Sometimes the painters are more interesting than their paintings. Take George Gibbs, for example, who was an ethnographer, mapmaker, geologist, historian, attorney, and, for nearly twelve years, an explorer, artist, and administrator in the Pacific Northwest. 8 careers! And here I thought I was versatile. We certainly share an interest in Mr. Audubon, the naturalist and bird lover, who he got to meet in person as a youngster, an encounter that shaped his life’s trajectory.
Gibbs painted the Columbia river, my choice of subject for today’s photographs. So did John Fery, another European non-conformist who ended up in the Northwest. First he was a hunting guide for millionaires’ expeditions and hunting parties. Later he somehow became a steady deliverer of paintings commissioned by the Pacific Railroad company, I believe 350 or or so. You wonder what it does to your growth and development as an artist if you paint for the man, one pretty landscape after another….
Later in life he settled on Orcas Island where a fire destroyed his studio and most of his accumulated work – he died a few years later.
My photographs are from the Gorge, collected over the years, as well as further downstream where the river winds itself towards the ocean feeding a lot of industry.
It is a marvel at any season and any time of day.
Last week I took a ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island with the plan to visit Bloedel Gardens.
Between the 14th and the 17th century European merchant guilds formed a loose confederation to protect and enhance their commercial interest – it was called the Hanseatic League.
His nudes were faintly leaning towards the Third Reich culture of body worship, the suggestive hints at superiority ( and so I did not photograph them.) PMB’s nudes, on the other hand, were painted more abstractly, and yet hyper-realistically capturing less than healthy feet, for example, or the bulging noses of older age, or the way pregnancy extends the folds. I found myself holding my breath frequently, just trying to take it in and learn. As I’ve said before, in my next life I’ll be a painter.
