Leslie Thomas

Outlaw Mesa Shadows

2020

"Approach to Lee's Ferry" by Kim Whitesides, oil on canvas, 18 X 22 inches (Framed size: 21.5 x 25.5 inches) Whitesides made an impact in the art community at a very young age. While working as an illustrator in New York City from the late 60s through the mid 80s, his paintings appeared in many publications, including Time Magazine, Rolling Stone and Playboy. He received numerous awards from The Art Directors Club of New York and The Society of Illustrators. It was at this time that Whitesides began a period of bold work with the airbrush that emphasized the simplified spaces and clean lines of art deco and art moderne, for which he gained a national reputation. A native Utahn, Whitesides believes art is a language and an opportunity for his vision to inspire others. He continues to grow as an artist, as his art is constantly opening doors on new vistas...

Battle Mountain, Nevada (2005), oil on canvas, 30x40 inches (framed size: 39 x 50 inches) Earl Jones (1937- ) is one of Utah’s best known landscape artists. As an undergraduate at the University of Utah, where he earned a BFA in 1959 and an MFA in 1962, Jones was preoccupied with the figure, studying under the tutelage of portrait painter Alvin Gittins. He then ventured from Utah to New York and the Art Students League where he took figure painting classes with Joseph Hirsch. Later Jones became heir to the landscape legacy of LeConte Stewart...

Water Patterns, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches (Framed size: 43 x 33 inches), $4,800 “Connie Borup’s work cannot simply be described as landscape; it is t...

"Golden Light", Connie Borup, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches (Framed size: 33 x 43 inches), $4,800 “Connie Borup’s work cannot simply be described as land...

Floating Sticks, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches (Framed size: 43 x 43 inches), $6,400 “Connie Borup’s work cannot simply be described as landscape; it is ...

A Pair, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches (Framed size: 47 x 47 inches), $5,300 “Connie Borup’s work cannot simply be described as landscape; it is the trans...

Signed Lower Left Poskas was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, a small industrial city set on the banks of the Naugatuck River. He was interested in art as a child, but on entering ...

William Mason Brown was born in Troy, New York, where he studied for several years with local artists, including the leading portraitist there, Abel Buel Moore. In 1850, he moved to ...

Thomas Fransioli’s cityscapes are crisp and tidy. Buildings stand in bold outline, trees are sharp, and saturated color permeates the scene. But Fransioli’s cities often lack one critical feature: people. His streets are largely deserted, save for the rare appearance of figure and the occasional black cat scurrying across pavement. Instead, humanity is implied. Magic Realism neatly characterizes Fransioli’s viewpoint. First applied to American art in the 1943 MoMA exhibition “American Realists and Magic Realists...

Signed (at lower left): W.R. Miller/ 1851

The career of William Stanley Haseltine spans the entire second half of the nineteenth century. During these years he witnessed the growth and decline of American landscape painting, the new concept of plein-air painting practiced by the Barbizon artists, and the revolutionary techniques of the French Impressionists, all of which had profound effects on the development of painting in the western world. Haseltine remained open to these new developments, selecting aspects of each and assimilating them into his work. What remained constant was his love of nature and his skill at rendering exactly what he saw. His views, at once precise and poetic, are, in effect, portraits of the many places he visited and the landscapes he loved. Haseltine was born in Philadelphia, the son of a prosperous businessman. In 1850, at the age of fifteen, he began his art studies with Paul Weber, a German artist who had settled in Philadelphia two years earlier. From Weber, Haseltine learned about Romanticism and the meticulous draftsmanship that characterized the German School. At the same time, Haseltine enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, and took sketching trips around the Pennsylvania countryside, exploring areas along the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. Following his sophomore year, Haseltine transferred to Harvard University. After graduating from Harvard in 1854, Haseltine returned to Philadelphia and resumed his studies with Weber. Although Weber encouraged Haseltine to continue his training in Europe, the elder Haseltine was reluctant to encourage his son to pursue a career as an artist. During the next year, Haseltine took various sketching trips along the Hudson River and produced a number of pictures, some of which were exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in the spring of 1855. Ultimately, having convinced his father that he should be allowed to study in Europe, Haseltine accompanied Weber to Düsseldorf. The Düsseldorf Academy was, during the 1850s, at the peak of its popularity among American artists. The Academy’s strict course of study emphasized the importance of accurate draftsmanship and a strong sense of professionalism. Landscape painting was the dominant department at the Düsseldorf Academy during this period, and the most famous landscape painter there was Andreas Achenbach, under whom Haseltine studied. Achenbach’s realistic style stressed close observation of form and detail, and reinforced much of what Haseltine had already learned. His Düsseldorf training remained an important influence on him for the rest of his life. At Düsseldorf, Haseltine became friendly with other American artists studying there, especially Emanuel Leutze, Worthington Whittredge, and Albert Bierstadt. They were constant companions, and in the spring and summer months took sketching trips together. In the summer of 1856 the group took a tour of the Rhine, Ahr, and Nahe valleys, continuing through the Swiss alps and over the Saint Gotthard Pass into northern Italy. The following summer Haseltine, Whittredge, and the painter John Irving returned to Switzerland and Italy, and this time continued on to Rome. Rome was a fertile ground for artists at mid-century. When Haseltine arrived in the fall of 1857, the American sculptors Harriet Hosmer, Chauncey B. Ives, Joseph Mozier, William Henry Rinehart...

Charles Temple Dix was born in Albany, New York, the youngest son of the distinguished statesman and soldier, General John Adams Dix. Having already visited Europe as a child, Dix re...