In my “2:30 talks”, what I don’t mention is frequently asked about by visitors. The “talks” are closer to conversations with people who are interested in Ben Solowey’s art. I call them the “poor man’s audio tour” because I talk about the paintings and drawings as people are looking at them. Spontaneous questions from visitors provide more opportunities to compare and contrast works on the walls.
One painting that continues to intrigue visitors is a landscape from the final years of Ben’s career. A work that at first glance doesn’t “look” like a Solowey. Gone is the rich smooth surface of many of his oils. In its place, thick jagged gobs of paint. People often mention Van Gogh, but he is just one of many influences perhaps.
Titled Morning Mood, this small work is a palette-knife painting. Instead of a brush, the paint was applied to the board with a knife. The rough handling of the color gives the work vitality. A brilliant blue sky, smeared with clouds, overhangs a distant peak (perhaps Mt. Haycock) in the background. A field just before harvest dominates the foreground, framed by green. Trees? Other crops? Who knows?
He signed the piece with a flourish on the verso, but never exhibited it. Perhaps he might have considered it for a retrospective that was planned for the Woodmere Art Museum in the spring of 1979. With Ben’s death in May, 1978, the exhibition became a memorial, featuring more than 100 paintings, drawings, and sculptures.
The nearly 40 works in AN INTIMATE VIEW: Small Paintings & Drawings by Ben Solowey serve as their own tour through Ben’s career beginning with paintings from Europe in 1924, through his New York years, including three Theater Portraits, and concluding with pieces from more than four decades on this farm. With works such as Morning Mood, there is more than a half century of art on view in this exhibition.
This new show runs Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 5 pm through June 28th.
Morning Mood. Oil on board, c. 1977, 6 1/4 x 9 1/2 in.
