William Trost Richards at Pennsylvania Academy (1st review)

Two current major art exhibitions in Philadelphia just might confirm New Yorkers' definition of our city: "Staid, stodgy and rooted in the 19th Century." But those New Yorkers are wrong.

To be sure, "Shipwreck!" at the Art Museum and "A Mine of Beauty" at Pennsylvania Academy re-open doors to that bygone century. But it's a century that's a foreign country to most Philadelphians I know.

Winslow Homer's The Life Line and related paintings recreate a perception of the sea and its dangers that's completely alien to our excursions to the Jersey shore on a hot, summer weekend. Suddenly we become aware of all the potential disasters lurking in an ocean voyage.

"A Mine of Beauty: Landscapes by William Trost Richards" (1833-1905), on view at the Pennsylvania Academy, includes more than 100 watercolors and oil paintings of landscapes by a Philadelphia artist who lived the dream: he had a wealthy patron, George Whitney, who enabled Richards to travel abroad, spend time in London and the southern coast of Britain and even enjoy summers at the New Jersey shore and New England coast.

Staying in touch

Richards kept in touch with his patron through weekly letters describing in meticulous detail his travels and activities and including small watercolor paintings (Richards called them "coupons") of landscapes he'd seen on his travels. From these small works, Whitney then selected the views he wanted Richards to re-create in a larger format, either as watercolors on paper or oils on canvas.

Whitney's collection of art was dispersed at his death, but his descendants kept the "coupons" intact, and recently they were donated to the Academy by its Lady Bountiful, the Campbell Soup heiress Dorrance H. Hamilton. When you see them matted and framed in groups of three or four, together with a few of the artist's large scale related landscapes, they form a fascinating exhibition.

The exhibition's curator, Anna O. Marley, has thoughtfully provided magnifying glasses for viewers. Use them and you'll be amazed by the significant details in each small painting. Then look at the related large versions and see the differences.

Out on the sea

Moonlight (1878) is a large-scale watercolor painting that's even more exciting than its coupon version. You just want to be there, on the sea, enjoying the moonlit night. A large oil painting of a traditional favorite spot, the Devil's Pool in Chestnut Hill, was hailed by critics as Richards's "Pre-Raphaelite Triumph."

The Bell Buoy, Newport (oil on canvas) captures the essence of breaking waves, wet rocks and darting seagulls. Richards began to summer in Newport, Rhode Island in 1874, then moved farther out to the less congested Conanicut, R.I. There he built "Graycliff," a house on a cliff, later purchased by the Federal government and demolished to make room for a military installation, now abandoned.

This exhibition provides a new insight into the life and working methods of one of Philadelphia's native artists. Its illustrated catalogue contains more than 100 full color images.

The exhibit begs one question: Where are today's successors to Richards's patron, George Whitney? We need more of the likes of you.♦


To read another review by Andrew Mangravite, click here.
To read another review of "Shipwreck!" by Andrew Mangravite, click here.
To read another review of "Shipwreck!" by Steve Cohen, click here.