Unbroken Thread: Nature Paintings and the American Imagination.
The Art of Philip Koch
The idea for this nationally traveling exhibition was first proposed by the art historian Eva J. Allen, Ph.D. an art historian from the University of Maryland University College where the exhibit debuted in 2008.
Koch, a former abstract painter, became attracted to the long romantic tradition of American landscape painting that began in the 19th century with artists such as John F. Kensett and Sanford Gifford, members of the Hudson River School. Their echo can be felt in later artists like Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, and Rockwell Kent. All were important sources for Koch.
The exhibition traces both similarities and differences between the work of these past artists with that of a contemporary painter who came of age looking at colorful abstract painting by artists like Mark Rothko.
One “thread” of continuity between the past landscapists and Koch is the shared sense of sublime, overarching beauty of the natural world. While the 19th century painters sought to depict the vastness of the new world of North America, Koch’s works adopt a different stance. Many observers find an otherworldly or surreal feeling in his landscape.
In our time of environmental degradation, the sustained power of nature seems less assured. Koch feels the image of the natural world remains a critical symbol of inspired creativity and fertile imagination. Yet our grasp on this symbol may be both more needed and more fragile than for earlier landscape artists. Koch has often wondered aloud if his paintings are of a landscape either of long ago, far in the future, or perhaps outside of time altogether.
In preparation for the exhibit, Koch painted in some of the same locations in New England as did the artists from the past who inspired him- Cape Cod and three key centers of landscape painting history in Maine, Ogunquit, Mt.Desert Island, and Monhegan Island. The exhibition is accompanied by a 92 page scholarly catalogue with an essay by Eva J. Allen.
The Unbroken Thread exhibition was exhibited at:.
Saginaw Art Museum in Michigan, Dec. 2011- Feb. 2012
Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News , Virginia, July- October, 2011
Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, Indiana, Summer 2010
Clymer Museum of Art, Ellensburg, Washington, Winter 2010
Hungerford Gallery, College of Southern Maryland, La Plata, Maryland, Fall 2009
Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, Massachusetts, Summer 2009
Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, Winter 2009
University of Maryland University College, College Park, Maryland, Summer 2008
The exhibition Unbroken Thread: Nature Painting and the American Imagination. The Art of Philip Koch has just concluded at the Saginaw Art Museum in Saginaw, Michigan in late Feburary 2012 This was the eighth venue on its national tour since 2008.
Above: Koch’s oil The Song of All Days at the entrance to the Saginaw exhibition.
Below: Philip Koch (at the far left) speaking during the Artist’s Talk at the opening reception
Dec. 9, 2011.
