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Visions of Mood: Henry
C. White Pastels
April 18 - July 12, 2009
The Florence Griswold
Museum, the Home of American Impressionism, in Old Lyme, Connecticut, announces
its spring exhibition, Visions of Mood: 
Henry
C. White Pastels, on view April 18 through
July 12, 2009. Lyme Art Colony painter Henry C. White (1861 - 1952) is the
patriarch of a family of Connecticut artists and art patrons. Last year,
in some of White's stored belongings, his grandsons discovered a trove of
pastels that had never been on public view. While his oil paintings
of his native Connecticut landscape and shore are widely admired by collectors
and museums, his accomplishments in pastel are less well known. These
vibrant landscapes, breathtaking in their variety, intensity of color,
and, at times, abstract boldness, provide insight into a new side of
White's art-making, in which he experimented with color and texture
while working out-of-doors. (right: Henry C. White, Spring
Vista with Pond, Pastel on buff paper, 9 3/4 x 14 inches. White
Family Collection)
Henry Cooke White grew up in Hartford, then a burgeoning
metropolis still edged with open fields. Like the boy heroes written about
by fellow Hartford resident Mark Twain, White recalled that as a child,
he "roamed at will about the city and its outskirts," hopping
aboard railroad trains, making his way to the nearby Connecticut River to
fish, or exploring the meadows with his friends. He developed an interest
in drawing at an early age and often took sketching materials on these expeditions.
After graduating from Hartford Public High School, friend and mentor artist
Dwight W. Tryon urged him to go to New York. He took classes with Kenyon
Cox, William Merritt Chase, and John Henry Twachtman at the Art Students
League, but it was in Tryon's studio that he flourished. White credited
the Tonalist landscape painter with providing him a strong foundation in
the principles of art and instilling in him a respect for proportion and
harmony. Tryon and White enjoyed a mutual interest in pastels, which they
began using around 1890. While Tryon preferred a warm grayish brown
paper whose color acted as a halftone or harmonious undertone, White experimented
with a broader palette of papers that included oranges, greens, and blues
in addition to more neutral shades. Both used primarily wove papers with
rough fibers that bit into the pastel crayon, adding an element of texture
to their drawings.
Upon his return from New York, White became an art teacher
at Hartford Public High School and married his childhood sweetheart Grace
Holbrook in 1889. He lamented the difficulty of transforming local scenes
into what he called the "paysage intime," a nineteenth-century
term used to describe Barbizon school landscapes that offer viewers both
a sense of immersion in nature and a dimension of poetic feeling. In search
of a landscape that would inspire such emotion in him, White struck out
for the Connecticut shore. Arriving in Waterford, with its sweeping views
of the Sound, White felt he found his "Promised Land," a destination
"perfectly adapted to all my needs, physical as well as spiritual and
aesthetic." He bought land on a picturesque point in Waterford for
a summer home that he and his family came to occupy year-round.
White's dedication to the poetic sensibility of the paysage
intime is critical to understanding his fascination with pastel.
The medium's subtlety and capacity to suggest a range of moods allowed him
to hint at something more profound than mere observation of nature. In White's
finest work, one critic noted, "there is a mysticism, a haunting poetic
quality that stirs the senses like a Poe story or an Ibsen play." Artist
James McNeill Whistler's landmark work in pastel also encouraged White to
create dreamy landscapes with his colored pencils.
In later life, the independently minded White dismissed
Impressionism as "dots and dashes" and resisted any identification
with the movement. Many of his pastels, however, evidence a strong Impressionist
strain. White's seascapes, with their reductive, nearly abstract compositions
and broad bands of pigment, earned praise as examples of the so-called "poster
effect," a disposition toward flatness and bold design that the Impressionists
picked up from Japanese woodblock prints. His attempt to capture nature's
shifting moods in en plein air sketches corresponds closely
with Impressionist aims.
White's embrace of Impressionist color comes as something
of a surprise from an artist who usually preferred the gentle, refined tints
of spring and fall to what he called the "spinach" greens of summer.
White carefully orchestrated exhibitions of his pastels to foster appreciation
of their luminous tones; for a display of his work at the Wadsworth Atheneum's
Annex Gallery in 1914, he hung the warm brown walls with gauzy white cheesecloth
to create a more sympathetic backdrop.
White described his house in Waterford as a place of happy
solitude, but between 1903 and 1907, he and his family bracketed their summers
there with spring and autumn stays in the more sociable environs of the
art colony based at Florence Griswold's boardinghouse in Old Lyme. White's
place in this community of artists is immortalized in Henry Rankin Poore's The
Fox Chase, a humorous group portrait of the main colony participants
in which he appears at the wheel of his automobile-a novelty among the artists.
