Daniel Garber: Cuttalossa

"Mother and Son" by Daniel Garber

"When Daniel Garber heard that his father-in-law had purchased a piece of land in Bucks County and bought up the tenant's remaining lease, he became 'impatient to get back and paint in this country.' By the early summer of 1907, May and Daniel were back in America, settling into their new home in the wooded glen.

Just below Lumberville where the narrow dirt road that goes through the Cuttalossa Glen leaves the river road, there is a picturesque old mill with a falls," remembers Francis Speight. 'From here the road winds along the creek for about a mile and a half through woods on both sides, to the upper end of the glen, where the road is two or three hundred yards from the creek and there is another old mill and an old dwelling.' In this sylvan spot, a few miles from the banks of the Delaware, Garber determinedly fashioned an environment for making art that manifested all the artistic aspirations of his paintings and his life. Soon after moving in he remodelled the old barn behind the big house into a studio, using timber from the abandoned mill. This lofty studio with its light, plastered walls and large French doors facing north became the spiritual center of 'Cuttalossa.' With his workshop and his flower garden adjoining, Garber placed himself in the midst of a creative arena that constantly reflected and supported his vision of the world. 

The scheme was perfected in the early twenties, when, with the architect McGoodwin, he renovated the big house on the property and gained a large library and generous domestic spaces for the entertainment of friends. 

Like Frederic Church at Olana, Garber imposed his aesthetic on the landscape as well as the house. He dammed the creek to create a pond, designed new farm outbuildings himself, dismantled some buildings and aloowed others to decay picturesquely. Cuttalossa became a three-dimensional self-portrait of the artist. 'It all seemed in harmony with Garber paintings and with Mr. Garber himself,' remembers Speight. 'To know me now you would have to know the place,' wrote Garber to his cousin Charles in 1929. 'Everyone knows it's half of me.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from Daniel Garber, 1880-1958: Exhibition, June 27 - August 24, 1980, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts" by Kathleen Foster.)