Christine Sullivan Frames for New Show

Posted by millerfenwood in Custom Frames

We were very honored to work again with the artist Christine Sullivan, framing her artwork for an upcoming exhibition of Cape Cod seascapes. The exhibition opens July 6th, and runs through the 26th, and is at the Oils by the Sea / ROCCAPRIORE Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts. We’ve collaborated with Christine for the last three years, and have even designed a personal frame for her that we call the Sullivan Float. For this exhibition, some artwork was given that frame style, and others were given a Modernist Step. Both styles were given white gold.

Sullivan is a representational abstract landscape painter. Her subject matter captures the hard-working, celebrated life on the family farms of rural New York State and the fishermen’s life on the salt waters of Cape Cod and northern Florida. Geography has always been one of her strongest inspirations: “The . . . organic scents and earthy hues found close to the land and sea were embedded upon my soul at a very young age and continue to inform and influence my life and work.”

Alice L. Williams Watercolor Repairs

Posted by millerfenwood in Works on Paper

Once we carefully removed this Alice L. Williams (mid 20th century) watercolor from its mount we discovered a pair of significant tears. To the reverse we added new paper, of a similar composition, and then in-painted on the front. These tears had not been visible while the watercolor was on its mount, which offers some explanation as to why it was used. We’ve replaced it with a museum rag mount that will not introduce acid contamination like its predecessor. The watercolor also underwent chemistries baths, to remove acids and molds, and was then blotted dry. Special thanks to Sarah Harris of The Nines who will frame this work for the Ox-Bow Summer Benefit, that takes place on Saturday, July 7.

Alice L. Williams was a member of Ox-Bow, having followed her mother’s footsteps, Olive, who built the Mary K cottage at Ox-bow in the 1920s. The local legend is that this cottage has a reputation for ghosts, missing tools, moved equipment, and flickering lights.

Long tear.

V-shaped tear shown on reverse.

Adding paper.

On museum rag. In-painting started.

All finished.

Hobbe Smith Watercolor

Posted by millerfenwood in Works on Paper

This charming and exquisite watercolor came in with extreme acid burns. With the help of Dr. Jacob E. Nyenhuis we were able to identity the signature as Hobbe Smith (1862-1942). After careful removal from the mat and taping, a targeted chemistry baths lifted the acid stains. The watercolor was then allowed to dry flat which returned a crispness to the paper. The clarity of the cleaning will help us determine the style and color for a new frame. Stay tuned for more . . .

Hobbe Smith was the son of a house painter. His first formal art instruction came while he was an apprentice to a lithographer and continued as a member of Quellinusschool, an Amsterdam school for sculptors named after the Quellinus family and founded in 1877. Due to a wealthy patron who admired his work, he received a Royal Scholarship and studied at Rijksakadmie with August Allebe, a major promoter of Amsterdam Impressionism, a style Smith would adopt.

He continued his studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp with Charles Verlat. His subject matter included nudes, still life, portraits, historical scenes, sea- river- and town-views. In 1888, he won the Willink van Collenprijs, and received international notoriety after an exhibition at the Pulchri Studio in 1902. A gold medal recipient from Queen Wilhelmina in 1917, he was also a member of Arti et Amicitiae and Sint Lucas.

Cora Bliss Taylor Floral

Posted by millerfenwood in Works on Canvas

This oil painting suffers from paint loss and surface contaminates. Early cleaning tests have revealed the underlying color tones to be much brighter than what’s shown in its current state.

We would like to extend a sincere thank you to the Saugatuck Woman’s Club and the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society for hosting our lecture yesterday evening. It was a great experience to share our restoration abilities and what effects they can have on artwork, and the response we received was truly overwhelming. We strongly believe in community outreach and broadening culture, and we feel very fortunate for the opportunity we were given.

Cora Bliss Taylor was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 14, 1889. Her father was a veteran of the Civil War and passed away when she was 1 years old. During her childhood, the family traveled around the United States, and France when she was 11 years old, which is where she received her first art lessons.

Cora visited Saugatuck, Michigan, which was to become her home, on her honeymoon in 1914, with her husband, James W. Taylor, a Chicago attorney. She studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago with Leon Kroll and Leopold Seyffert; Charles W. Hawthorne, Provincetown, Massachusetts; Andre L. Hote in Paris; Morris Kantor, Art Students League, New York; and Vance Kirkland, Denver University. She was a contemporary of Georgia O’Keefe.

Mrs. Taylor won the Chicago Woman’s Aid Prize, Edward B. Butler Prize, and Fine Arts Building Prize from the Art Institute of Chicago where she exhibited a number of times. She also was accepted for a number of exhibitions at the Detroit Museum of Arts and won several prizes, including the American Association of University Women’s prize for her watercolor, “Abandoned”. In 1945, she won Honorable Mention for a painting exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. She exhibited at the Chicago Galleries Association and other private galleries. Cora was a member of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, and is listed in the original edition of “Who’s Who of American Women”.

In 1931, she founded the Taylor Art School on Holland Street in Saugatuck, a summer art school, with visiting instructors. The Taylor Art Gallery attracted 2,000 visitors who signed the guest register that first year. In 1931, as Art Director of the Saugatuck Chamber of Commerce, she was instrumental in attracting many Chicago people to the Saugatuck area. Mrs. Taylor continued to teach painting for many years, specializing in children. Quite a few of her students went on to make a career in art.

Her paintings are hanging at Hope College, Holland, Michigan; Saugatuck Masonic Lodge, Chicago Public Schools, a number of Women’s clubs, Emerson Unitarian Church, Houston, Texas; Sheridan Public Schools, Sheridan, Texas; and many private homes in Chicago, Western Michigan, and other areas of the country.

Cora Bliss Taylor passed away at the age of 97 on April 21, 1986.