Dodge Macknight Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Max Kuehne (1880 - 1968) Train Station, circa 1910 Watercolor on paper 8 1/4 x 10 1/4 inches Signed lower right Provenance: Private Collection, Illinois Max Kuehne was born in Halle, Germany on November 7, 1880. During his adolescence the family immigrated to America and settled in Flushing, New York. As a young man, Max was active in rowing events, bicycle racing, swimming and sailing. After experimenting with various occupations, Kuehne decided to study art, which led him to William Merritt Chase's famous school in New York; he was trained by Chase himself, then by Kenneth Hayes Miller. Chase was at the peak of his career, and his portraits were especially in demand. Kuehne would have profited from Chase's invaluable lessons in technique, as well as his inspirational personality. Miller, only four years older than Kuehne, was another of the many artists to benefit from Chase's teachings. Even though Miller still would have been under the spell of Chase upon Kuehne's arrival, he was already experimenting with an aestheticism that went beyond Chase's realism and virtuosity of the brush. Later Miller developed a style dependent upon volumetric figures that recall Italian Renaissance prototypes. Kuehne moved from Miller to Robert Henri in 1909. Rockwell Kent, who also studied under Chase, Miller, and Henri, expressed what he felt were their respective contributions: "As Chase had taught us to use our eyes, and Henri to enlist our hearts, Miller called on us to use our heads." (Rockwell Kent, It's Me O Lord: The Autobiography of Rockwell Kent. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1955, p. 83). Henri prompted Kuehne to search out the unvarnished realities of urban living; a notable portion of Henri's stylistic formula was incorporated into his work. Having received such a thorough foundation in art, Kuehne spent a year in Europe's major art museums to study techniques of the old masters. His son Richard named Ernest Lawson as one of Max Kuehne's European traveling companions. In 1911 Kuehne moved to New York where he maintained a studio and painted everyday scenes around him, using the rather Manet-like, dark palette of Henri. A trip to Gloucester during the following summer engendered a brighter palette. In the words of Gallatin (1924, p. 60), during that summer Kuehne "executed some of his most successful pictures, paintings full of sunlight . . . revealing the fact that he was becoming a colorist of considerable distinction." Kuehne was away in England the year of the Armory Show (1913), where he worked on powerful, painterly seascapes on the rocky shores of Cornwall. Possibly inspired by Henri - who had discovered Madrid in 1900 then took classes there in 1906, 1908 and 1912 - Kuehne visited Spain in 1914; in all, he would spend three years there, maintaining a studio in Granada. He developed his own impressionism and a greater simplicity while in Spain, under the influence of the brilliant Mediterranean light. George Bellows convinced Kuehne to spend the summer of 1919 in Rockport, Maine (near Camden). The influence of Bellows was more than casual; he would have intensified Kuehne's commitment to paint life "in the raw" around him. After another brief trip to Spain in 1920, Kuehne went to the other Rockport (Cape Ann, Massachusetts) where he was accepted as a member of the vigorous art colony, spearheaded by Aldro T. Hibbard. Rockport's picturesque ambiance fulfilled the needs of an artist-sailor: as a writer in the Gloucester Daily Times explained, "Max Kuehne came to Rockport to paint, but he stayed to sail." The 1920s was a boom decade for Cape Ann, as it was for the rest of the nation. Kuehne's studio in Rockport was formerly occupied by Jonas Lie. Kuehne spent the summer of 1923 in Paris, where in July, André Breton started a brawl as the curtain went up on a play by his rival Tristan Tzara; the event signified the demise of the Dada movement. Kuehne could not relate to this avant-garde art but was apparently influenced by more traditional painters — the Fauves, Nabis, and painters such as Bonnard. Gallatin perceived a looser handling and more brilliant color in the pictures Kuehne brought back to the States in the fall. In 1926, Kuehne won the First Honorable Mention at the Carnegie Institute, and he re-exhibited there, for example, in 1937 (Before the Wind). Besides painting, Kuehne did sculpture, decorative screens, and furniture work with carved and gilded molding. In addition, he designed and carved his own frames, and John Taylor Adams encouraged Kuehne to execute etchings. Through his talents in all these media he was able to survive the Depression, and during the 1940s and 1950s these activities almost eclipsed his easel painting. In later years, Kuehne's landscapes and still-lifes show the influence of Cézanne and Bonnard, and his style changed radically. Max Kuehne died in 1968. He exhibited his work at the National Academy of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, and in various New York City galleries. Kuehne's works are in the following public collections: the Detroit Institute of Arts (Marine Headland), the Whitney Museum (Diamond Hill...

