Beyond the Horizon: The Marine Collection
Uno Langmann Limited, Vancouver, BC - To Apr 30
The “golden age of sea powers” describes a time (roughly the mid-17th to the early 19th centuries) when the fortunes of European nations depended on the strength of their ocean-going fleets. A time when warships were arguably the most impressive human inventions next to buildings and bridges, and their owners, builders and captains were celebrities on par with pop stars of today. No surprise that ships painted during that period should be similarly appreciated.
Beyond the Horizon: The Marine Collection bills itself as an exhibition that “represents the full span of the Golden Age of maritime painting,” a claim that even those with only a rudimentary knowledge of the genre can understand. Of the 12 painters represented, many were accomplished seamen whose first hand experience with the interplay of ocean, ship and sky is carried in every brushstroke. Among them is Montague Dawson (1890–1973), “considered the greatest marine painter of the 20th century in the marine realist tradition.”
A stickler for nautical detail, Dawson was largely self-taught, having come to marine painting through a lifelong love of ships. At the age of eight he began to draw, and as a young man he worked as an illustrator before joining the Royal Navy as a visual record keeper. A mentorship with painter Charles Napier Hemy followed; later he partnered with the art dealers Frost & Read, who represented Dawson throughout the remainder of his career.
Also included are works by Louis (Charles-Louis) Verboeckhoven, John Hughes, William Webb, de Simone, Lai Fong (attributed), Abraham Hulk, Frantz Landt, Vilhelm Melbye, Johannes Christiann Schotel, Joseph Roux and Robert Dodd.
