage years. In the art world he is mostly remembered for his contributions to modern and contemporary art, but in the 1970s and 1980s he also produced Western landscapes featuring horses. On the top and bottom border of Last Light the artist painted simplified patterns which echo those found in textiles of the Southwest region. The horses galloping freely are very simplified and small within the large canvas.
Collection Connections: Horses Series
Oscar E. Berninghaus
American (U.S.), 1874-1960
Team of Horses
pencil on paper
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Mitchell. 1985.6.5
Best known as a member of the Taos Society of Artists, Berninghaus looked at the Southwest with a keen eye for elements of detail, shape, and color. This image of a pair of horses evidences the artist’s focus on the horse on the left and its gear. It can be a challenge for artists to render horses because of their unique body forms, but another degree of difficulty is added with the placement of the harnesses, bridles, and bits.
The transportation of people and goods occurred for centuries via horses pulling carriages, wagons, and carts. In the West, wagon trains and Conestoga wagons moved across the plains and mountains for trade and settlement. Berninghaus traveled via train, and significantly, Overland trails so he was exposed to horse travel.
Collection Connections: Horse Series
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Flathead Salish, American (U.S,) b. 1940
Untitled (from the “Kalispell Series”)
pastel
Gift of Eleanor Caldwell. 2008.19.1
Horses are an integral part of Smith’s work and culture. She integrates connections between Native American histories and tribal stories with today’s world. The horse depicted in this pastel is simplified and basic, but she uses the horse as an image among other noticeable icons with their own meanings: celestial bodies, spiritual figures, bold shapes, and patterns.
Collection Connections: Landscape Series
Ellen Wagener, Twisted Sisters, 2015, pastel, 15 x 15 in. (38.1 x 38.1 cm). Tucson Museum of Art, Gift of the Artist. 2016.17.1
Ellen Wagener, Twisted Sisters, 2015, pastel, 15 x 15 in. (38.1 x 38.1 cm). Tucson Museum of Art, Gift of the Artist. 2016.17.2
Ellen Wagener’s Twisted Sisters
Arizona Artist Ellen Wagener donated two pastels to the Tucson Museum of Art’s permanent collection. Both titled Twisted Sisters, these works were on view in Big Skies/Hidden Stories: Ellen Wagener Pastels (January 16‒July 24, 2016). Originally from a 24 piece series dedicated to sudden and violent weather patterns in the Southwest, the two pieces show dramatic landscapes in Arizona during the monsoon.
Wagener is inspired by the academic landscape traditions of the Hudson River School, American Luminism, and twentieth-century Iowa artists. In her artist statement about the pastels, she wrote, “Monsoons, dust storms, and haboobs are a regular part of Southwest action -packed weather patterns. The season "officially" begins in June and lasts through September. However, the dust often kicks up through the year, blocking the sun out for miles...usually in the late afternoon.
Twister, haboob, monsoon winds, side-winder, tornado, dust devil, thunderstorm, duster, shelf cloud, sand storm, dust storm, cold front, gravity current, warm front, viga (rain evaporates before hitting the ground), downburst, microburst, bora (wind), gustnado, macroburst, dust wall, outflow boundary, khamsin, gust front, intrepid convergence, funnel, wedge: this is a list of the individual names of the 24 pieces (in the series). Each is a technical meteorological term used to describe the various nuances of the ‘monsoon season.’”
Born and raised in Iowa, Wagener received a B.F.A. from the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1989. In addition to the Tucson Museum of Art, her work has been featured at the Brunnier Art Museum at Iowa State University, the Yuma Fine Arts Center, the Phoenix Airport Museum, and in group exhibitions across the country. Her work is in public and private collections including the Figge Art Museum, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, and the Dubuque Museum of Art.
Collection Connections: Landscape Series
Nicolai Fechin
Eucalyptus, ca. 1927-1933
oil on canvas
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Shull. 1980.023
Fechin was born and artistically trained as an artist in Russia, but in 1923, during the Bolshevik Revolution, Fechin took his wife and daughter to Taos, New Mexico. There he became part of a southwestern art movement within the Taos Art Colony. At this time, Fechin used broad, slashing palette-knife strokes as seen in this painting of a eucalyptus tree.
Collection Connections: Landscape Series
Jack Van Ryder
American (U.S.), 1898-1968
Mountain Symphony, 1955
oil on canvas
Gift of Constance Van Ryder. 1994.128
Van Ryder’s work has a distinctive palette and outlook on the landscape of Southern Arizona. The perspective extends for miles in the distance, fading into soft tones of light blue, green, and violet. A rancher in Southern Arizona, Ryder painted drama and allure of the landscape looking to create an idyllic, almost fantastic scene. The land appears untouched by man, perhaps a commentary about man’s admiration of nature: often a humbling relationship.
Collection Connections: Landscape Series
Jody Forster, American (U.S.), b. 1948
Sumner Butte, Grand Canyon, Arizona, 1980
gelatin silver print
Gift of the Photographer. 2008.22.1
Forster’s work consists mostly of majestic black-and-white photographs of the West and Southwest. Based in New Mexico, he focuses on large-scale compositions of mountains, plains, and skies. An avid outdoorsman, he braves rough terrain and elements to achieve the image he desires. The photographer often works side by side with P.A. Nisbet, a landscape painter.
Forster is a modern-day photographer of the West, following in the tradition of photographer William Henry Jackson. Jackson explored the West and documented such sites as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone in the late nineteenth century. He worked in very difficult conditions and with heavy, fragile equipment, but his images were conclusive evidence of the striking landscapes that had seemed like a fantasy at that time. Forster brings similar Western images to life again, reviving the almost mythical presence of the unique lands of the West for new audiences to experience.