In the catalogue for his father's memorial exhibition in
1954, Nelson C. White recalled that his father was never happier than when
he could "drop everything to be out of doors sketching in pencil or
pastel." The rediscovery of these pastels and their introduction to
the public through this exhibition helps reposition White with respect to
Impressionism -- a feat not possible through his paintings alone. The pastels
also reinforce White's independence. Although an admirer of Dwight Tryon,
to whom he has been compared extensively, White clearly pursued his own
aesthetic aims, using pastel to experiment with expressive gestures and
vibrant colors. This exhibition offers a new side of Henry White-allowing
a more nuanced appreciation of this American artist.
A companion exhibition, The Artistic Circle of
Henry C. White, features a selection of paintings by White and the artists
he befriended and provides a context for understanding his pastels in light
of both Tonalism and Impressionism. Although sometimes thought to have been
at odds, these two movements exhibit surprising points of intersection in
the work of White and his contemporaries. Please click
here to view a wall panel from The Artistic Circle of Henry C. White
and click here to view the checklist for the exhibition
(above: (right: Henry C. White, First House, White's
Point, Waterford, before 1914, Pastel on grayish green paper, 9 1/4
x 11 7/8 inches. White Family Collection)
(above: Henry C. White, Tidal Marsh with Copse, 1895,
Pastel on tan paper, 9 7/8 x 14 3/8 inches, Signed l.r . White Family Collection)
(above: Henry C. White, Willows in Spring, Pastel
on green paper, 10 1/4 x 12 inches. White Family Collection)
Gallery talk
Museum visitors are invited to attend an exhibition gallery
talk by curator Amy Kurtz Lansing on Sunday, April 26 at 2pm. The talk is
free with Museum admission and reservations are not necessary.
Catalogue
Accompanying the exhibition is a short, 32-page catalogue
featuring a remembrance by the artist's grandson, painter Nelson H. White,
an essay by the curator, and a portfolio of 21 color illustrations. It is
available through the Museum's Shop.
Please click here to view the foreword
from the exhibition catalogue.
Please click here to view the exhibition catalogue essay by Amy Kurtz Lansing.
Please click here to view a remembrance
by the artist's grandson, painter Nelson H. White from the exhibition
catalogue.
Checklist
- Unless otherwise specified, all works are by Henry C.
White
- (a.t.) denotes artist's original title
-
- Intro
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- 1. Mary R. Williams (18571907)
- Portrait of Henry C. White,
ca. 1890
- Oil on canvas
- Collection of Mr. and Mrs. William Freyvogel
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- 2. First House, White's Point, Waterford, before
1914
- Pastel on grayish green paper, 9 1/4 x 11 7/8 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 3. Across Niantic Bay
- Pastel on dark gray paper, 8 1/4 x 12 in.
- White Family Collection
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-
- The Very Essence of Atmosphere: Dwight W. Tryon and Henry
C. White
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- 4. Two Trees, Twilight
- Pastel on dark gray paper, 8 3/4 x 11 3/4 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 5. Winter Evening (a.t.)
- Pastel on gray paper, mounted on board, 9 1/8 x 12 in.
- Signed l.r.
- White Family Collection
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- 6. Spring Scene
- Pastel on light gray paper, 8 7/8 x 11 7/8 in.
- Signed l.l.
- White Family Collection
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- 7. November, Rocky Pond
- Pastel on gray green paper, 9 x 12 in.
- Signed l.r.
- White Family Collection
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- 8. Reverie
- Pastel on orange paper, 9 x 12 in.
- Signed l.r.
- White Family Collection
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- 9. Rocky Pasture
- Pastel on gray paper, 8 15/16 x 11 7/8 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 10. Autumn
- Pastel on gray paper, 8 1/4 x 12 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 11. Early November Marsh
- Pastel on gray paper, 12 1/8 x 9 1/16 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 12. Moonlight
- Pastel on gray paper, 8 3/4 x 12 in.
- White Family Collection
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-
- Dots and Dashes
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- 13. Tidal Marsh with Copse, 1895
- Pastel on tan paper, 9 7/8 x 14 3/8 in.
- Signed l.r.
- White Family Collection
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- 14. Late Autumn Grove
- Pastel on green paper, 8 9/16 x 12 1/2 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 15. Spring Winds, 1895
- Pastel on orange paper, 10 3/8 x 13 1/2 in.
