Madron Gallery

This little watercolor and gouache remained in the artist’s collection until after his death in 1954, eventually sold alongside a few other works to a private collector in Los Angeles. Perhaps it was saved as a study, or the intimate piece held some significance for Parker. The work on paper somehow survived his frequent moves between Chicago, New York, and Paris, as well as the fire that destroyed his studio in Giverny during World War II.

Lawton Parker, "Summer Garden," c. 1915,
13.5 x 9.75 in., Watercolor and gouache on paper

Happy 4th of July!

Madron will be closed July 2 - 5 in observance of the holiday.

Jane Peterson's panorama could easily be a Chicago beach this weekend!

Jane Peterson (1876-1965), "Beach Scene #2,"
c. 1920, Oil on canvas board, 12x16 inches

⬅ For sculpture in the round

On tip toe, the figure in Harriet Whitney Frishmuth’s “The Vine,” stretches up and back in a dramatic backbend, mirroring a living vine. The posture of ecstasy perhaps an allusion to the revelers of Dionysus, the god of wine.

In the early 1900s, Frishmuth studied sculpture in Paris under Auguste Rodin. During this period, sculptors such as Rodin and Camille Claudel were deeply inspired by new forms of choreography. Although Frishmuth studied with Rodin briefly, she adopted his emphasis on starting from the outline and implying motion through expressive modeling.

Frishmuth was well known for collaborating with professional dancers, and the model for “The Vine,” Desha Delteil, was one of her most frequent subjects, posing for thirty-three of her works. Delteil was a skilled dancer with the Fokine Ballet; while the company was rooted in classical technique, its choreography emphasized dramatic, liberating movement. Although the figure holds a difficult pose, the silhouette reflects a sense of ease and rapture.

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, “The Vine,” 1921,
Bronze, 11.5 x 0.75 inches

Despite being known as the “American Giverny,” the artist's colony at Old Lyme, Connecticut was not known for the sun-dappled scenes typical of French Impressionism. Instead these artists attempted to capture the ethereal glow of the moon scattered over the New England landscape. Among the Old Lyme residents, these nighttime scenes were referred to as “rainy day paintings” — when the weather was unfavorable to plein air painting, the artists would retreat to their studios, conjuring nocturnes out of memories of the woods and waters of the coastal town. In Robert Vonnoh's "Lingering Rain, Moon and Eventide," the stream leads us back to the old farm house like a hazy apparition.

Robert Vonnoh (1858-1933), "Lingering Rain, Moon and Eventide,"
c. 1925, Oil on canvas, 25 x 30.25 inches