Ivan Olinsky: Prodigy

"Purple and Gold" by Ivan Olinsky

"Distinguished as a painter and teacher, Ivan Gregorovitch Olinsky (1878-1962) is best known for portraits and images of female figures in interiors, which he rendered in a vivid Impressionist style. Often he showed figures who appear to blend in with floral backgrounds, demonstrating a decorative approach similar to that used by Robert Reid and Frederick Frieseke. Like Reid and Frieseke, Olinsky complied with the taste for depictions of attractive, pensive women, but he also captured the individuality of his subjects, conveying their intelligence and strength of character.

The son of a farmer, Olinsky was born in an agricultural part of Ukraine and grew up in Elizabethgrad, Russia, a town near Odessa. Having begun to draw before his family settled in Elizabethgrad, he was sufficiently talented to study drawing at the university when he was only nine or ten years old--most of his classmates were twice his age. When he was twelve, his family emigrated to New York City, settling on Henry Street in lower Manhattan. In New York, Olinsky initially attended public school, but when he heard about the National Academy of Design, he was determined to attend."

To be continued

(Excerpts from the biography of Ivan Olinsky from Spanierman Gallery's website.) 

Frederic Porter Vinton: Observations

"Alexander Moseley" by Frederic Vinton

"It is not fitting for the present writer to attempt a technical criticism of Frederic Porter Vinton's qualities as an artist, but certain points were apparent to artists and laymen alike. No one could see his portraits or know the man without being struck by the seriousness and integrity with which he did his work. He was a realist in the sense that he rendered what he saw with the most simple and direct frankness, but from the faults which may result from a realism too exact, his art was saved by the manner in which what he saw was qualified by his thoroughly artistic temperament.

How close to the fact he came is illustrated by the remark of a physician from Philadelphia, who, seeing in an exhibition at the St. Botolph Club, a portrait by Vinton of a subject who had lost the use of his ears, remarked to a friend: 'He's painted a deaf man.' He was asked why he supposed the original to be defective in his hearing. 'Why,' the other answered, 'can't you see that he's listening with his eyes?' When Vinton was asked if he had intentionally given this expression to his sitter, he answered simply: 'I only painted what I saw.'

Although Vinton was known by his portraits, he has done enough in other lines to prove that had he devoted himself to landscape, he would have won a place no less notable. During his early stay in Paris he was naturally under the influence of the Barbizon School. His landscapes of the time show this affiliation with complete frankness. When, however, during his stay in Europe in 1889-90, he came in contact with Impressionism, then his whole method of painting nature altered. He embraced the new gospel of sunlight and open air with the artistic enthusiasm which was characteristic of him, and the brilliant landscape bought by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the last week of the painter's life indicates how intelligently and effectively he was able to apply it without effacing his own individuality." 

(Excerpts from "Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Frederic Porter Vinton" by Arlo Bates on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1911.)  

 

Frederic Porter Vinton: A Good Finish

"Alanson W. Beard" by Frederic Vinton

"In June, 1889, Frederic Porter Vinton and his wife went abroad, and remained for eighteen months. They visited France, Italy, and Holland, with a week in England. The artist's enthusiasm over the work of Franz Hals was hardly second to his admiration for Velasquez, and subtly influenced his later work. During his stay in Paris Vinton painted the well-known portrait of his wife, which, exhibited in the Salon of 1890, received Mention Honorable. This picture, with others, also won a gold medal at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893.

After his return to Boston in the autumn of 1890, Vinton took up his work with fresh vigor. He had abundant commissions, and that general and undisputed recognition which stimulates an artist to his best. In 1891 he was made a full Academician of the National Academy of Design. In 1894 he painted the admirable portrait of the Hon. Alanson W. Beard, which by its wonderful vitality deservedly won a silver medal at the Paris Salon of 1900. In 1909 his work was awarded the Temple gold medal by the Pennsylvania Academy. The finished portraits that he painted number between two and three hundred, and embrace a surprising variety not only in subject, but no less in treatment. The fervor with which he worked, and his nervously sensitive temperament, combined with so much labor, wore him out. Although he showed no failure in his artistic powers, his friends were deeply troubled by his physical condition long before the end came on the morning of May 20, 1911."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Frederic Porter Vinton" by Arlo Bates on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1911.)  

 

Frederic Porter Vinton: Success

"Portrait of a Gentleman" by Frederic Vinton

"Frederic Porter Vinton now settled down to steady work, and commissions followed one upon another. That winter he painted Sir Lyon Playfair, Mr. Samuel H. Russell, Dr. Alexander Vinton, and others. In the next ten years came portraits of more than sixty others. Vinton took a leading and undisputed place in the front ranks of American portrait painters, and this he held without challenge to the day of his death.

In 1880 he was made a member of the Society of American Artists, New York. In 1881 he removed to the studio most strongly associated with his name, that which had been occupied by William M. Hunt in the building (not now standing) at the corner of Park Square and Boylston Street in Boston. It is hardly too much to say that the studio became the artistic centre of Boston. 

Mr. Vinton was a man whose personality would make itself felt anywhere. He was concerned in all the important art events of the town, and for that matter was in request all over the country as a member of art juries and hanging committees. The critics of the Boston papers were constantly consulting him, and his opinion was held in general esteem. As he had in 1875 stirred up a commotion by his frankness, he not infrequently aroused antagonism by his plain speech, but his hatred for shams and for what he felt to be bad in art was too strong to pass off in silence because of any fear of consequences."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Frederic Porter Vinton" by Arlo Bates on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1911.)  