- Signed l.l.
- White Family Collection
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- 16. Evening Mists
- Pastel on brown paper, 9 x 12 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 17. Evensong
- Pastel on brown paper, 9 x 12 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 18. Dreamscape
- Pastel on tan paper, 10 x 14 1/4 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- 19. Blue City, 1895
- Pastel on olive green paper, 12 x 16 in.
- Signed l.r.
- White Family Collection
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- 20. Harvested Field
- Pastel on ecru paper, 10 x 14 5/16 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- 21. Spring, 30 Degrees
- Pastel on buff paper, 14 5/8 x 22 7/16 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 22. Sea Meadows
- Pastel on tan paper, 9 3/4 x 14 1/2 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- 23. Willows in Spring
- Pastel on green paper, 10 1/4 x 12 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 24. Lieutenant River
- Pastel on green paper, 8 1/2 x 12 in
- White Family Collection
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- 25. Hamburg Cove
- Pastel on green paper, 10 1/4 x 11 3/4 in.
- White Family Collection
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-
- European Pastels
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- 26. Festival of the Redentore, July 1928
- Pastel on blue paper, 6 1/4 x 9 1/2 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 27. Venetian Nocturne, July 1928
- Pastel on blue paper, 6 1/4 x 9 1/2 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- 28. Venice, February 18, 1897
- Pastel on tan paper, 10 x 14 3/8 in.
- Signed l.l.
- White Family Collection
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- 29. Ponte Santa Trinita, Florence, 1897
- Pastel on tan paper, 9 1/2 x 12 1/2 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- 30. Ville Neuve, Avignon, 1897 (a.t.)
- Pastel on beige paper, mounted on board, 10 1/2 x 12
in.
- Signed l.r. (original) and l.l. (later)
- White Family Collection
-
- 31. Mentone, December 19, 1896 (a.t.)
- Pastel on tan paper, 11 x 15 1/4 in.
- Signed l.l.
- White Family Collection
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-
- Visions of Mood
-
- [Spring]
- 32. Lonely Tree
- Pastel on green paper, 10 1/4 x 11 7/8 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- 33. Early April
- Pastel on yellow-green paper, 9 7/8 x 13 7/8 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- 34. Spring Vista with Pond
- Pastel on buff paper, 9 3/4 x 14 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- [Summer]
- 35. The Shed
- Pastel on green paper, 10 x 14 1/4 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 36. Stream in Spring
- Pastel on green paper, 9 1/2 x 12 1/8 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 37. Easter Pasture
- Pastel on green paper, 10 x 11 3/4 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- 38. White Farm House in Spring
- Pastel on green paper, 10 3/8 x 11 7/8 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- 39. Banks of a River, 1910 (a.t.)
- Pastel on green paper, mounted on board, 9 x 12 in.
- Signed l.r.
- White Family Collection
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- 40. Village Vista
- Pastel on tan paper, 10 x 14 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- 41. Rocky Sea Meadow, 1897
- Pastel on green paper, 8 1/2 x 13 in.
- Signed l.l.
- White Family Collection
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- 42. Jordan Cove
- Pastel on green paper, 9 1/4 x 13 1/4 in.
- White Family Collection
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- [Fall]
- 43. Cornshocks
- Pastel on green paper, 9 3/4 x 14 1/4 in.
- White Family Collection
-
- 44. Autumn Pond
- Pastel on ecru paper, 9 3/4 x 14 1/4 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 45. Oaken Meadows
- Pastel on gray paper, 8 7/8 x 12 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 46. Tidal Marsh with Copse, in Winter
- Pastel on tan paper, 10 x 14 1/4 in.
- White Family Collection
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- [Winter]
- 47. Distant City
- Pastel on green paper, 10 1/4 x 11 3/4 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 48. Winter View from Prospect Avenue
- Pastel on green paper, 8 x 12 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 49. Evening Pond
- Pastel on olive green paper, 8 x 12 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 50. Blue Snow
- Pastel on tan paper, 9 1/8 x 12 1/4 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 51. Cold River View
- Pastel on olive green paper, 10 1/2 x 14 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 52. Snow Shadows
- Pastel on tan paper, 12 x 16 in.
- White Family Collection
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- [Waterscapes]
- 53. June Moonrise, Waterford
- Pastel on tan paper, 10 1/4 x 13 3/4 in.
- White Family Collection
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- 54. Magenta Sky
- Pastel on tan paper, 8 x 12 in.
- White Family Collection
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