Striking the Right Notes: Music in American Art

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Striking the Right Notes: Music in American Art

October 25 - December 31, 2005

(above: Romare Bearden (1911-1988), Some Antecedents (Folk Sources-Secular), 1975, monoprint. Courtesy of Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC)

How does a visual artist convey the sounds of music? The Cahoon Museum of American Art will explore this question through artworks old and new, including still lifes of instruments and paintings of singers and instrumemtalists.

The earliest work in Striking the Right Notes: Music in American Art is Lady With a Lute, a mid-19th-century portrait by Cephas Giovanni Thompson. As sunlight falls through a window, illuminating the lovely musician, a cherub sits beside her, clearly pleased by (or maybe inspiring) some melody we cannot hear. The piece, though silent, expresses something of music's power to touch our lives.

Featuring some 60 works from the past and present, Striking the Right Notes represents a wide range of musical subjects through a wide range of artistic styles and mediums. It raises the question of how artists have attempted to conjure up sounds with their tools of shape, line and color. And sometimes we even come close to hearing with our eyes.

In the 1960s, Donald De Lue drew his inspiration for an elegant 4 1/2 -foot-tall bronze from the Greek myth of the poet-musician Orpheus, who played his lyre with a sweetness that charmed even wild beasts. Reflecting the music of the here and now is Wayout Willie and the Rock-Block Band, a very large white-line woodcut print by Truro artist William Evaul. Capturing the raucous exuberance of a rock band, it features a Mick Jagger look-alike as lead singer. A watercolor by Eastham artist Elizabeth Pratt painted to promote Orleans' Pops in the Park several years back -- pictures Royston Nash conducting Cape Symphony Orchestra alfresco.

A few pieces represent famous musicians. Bronzes by Chaim Gross capture the intensity of cellist Pablo Casals and guitarist Andres Segovia in performance. Inspired by a story he heard about jazz great Charlie Parker on Ken Burns' documentary on "Jazz," contemporary California artist Mark Keller painted a terrific interpretation of "Bird" playing his sax to a cow, out on a country road.

Musical instruments themselves have often inspired artists, both by their fascinating shapes and by their potential for creating glorious sounds. The gleaming wood of a violin and the sensuous curve of a mandolin are important elements in still lifes by John Traynor of New Hampshire and B. Nicole Klassen of California, respectively. The Pink Kimono, a painting of a woman in a softly lit room by early Provincetown artist Isaac Henry Caliga, shows that even a closed piano can hint at the promise of music. Musical notes and sheet music, too, can help evoke sounds in our imaginations. Exhibit visitors will find examples of this in works as disparate as The Red and the Black # 17, a collage by Robert Motherwell, and a hooked rug of a piano player by Vermont artist Rae Harrell, in which the keyboard metamorphoses into notes on a staff.

Following in the footsteps of the early 20th-century modernist Wassili Kandinsky, many American artists have pursued the quest of giving sight to musical sounds. Two artists who had strong Provincetown connections, Karl Knaths and Judith Rothschild, subscribed to an elaborate system of color theory devised by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Wilhelm Ostwald. Each is represented by a superb abstract painting. New Yorker Phillip Schreibman has worked with the idea of translating music into colors, shapes and textures for 50 years. The Museum is pleased to have a wall long enough to hang his favorite piece -- a 75-inch-Iong composition that conjures up Wagner's "Liebstod" (from "Tristan und Isolde").

Other artists represented include Milton Avery, Romare Bearden, Ralph Cahoon and Arthur B. Davies.

Bethany Gibbons of The Barnstable Patriot of Haynnis, MA reported on the collaboration between the Cahoon Museum of American Art and the Cape Symphony Orchestra performances in an article titled "Cape Symphony's new season". She said:

Perhaps most fascinating about the Nov. 5 and 6 concerts is the CSO's collaboration with the Cahoon Museum of American Art. The orchestra will approach Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" while the Cahoon Museum interprets the same work. Cindy Nickerson, director and curator at the museum, called the joint interpretation "a fun and thought-provoking look at the crossover between the two art forms." ... Cahoon's exhibit will be "arranged" and projected for the audience's perusal on a screen near the orchestra as the composition is performed. Mussorgsky's piece, Nickerson said, "was inspired by art, while our exhibit is inspired by music."

