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Lot Essay
Daniel Garber's The Valley--Tohickon, painted in 1914, is one of the earliest examples of the artist's landscapes executed on this heroic scale and the second of such size to have been exhibited at the National Academy of Design. Following its inclusion in the Academy's exhibition, the work was selected for exhibition in The Panama-Pacific International Exposition, held in San Francisco, California in 1915, indicating its important place in Garber's oeuvre. In a contemporary review of the exhibition, Eugen Neuhaus writes, "There is no end of distinctive canvases in this gallery, as one must conclude on going over to the two big Daniel Garbers, which are more of the typical American type than his others in the group." ("The Galleries of the Exposition. A Critical Review of the Paintings, Statuary, & Graphic Arts in the Palace of Fine Arts," 1915)
Garber was one of the most celebrated artists of the New Hope School, which also included Edward Redfield and William Schofield among others. He received his initial artistic training at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and later at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, studying under William Merritt Chase and Cecilia Beaux. The most significant influence during the artist's early career, however, was his education in Europe from 1903 to 1905: "[Garber], during a year of study in Paris, was influenced by the European Impressionists. From this exposure to these masters, Garber honed his skill at representing sunlight and derived his use of lively pastel colors." (Beacon Hill Fine Art, An American Tradition: The Pennsylvania Impressionists, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1995, p. 18) Garber incorporated the practice of European plein air artists, making quick sketches out of doors and then returning to his studio to compose his more elaborate works, such as The Valley--Tohickon.
The Valley--Tohickon (also known as From Tinicum Hill) was most likely painted at Garber's Bucks County, Pennsylvania, farm, "Cuttalossa," which he inhabited from 1907 until his death in 1958. Located near Lumberville, a few miles outside of New Hope and along the Cuttalossa Creek, the farm provided Garber with inspiration and subject matter throughout his career. "It was from his home base at Cuttalossa that Garber built his life--his career as a teacher, his reputation as a painter, and of course his work: vistas of quarries and forests along the Delaware; calm, transcendental domestic scenes with his family as subjects; and numerous etchings and drawings that display his consummate technical mastery." (S. Yount, et al., Pennsylvania Impressionism, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 2002, p. 10) Tinicum was but one of many small villages nearby Cuttalossa that afforded Garber a visually dramatic landscape combined with the gentle hand of man's intrusion in the form of stone fences and farms.
In The Valley--Tohickon, Garber returns to the site of The Hills of Byram (1909, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois), painting the view from a slightly different vantage point. In the original composition that was exhibited in 1914 and 1915, Garber included a number of additional structures in the bottom half of the landscape. The artist reworked the composition slightly, perhaps in advance of a 1923 exhibition, editing the landscape to create a more natural view of the valley less encroached upon by civilization. (L. Humphries, Daniel Garber Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 2006, p. 108) In The Valley--Tohickon, Garber adeptly applies his signature tapestry-like brushwork in a muted palette. The brisk paint applications of the upper atmosphere blend into more staccato brushstrokes in the foreground. The boldest use of color in the composition is the bright blue of the water, which creates a natural divide between the hill in the distance and the bank along river. Garber captures the expanse of the land with his stylized patchwork style, experimenting with light, pattern and color in the composition. The purple trees, representative of an encroaching autumn, contrasted with the rich gold of the quarry stone creates a visual splendor that is representative of Garber's greatest works.
Although he adopted the techniques of French Impressionism, Garber rejected the Impressionist idea of painting fleeting moments and transitory effects. His subject matter was structured on reality tempered by artistic license that was conservative and classical. In a 1922 interview Garber elaborates: "My work is different, perhaps, from that of the general landscape painter in that I have a mass of detail in the mass. After all, one's job is to get everything in and yet keep it all as a whole, like an orchestra--everything working in harmony to produce one feeling or emotion." (as quoted in Daniel Garber Catalogue Raisonné, p. 88)
Garber was one of the most celebrated artists of the New Hope School, which also included Edward Redfield and William Schofield among others. He received his initial artistic training at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and later at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, studying under William Merritt Chase and Cecilia Beaux. The most significant influence during the artist's early career, however, was his education in Europe from 1903 to 1905: "[Garber], during a year of study in Paris, was influenced by the European Impressionists. From this exposure to these masters, Garber honed his skill at representing sunlight and derived his use of lively pastel colors." (Beacon Hill Fine Art, An American Tradition: The Pennsylvania Impressionists, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1995, p. 18) Garber incorporated the practice of European plein air artists, making quick sketches out of doors and then returning to his studio to compose his more elaborate works, such as The Valley--Tohickon.
The Valley--Tohickon (also known as From Tinicum Hill) was most likely painted at Garber's Bucks County, Pennsylvania, farm, "Cuttalossa," which he inhabited from 1907 until his death in 1958. Located near Lumberville, a few miles outside of New Hope and along the Cuttalossa Creek, the farm provided Garber with inspiration and subject matter throughout his career. "It was from his home base at Cuttalossa that Garber built his life--his career as a teacher, his reputation as a painter, and of course his work: vistas of quarries and forests along the Delaware; calm, transcendental domestic scenes with his family as subjects; and numerous etchings and drawings that display his consummate technical mastery." (S. Yount, et al., Pennsylvania Impressionism, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 2002, p. 10) Tinicum was but one of many small villages nearby Cuttalossa that afforded Garber a visually dramatic landscape combined with the gentle hand of man's intrusion in the form of stone fences and farms.
In The Valley--Tohickon, Garber returns to the site of The Hills of Byram (1909, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois), painting the view from a slightly different vantage point. In the original composition that was exhibited in 1914 and 1915, Garber included a number of additional structures in the bottom half of the landscape. The artist reworked the composition slightly, perhaps in advance of a 1923 exhibition, editing the landscape to create a more natural view of the valley less encroached upon by civilization. (L. Humphries, Daniel Garber Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 2006, p. 108) In The Valley--Tohickon, Garber adeptly applies his signature tapestry-like brushwork in a muted palette. The brisk paint applications of the upper atmosphere blend into more staccato brushstrokes in the foreground. The boldest use of color in the composition is the bright blue of the water, which creates a natural divide between the hill in the distance and the bank along river. Garber captures the expanse of the land with his stylized patchwork style, experimenting with light, pattern and color in the composition. The purple trees, representative of an encroaching autumn, contrasted with the rich gold of the quarry stone creates a visual splendor that is representative of Garber's greatest works.
Although he adopted the techniques of French Impressionism, Garber rejected the Impressionist idea of painting fleeting moments and transitory effects. His subject matter was structured on reality tempered by artistic license that was conservative and classical. In a 1922 interview Garber elaborates: "My work is different, perhaps, from that of the general landscape painter in that I have a mass of detail in the mass. After all, one's job is to get everything in and yet keep it all as a whole, like an orchestra--everything working in harmony to produce one feeling or emotion." (as quoted in Daniel Garber Catalogue Raisonné, p. 88)