David Davies: The Evanescence of Form

"Moonrise, Templestowe" by David Davies

"After his sojourn in Europe, David Davies painted a kindlier earth and season, where brown ploughed fields and green or matured crops welcomed the rain or awaited the harvester. Late afternoon or evening effects at this time gave incentive to the painter's powers... Low toned and fused edged motifs were chosen by him in spite of the difficulties that required a sincere thrashing out of their dim and wavering contours and uncertain depths. 

Sincerity such as his required rather that the daily miracle of the evanescence of forms must be intently studied to ensure the representation it deserved. The fugitive effects last but a few minutes, and the varying days, each with a mind of its own, do their best to frustrate the painter in his desire to catch the appearance and mood of the fleeting hour. He must lie in wait, at the same time every day, in the hope that at that hour the scene will approximate to the one he has begun. It never does more than that, but from the study of a number of such effects the painter learns the anatomy of twilight; and to memorable after-glows and dusks he applies the principles of treatment common to the transient hour whose volatility he tries to fix. To attain anything like satisfactory results in it calls for great gifts and great knowledge.

David Davies had both, and from 1893 to 1896, he turned out a number of pictures in which were admirably caught the tremulous sense of gloaming and all that that magical hour holds. With one exception, these pictures were bought by private individuals, and only one was acquired by the national Gallery of the capital city of his native State. This is a 'Moonrise,' unique in the beauty of its presentation of all those difficult, elusive components that make up the theme. Why other other works of a man who, in this picture, so plainly showed his great ability to paint and interpret the rare moods of nature were not purchased by the official guardians and fosterers of Australian art is a genuine puzzle to painters. They know what his difficulties were, how he tackled them and how he surmounted them, but bigotry or stupidity stood in the way of acquiring more works of like quality from the same source."  

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Art and Life of David Davies" by James MacDonald.)  

David Davies: Beginnings

"Under the Burden and Heat of the Day" by David Davies

"David Davies was born in Ballarat, central Victoria, Australia, on the Yarrowee River, about 1862, of Welsh parents. Perhaps his Welsh parentage may be taken to account for his persistent endeavour to get at the inner meaning of nature, and so to present it, that in his work, apparent, matter of fact statements of reality always have, inherent in them, the mystery that pervades life.

In character he was dreamy and retiring, but industrious, and while a youth, went to Melbourne to study under the late G.F. Folingsby, who at that time also had under him Langstaff, Abbey Altson, E.P. Fox, and others who subsequently did good work. Davies settled down to hard work and learned to draw. He became so good a draughtsman that, many years later, after long abstinence from figure work, he was able, without straining his artistic powers, very creditably to execute portrait commissions.

He won no travelling scholarship, but about 1890 he went to Paris, where he studied at Julian's and, incidentally, married a fellow student. In 1893, two years after his marriage, he returned to Australia, and took up his residence at Templestowe, and there he produced a large number of pictures which, for their portrayal of an unfamiliar aspect of Australia, were altogether original.

No one before had shown on canvas that he saw the country just as this man saw it. Before he first left Australia he had painted a picture called 'The Burden and Heat of the Day,' showing two men, under a tree, behind whose shadow, in the blinding pallid glare of noon, the sun beats down on a parched and bleaching landscape, aquiver with grilling heat. Though tight of drawing, and hard as to textures and modelling, paramount in it is the feeling of relentless, steely, midsummer and its effect on the two prostrated men." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Art and Life of David Davies" by James MacDonald, 1930.)  

David Davies: A Prelude

"Moonrise" by David Davies

"All artists worth their salt report the world as they see it. When they fail to do this, they are insincere and never can be great, but are the 'spielers' of the art world.

No artist has any task but to practise how to express himself; to perfect a method of setting down for all to see, things, which, without any effort on his part, heredity and environment, through his eyes, vouchsafe to his understanding. No merit attaches to the revelations he gets; he has no hand in them, but his good or bad husbandry of them makes the difference between a lawful claim to excellence and honour, and the forfeiture of all such claims.

The artist's duty is to keep a vigilant watch on nature, seen through the fluid lenses of his moods; train his judgment to select what is essential to the successful preservation of his conviction, and, with enthusiastic pains, acquire the indispensable trade-skill to state in plastic terms for others' benefit, what all can see, but which he, more than they, is privileged, at first hand, vividly to discern and appreciate at its true beauty-value.

