George Grammer, New York Nocturnal, n.d., oil on canvas, 35.5 X 25.25 “ Collection of Judge and Mrs. B. Michael Chitty
George Grammer
Full Circle
Bernice Coulter Templeton Art Studio [link]
Texas Wesleyan University, Ft. Worth, TX
Grammer’s 1950’s night paintings of Texas coastal derricks and refineries helped develop his masterful touch for suggestive twilight. The later New York Nocturnal softens industrial lights and edges, even blurring colors as if a precursor of a Gerhard Richter technique. It is an exhilarating image, with the insertion of a bold horizontal streak, like a speeding Yellow Cab.
Sunflower Night has the contour-clarity of an Aubrey Beardsley woodcut. The tall stems, looming high above the viewer, dim into ever darker tones. Yet Grammer retains significant warm hues in the elliptical flowers, letting them project forward from the rich blue sky.
~ Thomas Motley
photos courtesy of BB Moncrief Wiese and Carter Bowden, Curators
[Read more…]
