“American Art at the Arkell Museum: The Role of the Macbeth Gallery in Shaping the Collection”
Where: The Arkell Museum, 2 Erie Blvd, Canajoharie
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.Tuesday-Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Take a simple winter view from 1920 called “Sleigh Bells” by Edward W. Redfield. With heavy impasto, a small town’s snowy main street is idealized, and it’s all quite, well, lovely. Arkell bought it from Robert Macbeth is 1926, and a quote by Arkell is provided: “As per my telephone conversation, I will gladly purchase for the Canajoharie Museum … the snow picture (and it is a mighty good one) by Redfield.”
Besides the quirk that Arkell seems to be convincing himself “it is a mighty good one,” the letter hints at the routine nature of their commerce. Over several decades, Arkell depended on Macbeth for many of his key acquisitions, a few of them here. George Inness’ oil on canvas, “The Rainbow,” purchased directly from Macbeth in 1934, is characteristic for the artist though the work is from the late 1870s, far from 20th-century concerns. A later textural landscape by Julian Alden Weir is rather stunning, and though this one was won at auction, Arkell bought two other Weirs from Macbeth.
Macbeth Gallery’s fame stems from a show in 1908 that introduced “The Eight,” a group of relatively progressive American painters. The museum’s collection now includes at least one work by each of these, a sign of an ongoing symbiosis between Arkell and Macbeth.
There are later works here only loosely connected to Macbeth, like the 1934 “Roque” by Paul Sample — an artist the gallery promoted, though this one was bought elsewhere. The painting has a stylized regionalist feel that is part of a genuinely American movement that still holds water, relating to depictions of life in the U.S….
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