Eric Longo
Member
Hello All,
The title is a bit of a tease as Ryder never painted it - but I just might. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the work of America's maritime artist Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917), but with him living and working in NY/NJ in 1912 and considering his love for dramatic maritime subjects, such as his incredible Flying Dutchman, it occurred to me - "what if he painted Titanic?" I include below a photograph of three of his best marines in the MET in NY - Moonlit Marine, Toilers of the Sea and Under a Cloud. Most all of his miraculous paintings have an undescribable moonlit quality that evokes both day and night, or a dream or memory. He was fond of working on wood in oil mixed with wax, resin, solvents, water, tobacco juice, dirt and all manner of organic substances. I have been hired to copy his work before and have studied his technique from various technical papers published during the difficult task of stabilizing his works, many of which have failed to dry and remain liquid under the skin of paint - sometimes a half inch thick. These methods resulted in a very specific surface appearance of cracks and other "problems." Anyway, I did the composition study below to get a feel for the subject using his typical strong diagonal vectors. Ryder would have used any 4 stacker for reference and could likely have used Cunard colors for the funnels, which would be more dramatic and something I'll likely do with the "original" if I paint it. Also, the four stackers (besides the German vessels) he would have seen most at that time were the Cunard liners Lusitania and Mauretania. It is known he did take long moonlit walks by Battery park and the piers. He also would have seen the newspaper headlines which would have influenced him greatly. Assuming I paint this, this will be done with all period materials (including the lead and mastic resin) on solid mahogany - he once cut his own headboard up to provide panels to paint on. The second image I produced is also digital - an example of what the finished product might look like framed. He often took many years, sometimes a decade or more, to finish his works as he just kept overpainting and wiping with water or alcohol in between. For this reason I "date" the image to 1912-1915 although it is likely he would never have finished it. He was a painter of dreams and atmosphere - he would not really have cared about the source of light or the perspective or the rivets that many count on the paintings of others. I would appreciate any and all opinions. Thanks in advance. These are merely digital sketches so don't burn me alive folks
Thanks,
Eric Longo
The title is a bit of a tease as Ryder never painted it - but I just might. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the work of America's maritime artist Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917), but with him living and working in NY/NJ in 1912 and considering his love for dramatic maritime subjects, such as his incredible Flying Dutchman, it occurred to me - "what if he painted Titanic?" I include below a photograph of three of his best marines in the MET in NY - Moonlit Marine, Toilers of the Sea and Under a Cloud. Most all of his miraculous paintings have an undescribable moonlit quality that evokes both day and night, or a dream or memory. He was fond of working on wood in oil mixed with wax, resin, solvents, water, tobacco juice, dirt and all manner of organic substances. I have been hired to copy his work before and have studied his technique from various technical papers published during the difficult task of stabilizing his works, many of which have failed to dry and remain liquid under the skin of paint - sometimes a half inch thick. These methods resulted in a very specific surface appearance of cracks and other "problems." Anyway, I did the composition study below to get a feel for the subject using his typical strong diagonal vectors. Ryder would have used any 4 stacker for reference and could likely have used Cunard colors for the funnels, which would be more dramatic and something I'll likely do with the "original" if I paint it. Also, the four stackers (besides the German vessels) he would have seen most at that time were the Cunard liners Lusitania and Mauretania. It is known he did take long moonlit walks by Battery park and the piers. He also would have seen the newspaper headlines which would have influenced him greatly. Assuming I paint this, this will be done with all period materials (including the lead and mastic resin) on solid mahogany - he once cut his own headboard up to provide panels to paint on. The second image I produced is also digital - an example of what the finished product might look like framed. He often took many years, sometimes a decade or more, to finish his works as he just kept overpainting and wiping with water or alcohol in between. For this reason I "date" the image to 1912-1915 although it is likely he would never have finished it. He was a painter of dreams and atmosphere - he would not really have cared about the source of light or the perspective or the rivets that many count on the paintings of others. I would appreciate any and all opinions. Thanks in advance. These are merely digital sketches so don't burn me alive folks
Thanks,
Eric Longo