All human-kind has a sense of beauty, and all types and grades of men try to express it. Human development is gauged by the measure of success attending its effort to express the inward spiritual reaction to outward impressions, and the higher the development, the rarer and finer will be the quality of its product.

None but the blind can evade the loveliness of the drives of our public gardens, banked with the splendour of the noon-flower, or shut out the trumpetings of the sunset; so the depicting of these, and kindred things of beauty, is not so much required of the artist, and he is free to show his brethren beauties that to them are less obvious"...which brings us to David Davies." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Art of David Davies" by James MacDonald.) 

Henry Farny: Death

"Indian Encampment" by Henry Farny

Monday 25, 1916 in "The Cincinnati Enquirer:" "Henry F. Farny one of the most celebrated painters of Indians and Indians life that America has produced, died at midnight Saturday at German Deaconess Hospital, after an illness of two months. His passing brings to a close one of the most remarkable careers in the annals of American art, a career that began with boyhood struggles against poverty and discouragements and ended with the showering of a whole world's plaudits upon him. 

The first signs of failing health were observed a little more than two months ago, a complication of diseases, due largely to exposures and hard life in the Western mountains, being the cause that was found necessary to take him to German Deaconess Hospital shortly after his illness became apparent, and there he remained until the hour of his death. Besides his widow and son, two sisters survive him. The funeral will be held at 2 o'clock Tuesday afternoon in the Crematory Chapel. Services will be conducted by Carson Lodge of Masons. 

He had earned the respect of fellow Cincinnati artists. Shortly after his death, Lewis Henry Meakin remembered Farny as 'a man of rare gifts and unusual personality. His art was of the kind that was understood and cared for by a wide range of people. His skill in craftsmanship, the invisible excellence of his design or composition, his fertility of invention and his remarkable ability in making use of the material at his command: his clearness of vision and the readiness and dexterity with which he caught and embodied an idea commanded the respect and admiration of his fellow-artists and the artistically cultured at the same time...' 

However, from the time of his death until recently, Farny's works dropped into obscurity outside of Cincinnati. The majority of his paintings were in private collections in Cincinnati and often were passed from one generation to another. No exhibitions of his work are known to have been held elsewhere until recently. However, over the last ten years, interest in Farny's work has increased dramatically because of the upsurge in the popularity of Western painting. His paintings are now widely sought after by dealers and collectors."

(Excerpts from "The Artist's Materials and Techniques" by Cecile D. Mear in "Henry Farny Paints the Wild West.") 

 

Henry Farny: A Change of Scene

"Pere Marquette into the Unknown" by Henry Farny

"Henry Farny remained primarily in Cincinnati for the rest of his life, frequently exhibiting his work there, as well as at the South Carolina Interstate and West Indian Exposition in 1901-1902, and the Saint Louis Exposition in 1904. Many of the artist's paintings were purchased at his Cincinnati studio, mostly by local clients. In fact, it seems that a number of Farny's patrons had to wait considerable lengths of time before receiving paintings they had commissioned. There are several letters almost pleading with Farny to undertake and complete work. Because of this demand for his paintings, there was little need for Farny to travel or exhibit widely.

In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt visited Cincinnati, and during an  official visit to an exhibition, he praised several of Farny's paintings. Farny had known Roosevelt for some time and had apparently hunted with him. A painting of Roosevelt on a grouse hunt is now in a private collection. In early 1904, the German Prince Hohenlohe visited Farny's studio because he had been an admirer of the artist ever since a Cincinnatian had presented a Farny painting to Emperor William some years before. Of course, incidents such as these probably increased Farny's reputation and the demand for his paintings.

In 1907, Farny married his ward, Ann Ray, who gave birth to their son, Daniel, in 1908. At about this time, Farny showed a lack of interest in Indian subjects and considered giving them up. He seems to have wanted a new challenge, and so he planned a trip to Europe to study portrait painting, but it is unknown whether he went. He did begin a series of historical paintings, the first of which was completed in 1908. Although he apparently planned a series of paintings that dealt with the early exploration of America, only four are known to exist. One example is 'Into the Unknown,' dated 1910 which represents Father Le Caron who voyaged into the Canadian wilderness in 1615. His compositions and motifs for these paintings are not significantly different from those in his Indian paintings. He used similar landscape motifs but replaced the Indians with historical figures in these works."

To be continued 

(Excerpts from "Henry Farny" by Denny Carter.) 