Wall text from the exhibition

Frank Nelson Ashley (1920- ), The Birth of Jazz, oil on canvas

COURTESY OF SPANIERMAN GALLERY, NEW YORK

Milton Avery (1893-1965), California Collegians, c. 1932, gouache on black paper

COURTESY OF SPANIERMAN GALLERY, NEW YORK

Born in Altmar, N.Y., Avery studied in at the Connecticut League of Art Students in Hartford. In 1925, he settled in New York City. He is best known for his marine scenes and figures, mostly done in an abstract manner. Avery's artwork is represented in major museums across the United States.

In "California Collegians," Avery's funky style and the variety of playful shapes let us know that these young performers are playing something fun and lively. The well-known 1940s actor Fred MacMurray played saxophone with the California Collegians through 1935, when he left for Hollywood to accept a role in his first film. The group toured the country and played in New York City during the late '20s and '30s.

Herbert Barnett (1910-1972), Christmas Carolers, c. 1955, oil on board

COURTESY OF CHILDS GALLERY, BOSTON

By the time Herbert Barnett was 17, he was already teaching private classes and Grace Horne Gallery in Boston was giving him a one-person show. After attending Boston Museum School for four years, he spent three years studying in Europe on a Paige Travelling Fellowship. Influenced by the Cezanne and the Cubists and by such American representational artists as Marsden Hartley, Walt Kuhn and Edward Hopper, Barnett quickly arrived at his mature style. As may be seen in "Christmas Carolers," he sought to emphasize the basic structure of forms in his paintings. He once wrote that the artist's goal "is not to capture the subject, but to go far beyond it into a calm, timeless, nameless, picture-governed world."

During the 1940s, Barnett was the head of the Worcester Museum School, but in the '50s when this piece was painted he was the dean of the Art Academy of Cincinnati, the school at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Childs Gallery indicates that the youthful carolers have been identified, from left to right, as Danny Forman, Peter Barnett, Betty Barnett, and Martha and Mary Mathers. So Peter and Betty were likely the artist's children.

Romare Bearden (1911-1988), Some Antecedents (Folk Sources-Secular), 1975, monoprint on paper

COURTESY OF JERALD MELBERG GALLERY, CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

Romare Bearden was born in Charlotte, N.C., but mostly grew up in Harlem, where his father was very active in the arts scene. The family's home was a gathering place for artists and musicians, and through this exposure, Bearden developed a great affinity for jazz and the blues. This love for music manifested itself endlessly in his paintings, collages and monotypes, which dealt in a broader way with the complexities of being a black in American society. As with "Some Antecedents ," Bearden's work is generally celebratory in tone. A trip to the Caribbean inspired his extensive use of pure, vivid colors. Indeed, the glowing blues and greens of this work resemble clear tropical waters.

Early in his art career, Bearden met American artist Stuart Davis, whose work also reflects a strong interest in jazz. Davis guided Bearden in finding relationships between painting and jazz. Both art forms could be "hot" or "cold" and could be left open to interpretation. With both, improvisation could play a key role in the creative process. Bearden once wrote: "Some years ago, I showed a watercolor to Stuart Davis, and he pointed out that I had treated both the left and right sides of the painting in exactly the same way. After that, at Davis's suggestion, I listened for hours to recordings of Earl Hines at the piano. Finally, I was able to block out the melody and concentrate on the silence between the notes. I found that this was very helpful to me in the transmutation of sound into colors and the placement of objects in my paintings and collages." (Quoted in "Seeing Jazz," Chronicle Books, 1997)

Janice Biala (1903-2000), Untitled (Violin) 1925, oil on canvas

COLLECTION OF THE TOWN OF PROVINCETOWN; COURTESY OF THE PROVINCETOWN ART COMMISSION

Janice Biala did this remarkable painting of a violin when she was only about 22. The piece borders on being trompe l'oeil (literally "trick of the eye," designating a painting that creates such a strong illusion of reality that the viewer may at first wonder if the things depicted are real). At the same time, the simplicity of the arrangement may foreshadow the artist's later bent toward abstractionism.

