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The Artist’s
Almanac
October 2007
download and print this installment as
a PDF
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it here free)
Beauty is one of the rare things that
do not lead to doubt of God.
- Jean Anouilh
We awake and open the door. The air is cool, and the pasture is
filled with October Light. The lake sparkles again with sunlight.
The rain that broke the worst drought here in living memory has
cleared the air. From the hill field we can once more see the
white tower of the abandoned nuclear plant twenty miles upriver,
shining like some Taj Mahal dedicated by a developer to his dead
dream. Perhaps it will serve, as Constable’s church towers, as a
distant focal point for artists, reaching skyward for God.
Artists see things we all do, but fail to notice. Once Monet
showed us how light dances on water and Van Gogh how the stars
swirl, we saw it; nature imitates art.
Artists are the interpreters of our world and they are not bound
by one lifetime. One such is my friend, David Wright. David paints
a world we cannot see until he visualizes it for us - the time of
the founding and the forging of our nation, from 1780-1865. His
favorite subjects include Native Americans, the pioneer settlers
who supplanted them, the American Revolution, The War of 1812, and
the American Civil War. He has a deep feeling for our land and
landscape - especially the American West and the trappers and
explorers who opened it to us.
Most painters of conflict specialize in anguished scenes of
warfare. David departs from this crowd, painting character rather
than combat. This youngster has plenty of both.
The Veteran – David Wright, Artist
In Uninvited Visitors two frontier woodsman study
approaching Indians. One of them stands with his rifle at the
ready but not yet raised defensively, while the other remains
crouched, ostensibly roasting venison, but with both rifle and
knife at the ready for what comes. The Indians are noncommittal,
approaching carefully but not aggressively. The horses are alert,
watching either the approaching party or beyond, to others we
can’t see.
The snow both simplifies the picture and heightens the palpable
tension that fills the void between the parties. Do they come to
trade, to spy, for horses, to kill, to offer a daughter as wife,
or to negotiate peace? The viewer is left to wonder – all options
are open. Thus the excitement of the painting.
Uninvited Visitors – David Wright, Artist
The scene could be anywhere in the Mississippi drainage between
1780-1830. The model for the hollow sycamore is a much-painted
tree, several centuries old, on Desha’s Creek at the Hwy 31E
bridge. David had to reduce the size of the tree to get it in.
Note the beautiful veracity and details of the painting
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The composition and beautiful texture of the sycamore – how it
leans into the picture to contain it, the rhythm of the smaller
branches and the heft of the limb thrust left for balance.
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The individuality of the snowflakes, with their random floating
tilt, disappearing as they melt above the fire. The view of
distant trees through snow.
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The visual pun of the hunkering figure set against the contrasting
dark of the opening in the tree, knife unsheathed, rifle at the
ready and at half cock, ready to fall behind the tree and cover
his partner as he reloads.
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The poised tension and great gesture of the main figure and the
palpable dirt on both men who have not bathed since late summer.
Few areas have so rich a history, as the Deshas were ancestors of
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of The UK, of Lyndon Johnson,
President of the US, and of Joseph Desha, the fifth Governor of
Kentucky. The tree, which offers the Longhunters the advantage of
shelter in a gun battle, is reminiscent of the tree Thomas Spencer
spent his first winter in at Bledsoe’s Lick. The effect is great
art: we are ready to suspend disbelief.
Uninvited Visitors - Detail
Many great artists go long periods or even lifetimes without
recognition. Although David is already an artist of national
renown, and has been nominated for an Emmy for his artistic
direction of the PBS Special on The War Of 1812, this time he has
hit a home run.
The Eiteljorg Museum in the center of Indianapolis is the only
museum of its kind in the Midwest, and one of only two museums
east of the Mississippi that showcase both Native American and
Western art, culture and history. This huge 118,000 sq ft building
contains one of the best of such collections in the world,
including traditional and contemporary work by artists such as
Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, N. C. Wyeth and Georgia
O’Keefe. This year in its Quest for the West show it
invited fifty painters to exhibit 157 pieces. From these one was
chosen by the Eiteljorg judges to add to their permanent
collection where it will hang in the museum’s with the Russells,
Remingtons and other icons of the art of the American West. This
year the choice was David Wright’s Uninvited Visitor.
David first encouraged me to expand my interest in painting more
than thirty years ago by choosing my Rites of Passage for
the State calendar. Since then the road between our houses has
been well worn, for he does me the honor of critiquing my
paintings and asking for my comments on his. We are founding
members of Southern Light Artists of America,
www.southernlightartists.com, where you may see all of David’s
work, as well as mine, Frank Gee’s and Joel Knapp’s.
David and I share an intense interest in Pioneer and Revolutionary
War History, and are capable of living for hours at a time in the
18th Century. I congratulate David on his signal honor and will be
driving north soon to visit my two favorite museums – both in
Indianapolis.
Then, on November 13th on the site of the new Gallatin Library,
Rites of Passage will, after thirty years, make its first
public appearance as a Giclee, to be auctioned off for the benefit
of the Library.
Upcoming Events
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October 5th-7th – Fall Into Art Show
– Hendersonville High School, Juried Show of 40 Regional Artists
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November 13th – Benefit Show and
Auction, New Gallatin Public Library, under tent, Public Square,
Gallatin
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November 30th-December 2, Twelfth
Annual Fine Art in Brentwood Show and Sale, Brentwood Academy
David in his studio with three paintings sold at the museum show
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