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Bert Gallery Current Exhibit
Struggle, Strength, and Dignity: Opportunities for 19th & 20th Century Artists in Providence
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Struggle, Strength and Dignity: Opportunities for 19th and 20th century artists in Providence is an exhibit that explores the assimilation of artists from varying backgrounds into the cultural community. Of particular interest are Women, African American, Italian American and Irish American artists. The first essay on the current exhibit takes a look at a highly successful woman artist in Providence, Emma Swan.
by Catherine Little Bert
May she stand by her colors. In the realm of art woman’s works have spoken for her to show that it is her legitimate domain… In the future artwork will be judged by its intrinsic merit, irrespective of the artist’s sex.
-Sara Eddy, 1884, Rhode Island Woman’s Club papers, Rhode Island Historical Society
ECONOMIC SUCCESS
Overcoming societal barriers, women artists were able to secure a place in the art market by the pursuance of sales and commissions for their work. Emma Swan achieved economic independence through the acceptance of her art by regional patrons. In the late nineteenth century, Swan’s studio in the Wood’s Building was abuzz with activity. Such was her reputation that her studio neighbor, the noted painter E.C. Leavitt, was also her rival for critical acclaim in the area of still life. When not teaching aspiring artists, Swan was busy developing her portfolio for her “eagerly awaited” annual studio exhibits. Many a collector and art enthusiast purchased works from these shows, thus gaining entry into one of the most charming studios in the city. An aesthetic milieu for art, it was noted for being crammed with “old draperies, brick-a-brac and studio furnishings.” Though largely self-taught, Swan spent some time studying with Abbott Thayer. Most of her knowledge, however, was gleaned from the careful observation of the natural world. A large body of work, based on this subject matter, was produced for entry into numerous exhibitions from the 1880’s to the early years of the twentieth century.
During this time, Swan also had a substantial career as a commission portrait painter. Collectors, artists and critical reviewers similarly admired Swan’s painting technique. Whether it be an “exceedingly pleasing painting of a dog,” exquisite morning glories,” or “a rich and harmonious portrait of a golden hair boy,” the artist always received high praise for her work. She was capable of microscopic finish in the age of realism, but as her art matured, color became the dominant factor in her work. In a letter dated 1923, the artist noted, “I feel, more and more that it (color) is a bigger thing in painting than form.” After a long and successful career, Emma Swan was honored by the art establishment with the epithet,” Dean of Rhode Island Women Artist.” Upon her death in 1927, this respected artist and “leading flower painter” left many a female colleague following in her artistic path.
Excerpts from Sketches An Art Journal on the Providence Art Colony 1850 – 1920, Number Two, July of 1991
“Myth of the Dilettante” was one of two pilot issues made possible by a grant from the
Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, Written by Catherine Little Bert and L.J. McElroy
(left) Cameo Portrait, The Parlor, 1903, Oil on Canvas, 8″ x 6″
(middle) Fall Landscape, Oil on Canvas, 9″ x 9″
(right) Girl in Bonnet, Oil on Board, 20″ x 24″
BIOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH
Known as an artist of nature, Emma Swan was primarily a self-taught painter who went directly to nature for her knowledge and inspiration. She was born and raised in Providence and it was her father, a cameo cutter, who taught her in drawing. The young artist met with success almost immediately, becoming an early member of the Providence Art Club and receiving numerous commissions. It was in 1889 and 1890 that she decided to pursue art training beyond her father’s earlier tutelage. She received professional instruction under Abbott Thayer, one of the leading artists and teachers in the country. Many critics indicated that Swan’s “truth and purity of color” was the result of this instruction (Providence Journal 1990). Additional study followed in Europe where she sketched primarily in Germany and Holland.
Emma Swan is best known for her still life and flower paintings. The paintings she produced were thought to be along original lines. Particularly memorable were her paintings of white roses and violets. In an article in the Providence Journal the writer had this praise for her works, “she undoubtedly ranks first among the women artists in Rhode Island and holds an enviable position among leading artists of the country.”(Providence Journal 1900). Even though she enjoyed tremendous popularity painting still life, Swan later switched to primarily painting portraits. In these works she was known for integrating the figure into the background, be it a landscape or room decor.