Biala was the sister of the important Abstract Expressionist Jack Tworkov. She was born in Biala, Poland the town whose name she adopted but emigrated to New York with her family as a child. She spent much of her adult career back in Europe, particularly in Paris.

Varujan Boghosian (1926- ), Music, c. 1998, Artist's proof of a collage

COURTESY OF JULIE HELLER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN

This work is from Boghosian's "Orpheus" series.

Bernard Brussel-Smith (1914-1989), Overture, 1959, color woodcut

COURTESY OF CHILDS GALLERY, BOSTON

Bernard Brussel-Smith taught at the Brooklyn Museum, Cooper Union, City College and the National Academy in New York at various times and also excelled at wood engraving. His woodcut "Overture" contains abstractions of a stringed instrument (notice the scroll and pegs at the top) and a brass instrument (maybe a trumpet) amid the fragmented shapes, which take on the aspect of solid, emphatic sounds. The lines which can sometimes be read as a row of strings or the movement of a bow suggest an abundance of quicker notes.

Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982), Palm Beach Trio, c. 1961, oil on masonite

COLLECTION OF CARYN AND JEFF DONNELLY

From 1959 to probably 1972, Ralph and Martha Cahoon showed at Palm Beach Galleries in Florida. (The owner, George E. Vigouroux Jr., also carried their work at his Lobster Pot Gallery on Nantucket.) This connection explains the palm trees in many of their paintings. Although Ralph dearly loved classical music, he doesn't seem to have painted classical musicians too often. A reference to this painting appears in a letter sent to Ralph from Palm Beach Galleries, dated May 10, 1961: " 'Palm Beach Trio' was sold to Mrs. R.A. Bernatschke and has been paid to us and we owe you $200.00."

Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982), Pool Party, oil on masonite

COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

Isaac Henry Caliga (1857-1944), The Pink Kimono, c. 1910, oil on canvas

PRIVATE COLLECTION

Victor G. Candell, Chanteurs de Paris, 1937, lithograph on paper

COLLECTION OF DR. AND MRS. JEROME R. HARRIS

Carmen Cicero (1926- ), The Whistler, c. 2000, watercolor on paper

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

Arthur Cohen (1928- ), Elizabeth, 2001, oil on canvasboard mounted on plywood

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST; COURTESY OF BERTA WALKER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN

Lewis Cohen (1934- ), The Pianist, 2004, mixed-media with found objects

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

Arthur B. Davies (1862-1928), The Horn Players, c. 1893, oil on canvas

COURTESY OF SPANIERMAN GALLERY, NEW YORK

Arthur B. Davies was one of eight artists included in a landmark exhibition at the Macbeth Gallery in New York in 1908. The show was organized as a protest against the conservative tastes of the National Academy of Design. Many of "The Eight," as the artists came to be known, gravitated to the gritty urban subject matter of Robert Henri's so-called "Ashcan School." Davies wasn't interested in such coarse realism; he preferred pastoral landscapes with touches of mythical enchantment. But as one of the chief organizers of the Armory Show in 1913, he played a crucial role in introducing Modernism to the American public.

The brass of the French horns in "The Horn Players" has a gentle glow that's perfectly at home in this moody, poetic painting. We know that the horns' mellow sound would echo the feeling.

Interestingly, in 1914, Davies painted a mural for the New York City music room of Lillie Bliss, his principle patron and confidante and a founder of the Museum of Modern Art.

Donald De Lue (1897-1988), Orpheus, 1966, bronze

COURTESY OF CHILDS GALLERY, BOSTON

Donald De Lue worked in the classical tradition of the sculptors of ancient Greece and Rome and the Renaissance, but gave his works a stylized mannerism appropriate to the 20th century. The exaggerated musculature of Michelangelo's later sculptures helped inspire his approach. (His "Orpheus" also resembles some of Rockwell Kent's figures.) Among De Lue's many commissions was "Spirit of American Youth," a 22-foot high bronze installed in Saint Laurent Cemetery at Omaha Beach in Normandy. Over the course of his career, this Boston-born artist received many honors, including the Medal of Honor from the National Sculpture Society.

