Charles Courtney Curran (1861 - 1942) was an American impressionist painter and I'm sharing a selection of his work here, not because I'm a closet fan of Curran's nostalgic and sentimental milieu, but rather in simple celebration of his use of light and colour. There's something both lambent and translucent about Curran's paintings - and that red umbrella packs a filmic punch! I was particularly drawn to the street scene - just take a look at what's happening on the pavement, it's positively awash with colour!
You're right in saying that these paintings are incredibly filmic and rich. Though I do find a lot of late 19th/early 20th century American painters really chose some hideously tacky subject matter to depict, or should I say, hideously European... Especially when America at the time was such a melting pot of vastly different cultures colliding together.
ReplyDeleteagreed - a cultural self-esteem issue!
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