4 Photos
[caption id="attachment_45723" align="alignnone" width="850"] Summer Garden, 2003 Oil on canvas
36” x 42”[/caption]
By Dawn Watson
Even though Cornelia Foss has been to Wainscott Pond hundreds of times, she never tires of the view.
[caption id="attachment_45724" align="alignleft" width="300"]
The artist at Guild Hall in East Hampton.[/caption]
In nature, especially when water is involved, there’s always something new to see, says the Bridgehampton-based landscape- and portrait painter. Ever changing, from moment to moment, the scenery is always shifting. And with each shift comes a new opportunity to capture the beauty on her canvas.
“The more you look, the more you know,” she explains of her recurring visits to some of her favorite subjects. “It’s about describing what I see in painterly terms.”
Ms. Foss, whose retrospective exhibition is now on view at Guild Hall in East Hampton, has been enthralled with nature, and the Hamptons in particular, since she started coming out to the East End in 1959. Her studies of the area, and from select Manhattan venues, from the late 1990s to 2015 are now hanging in the Woodhouse Gallery at the East Hampton museum. The one-woman show coincides with the release of a new book of the painter’s work, “Cornelia Foss: A Retrospective,” by Rizzoli, which was published in October.
The retrospective at Guild Hall focuses on Ms. Foss’s work in landscapes, beach scenes, gardens and still-life images. The show also includes choice portraits that the artist has painted of writers, composers, fellow artists, family members and friends. The pieces on view are positively captivating, says Museum Director/Chief Curator Christina Strassfield, who organized the show around the 2003 “Summer Garden” painting in Guild Hall’s permanent collection.
“I remember falling in love with that piece, and then another of hers that we hung in a later landscape show,” says Ms. Strassfield of her choice to launch a retrospective exhibit of Ms. Foss’s paintings. “There's a general joie de vivre in her work.”
The resulting collection is a very strong showing of some of the artist’s best creations, says the curator. Her personal favorite piece hanging in the collection is the “Summer Garden” painting, she adds. That piece just perfectly sums up the “tremendous energy and joy of the scenery” in Foss’s landscapes.
“Oh, the lushness of the garden and the flowers and grasses. I love the way it goes completely to the edges,” says Ms. Strassfield. “It’s just magical.”
The artist also likes that particular painting quite a bit, she says. In fact, Ms. Foss chose it for the exhibit’s program cover. But, otherwise, she can’t really pinpoint a favorite piece in the show, she adds. It’s just too hard to decide.
“Paintings are like your children; it’s just not possible to have a favorite,” she admits. “But I can say that one generally likes the last paintings best. At least I do.”
It turns out the prolific 80-plus-year-old painter has quite a few pieces to chose from. The time is due for her to be exhibited and reintroduced in a major way, explains Ms. Strassfield.
“Her work is brilliant,” Ms. Strassfield says. “She deserves the recognition.”
Born in 1931 in Germany, Ms. Foss has had a long and productive career, with her pieces included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, the National Museum for Women and the National Portrait Gallery. A member of the National Academy of the Arts, Ms. Foss paints every day and also teaches at Academy and at the Art Students League.
“She has such a strong commitment. She teaches painting every day. She loves her students and she loves teaching art,” says Ms. Strassfield. “It’s a labor of love, and that says a lot about her as a person.”
In order to shed additional light on the painter and her art, Ms. Strassfield will host a gallery talk with Ms. Foss on Sunday, November 22, at noon at the museum. Among the topics they will discuss will be the artist’s history; her process in approaching a scene; the different techniques utilized in painting landscape and portraiture; the natural comparison of Ms. Foss’s work to that of other East End-based “painterly realists,” such as Fairfield Porter, Eric Fischl, Robert Dash, Jane Wilson and Jane Freilicher; and what motivates her present day work and commitment to teaching others.
Ms. Foss says that she’s looking forward to the talk, and she’s excited and grateful for the attention that her work continues to receive. But, she adds, as far as her motivation is concerned, she’s really had no choice when it comes to pursuing her passions of painting and teaching. Art is such a part of her that she just can’t stop.
“I don't think any painter ever retires,” she says. “As Goya once said, ‘I’m still learning.’ I feel the same way.”
“Cornelia Foss” is currently on view at Guild Hall in East Hampton through January 3. A free gallery talk with the artist and Museum Director/Chief Curator Christina Strassfield will be held on Sunday, November 22, at noon. Learn more at www.guildhall.org.
on Nov 17, 2015