Borrowed from Greek mythology, "Orpheus" depicts a poet-musician with magic musical powers. He played his lyre with such perfection that even wild beasts were entranced and stones grew soft. He descends to the underworld in an attempt to lead his wife, Eurydice, back from the dead, but fails because he breaks the injunction not to look back at her until they reach the upper world. In De Lue's sculpture, Orpheus floats or leaps above the ground, as if transported by the glory of his own music.

This sculpture is Number 6 of an edition of 12. Cast at the Tallix Foundry in Beacon, New York, the figure has a Renaissance brown patina while the lyre and column are gilded. The bronze is set on a black marble base.

William Evaul (1949- ), Good Vibes, 2004, white-line woodcut print

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

William Evaul (1949- ), Way-out Willie and the Rock-Block Band, 1998, white-line woodcut print

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

Betty Carroll Fuller (1947- ), On Hot Nights Talk to the Moon and Stars, 1999, oil on canvas

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

Ada V. Gabriel (1898-1975), Music in the Air, 1955, oil on canvas

COURTESY OF BOSTON ART CLUB

John Gee (active early 20th century), Evening Concert on the Esplanade, Boston, 1937, oil on canvasboard

COURTESY OF SPANIERMAN GALLERY, NEW YORK

Chaim Gross (1904-1991), Homage to Pablo Casals, 1970, bronze

COLLECTION OF THE CHAIM GROSS STUDIO MUSEUM, NEW YORK;

COURTESY OF THE RENEE AND CHAIM GROSS FOUNDATION

Chaim Gross (1904-1991), Segovia, 1961, bronze

COLLECTION OF THE CHAIM GROSS STUDIO MUSEUM, NEW YORK;

COURTESY OF THE RENEE AND CHAIM GROSS FOUNDATION

Charles P. Gruppe (1860-1940), Woman Playing Guitar, oil on Upson board

COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

Lena Gurr (1897-1992), Rehearsal ,1978, oil on canvas

COLLECTION OF THE TOWN OF PROVINCETOWN; COURTESY OF THE PROVINCETOWN ART COMMISSION

Bernard Gussow (1881-1957), The Violin Lesson, c. 1940s, pastel on paper

COURTESY OF DIAMOND ANTIQUES AND FINE ARTS, WEST HARWICH

Russian-born artist Bernard Gussow taught at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art and was active in New York's modernist art scene. He was represented by two pieces in the groundbreaking Armory Show of 1913.

Hans Peter Hansen (1881-date unknown), Maiden Minstrels, c. 1930s, pencil on paper

COLLECTION OF DR. AND MRS. JEROME R. HARRIS

Rae Harrell (1947- ), The Piano, 2003, wool hooked rug

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

(above: Rae Harrell (1947- ), Piano Player, 2003, hooked rug. Collection of the artist)

Robert Henry (1933- ), Molly Chorus, 2001, oil on canvas

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST; COURTESY OF BERTA WALKER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN

(above: Robert Henry (1933- ), Molly Chorus, 2001. oil on canvas. Collection of the artist, Courtesy of Berta Walker Gallery, Provincetown)

Mervin Jules (1912-1994), Bach, c. early 1960s, woodcut on paper

COLLECTION OF DR. AND MRS. JEROME HARRIS

Mark Keller (1952- ), Bird and the Bovine, 2003, oil on canvas

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Frank C. Kirk (1889-1963), Pathétique (An Homage to Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 'The Pathétique',) c. 1944, oil on canvas

COURTESY OF CHILDS GALLERY, BOSTON

The title of the Sixth Symphony by Tchaikovsky was suggested by his brother, Modest, who felt that the work was unusually somber. The premier performance of "Pathétique" was held in St. Petersburg on Oct. 28, 1893, with the composer himself on the podium. Nine days later on Nov. 6 Tchaikovsky was dead. (The official explanation was that he'd contracted cholera from drinking a glass of contaminated water. In 1980, a Russian scholar published the theory that he'd been forced to commit suicide by drinking poison, so as to avoid the revelation of a homosexual scandal involving the aristocracy. The matter remains unresolved.) In any event, "Pathétique" was Tchaikovsky's last composition and has been strongly associated with his death. He considered it his masterpiece and was said to have commented, "Without exaggeration, I have put my whole soul into this work."

