BIOGRAPHY
Generally considered to be America’s great visionary painter, Albert Pinkham Ryder painted canvases which are intense in color, pattern and mysterious thematic overtones. His canvases are distinctively Romantic.
Raised in the whaling community of New Bedford, MA, Ryder moved to New York with his family around 1870. By then, he had already begun painting landscapes. Independent in mind and inclined to learn from experimentation, he studied at the New York National Academy of Design, but only irregularly. His best early instruction was received informally, from the portrait painter and engraver William E. Marshall, or from studying on his own.
Ryder's teachers from this time encouraged him to travel to Europe, and he made several trips studying the art collections in England, France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. However, he remained staunchly independent of both American and European artistic movements. His paintings were the product of a fertile imagination and the transcendental aspirations common to several 19th-century American painters. As he wrote, ‘I am trying to find something out there beyond the place on which I have a footing.’
Around 1880, in his search for this 'beyond,' Ryder turned from concentrating on pastoral landscapes to exploring subjects with grand literary and biblical themes. In Jonah (1890), painted in golden browns, the heaving sea is locked into place by simplified forms representing a storm-tossed boat and a huge whale; on the horizon the brilliant gold figure of God, globe in hand, implies the satisfying resolution to come. Other works convey a sense of impending doom consonant with late 19th-century pessimism: Siegfried and the Rhine Maidens (1891) dominated by green and gold and designed in swirling lines, interprets the moment in Richard Wagner’s opera when Siegfried first encounters the Rhine maidens and their terrible prophecy. Other works with such moody, ominous overtones include the Flying Dutchman (1887), Temple of the Mind (1885) (inspired by Edgar Allan Poe), and Desdemona (1896) (inspired by the tragedy Othello, by his favorite author William Shakespeare).
Although his earlier works were fairly naturalistic and directly painted, Ryder had eventually moved towards procedures that simplified his design, but complicated his technique. In an interview in 1905, he wrote that his early attempts to imitate nature in all her detail were thoroughly frustrating, and that his painting did not come alive until he learnt to re-create the large forms of nature. Increasingly, Ryder’s technique relied on methods such as heavy glazing and overpainting. He had become a tonalist, organizing his pictures around one or two major colors. He also followed this simplicity in his designs, which came to somewhat resemble Japanese prints. Contemporary critics praised the jewel-like radiance of his surfaces and the pleasing inevitability of the forms.
Ryder was attracted to a distinguished tradition for another major subject in his art: the seascape. The marine paintings reflect his childhood experiences in New Bedford, one of the great maritime centers of the world. His Toilers of the Sea (1884), a work rich in dark tonalities of grey-black and greenish gold, is composed of the stark shapes of boat (with an improbably simple rigging), sea and sky. The painting had a literary inspiration, the Victor Hugo novel of the same name, published in 1866. Furthermore, Ryder exhibited this painting with his own poem, a frequent practice of his. Ryder’s fondness for marine scenes and his exhibition of his work with fragments of poetry point to the influence of J. M. W. Turner.
Although Ryder was in some personal ways eccentric, he had several deep friendships with other artists, especially Julian Alden Weir. In 1877 he was one of the 22 founders of the Society of American Artists, and his paintings were bought enthusiastically by major patrons such as Thomas B. Clarke. Several of Ryder's canvases were shown in 1913 at the Armory Show, where they inspired a new generation of artists. By the end of his life, although he did not paint consistently after 1900, his works became incredibly popular.
The only major difficulty in collecting and displaying Ryder's work (aside from plenty of forgeries) is that of conservation. Ryder's canvases frequently had long gestation and execution periods during which the paint surface was built up by palette knife into a thick paste; he often painted over and over these wet layers. So, not only have almost all of his paintings needed conservation to prevent further deterioration, but by the 1930s, many had already changed beyond remedy. A recluse whose unorthodox technique was sometimes disastrous, Ryder is now seen as a great original whose formal reductionism, and recognition of the mystical relationship between people and nature, foreshadowed the contemplative abstraction of later periods in art.
Generally considered to be America’s great visionary painter, Albert Pinkham Ryder painted canvases which are intense in color, pattern and mysterious thematic overtones. His canvases are distinctively Romantic.
Raised in the whaling community of New Bedford, MA, Ryder moved to New York with his family around 1870. By then, he had already begun painting landscapes. Independent in mind and inclined to learn from experimentation, he studied at the New York National Academy of Design, but only irregularly. His best early instruction was received informally, from the portrait painter and engraver William E. Marshall, or from studying on his own.
Ryder's teachers from this time encouraged him to travel to Europe, and he made several trips studying the art collections in England, France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. However, he remained staunchly independent of both American and European artistic movements. His paintings were the product of a fertile imagination and the transcendental aspirations common to several 19th-century American painters. As he wrote, ‘I am trying to find something out there beyond the place on which I have a footing.’
