Latest Gallon painting farbism's

[jdanner723]

Re: Latest Gallon painting farbism's

Here's a great link to contemporary Civil War artists, very spot on! http://wesclark.com/jw/cw_art.html
.

Thanks for the link David. I couldn't agree more. His views are "spot on," and I couldn't stop laughing.

I think it's already been discussed but it seems that many of these artists mentioned here and on the link to Jonah Begone's But Is It Art are more concerned with quantity rather than quantity. I also believe that these paintings are geared more towards a mainstream audience who may be less likely to notice the lack of attention to detail. It seems that the mainstream audience keeps them in business, so artists continue to produce what they know and what they feel makes them sucessful. I personally would not purchase one of these paintings but I will say that if an artist were to fully research his/her work , it would take them considerably longer to finish just one piece. Perhaps some of these artists are not be willing to make such a commitment, and thus they continue to feed their biggest audience. Just my two cents.

[Andrew Kasmar]

Re: Latest Gallon painting farbism's

Hi,


Look at the comparison of these to paintings. I think that his art work is going down in quality and authenticity. Here is his newest "Of The People" (2008) and here is Clubs Are Trumps (1996). I would not have guessed that they were painted by the same person. Just my 2 cents.


Andrew

[RN_PAC]

Re: Latest Gallon painting farbism's

I haven't posted in a long time, but I had to chime in on this...my favorite story of abject horror was when, in 2004, I was in the 'Burg on R-day to march with the 5th NY; I swung into his shop to look around in the zouave getup, turban and all, and Dale was there...very friendly guy, but he asked me "are you with the 14th Brooklyn". WTH?!??!?!? That's like Terry Bradshaw seeing a player in a Jets jersey and asking if he's on the Eagles squad. Sure, the colors are pretty much the same, but the similarity ends there...and given the business he oughta know better!

[Dan Wambaugh]

Re: Latest Gallon painting farbism's

Folks,

If you'll permit me to step on my soapbox for a few minutes while I'm waiting for my desktop PC to be fixed...It will come as no surprise that I am a huge Troiani fan, own a number of his works and consider there to be few others of his quality. Let me tell you about my favorite of his works, and WHY I like it and think that it transcends being a historical illustration and becomes actual art.

From the HAP website:

The Diehards



August 30,1862 became a memorable moment known as Second Manassas. The Louisianan's ammunition had run out, with no time to send for more, the men began throwing rocks at the advancing Union troops.


Now in most, if not all historical print the focus of the painting is a flag, or an officer, or some other splash of color. Troinai's two most popular and most valuable prints "Lone Star" and "The High Water Mark" use several flags as their focal point. But in this print the only flags are either furled or pushed off to the side. The focal point of this image are the men defending their position to the last. Aside from the excellent message this action and this painting pass on, that when you run out of ammunition you do everything you can to hold the line, to me it says that the real backbone, the real grit of any American army is not the flags, not the romantic notions of patriotism or duty, but the men themselves, who are just fighting for survival. And in the case of this print, unlike his other two "big ticket" paintings, these men won that day, and for awhile longer were victorious. True, many would not see their homes ever again, but for just that one day they showed what true grit and determination can accomplish. I'm not certain if Don was trying to convey this feeling when he made this painting, maybe some day I'll be able to ask him, but that's what it means to me.

So, to me at least, this print is not a historical illustration as Jonah defines it, but this one is art.


Best,

[13thnhv]

Re: Latest Gallon painting farbism's

I agree with what Dan says, regarding the central focus usually being the colors/battleflags, etc. One other artist whose painting technique and ability in my opinion is John Paul Strain. His realism is eerily perfect, especially the many water features in his paintings: brooks, streams, etc. I don't own any of his works though, because there are two issues I don't care for. His soldiers are way too good-looking, rugged yet too male-modelly. The other is the dramatic excess of symmetry, ie Lee in the dead center, flanked perfectly by Longstreet and Stuart, and balanced further by accompanying cavalry and/or infantry, so it looks posed, not spontaneously captured in time. I am lucky enough to own 3 Troianis and I prize them for their depiction of soldiers who look more "every day", and the contrived symmetry is rarely present.

[jdanner723]

Re: Latest Gallon painting farbism's

I agree with you as well Dan. I feel as though Troiani is not only an artist but a historian. Too many of the artists, including Gallon, can not call themselves such, as is evidenced in part by Tom's above posting. Having dabbled in art myself I have always admired the paintings of Troiani. Look closely at one of the books that bear his name and you will see that the majority of the specimens listed in the catalog belong to his own collection. How many other artists can say that they spend that much time, effort, and money into putting together a collection that they can reference?

[thad gallagher]

Re: Latest Gallon painting farbism's

Troiani definately puts much more detail into his prints, and that really make the difference to me. The one that comes to mind for this it Eagle of the 8th. On the ground there is a damaged rifle. I belive that some of the other artists would have had the rifle lying there, but Troiani had it lock side down with the springs and mechanism visible. Those types of details put him over the top for me, not to even mention the obvious research he outs into them.

[Hoosier Yank]

Dale's efforts have always been very inconsistant in terms of quality, realism, and historical accuracy. The lack of realism can be excused due to his limited ability as an artist, however the quality , I think, is perhaps attributed to a "crank em out" mentality. Dale has produced decent efforts, "Sound the Charge" comes to mind, but some of his work looks almost cartoonish, this lastest effort bears that out!

Here's a great link to contemporary Civil War artists, very spot on! http://wesclark.com/jw/cw_art.html
.

In my opinion (Gallon and Kunstler) are the Thomas Kinkade's of CW art.

Personally, I’m a large fan of Keith Rocco and have several of his prints in my collection.

I meet Mr. Rocco at Cedar Creek in 1995 where he had a few prints for sale along with his new book “On Campaign“. I was very impressed when he was signing my book when he asked who to make it out to. When I told him “Bill Young” he replied, “Oh! It’s so nice to meet you! You just purchased the “The Chosen Ground” back a few months ago didn’t you?”

A real gentleman and who has a good memory of who is buying his art work.

[garyjd]

Re: Latest Gallon painting farbism's

I was in the 'Burg on R-day to march with the 5th NY; I swung into his shop to look around in the zouave getup, turban and all, and Dale was there...very friendly guy, but he asked me "are you with the 14th Brooklyn". WTH?!??!?!?

Boy, if that's not an indicator as to how much time he spends with his nose in the books nothing is. ~Gary