Artist Frank C. Kirk was born in Russia and immigrated to America in 1910 at the age of 21. He studied with Cecilia Beaux and Philip Hale at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His still life "Pathétique" pays homage to a great fellow Russian. The black head of Tchaikovsky is appropriate to the mood of the Sixth Symphony and to its association with the composer's death. But the sheen of the drapery behind it creates a halo effect. Clearly, the picture indicates, this is someone worthy of honor. Perhaps Kirk included the violin as an allusion to the opening theme of the finale of "Pathétique," where interplay between the first and second violin produces a sobbing effect. The rich mix of fabrics seems to express Tchaikovsky's luxurious music, so full of passion and color.

B. Nicole Klassen (1964- ), Tales of Distant Shores, 2001, oil on linen

COURTESY OF WINSTANLEY-ROARK FINE ARTS, DENNIS

San Jose artist B. Nicole Klassen paints still lifes in a classically realistic style and frequently includes musical instruments in her arrangements.

"I became enchanted by musical instruments ever since someone commissioned me to paint his violin," she writes. "It was so lovely. I've since acquired two of my own (which I can't play) and an assortment of other instruments. They're just so wonderfully made, so pretty to look at. And I think they lend themselves to an interesting painting setup.

Klassen found the mandolin in 'Tales of Distant Shores' at an antiques fair. "I didn't even know what kind of instrument it was at the time, but it was so beautiful that I bought it. It has a really nice ribbed back with bands of different colored wood that give it a striped look. I found one just like it in a copy of a 1902 Sears catalogue. Only $6.95! The candelabra, vase, wine goblet, books and sheet music were all from either antiques fairs or antiques stores. I gave it its name because I thought it had a troubadour look about it."

Karl Knaths (1891-1971), Bach, 1964, oil on canvas

COURTESY OF DIAMOND ANTIQUES AND FINE ARTS, WEST HARWICH

John Koch (1909-1978), Musicians, 1937, oil on canvas

COURTESY OF KRAUSHAAR GALLERIES, NEW YORK

(above: John Koch (1909-1978), Musicians,1937, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Kraushear Galleries, New York)

William L'Engle (1884-1957), Untitled (Reading Music), 1940, oil on canvasboard

COURTESY OF JULIE HELLER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN

Frank Liljegnen (1930- ), Still Life With Instruments, 1962, oil on canvas

COLLECTION OF KAREN ELDRED STEPHAN

Anne-Marie Littenberg (1958- ), Ben , 2005, threads of cotton, linen, silk, wool, polyester, rayon and lurex on a woven cotton rug warp

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

Shawn Lutz (1964- ), The Score, oil on panel

COURTESY OF WINSTANLEY-ROARK FINE ARTS, DENNIS

Robert Alexander McDonald (1942- ), A Love Supreme If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery, 2005, mixed media collage in three sections

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

McDonald, who taught art at Cape Cod Community College for many years, delights in collecting small objects especially those relating to popular culture and juxtaposing them in unexpected ways in sparkling assemblages like "A Love Supreme. ... "

Sally Michel (1902-2003), Music Makers, 1984, oil on canvasboard

COURTESY OF CHILDS GALLERY, BOSTON

While spending the summer painting in East Gloucester in 1924, Sally Michel fell in love with Milton Avery, the artist in the next studio, who was, at the time, painting in an impressionist style. They married two years later and painted side by side for 40 years. Together they developed a semiabstract style of painting that relies heavily on a sensitive use of color (although Michel's much more famous husband has often gotten sole credit for the approach). Michel put Avery's career ahead of her own, but her illustrations for The New York Times, children's books and other publications were crucial to the support of the family before his work began to sell in the mid-1950s. In her later years, she began to receive recognition in her own right.

