Modernism in Taos

Taos #5 - 1948

Recently re-reading David L. Witt's book, Modernists in Taos: From Dasburg to Martin, I was struck by the impact Dad's 1948 summer in Taos had on his subsequent work, and probably also his teaching and writing.  In Taos to attend Louis Ribak's Taos Valley Art School, Dad would have had contact with some of the most forward-looking artists of his day and seen their work first-hand.  Among these artists were Ribak and his wife, Beatrice Mandelman, Andrew Dasburg, John Marin, Tom Benrimo and many more, who made this tiny New Mexico town a vital center for the development of Modern art.  I believe Dad stayed in contact with Benrimo, and certainly with Louis and Bea Mandelman, who later lived part-time in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, as did my parents.

Dad must have felt that in Taos he was at the forefront of current painting practice.  Already familiar with John Marin's watercolors and an accomplished watercolorist himself, Dad's loose handling of the medium, and often his breaking up of pictorial space, must have received additional impetus that summer.

These two aspects of his painting, the looseness of paint handling and the Cezannesque/Dasburg/Marin
breaking up of the picture plane, remained constant threads throughout Dad's career.  He taught them to his students in Stamford, and also students of his widely-used high school textbook, Brush and Palette.

Provincetown Art Association and Museum Donation

We recently donated this painting, Day into Night, to the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, also know as PAAM.   The painting is probably from the 1980's and used to hang to the left of the fireplace in Mom and Dad's living room in Harwich.  As Dad had been a long-time member of PAAM and participated in several of their annual artist-member exhibits, I know he would be proud to be represented in this collection.  The collection includes work by William Zorach, Wolf Kahn, Franz Kline, John Singer Sargent, William Merrit Chase and other luminaries of American art.

Sunset on Cape Cod Bay

This rosy painting has no name, so I have given it one, Sunset on Cape Cod Bay.  It's 38 x 48."  Dad usually titled his paintings on the canvas where it wraps around the stretcher, but I couldn't find anything on this beauty except a label from an exhibition at the Rockport Art Association, unfortunately not dated.   Even with its predominant rosy reds, this painting has a stillness that evokes the end of the day.

Before the Storm

With the assistance of The Art Connection in Boston, "Before the Storm" has just been donated to Whidden Hospital.   Whidden serves the communities of Everett, Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop and Malden, MA.    We, the family, are please to have Dad's work going to public collections where it can be appreciated by many for years to come.

This is an acrylic on canvas in Dad's favorite size, 30 x 40."

August brings memories of Rockport and Gloucester, where my earliest summers were spent, with Dad off every morning to the fishing harbor and back every afternoon with a new painting. In this one you can practically hear the foghorn. There are gulls crying, too, and the gentle lap of waves against the boats. I believe that's "Motif #1" in the background, which places this scene in Rockport harbor.

Lost Painting

On February 4th a water pipe froze and burst in the studio, where Dad's watercolors are stored along with my paintings. The photo above shows two waterlogged and frozen rugs we tossed out to dry in the sun - and then it snowed again. One of Dad's watercolors, dating from World War II, was lost, so this image is a kind of memorial. We were lucky that it was only one painting, plus a beautiful print by my California friend, Dorothy Churchill-Johnson, and a number of (replaceable) picture mats that were damaged. The studio itself had had to be dried out, the walls punctured to release dampness, the sink cabinet below the burst pipe replaced, the walls rebuilt, etc. In all, an upsetting but not catastrophic event, well covered by insurance. Dad's painting of Missouri barns and fields, though, is gone for good.

Taos Trees

Imagine having the energy to paint like this in one's eighties! It's a large painting, 33.5 x 47.5", done after a trip to Taos early one October in the 1990's. Dad was obviously thrilled by the colorful, expansive vistas we drove through, and kept a clear memory to paint from. He records the extremes of color and value that occur in high mountain light, and sets up a contrast between the close, dark forest and a distant mountaintop.

Dad had also been looking at Wolf Kahn's paintings at this time. You can see him trying out Khan's simplified compositional sense, and succeeding. The desire to try something new remained a hallmark of the Sorgman career right up to the end.