Saturday, December 17, 2011

Saturday Salon: A Favorite Painting or Two.....or Three!










Nine (we lost one) wonderful city winterscapes by American Impressionist Guy Carleton Wiggins (1893 - 1962).

Wiggins was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. to an artistic family. (Though some bios have him being born in Lyme, Ct.) His father was famed painter,John Carleton Wiggins, Guy's first teacher. Later Guy would go on to be taught by William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri.

Primarily a landscape painter in the Impressionist style, Guy Wiggins was known for his snowy winter scenes of New York City. In 1912, his painting, Metropolitan Tower, was accepted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, making Wiggins the youngest painter ever to be accepted for the Museum's permanent collection.

Wiggins' paintings evoke NYC winters as I remember them. I grew up in a Manhattan that during winter months was often a cold wonderland of ice and blowing snow. I love the poetic stillness of Wiggins' work.

To learn about Guy Carleton Wiggins' life and work, please check this link.

12 comments:

  1. I love Wiggen's paintings, Yvette.
    The first two secenes are so familiar to me as I am often in the Wall Street area and see that view of Trinity Church from Federal Hall.

    Even though there is snow on the ground here in Denver this week, it is surprisingly warm!

    ReplyDelete
  2. One can certainly feel the cold and slush in these paintings! They remind me of my years in Pittsburgh, which is why I'm now sending this comment from Florida!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. These paintings put me in the mood to travel far away this Christmas - all the way to New York City and all the way back to the early 20th Century.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brrr...these paintings are making me colder than I already am! As it is my hands and nose feels really cold.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Those paintings make great Christmas cards, don't they?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pat: When I lived in New York, I loved the winters, especially in the snow. These paintings, for me, capture the magic.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mark: For me, winter in NYC is THE place to be. :)

    If I could, I'd still live there.
    Oh, and if I were twenty years younger, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Eve: Me too. Though NYC is only 50 or so miles away, it seems like such a trek these days.

    But looking at Wiggins' paintings makes me feel as if I'm there. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Willow: We've had a very mild winter here in NJ, but I'm enjoying these chilly snowy scenes by Wiggins. He really captured the wintery hush of the city, even in the midst of traffic.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Patti: Absolutely. I'm surprised I haven't seen them around. Or maybe I just missed them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh, I love the third, and the fourth ... and most of them, actually :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love 'em all, Dorte. :) But if I HAD to pick just one, I think it would be the first. But I'd be happy with any of them, really.

    ReplyDelete

Your comment will appear after I take a look.