Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Exhibit: Stuart Fullerton













Stuart Fullerton's paintings have a stately, Classical quality that hasn't been seen at the Palette and Chisel since ----- since ----- well, perhaps it's never been seen here at all.

The closest artist I can think of is Thomas Wilmer Dewing -and I doubt he ever visited Chicago.

Stuart's paintings also have a sense of the normative -- an aggressive assertion of the way things should be -  that seems to have vanished from  American painting after William Merritt Chase.


 I am utterly charmed.












What I also find endearing is that the artist places such a high priority on formal composition.

He always seems to be working with shapes instead of trees or arms or noses.   (and BTW - this is primarily what distinguishes him from his esteemed teacher, Max Ranft)







Love the shape of this  bottom -especially the sharp angle at the hip.








This composition may be less successful -- but you can't beat the subject matter.
(that appears to be Bo standing before a canvas)








Small - ordinary- deliciously done








nice, big, looming shapes








The use of sharp cut, simple volumes in the face reminds me of Sir Henry Raeburn - one of my favorite British portrait painters of the 18th  Century.









No one here does fierce as convincingly as Stuart.












My favorite of the portraits in this show.





A well drawn edge on that forehead -- going from blurry to sharp



















(note: ghost reflections from off the glass frame are present in this photo)





This is not just a woman --it's a civilization

There is tenderness, delicacy, and propriety.












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