Around 1880, in his search for this 'beyond,' Ryder turned from concentrating on pastoral landscapes to exploring subjects with grand literary and biblical themes. In Jonah (1890), painted in golden browns, the heaving sea is locked into place by simplified forms representing a storm-tossed boat and a huge whale; on the horizon the brilliant gold figure of God, globe in hand, implies the satisfying resolution to come. Other works convey a sense of impending doom consonant with late 19th-century pessimism: Siegfried and the Rhine Maidens (1891) dominated by green and gold and designed in swirling lines, interprets the moment in Richard Wagner’s opera when Siegfried first encounters the Rhine maidens and their terrible prophecy. Other works with such moody, ominous overtones include the Flying Dutchman (1887), Temple of the Mind (1885) (inspired by Edgar Allan Poe), and Desdemona (1896) (inspired by the tragedy Othello, by his favorite author William Shakespeare).
Although his earlier works were fairly naturalistic and directly painted, Ryder had eventually moved towards procedures that simplified his design, but complicated his technique. In an interview in 1905, he wrote that his early attempts to imitate nature in all her detail were thoroughly frustrating, and that his painting did not come alive until he learnt to re-create the large forms of nature. Increasingly, Ryder’s technique relied on methods such as heavy glazing and overpainting. He had become a tonalist, organizing his pictures around one or two major colors. He also followed this simplicity in his designs, which came to somewhat resemble Japanese prints. Contemporary critics praised the jewel-like radiance of his surfaces and the pleasing inevitability of the forms.
Ryder was attracted to a distinguished tradition for another major subject in his art: the seascape. The marine paintings reflect his childhood experiences in New Bedford, one of the great maritime centers of the world. His Toilers of the Sea (1884), a work rich in dark tonalities of grey-black and greenish gold, is composed of the stark shapes of boat (with an improbably simple rigging), sea and sky. The painting had a literary inspiration, the Victor Hugo novel of the same name, published in 1866. Furthermore, Ryder exhibited this painting with his own poem, a frequent practice of his. Ryder’s fondness for marine scenes and his exhibition of his work with fragments of poetry point to the influence of J. M. W. Turner.
Although Ryder was in some personal ways eccentric, he had several deep friendships with other artists, especially Julian Alden Weir. In 1877 he was one of the 22 founders of the Society of American Artists, and his paintings were bought enthusiastically by major patrons such as Thomas B. Clarke. Several of Ryder's canvases were shown in 1913 at the Armory Show, where they inspired a new generation of artists. By the end of his life, although he did not paint consistently after 1900, his works became incredibly popular.
The only major difficulty in collecting and displaying Ryder's work (aside from plenty of forgeries) is that of conservation. Ryder's canvases frequently had long gestation and execution periods during which the paint surface was built up by palette knife into a thick paste; he often painted over and over these wet layers. So, not only have almost all of his paintings needed conservation to prevent further deterioration, but by the 1930s, many had already changed beyond remedy. A recluse whose unorthodox technique was sometimes disastrous, Ryder is now seen as a great original whose formal reductionism, and recognition of the mystical relationship between people and nature, foreshadowed the contemplative abstraction of later periods in art.
RESOURCES
1. The Flying Dutchman and poem by Ryder
2. The Temple of the Mind / Edgar Allan Poe's "Haunted Palace"
3. In the Stable / D.H Lawrence's "White Horse"
4. Jonah / John Haines
5. Marsden Hartley's poem and portrait of Ryder
6. Two poems by Ryder: "The Wind", and "Voice of the Forest"
7. Works of art by Ryder in the Crystal Bridges Museum collection: Misty Moonlight
1. The Flying Dutchman and poem by Ryder
2. The Temple of the Mind / Edgar Allan Poe's "Haunted Palace"
3. In the Stable / D.H Lawrence's "White Horse"
4. Jonah / John Haines
5. Marsden Hartley's poem and portrait of Ryder
6. Two poems by Ryder: "The Wind", and "Voice of the Forest"
7. Works of art by Ryder in the Crystal Bridges Museum collection: Misty Moonlight
REFERENCES
Biography (adapted):
Johns, Elizabeth. "Ryder, Albert Pinkham." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T074756>.
Rodgers, David. "Ryder, Albert Pinkham." The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Ed. Hugh Brigstocke. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web.<http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e2314>.
Artwork behind title: Albert Pinkham Ryder's Misty Moonlight (detail), Crystal Bridges Museum
Biography (adapted):
Johns, Elizabeth. "Ryder, Albert Pinkham." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T074756>.
Rodgers, David. "Ryder, Albert Pinkham." The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Ed. Hugh Brigstocke. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web.<http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e2314>.
Artwork behind title: Albert Pinkham Ryder's Misty Moonlight (detail), Crystal Bridges Museum