Struggle, Strength and Dignity Exhibit Description:
When Roger Williams established the religiously tolerant state of Rhode Island, he imbued a progressive spirit into its legacy. How did the 19th century cultural world embrace this heritage? Afro-American artist Edward Bannister (1881 – 1901) earned a first place medal for painting at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition and went on to found the Providence Art Club in 1880, today the second oldest art club in the country. A woman, Mrs. Jesse Metcalf, founded the Rhode Island School of Design in 1878, training women in respectable art professions when there was few employment opportunities open to single woman. By the twentieth century, Italian and Irish immigrants flooded the state for jobs in the wake of the industrial revolution. Italian born artist, Antonio Cirino (1888 – 1983), is but one personality who entered the competitive academic arena at RISD and the local art scene. This exhibit explores the accomplishments of visual artists in Rhode Island who broke societal mores to achieve recognition.
Cultural Awakenings 2008:
In 2008 Bert Gallery takes a look at the “cultural awakenings” throughout the decades that established Rhode Island as a destination for visual artists. Among the wharfs and warehouses of this small industrial state a cultural identity was born and nurtured.
Struggle, Strength, & Dignity, January-March 2008:
When Roger Williams established the religiously tolerant state of Rhode Island, he imbued a progressive spirit into its legacy. How did the 19th century cultural world embrace this heritage?
Afro-American artist Edward Bannister (1881 - 1901) earned a first place medal for painting at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition and went on to found the Providence Art Club in 1880, today the second oldest art club in the country.
A woman, Mrs. Jesse Metcalf, founded the Rhode Island School of Design in 1878, training women in respectable art professions when there was few employment opportunities open to single woman.
By the twentieth century, Italian and Irish immigrants flooded the state for jobs in the wake of the industrial revolution. Italian born artist, Antonio Cirino (1888 - 1983), is but one personality who entered the competitive academic arena at RISD and the local art scene.
This exhibit explores the accomplishments of visual artists in Rhode Island who broke societal mores to achieve recognition.
Antonio Cirino, Rockport Harbor; Helena Sturtevant, Notre Dame; Spencer Crooks, South Water Street
Providence Business News
Page 12
Dec. 24-30, 2007
www.pbn.com
Marketing, patience build gallery:
Bert Gallery makes appeals to art collectors outside Rhode Island too.
By Natalie Myers
MYERS@PBN.COM
COMPANY PROFILE
Bert Gallery
OWNER: Catherine Little Bert
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Art Gallery
LOCATION: 540 South Water St., Providence
EMPLOYEES: 2
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1985
ANNUAL REVENUE: WND
As soon as visitors walk into Catherine Little Bert’s gallery on the East Side of Providence, they see her diverse taste. Though the first room is filled with historical artwork by Rhode Island artists, mostly from the mid 1800s through the late 1900s, large, bold canvases of contemporary art are seen peeking from the next room.
Sitting on a chaise lounge underneath gold-framed landscapes and still lifes, Bert said she’s sold hundreds of paintings by Rhode Island artists, both contemporary and historical, in the past 22 years. When she opened Bert Gallery downtown in 1985 at the Providence Biltmore, there wasn’t a large audience, particularly locally, interested in buying art. Some argue the same is true today.
But Bert learned at that time that I she wanted to build an audience she would need to concentrate on marketing her gallery and building a collector base outside the region. “Opening a gallery in a hotel also made me very cognizant that there are people who come to Providence from other places,” she said. “I was able to develop patrons or clients whose children have gone to Brown or were traveling for business and came into the city.”
About 60 percent of Bert’s business comes from art collectors living outside the state, particularly collectors interested in historic art, because many of those artists have a national reputation. “Historic is a little easier,” she said. “I would do advertising. I’d write and I’d research and try to come up with exhibitions I could get coverage on.”