Compare the playful distortions in "Music Makers" to those of Avery's "California Collegians," painted some 50 years earlier.

Cherie Mittenthal (1963- ), Cello Player in a Red Chair With Dog, 2005, Cherie Mittenthal (1963- ), oil stick on paper

COURTESY OF JULIE HELLER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN

Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), The Red and the Black #17, 1987, printer's ink and paper collage on etching

One of the great Abstract Expressionists, Robert Motherwell was a longtime summer resident of Provincetown.

He saw collage as a means of discovering unexpected relationships between disparate elements and often included fragments of sheet music in these works although, apparently, he himself couldn't read music.

(above: Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), Red and the Black #14, 1987, printer's ink and paper collage on etching. Courtesy of Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC. Copyright 1987 Dedalus Foundation, Inc./licensed by VEGA, New York)

Elizabeth Pratt (1927- ), Pops in the Park 1997, watercolor on paper

COLLECTION OF ROBERT AND MARY ANN ELDRED

Peter Quidley (1945- ), Questions of the Heart, 2003, oil on panel

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

Marguerite S. Pearson (1898-1978), Prelude, 1938, oil on canvas

COLLECTION OF SHEILA W. AND SAMUEL M. ROBBINS

Pearson contracted polio in her teens and was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. In spite of this affliction, she went on to study art at the Boston Museum School and with Edmund Tarbell privately for five years. During her career, she kept up with a lively exhibition schedule and won numerous prizes for her work. Many of her floral still lifes and depictions of figures in interiors were reproduced as prints. "Prelude" embodies the style of the well-known Boston School of painting. The two sitters probably posed in Pearson's living room (where she had a piano and harp, according to collectors Sam and Sheila Robbins). The painting over the mantel is a view from Pearson's home.

Paul F. Riba (1912-1977), Organ Grinder's Props, 1951, oil on masonite

COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART; GIFT OF MR. AND MRS. JAMES H. BODURTHA

After a career as a mural painter and an illustrator in advertising, Paul Riba taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art for 14 years. He won numerous awards for his paintings as well as for his more commercial work. He is often identified with "magic realism," an artistic style that depicts fantastical characters or events in a realistic way.

Martin Rosenthal (1899-1974), St. Louis Rehearsal, c. 1935, watercolor on paper

COLLECTION OF SHEILA W. AND SAMUEL M. ROBBINS

Judith Rothschild (1921-1993), Prisms and Pavannes, 1955, oil on canvas

COLLECTION OF THE JUDITH ROTHSCHILD FOUNDATION; COURTESY OF KNOEDLER & COMPANY, NEW YORK

Charles Nicolas Sarka (1879-1960), Grace at the Piano, 1914, watercolor on paper

COLLECTION OF SHEILA W. AND SAMUEL M. ROBBINS

Sarka sold his illustrations to newspapers in Chicago, San Francisco and New York as well as to such magazines as Judge and Cosmopolitan. Judging from "Grace at the Piano," he probably had quite a gift for portraying people engaged in activities. The details of the room take us back to another time. Sarka also painted murals. He loved to travel and often visited places a bit off the beaten track, including the South Seas and North Africa. Some of his illustrations reflect these foreign scenes.

Phillip Schreibman (1925- ), Wagner-"Liebestod" ("Tristan und Isolde"), 1992, acrylic on canvas

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

Honoré Sharrer (1920- ), Music for a Ballerina, 1997, oil on canvas

COURTESY OF SPANIERMAN GALLERY, NEW YORK

Along with such noted realists as Thomas Hart Benton, Edward Hopper and Reginald Marsh, Sharrer's works were exhibited in the California Golden Gate Exposition in 1939. She was 19 at the time. In the more than four decades since then, she has remained true to her quirky, enigmatic vision, creating worlds where as New York Times art critic Grace Glueck once noted "very odd things occur."

