ISSUE 4 // 3.8.2021

John J. Enneking (American, 1841-1916), The Chocolate Factory
Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches

WHAT’S NEW

Shelf Life

It’s here! It’s finally here! Madron Press’s latest publication, William S. Schwartz: Color and Coloratura, officially launches this Wednesday. Art & Antiques Magazine is excited, with William S. Schwartz on this month’s cover (don’t subscribe, click here). You’ve still got two days left to pre-order from our website (last chance to get that sweet, sweet 10% discount at checkout using offer code SCHWARTZ.) Starting March 10th you’ll also be able to order it on Amazon. So go grab a copy for yourself, your family, your friends, your enemies, that person you had a conversation with in line at Starbucks that one time. And if you’re so inclined, do leave us a review — it’s more helpful than you know. We’re so excited to get Schwartz’s story out there and to get this book into your hands. We hope you love it.

In with the New

Speaking of Schwartz, take a look at Landaker Hotel, Arkansas, which was just recently acquired by the gallery. The saturated colors — vibrant greens inflected with yellow, a blue-grey stormy sky with light bursting through — are hallmarks of the artist’s landscapes, and were frequent lauded by critics.

William S. Schwartz (American, 1896-1977), Landaker Hotel, Arkansas,
Gouache, 21 x 28 1/2 inches (sight)

And while we doubt many Chicagoans will be missing winter much after that brutal February cold snap and nearly 40 inches of snow, we do adore the tranquil countryside blanketed in white found in Winter Sunset by John J. Enneking, another of the gallery’s recent acquisitions:

John J. Enneking (American, 1841-1916), Winter Sunset, 1870
Oil on canvas, 16 x 27 inches (frame: 25 x 35 ½ inches)

WHAT’S NEXT

Spring Forward

Feeling antsy after a winter spent cooped up indoors? Come see Madron’s new show, Spring and Weird People. Featuring some of our favorite lush, blooming landscapes and a whole cast of characters from our portraiture collection, this show lets you wander among gardens, meadows, and forests even as we’re still waiting on the last of the snow to melt. Schedule a visit today — we’d love to see you.

Also ahead: Keep your eyes open for an announcement about a contemporary sculpture show coming this summer featuring the work of artists Dusty Folwarczny and Marshall Svendsen (in the meantime you can check out Dusty’s work here and Marshall’s work here!)

WHAT’S THAT PAINTING UP TOP?

Nothing Compares

For those of you with a keen eye, you may have noted that the painting at the top of the newsletter (The Chocolate Factory) and one of our new acquisitions (Winter Sunset) are by the same artist, John J. Enneking. So why do they look so different? Winter Sunset, dated to 1870, was made while Enneking was still studying in Boston under Samuel Gerry, a Hudson River School artist known for his renderings of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The highly detailed realism of the Hudson River School comes through in Enneking’s landscape, an obvious reflection of Gerry’s influence. Two years later, in 1872, Enneking left the United States to travel Europe for four years. It was his time in Paris in particular — studying alongside Jean Millet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Camille Corot — that would shift his artistic trajectory. Impressionism and inflections of Tonalism found their way into Enneking’s subsequent work, his brushstrokes loosening and his palettes becoming more atmospheric. The Chocolate Factory is a prime example of what Enneking’s later style evolved into, a piece dominated by earthy, shadowy tones set aflame at the top by the dying light of day.