Last year, for example, she wrote a lecture series about the historical difference in prices of artwork done by male versus female artists in the auction market. A portion of the series was published in Arts & Antiques magazine.
Bert has also changed with the times in utilizing the Internet and new technology. She has done so by advertising programming for her exhibits through e-mail blasts and blogs. She posts the e-mail blast content on a blog on the gallery’s Web site, www.bertgallery.com, for those who do not wish to receive the e-mails.
This year for the exhibit “What is original art? Is it a Giclee? She had a group of photographers, a digital printmaker and Pawtucket-based printmaker iolabs discuss in a public forum their views about Giclee, a process used to reproduce art. Bert recorded the forum and made it downloadable from her Web site for patrons who couldn’t attend.
In some ways, the programming is a marketing tactic for the gallery, because different subject matter appeals to different people, thus attracting a diverse audience into the gallery. “You have to develop a very large audience to support a gallery,” she added.
But not all of the people who come to the forums or stop by the gallery during Gallery Night Providence purchase art right away, she said. “They may come in and really like what they see, but then it might take them a long time to make a decision,” Bert said. “A lot of my sales are a year later.”
When asked how she comes up with ideas for exhibits such as the gallery’s current exhibit, “I could paint that,” which outlines the amount of art education, training, and experience it takes to become an artist, Bert said: “You have to be mindful of what’s going on in the market. I can’t tell you how many times people come in and say, ‘I could paint that.’”
Bert’s programming and historical research are two ways she creatively markets and builds an audience for the artwork she sells. “As creative as an artist is, you have to be creative in business in terms of listening to what people are saying to you, listening to what the artists are saying to you and to take and really translate that,” she said.
But Bert said she has to pay attention to financial realities as well. Sometimes she has to tell a contemporary artist whose work she likes that she can’t sell it, because she doesn’t have an audience for the work or the price points aren’t right. Having reasonable price points of $500 to $5,000 also contributes to the success of the gallery, she said. More than anything, though, the success of the gallery has depended on a reputation for being reliable. “The hardest part for galleries is being able to stay in business long enough…to build up that following,” she said.
Thankfully, Bert’s approach has yielded results. The gallery’s sales have grown five-fold since it opened and Bert has no reason to think sales with slow.
Every week new works of art come to the gallery and are inventoried and photographed. Some pieces go into scheduled theme exhibits while others are installed in the Studio Collection. To give you an insider’s view at some of these pieces here is a Bert Gallery Inventory Spotlight!
Jeff Margolin
Terracotta Covered Pot
18″ x 9″ x 9″
$850.
Jeff Margolin has worked for over twenty-five years to hone his prodigious technique with porcelain and terra cotta. Margolin’s labor intensive process consists of building the forms up with strips of clay and then meticulously carving into the damp clay before the piece is burnished and fired. An evolution of his forms can be seen in Terracotta Covered Pot, in which the carvings have been integrated into the sculpture. Furthermore, Margolin uses the detailed carvings to complement and echo the gentle curves of the flawlessly smooth surface making “a convincing transition between rough and smooth,” (Channing Gray, Providence Journal 2000).
Traditional pots such as this exemplifies Margolin’s technical proficiency, however his talent for combining sculpture and carving is undeniable. “Margolin’s porcelain and terracotta sculptures make for a fascinating show of form and craft,” (Providence Journal Review, May 2000). Margolin’s work embodies the life and energy of nature, melding technical mastery with mature artistic passion.
Margolin has taught ceramics at both University of California at Berkeley and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work has been shown at galleries in Rhode Island, California, and New Mexico.
Margolin’s Process
Margolin constructs his pots either on a wheel or by hand, then draws a design on the clay with a needle and continually carves the design as the pieces dry. He then burnished them with a stone and fires them using a variety of methods. Margolin states that he attempts to “create a sense that the surface of the pieces are a thin skin with the cared interior breaking through at critical points.
Using a low-fire clay, Margolin places human hair and sawdust into the porcelain, which creates veins in the surface. This gives the porcelain fine surface details that look completely natural within the porcelain. Because his work is low-fired, his pieces can be scratched, which also gives them an extra delicacy, and require the dame care one would afford a painted canvas.