Like so many of Sharrer's paintings, "Music for a Ballerina" contains familiar yet unrelated elements, creating a surreal quality. The ballerina herself stands in a rather stiff first position while a skeleton, also dressed in a little skirt, plays the tambourine and gaily kicks up its leg. The macabre juxtaposition recalls the "dance of death" imagery common in medieval art. The motionless ballerina is also mocked by the dancing chicken and green chair. Everything but her is responding to the music.

Gerald Anthony Shippen (1955- ), Canyon Echoes, 2005, bronze

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

Born and raised on a ranch in Wyoming's Wind River Valley, Gerald Shippen now lives in Cody, Wyoming, and specializes in authentic depictions of American Indian life. In the tradition of so many other Western artists, including Frederic Remington and Charles Russell, he has chosen to work in bronze. His works have included the monumental "The Gift of the Smoking Water," commissioned by the state of Wyoming for display in Hot Springs State Park.

The graceful simplicity of "Canyon Echoes" hints at the pure tones coming from this solitary musician's pipe.

(above: Gerald Shippen, Canyon Echo, 2005, bronze. Collection of the artist)

Esphyr Slobodkina (1908-2002), Etude #2, 1989, oil on gesso on linen on masonite

COURTESY OF KRAUSHAAR GALLERIES, NEW YORK

The artist was born in Siberia and came to this country in 1928. She was a founding member of the American Abstract Artists Group, which was established in 1936 and included such noted artists as Josef Albers, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. In 1936, while employed by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Slobodkina completed a number of murals. She had a successful career as an author and illustrator, and her 1938 children's book "Caps for Sale" remains a classic.

Elements of her Russian roots may be found in the abstract forms of the balalaika in this painting. In her childhood, Slobodkina attended many balalaika concerts with her parents. The instrument is similar to a guitar, but with a triangular body and, usually, three strings. This piece also references paintbrushes, palettes and a book, among other objects.

Raphael Soyer (1899-1987), Sing a Song of Friendship, 1965-66, lithograph on paper

COURTESY OF CHILDS GALLERY, BOSTON

Raphael Soyer was born into a Russian Hebrew family that, deported by the Tsarist regime, resettled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1913. He attended free classes at Cooper Union and the National Academy and got a break when the artist Guy Pene du Bois recognized his talent, leading to his first solo exhibition in 1929. Soyer drew his inspiration from the world of the Lower East Side, with transients, shoppers, dancers and fellow artists being among his most common subjects. "Sing a Song of Friendship" apparently depicts a teacher playing a recorder for her students, who appear enchanted by the tune. Although totally sweet in spirit, the lithograph recalls the legend of the more sinister Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Grace Martin Taylor (1903-1995), Still Life With Music, c. 1929, oil on canvas

COLLECTION OF SHEILA W. AND SAMUEL M. ROBBINS

Cephas Giovanni Thompson (1809-1888), Lady With a Lute, c. 1850, oil on canvas

COURTESY OF CHILDS GALLERY, BOSTON

Following in the footsteps of his father, Cephas Thompson of Middleboro, Cephas Giovanni Thompson became a portrait painter, first receiving commissions when he was only 19. Around 1850, he painted Nathaniel Hawthorne's portrait, which was soon reproduced in the form of an engraving as the frontispiece for an edition of the author's "Twice Told Tales." During the course of his career, Thompson also painted William Cullen Bryant and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In 1852, Thompson went Italy to absorb the methods of the old masters and remained for several years in Rome, where he developed a close friendship with Hawthorne, who even mentioned two of Thompson's paintings in his novel "The Marble Faun." Hawthorne once wrote: "I do not think there is a better painter than Mr. Thompson living, among Americans, at least, not one so earnest, faithful, and religious in his worship of art."

"Lady With a Lute" suggests the same kind of reverence for music. A beatifying shaft of light from the window kisses the serene lady's head and shoulders. A cherub (visible only to us) sits next to her, apparently listening with pleasure. The angelic presence may also symbolize that music is a divine gift: The cherub seems to inspire, as well as enjoy, this solo performance.

