An interesting browse....

Yesterday I picked up from my local library the coffee-table exhibition catalog that was published for the recent exhibition titled:

Frederic Remington: The Color of Night

National Gallery of Art, Washington and the Princeton Univ. Press, 2003
http://www.nga.gov/feature/remington/remington.htm

'Shortly after the turn of the century, Remington began exploring the technical and aesthetic difficulties of painting darkness.' He is known to have produced 70 nocturnal paintings in the last decade of his life (1900-1909).

Aside from a very interesting discussion of various artists who have depicted night scenes, and the difficulty of doing so, this book ends with a discussion of Remington's palette. Most intriguing to me was the discussion at the back of the book on the history of changes in the manufacture of artist colors in the 19th century, as the art market went from 'hand ground by the artist or apprentice' to the invention of collapsible tubes. The introduction of new 'synthetic' pigments, their qualities of permanence, and other such technical matters makes for a very interesting read for anyone seriously interested in the topic.

i haven't the chance to check this out yet but it does sound informative, thanks for the post. (just so's you know we care)

an excellent website, awesome painter! the notes mentioned something of the 'flash camera', how influenced by photo reference do you figure he was? i would assume very much in some paintings and very little in others; this to help my little painterly ego carry on. thanx again.

Well, I did see a painting with in the foreground a running horse explicitly with all legs from the ground (air borne) It was Muybridge who showed with photos this was indeed the case (before photography nobody was sure and I believe running horses were often painted with some feet touching the ground while running).

Muybridge was very influential around that time (actually a couple of decades before that time) and showed photos to be a great aid to artists. I think it's amazing that no one has followed up his great books with plates of moving people and animals while nowadays technology is so much better.

The book (exhibition catalog) contains a voluminous chapter on the influences of photography on painters of the time, and especially on Remington's 'nocturnes.' Once again, you'll have to get your hands on the book and read it for yourself.

One has to realize that Remington began as an illustrator, painting in ONLY B&W. When he turned to color, he was raked over the coals by critics, and he was his own worst critic on the color issue. According to this latest exhibition catalog, it was the introduction of the 'nocturnes' to his late-life gallery showings that turned the critics from criticism to praise.