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拍品专文
Painted in 1872, Seining on the Tappan Zee, Nyack, New York is among Francis Silva's most successful forays in the luminist idiom, characterized by an emphasis on openness, clarity and a sense of preternatural calm. Silva's talent in transposing the light of various times of day is evident in the translucent veils of color used to capture the gentle glow of sunlight as reflected off the white sails and tranquil water. As seen in this stunning work, the artist's refined use of color, nuanced application of tinted light and crystalline, calm waters define his unique and celebrated pictorial vision.
Luminism, deemed by scholar John Wilmerding as "the culminating phase of Hudson River Painting," (American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1980, p.1) reflected the particularly American consciousness of the effects of light and atmosphere and is widely considered to be the aesthetic counterpart to Ralph Waldo Emerson's treatise Nature and the writings of Henry David Thoreau. While the Luminist movement was not formally categorized until 1954 by noted art historian J.I.H. Baur, artists' preoccupation with depicting a nature of empty quietude can easily be found in the works of Silva's predecessors Fitz Henry Lane, Martin Johnson Heade and Sanford Robinson Gifford, among others. Baur noted that luminist "technique was a polished and meticulous realism in which there is no sign of brushwork, no trace of Impressionism, the atmospheric effects being achieved by infinitely careful gradations of tone, by the most exact study of the relative clarity of near and far objects and by a precise rendering of the variations in texture and color produced by direct or reflected rays." (as quoted in J.A. Craig, Fitz H. Lane: An Artist's Voyage through Nineteenth-Century America, Charleston, South Carolina, 2006, p. 153)
An untrained artist, Silva set up his studio in New York in 1867 following a brief tour in the military during the Civil War. Possessed by a certain wanderlust that led him to travel extensively, he traversed the coast in search of subject matter. In the 1870s, he made frequent trips up the Hudson River, recording the sites in a series of sketches and then painting back in his studio. Mark Mitchell writes, "By far the most famous of Silva's themes from this early period was not formal, but geographic: the Hudson River...his Hudson River scenes are among his most charming and effective early works... Perhaps the phenomenon is best explained as a serendipitous consequence of time and geography, of Silva's concurrent artistic maturation and awareness of his Hudson River School predecessors on their turf." (Francis A. Silva: In His Own Light, exhibition catalogue, New York, 2002, pp. 33-34).
Seining on the Tappan Zee, Nyack, New York, a magnificent example of Silva's Hudson River subjects, typifies his work from the early 1870s. A masterwork of striking light, palpable atmosphere and fine detail, the artist depicts the picturesque locale with an extraordinary sense of depth as the serpentine fishing net guides the viewer’s eye back towards the reflective horizon. Using these techniques to not only capture the scene but convey the emotion solicited by its wonders, the painting visualizes the artist’s statement: “A picture must be more than a skillfully painted canvas; — it must tell something.” (as quoted in J.I.H. Baur, "Francis A. Silva, Beyond Luminism," in Antiques, November 1980, p. 1018)
Luminism, deemed by scholar John Wilmerding as "the culminating phase of Hudson River Painting," (American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1980, p.1) reflected the particularly American consciousness of the effects of light and atmosphere and is widely considered to be the aesthetic counterpart to Ralph Waldo Emerson's treatise Nature and the writings of Henry David Thoreau. While the Luminist movement was not formally categorized until 1954 by noted art historian J.I.H. Baur, artists' preoccupation with depicting a nature of empty quietude can easily be found in the works of Silva's predecessors Fitz Henry Lane, Martin Johnson Heade and Sanford Robinson Gifford, among others. Baur noted that luminist "technique was a polished and meticulous realism in which there is no sign of brushwork, no trace of Impressionism, the atmospheric effects being achieved by infinitely careful gradations of tone, by the most exact study of the relative clarity of near and far objects and by a precise rendering of the variations in texture and color produced by direct or reflected rays." (as quoted in J.A. Craig, Fitz H. Lane: An Artist's Voyage through Nineteenth-Century America, Charleston, South Carolina, 2006, p. 153)
An untrained artist, Silva set up his studio in New York in 1867 following a brief tour in the military during the Civil War. Possessed by a certain wanderlust that led him to travel extensively, he traversed the coast in search of subject matter. In the 1870s, he made frequent trips up the Hudson River, recording the sites in a series of sketches and then painting back in his studio. Mark Mitchell writes, "By far the most famous of Silva's themes from this early period was not formal, but geographic: the Hudson River...his Hudson River scenes are among his most charming and effective early works... Perhaps the phenomenon is best explained as a serendipitous consequence of time and geography, of Silva's concurrent artistic maturation and awareness of his Hudson River School predecessors on their turf." (Francis A. Silva: In His Own Light, exhibition catalogue, New York, 2002, pp. 33-34).
Seining on the Tappan Zee, Nyack, New York, a magnificent example of Silva's Hudson River subjects, typifies his work from the early 1870s. A masterwork of striking light, palpable atmosphere and fine detail, the artist depicts the picturesque locale with an extraordinary sense of depth as the serpentine fishing net guides the viewer’s eye back towards the reflective horizon. Using these techniques to not only capture the scene but convey the emotion solicited by its wonders, the painting visualizes the artist’s statement: “A picture must be more than a skillfully painted canvas; — it must tell something.” (as quoted in J.I.H. Baur, "Francis A. Silva, Beyond Luminism," in Antiques, November 1980, p. 1018)