Drawings make visible the mind of the artist. In collecting oral histories for the Archives of American Art I had the privilege of spending considerable amounts of time with prominent art-dealers and collectors. The late Eugene V. Thaw had a passion for drawing, as did the late Richard Gray. Both seemed to regard the connoisseurship of drawing as a mark of the most advanced collectors.
James Lancel McElhinney. Ballyheerin, Knockalla and Mulroy Bay from Leatbeg. Dry media on paper. 17.5 x 25 inches. Framed
I am grateful to Tony Carretta for curating several of my works in the online exhibition Drawing Today 2020.
Tony’s enterprising spirit has rallied an admirable roster of wonderful artists, many of whom have been dear friends over many years.
The exhibiton is a reminder that while life is short, art endures. Hope abides in the age of COVID.
Drawing from observation remains the best way to transform visual experience into knowledge and ideas. Drawing from memory allows one to shape knowledge into new visual experiences. Each of these practices informs the other. Fieldwork is generally regarded as preparations for the studio production of finished works. My approach is slightly different. The practice is the art, to which research, travel, sketchbook and studio activities are integral, reciprocal processes. After seeing a collection of penschildern by Van de Velde at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, I was encouraged to revisit the idea of graphic painting. In the late nineties I had produced a series of large palimpsests, combining maps, pictures and texts celebrating historic sites. As with my journal-paintings today, these works scorn the notion that drawing was mere lab-work, somehow inferior to paintings on canvas.
A selection of works available:
James Lancel McElhinney. Tara From Skreen. 17.5 x 24 inches. Framed
James Lancel McElhinney. Hudson Highlands from Storm King 17.5 x 24 inches. Framed
James Lancel McElhinney. Fort Washington on ther Potomac. 17.5 x 24 inches. Framed
James Lancel McElhinney. In the Margin of the Rockies. 17.5 x 24 inches. Framed
James Lancel McElhinney. Fort Lee aka Fort Constitution. 17.5 x 24 inches. Framed
James Lancel McElhinney. Bastion Belvedere: Constitution Marsh and West Point from Boscobel. 17.5 x 24 inches. Framed
James Lancel McElhinney. Canyon de Los Frijoles. Bandelier National Monument. 17.5 x 24 inches. Framed
James Lancel McElhinney. Fort Macon. North Carolina. 17.5 x 24 inches. Framed
Drawing Today 2020. Curated by Tony Carretta. New Arts Projects, Litchfield Connecticut.
PDF:
All works in the exhibition are available for purchase.
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Peruse previous posts here. Dispatches #1-70. April 1-June 8, 2020.
Coming Soon: Hardcover. $24.95. From Schiffer Publishing. Release date: September 2020.