Colors of tropical waters create a light and breezy mood in this figurative landscape watercolor by David Stephens (American, 20th century). Signed lower left, "D. Stephens." Present...

Late 19th century delicate watercolor of the harbor at Cape Ann, Gloucester, Massachusetts depicting rocks in the calm water along with seagulls and sailboats in the distance, by 19th century artist and Reverend William George Puddefoot (American, 1842-1925). Signed "W.G. Puddefoot" lower left. Titled on verso, "Cape Ann Scenery / Near Gloucester, Sunset". Presented in a carved giltwood frame and off-white mat. Reverend William George Puddefoot [1842-1925] (also known as W C Puddefoot) was an artist, traveler, lecturer and the field secretary for the American Home Missionary Society [1826-1893]. For his work, Puddefoot traveled all over the US, lecturing and doing missionary work, including: Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana Pennsylvania, California and Connecticut. He was known for being an extremely colorful character especially in his sermons and lectures. Puddefoot wrote the book Minute Man...

Beautiful watercolor of eucalyptus along New Brighton beach by Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009). From the estate of Les Anderson in Mon...

Beautiful vintage watercolor of a coastal landscape with two figures walking along the beach by Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009). From the estate of Les Anderson i...

A beautiful watercolor painting of high tide and overcast skies; the perfect time for a beach walk with furry friend, by California artist Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 19...

Landscape watercolor by Allen Tucker of an oak tree. This piece, along with several others, was gifted to Una Brage, a friend of the artist in the 1930s. More about this artist: Allen Tucker, was an architect and painter so influenced by Vincent Van Gogh that he was called "Vincent in America". (Gerdts 291) Robert Henri and Maurice Prendergast were also credited as having an influence on Tucker's brushwork and compositions, the latter decisively. However, as his painting evolved, he did not fit into any tidy slot for description and was known as an individualist not easily categorized in American art history. Tucker was born in Brooklyn in 1866 and graduated from the School of Mines of Columbia University with a degree in architecture and took a job as an architectural draftsman in the architectural firm of McIvaine and Tucker, his fathers business. During that time, he studied painting at the Art Students League with Impressionist John H. Twachtman, but it was not until around 1904, when he was 38, that Tucker became a full-time painter, leaving architecture behind. Many of his early canvases were classically Impressionistic with poplar trees resembling those of Van Gogh and haystacks and corn shocks...

Colorful watercolor landscape of a lake surrounded by mountains by California artist Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009). From the estate of Les Anderson in Monterey,...

Serene depiction of a Whaling shack circa 1900 near Davenport, California attributed to Lillian Josephine (Dake) Heath (19th century). Monogram on Verso "J. H. 1900". Dated and initialed on verso "J. H. Feb. 1900" Presented in a new white mat with foam core backing. Mat size: 14"H x 18"W Paper size: 9.25"H x 13.25"W Lillian Heath was one of the Jolly Daubers at the turn of the 19th-century and as a young student, married the senior artist and instructor, Frank Heath...

Beautiful watercolor landscape in a palette of deep greens and blues, of a boat pulled up on a lake shore with layered tree lines in the background Signed "E. P. Blackburn" lower ri...

Colorful mountain river watercolor painting by Henry "Hank" Volle (American, 20th Century). Signed "Henry Volle" lower right. Artists bio on verso. Pre...

"59th Street Bridge" is a 22" x 30" watercolor on paper cityscape of the Brooklyn Bridge and city skyline, painted by Pennsylvania Impressionist and...