Antiques and the Arts Weekly
"100 Years of Skiing Art at Clarke"
Published by The Bee Publishing Co, Inc., Newton, Connecticut
March 29, 1990
Paintings, Posters and Works on Paper Create "Historical Melange" to April 14.
STOWE, VT --- Clarke Galleries will feature an international and historical melange of more than two dozen paintings, posters, photography, works on paper and sculptures for an exhibition of skiing art created during the past 100 years.
It will be on the view through April 14. Gallery owner Grier Clarke explained, "This show demonstrates the relationship between artists and sport through their artistic statements about skiing. Consequently, the exhibit was especially planned to coincide with the International Ski History Associations worldwide, historical celebration of skiing currently taking place in Stowe."
Among the historical works will be large, vintage ski posters from the 1930s and 40s, including "Ski at Mt Mansfiled," circa 1940, of a skier garbed in a swashbuckling smuggler's costume, with the nose and chin trails of Mt Mansfield in the background.
Other examples include two works by Wayne Davis, "The Swing," and a watercolor of Sugarloaf Mountain, as well as Churchill Ettinger's (1903-1984), "Hairpin Gate, Giant Slalom," an engraving, and a color lithograph of skiers at Stratton. Ettinger, and avid outdoor sportsman, attained prominence as a wildlife painter and printmaker who settled in Weston, VT.
A small oil painting, "Yosemite Skiing," by Evylena Nunn Miller (1888-1966), who made many trips to paint the Indians of New Mexico and Colorado and whose work is held by the Smithsonian Institution will also be featured.
Perhaps the most interesting works in the show are the vintage photographs from the 1930s and 40s by the French photographer Pierre Boucher, which abstractly explore the shadows cast by skiers and their linear skis and poles in a style reminiscent of some Ansel Adams' works. Vintage 1960 and later skiing photographs by Colbyville photographer Peter Miller have also been chosen.
Two cast bronze sculptures entitled "Cross Country" and "Slalom", by former Stowe resident and artist Doug Scribner, show skiers in different attitudes, while other examples of skiing art depict the skiing Stratton bear logo in different attitudes. These seven 9160-61 original variations of the Stratton logo were painted by contemporary artist Aldren A. Watson of North Hartland, VT.
Also shown are two recent impressionistic oils of skiing scenes by Nelson Holbrook White, the third generation of Whites to pint, who studied under Italian artists Pietro Annigoni and Nerina Simi. His works, inspired by the artwork of his grandfather, Henry Cooke White, and his father, Nelson Cooke White, show a love of the gentler side of nature. The three Whites' artworks were assembled for a show held last year at a gallery in Russia.
Another highlight will be a 1931 series of seven humorous depictions of skiing in the Alps by Samivel from folio "Sure Les Plancehs." All are original and hand-colored lithographs.
Contemporary, realistic artist Jeanette Chupnick has three paintings in the show. One, reminiscent of Sheeler, is of an interior woods scene with ski tracks. Another, "Primroses," is of a windowsill planted with primroses, from which the viewer looks out upon three skiers on the Trapp Family Lodge trails through Nebraska Valley.
Ian Thomson, another contemporary realist, has painted a four-by-four-inch work of cross country skiers entitled "Backwoods Trek," which captures the quiet and natural detail of the Vermont woods. Of note, a limited edition of 99 prints by Burlington artist Suzanne Fey, based upon her Stowe Derby design, will also be offered for sale.