Every week new works of art come to the gallery, they are inventoried and photographed. Some paintings go into scheduled theme exhibits while others are installed in the Studio Collection. To give you a sneak preview of some of the paintings that are new to inventory we will send out this e-mail blast to keep you up to date!
S.R. Burleigh (1853-1931)
Crèche
$2,200.
This nativity scene was produced and hand painted by S.R. Burleigh. An artist of many talents, Burleigh was involved with a small toyshop on Benefit Street. It is unclear if this crèche was produced for the toyshop or as a private gift. There are seven figures and seven animals - all are hand stamped on each piece.
Biography - S.R. Burleigh (1853 - 1931)
Burleigh spent his boyhood years in Little Compton. He married Sarah Drew Wilkinson in 1875. With her encouragement, he became a full-time artist at age 25. Sarah’s wealth enabled Burleigh to study painting in Paris with Paul Laurens in the first years of their marriage. Upon his return to Providence in the 1880’s, Burleigh became an active member of the Providence Art Club. In addition to being a well-loved Providence artist, he was one of the most prominent civic leaders in the city.
Burleigh’s watercolors can be described as reminiscent of George Inness. Burleigh was known for perfection of line, exquisite balance, delicate and sensitive use of color and the overall poetic feeling of his painting. Mabel Ducasse, art critic for the Providence Journal, wrote of his 1929 Providence Art Club show: “There is a quality in his work which suggests that of the masters of the Renaissance when they chose to employ line and wash. It is character — born of perfect certainty of touch and flowing freedom of line. It is seldom achieved by modern watercolorists, who most often mistake the function of their medium, which is that of drawing rather than painting.”
Burleigh earned national recognition when he won the Bronze medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, and the open prize from the Buffalo Society of Artists in 1913. By 1929 he was considered one of the country’s leading watercolorists. Many prestigious art institutions chose to exhibit his works, solidifying his distinguished reputation. Burleigh was a multifaceted artist, an accomplished builder and furniture designer as well as a painter. Along with fellow artists C. Stetson and J. Aldrich he was responsible for the construction of the Fleur de Lys building on Thomas Street, the first building ever built specifically to house artist studios.
The painter H.A. Dyer wrote, “S.R. Burleigh has perhaps done more to make Providence fond of painting than any other source.” (1914). Burleigh’s personal charm attracted many friends and patrons to his art, but, more importantly, he will be best remembered for his keen artistic sense in decorative design, color and composition.
Saturday December 1st, 2007 from 1 - 3pm
There is a one-day trunk show, Saturday December 1st from 1 - 3 pm of Bonnie Buck jewelry. Meet the artist and preview the new sterling silver and pearl designed jewelry by contemporary Providence artisan Bonnie Buck. Elegant, affordable and quietly sophisticated, Bonnie’s jewelry makes the perfect addition to your holiday shopping list. Holiday refreshments will be served.
About Bonnie Buck:
Bonnie Buck is an artist of many talents. But as a silversmith she has a special aptitude. In the late 1970’s she relocated to Providence. Originally from Ohio, Buck received a BFA from Ohio State University and went onto Rochester Institute of Technology to study at the School of American Craftsman. The result is a twenty year history as a metal smith traversing the commercial arena and the fine art world.
Artists’ Statement:
I enjoy the paradox of creating comfortable accessories out of hard metal by using shapes which compliment the human body, and by the use of fabric techniques in metal. The pieces are hammered, cast or crocheted, and move freely with the body. I am an artist who makes objects that are intended to be worn. The most common compliment is that, “Bonnie Buck’s work feels good on and is meant to function with the lifestyle of the individual who wears it.”
I have worked extensively within the fashion and jewelry manufacturing industry making products for reproduction as well as creating special runway items for the NYC fashion market. My work is high fashion jewelry and accessories of original sophisticated style; work which exudes flair and originality. It is art, craft and fashion that has been transformed into wearable ornament.