Frederic Porter Vinton: First Boston Commission

"Thomas Gold Appleton" by Frederic Vinton

"In the autumn of 1878 Frederic Porter Vinton returned to Boston, and established himself in a studio in Winter Street, at the top of a six-story building. Mr. Appleton had sent to the the artist in Paris a sum of money as a commission, and to fulfill this contract the painter offered him the painting he had entered in the Paris Salon. Vinton said: '

'He came pounding his way with his cane up my five long flights of stairs to see the picture. He at once exclaimed, 'You don't mean that for me, do you?' I answered yes, if he would accept it. 'My little order didn't amount to anything, but this does!' He brought a bevy  of pretty women with him on the day following to see my work, and on the day following that he came and proposed that I paint his portrait, for, as he remarked, he felt as though he had robbed me by taking my little painting, and wished to make it up to me in some way. 'When can you begin?' he asked. 'Now,' said I, 'at once.' 'Good!' he exclaimed, 'What fun!' When I said at last, 'There, it is finished,' he exclaimed, 'I like it. That is the man I shave every morning!'

This portrait, which is owned by the Harvard Museum, and is included in the present exhibition, may be said to have determined Vinton's career. It was exhibited at the private gallery of Messrs. Doll and RIchards, and excited much interest and attention. Its sure and vigorous handling struck a new note, and while it was somewhat suggestive of the painter's French masters, it was so individual and sincere as to show conclusively that a new and noteworthy personality had entered the field. Vinton had painted it with a direct simplicity, much as he might have painted a French peasant. Dr. Rimmer, who came into town to see it, congratulated him upon the success of the portrait, and then added with a smile, 'It is perhaps too strong.' It certainly did not indicate an artist who would make his way by painting pretty flatteries, but as time goes on the work gains steadily in favor."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Frederic Porter Vinton" by Arlo Bates on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1911.)  

Frederic Porter Vinton: Study Abroad

"Portrait with Yellow Shawl and Fan"
by Frederic Porter Vinton

"Frederic Porter Vinton was bent upon going abroad to study, and with this end in mind practiced the closest and most patient economy. He exchanged commerce for banking in order to have some hours of daylight free for drawing, and was for five years each in the National Bank of Redemption and the Massachusetts National Bank. 

During this time he was associated more and more closely with artists, and eagerly absorbed whatever aesthetic nourishment came in his way. He began also to contribute art criticisms to the Boston papers, and the excitement and discussion which in 1875 followed his outspoken notice of a Studio Building exhibition led to his appointment as regular art critic for the 'Boston Advertiser.'

In the autumn of this year he felt justified in cutting loose from the desk of a clerk and devoting himself to art study. He went to Paris, and by his friend Edwin H. Blashfield was presented to Bonnat, in whose popular atelier he was at once enrolled as a pupil. In the following June, however, Frank Duveneck, who had come to Paris to attend the opening of the Salon, induced him to continue his studies in Munich. Bonnat, although he did not approve of the change, gave the young man a letter, which was never used, to Piloty. Mr. Vinton was received into Piloty's studio, but he did not take kindly to German methods, and after a year of work in Munich he returned to Paris, in, as he says, 'a happy frame of mind.'

In the Salon of this year, 1877, Jean Paul Laurens exhibited his 'Death of Marceau,' and received for it the 'medaille d'honneur.' The picture so impressed Mr. Vinton that he at once went to call upon Laurens, and asked that he might be received into his newly opened atelier. In this studio he was the only American, and although he has recorded that Americans were not wanted there, his relations with the master and with the clever young French painters by whom he was surrounded were most cordial. Here he painted his first Salon picture, 'Une Bohémienne,' which was afterward presented by Mr. Thomas G. Appleton to the city of Lowell, Massachusetts." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Frederic Porter Vinton" by Arlo Bates on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1911.)  

Frederic Porter Vinton: Early Studies

"The River Loing at Grez, France" by Frederic Porter Vinton

"While in the West, Frederic Porter Vinton had worked somewhat in pastel, and had painted a few ornamental signs. His spare hours were devoted largely to drawing, and an inborn instinct attracted him toward whatever pictures of merit came in his way. The time was in many respects fortunate for a young artist, since Boston in the sixties was being aesthetically enlightened by a group of vital and virile spirits, who, with William Morris Hunt at the head, had brought to this country an enthusiasm kindled in the Paris of Corot, Couture, Millet, Courbet, and the other masters of the Barbizon School. Albion Bicknell, John La Farge, Elihu Vedder, Foxcroft Cole, Winslow Homer, Thomas Robinson, and other men of less note gathered around Hunt. 

Long before any other city in the country had quickened to the influence of the new departure in art, Boston had not only responded to it, but had become the one market for canvases which then no other American city would buy, yet which are now recognized as masterpieces. Nowhere else in the land could a young man have found an atmosphere so wholesomely stimulating.

Vinton had come to the resolution to carry to Hunt some of his sketches. The famous artist perceived the talent in the crude work, and cheered the young man by saying: 'You've as much art as I had when I started; go ahead.' By his advice Vinton began to work more systematically. He entered the drawing classes of the Lowell Institute, and afterward took three courses of art anatomy under Dr. William Rimmer. He obtained permission to draw from the casts in the old Athenaeum gallery, and in an unpublished paper of reminiscences he writes:  

'The room was often closed in winter, and rarely heated. I have sat there in overcoat and gloves, drawing away for dear life until I could no longer see, - not feel, I was so benumbed by the cold. As I ramble through the Museum galleries now, I find my old friends in their new home, and rejoice with them in their prosperity. I wonder sometimes if their stony hearts did not pity the friendless, lonely boy who came day after day to that great cold room overlooking the old burying-ground to dream, to wonder, and to work.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Frederic Porter Vinton" by Arlo Bates on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1911.)