Collection Connections: Landscape Series
Gerry Peirce
American (U.S.), 1900-1969
Picacho Peak
watercolor
Gift of Mrs. Frances Emmons.
A painter, teacher, etcher, illustrator, and author, Peirce was known for his unique approaches to the atmosphere and land. The artist first graduated from the Cleveland, Ohio School of Art and then attended the Art Students League in New York, but established himself in the Tucson area. Look closely at the colors Peirce chose in Picacho Peak. Why do you think he chose this particular color scheme?
Collection Connections: Landscape Series
Walt Kuhn
American (U.S.), 1877-1949
Rocks with Trees, Prescott, Arizona, 1928
Oil on canvas
Gift of Art of the American West Patrons. 2008.6
Recognized for modernist images of the circus and portraits, Kuhn also painted scenes of the American West. During the summer of 1928, the artist visited Prescott, Arizona and completed this painting. Of the seven works he painted while there, he destroyed all but two. Kuhn painted other Western-themed works, but they were mostly derived from books and other reference material.
Collection Connections, Landscape Series:
Duncan McCandless
American (U.S.), b. 1941
New Mexico Landscape #204, 1990
watercolor
Virginia Johnson Fund. 1991.66
Concentrating on grandiose skies and low horizons, McCandless expresses his awe of nature. After extensive travels across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, and Mexico, he found that one of the greatest inspirations for him is California and the American Southwest. Possibly his watercolors convey tranquility, evident in the treatment of clouds and sky.
Collection Connections, Landscape Series:
Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt
American (U.S.), b. Sweden, 1878-1955
Desert Hills (Arizona), 1951
watercolor
Gift of Mrs. B.J.O. Nordfeldt. 1978.136
Nordfeldt’s approach to landscape painting was to create simplistic and abstracted forms rather than realistic depictions. Considered one of the early twentieth century American modernists, he painted southwest settings while in New Mexico. For a time, the Taos Society of Artists recognized him as a member.
Collection Connections, Landscape Series:
Merrill Mahaffey
American (U.S.) b.1937
Deep Canyon Morning, 1984
acrylic on canvas
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Small, Jr. 1995.97
Mahaffey painted an immense canyon while including bold, striking colors and emphasizing natural configurations and patterns. He looks to interpret the awe and wonder of the scene. A native of the Southwest, the artist’s attractions range from rivers and canyons to open, rugged lands. He often travels to these sites for personal experience and context.
Collection Connections, Landscape Series:
Orrin Sheldon Parsons
Cottonwoods and Hacienda, ca 1920-1930
oil on board
Virginia Johnson Fund. 1994.026
A successful portrait and landscape artist in New York, Parsons sought a “healthier” climate after contracting tuberculosis in 1912. Therefore the artist and his daughter moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Upon experiencing the color and architecture of the Southwest, he decided to focus only on landscape painting. He was one of the earliest resident artists of the area, predating the Santa Fe Art colony established in the 1920s.
Collection Connections at TMA, Landscape Series:
Gregory Kondos
American (U.S.), b. 1923
Lost Sheep Ranch Ramah, New Mexico, 1991
Oil on canvas
Gift from the Artist’s loving son, Steve, Kondos. 2006.4.1
Set in the foothills of the Zuni Mountains, Kondos paints a dramatic cliff with colorful striped bands. He extensively traveled through the Southwest, where he found great inspiration in New Mexico. His goal was to explore the region and find a way to capture its spirit in his art, to “See it, feel it, experience it.”
The horizontal striping evident in the portrayal of the mountains is reminiscent of those found in many designs of Navajo textiles. Conceivably, the artist wanted to blend a southwest environment with a Native American art form, figuratively weaving the two together to create a unique landscape.
Collection Connections:
Residing in the West for over thirty years, Kitchel's exposure to unique landscapes across the country has influenced her artistic development. Her mature work has persistently sought the answer to what meanings lay within landscape painting. Many artists of the nineteenth century instilled the artistic philosophy to represent Western lands from a vast, spiritual, and masculine point of view. Over time, Kitchel has rejected this concept, instead moving toward a systematic and fragmented approach of representation.
In her work, Kitchel focuses on what lies at your feet: a landscape of living, interconnected parts. Distinct from typical landscape paintings, which include foreground, mid-ground, and background of earth and sky, space, and scale, the artist takes away the horizon line and looks with an unexpected perspective. The viewer is immersed into and confronted with nature, looking directly into an ecosystem often overlooked.
The artist stated, "I am disturbing the notoriously romantic terrain of landscape painting. Hiss issues a feminist challenge to the genre of sublime landscape painting, which traditionally includes fixed conventions of timeless, unchanging beauty, a distant horizon line, and an elevated "eye of God" viewpoint." Hiss was inspired on March 19, 2005, ". . . the day the U.S. military forces invaded Iraq. I was working as an artist-in-residence at the Ucross Foundation . . . listening to the radio reports of the unfolding tension on the ground in Iraq while I was working in the studio. After the President's announcement that U.S. forces were going into Baghdad, I took a break to go outside and collect my thoughts. As I was pondering the inevitably, dramatically changing future that was triggered that day, I disturbed a nest of snakes. The literal and metaphorical parallels implicit were too ironic to ignore."
Karen Kitchel, Hiss, 2005, oil on wood panels, Virginia Johnson Fund.