The Artist - Louise R. Farnsworth
Utah native Louise R. Farnsworth was born in 1878 to Joseph and Louise Farnsworth. She grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, but received much of her artistic training in Paris and at the Art Student's League in New York. Her cousin, Utah artist Lee Greene Richards, also greatly influenced Farnsworth's artistic development through his use of bright color and loose, free application of paint.
A Figurative-Expressionist, Farnsworth's own investigation of brilliant, fauvist color brought her significant success in Paris, where her work was admitted into the Paris Salon. This honor, while prestigious in the International Art World, did not assure her success in Utah. In fact, in her native state, she met with less than overwhelming appreciation. One of the possible reasons for this negative reception is that in Utah and much of the United States, art was generally viewed as a man's territory. It was quite uncommon for a woman from Utah to study art at all, let alone for her to travel to Paris to do so.
Additionally, Farnsworth took a non-traditional approach to painting. She portrayed Utah landscapes in a passionate, bright, and expressionistic way gleaned from her studies in Paris. This unique approach was a surprise to many of her fellow Utahns.
Farnsworth never put on a major exhibition in Utah, nor did she associate with any other Utah artists with the exception of her cousin, Lee Greene Richards. She found more acceptance in New York, where she put on her first solo exhibition in 1934 at the Montross Gallery, with a second solo exhibition following at the same gallery in 1938.
Louise Farnsworth died in 1969, an expatriate of her native state but a pioneer in color and style .
The Art
LOUISE RICHARDS FARNSWORTH (1878-1969) SLC
Capitol from North Salt Lake, 1935
oil on canvas, 15" x 22" (38.3 x 56.1 cm)
Gift from Lund-Wassmer Collection 1986.134
Farnsworth was a cousin and pupil of the noted landscape and portrait painter, Lee Greene Richards, of Salt Lake City. Farnsworth and Mabel Frazer were Utah's first female Modern artists. Having studied both in New York and Paris, Farnsworth developed a 'fauvist' approach: pure, bold colors, combined with simple handling, which resulted in rough brushstrokes, thick outlines, and a loose application of paint. These characteristics establish her as a Modern artist. The raw color of her vivid landscapes is applied in aggresive but rhythmic brushstrokes, which lend themselves to an expressionistic focus on emotion and a depiction of the landscape of her inner self.
Capitol from North Salt Lake demonstrates the artist's tendency to utilize two sets of complimentary colors, blue with orange and violet with yellow. We see the capitol building and Salt Lake skyline in silhouette against a foreground of industrial buildings, rail yards, and smokestacks, with the Wasatch Mountains as background. Together they form a powerful image that defies the small size of the picture itself.
Concepts
Visual Art Core Curriculum - Utah State Office of Education
Under the Standard of Making, this print can help the student:
- draw complicated objects by beginning with the start-up skill of blocking-in.
- see how to use an unusual point of view or perspective while portraying a subject.
- identify the following paint media and discuss their individual properties:
Paint Media - Properties
- Watercolor - Transparent, water-soluble, dries lighter
- Oil - Transparent or opaque, needs solvents, slow drying
- Tempera - Opaque, water-soluble, dries darker
- Acrylics - Generally transparent, water-soluble, dries quickly
- discuss and/or explore some of the following painting techniques:
- Blending: mixing two or more pigments
- Glazing: placing transparent layers of pigments over each other
- Scumbling: placing opaque layers of pigments over another color
- Shading: making darker values of a color by adding black
- Tinting: making lighter values of a color by adding white
- Toning: making less intense or grayer colors by adding their complements
Under the Standard of Perceiving, this print can help the student:
- determine its overall value key.
- identify evidence of space, shadow, and color.
- see how to portray a consistent light side closest to the light source and dark side opposite the source of light.
- analyze how the various elements of an artwork might be used to create principles (e.g., how is the element of color used to create balance, how is the element of line used to create movement or rhythm, how is the element of shape used to create variety).
Under the Standard of Expressing, this print can help the student:
- interpret how the artist used symbols to express moods, feelings, and ideas.
- classify a work according to subject matter. (e.g., this is a cityscape painting.)
- determine and explore a variety of sources of inspiration for artworks.
- identify the theme of a painting.
Under the Standard of Contextualizing, this print can help the student:
- explain how Utah's history is revealed by the visual arts.
- see how to create a work of art that connects to the art and cultures of Utah by using similar designs or motifs.
- describe the effects that location and the availability of materials have had on buildings in this work.
- discuss the variety of art forms (e.g., painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, weaving, architecture, ceramics, jewelry) and how their significance differs from culture to culture.
© Copyright 1997 Springville Museum of Art
All rights reserved
|