(above: Cephas Giovanni Thompson (1809-1888), Lady with a Lute, c. 1850, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Childs Gallery, Boston)

Paul Travis (1891-1975), Piano Quartet, 1951, transparent and opaque watercolor on paper

COLLECTION OF DR. AND MRS. MICHAEL DREYFUSS

Ohio native Paul Travis was a teacher at the Cleveland School of Art for 38 years. According to his daughter, Elizabeth Drefuss, he was a frustrated fiddler who, as a boy, had ordered a violin from a Sears catalogue. As a adult, he handcrafted violins for all six of his grandchildren. In "Piano Quartet," the second figure from the right is his violin-playing son-in-law, Michael Dreyfuss. The other musicians are, from left, early 19th-century violin virtuoso Nicoló Paginini on first violin; composer Ludwig van Beethoven, turning the pages of the sheet music; renowned harpsichordist Wanda Landowska; and famed cellist Pablo Casals. When Travis painted this amusingly anachronistic scene, his daughter and Dreyfuss were still courting. Mrs. Dreyfuss recalls that the cat and mouse in the picture were her father's reference to the cat-and-mouse nature of their relationship. The paintings hanging in the background include a takeoff on Picasso's "Three Musicians." The chair back resembling the scroll and neck of a violin is another humorous touch.

(above: Paul Travis (1891-1975), Piano Quartet, 1951, watercolor on paper. Collection of Elizabeth and Michael Dreyfuss)

John C. Traynor (1961- ), Summer Song, 2005, oil on linen

COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST

John Traynor has a studio in West Swanzey, New Hampshire. He is a member of the Salmagundi Club in New York, ranks as a Copley Master with the Copley Society of Boston, and has won more than 200 awards for his paintings, including the Grumbacher Gold Medal. His still lifes often include violins. He has also painted figures at the piano and musicians playing informally at an Irish pub.

Stow Wengenroth (1906-1978), Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, c. 1930s, watercolor on paper

COLLECTION OF SHEILA W. AND SAMUEL M. ROBBINS

The owners of this lovely still life figured out that the sheet music is for the song "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," from the 1933 musical "Roberta." The music is by Jerome Kern. The lyrics by Otto Harbach are as follows:

They asked me how I knew So I chaffed them, and I gaily laughed

My true love was true, To think they would doubt my love.

I of course replied, Yet today, my love has flown away,

"Something here inside, I am without my love.

Cannot be denied."

Now laughing friends deride

They said, "Someday you'll find Tears I cannot hide,

All who love are blind So I smile and say,

When your heart's on fire, "When a lovely flame dies,

You must realize, Smoke gets in your eyes."

Smoke gets in your eyes." Smoke gets in your eyes.

Mary Wright (1934- ), Blue Boogie, 2004, oil on canvas

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Mary Wright was born and grew up in New Zealand, but moved to Toronto for post-graduate studies in psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She became a Canadian citizen in 1974. She has periodically shown her paintings at Walter Wickiser Gallery in New York for more than 10 years.

Wright has been concentrating on musical themes for a number of years. "Since 1997-98, I have been exploring the relation between drawing, gesture and music between what we hear, how we move and what we see," she writes. "The inspiration for these works has come from watching musicians as they play and from the excitement of the music they create. The sketches I do on location are very rudimentary, and there will be many of them. Later, as I develop a painting, more visual information will appear.

"I began the series with the idea of drawing musicians in performance. The drawing would appear on an abstract background; the background was to create the music visually. As part of the background, I've played with the forms of musical instruments, particularly the piano and keyboard. In some of the works, I've used colours to represent musical notes, the excitement of improvised line. Stripes and patterns represent other elements of the music, its rhythms and harmonies."

"Blue Boogie" was inspired by Wright's friend James Blight playing one of his own compositions in his studio. She captures his emotional intensity through his posture and through the suggestion of black keys flying off the piano. His striped top and the black stripes at the left of the painting help to convey the rhythmic energy of his music.

Editor's note: RL readers may also enjoy:

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Visual Thinking: Curator's Choice from Sketchbooks in the Archives of American Art

rev. 12/14/06

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