Henry Farny: The Changing West

"The Song of the Talking Wire" by Henry Farny

"Most of his life Farny remained a bachelor, not marrying until 1906. Over the decades he employed a number of men, usually the down and out, to assist him in the studio and in the field. Farny referred to them as his 'secretaries' - 'old man Bee or Hennessey and others - but they served as Farny's models as well. The most prominent of these secretaries was known to Farny's artist friends as 'Ogallala Fire,' also called Joe. He had been a participant in the Battle of Little Big Horn; it was he who posed for the canvas 'The Last of His Race.' Indignant over the treatment of Indians and generally sympathetic toward those in need, Farny helped Indians whenever he could.  

Throughout his career, Farny used symbolism to show the effects of white civilization on the Indians. 'New Territory' depicts a family of Indians on the move who pause to look at the wagon tracks crossing their path. The Indians' faces reflect attitudes of curiosity, bewilderment, and consternation at this new phenomenon, and even the horse gazes with interest at the tracks, indicating the coming of the white man and the imminent breakdown of the Indian lifestyle. Similar to this theme, Farny also used the railroad as representative of the vanishing frontier, for which he and many people of his time already felt nostalgia. In 1910, when asked whether he would ever return to the West, the artist said: 'It breaks my heart to see the prairies cut up with barbed wire, and to see the once noble Red Man debauching himself with fire water on the reservations. The golden West isn't what it used to be.' 

In 1894 Farny took his last journey West. He left Cincinnati by train for Indian Territory meeting up with General Nelson Miles, who was responsible for Geronimo's capture. He had invited Farny to join him on an inspection tour of the reservation where Kiowa and Comanches were settled, as well as about two-hundred Apaches including Geronimo. Farny sketched Geronimo and used the sketch as a basis for several later paintings. While on the reservation, he watched a ghost dance the Indians held in honor of General Miles. Other than this last trip, Farny remained primarily in Cincinnati for the rest of his life, frequently exhibiting his work there."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Henry Farny" by Denny Carter.)  

Henry Farny: Down the Missouri

"The Heart of the Rockies"
by Henry Farny

"In 1884 Henry Farny traveled West once more, this time to illustrate an article written for Century magazine. Leaving Helena, Montana on September 16, a group of fourteen men, including Farny and the governor of Montana, took two boats down the Missouri River and arrived at Fort Benton on September 22. On this trip, they passed through mountain country that was largely inaccessible by foot or horse and also passed the settled, agricultural area above Fort Benton. 

The 'Helena Daily Herald' described their itinerary in their September 16, 1884 edition:

'Two boat loads of excursionists pulled out from Helena this morning on wheels for Stubb's Ferry, where they will set sail on the two water crafts under the command of Commodore W.F. Wheeler, on a voyage down the Missouri, through the grandest scenery of any river in the world. We may expect to read and see graphic sketches of this voyage portrayed by pen and pencil by some of the voyagers, who, as editors and artists, are equal to the task of describing and painting in glowing colors the grandeur of the upper Missouri. The party goes prepared to tackle fish and game, and to brave the perils of water, inwardly and outwardly, and to enjoy the pleasures of a camp of jolly sailors by night and the mess of a bully crew by day. Arriving at the Great Falls of the Missouri the party will make a portage, in which their boats will be hauled by wagons about 20 miles, when they will proceed to Fort Benton, and reach there probably next Sunday.' 

Farny proved an able hand at running rapids. The spectacularly wild scenery visible during the day gave way at night to 'weird profiles and masks' looking down from giant steep rocky walls and, at night, gave the 'wanderers a sense of loneliness and mystery.'

Farny's illustrations for this article describe the mountain scenery through which they passed. These illustrations are the artist's first known depictions of the western mountains, and, because of his desire to represent them realistically, he evolved a style different than earlier artists had used. Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran had both traveled int he West, and they created panoramic and dramatic views, often showing a valley with an enormous mountain in the distance. Farney's depictions give a more intimate view of this country, and he generally chose a low and near viewpoint. As a result, the mountains rise steeply and are cut off by the sides of the composition, thus evoking a sense of being enclosed in a mountain space."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Henry Farny" by Denny Carter, "The Artist as Indian Storyteller" by Susan Labry Meyn in "Henry Farny Paints the Far West," and "Down the River" in the "Helena Daily Herald," Sept. 16, 1884.)