I found out about Willard Leroy Metcalf's work today as I was looking at the website for Vose Gallery! Then I found a nice short Biography on a blog called Best American Art.
His compositions are so dynamic, his warm colors reflect his spiritual relationship to his art. He was interested in capturing something he called "Summerland". Here is a quote from Best American Art.
Metcalf's vision of "Summerland"—a world of perpetual sunshine and perfect repose was not just another pretty concept; instead, it epitomized his spiritualist concept of the afterlife.
I can identify with the Summerland concept, or at least it's mood. When I really feel like I captured what I am trying to get at in a painting, it feels a lot like the feeling I get going out to the river on a perfect summer day...
One mother thing I admire in Metcalf's work is that he really contriols the color, instead of letting the subject in front of him make all the descisions. I guess that is something I am working at; learning to put in colors that are right for the painting, verses what colors are directly in front of me.
Other sites I found images from are:
The Athenaeum - Amazing image archive on this site!
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
The Metropolitan
The Art Institute of Chicargo
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