Hilary Mills Lambert OPA
October Blog from Vermont
Driving through the environs of
Southern Vermont, a place I know so well, I am struck by the colors and the
beauty of nature, especially in the Fall.
Now that I’ve lived on the West Coast as much as the East Coast I have a
perspective of the two places. This is
the 12th year I have organized and conducted Plein Air Workshops in
Vermont at the Landgrove Inn. My family
has built and enjoyed a 2nd home for over 67 years right around the
corner from the workshop barn at the Landgrove Inn. This is the place where I embrace myself as
an artist. I always heard that as an artist
you must connect with what you like to paint.
Well, I like to paint Vermont. 1. My Backyard, Hilary Mills
One artist in particular that has
popped up in unexpected places when going about my errands in Vermont is the
artist, Aldro Hibbard (1886-1972). I go
to the local strip mall bank in the middle of Londonderry and find right up on
the wall behind the teller, one of Hibbard’s paintings. Hibbard painted many snow scenes from this
area of Vermont. Who would have thought
a bank teller also named Hilary could direct me over to the Hibbard specialist
in the area. My quest took me to Karen
Ameden at the General Store, who unlocked the treasures at the Jamaica
Historical Society. 2. Road to Derry, Aldro Hibbard.
There are bios, paintings, and
photographs through googling that enlighten me but the following out of print
book and hard to find books are what really informed me about Aldro
Hibbard. The books are: John L. Cooley, A.T. Hibbard, N.A.: Artist in Two Worlds, Rockport Art
Association;2nd edition (1996) and the book: Judith A. Curtis,
A.T.Hibbard, N.A. American Master, Rockport Art Association. These books provided history and proved to be
a catalyst for me to understand and make serendipitous connections with my own
work and my network. Aldro Hibbard like
me found enough in nature for a lifetime of contemplation and study.
I must admit, I’ve been a student
for life. I have an MS degree from Pratt
Institute and an MFA from the Academy of Art in SF. Many pressures of identity and success are
entwined in my work as an artist. I was
however, questioning my skill sets, specifically drawing. Good drawing is the most important skill in
painting. Currently, I am experiencing
rigorous academic training at the Golden Gate Atelier in Oakland, CA. The tradition of copying cast drawings from
Charles Bargue plates and rendering from plaster casts of classical statues is
priceless. After many years of painting
it may seem boring and non-sequetor to go back to the basics. When one studies art and art history in
museums, humility forces the contemplation and comparison of levels of
mastery. Why is one work of art more
exceptional? It is evident in the
training.
There is a lineage of this training
from the Academie Julian established by Rodolphe Julian in 1868. Aldro Hibbard’s teachers, were Edmund C.
Tarbell, Frank Weston Benson, and William McGregor Paxton who had all received
this rigorous academic training in Paris.
Their teachers at the Academie were famous and respected artists
employed by Julian were: Adolphe William
Bouguereau (1825-1905), Henri Royer, Jean-Paul Laurens, Edgar Chahine, Ferrier,
Tony Robert-Fleury, Jules Lefebvre and other leading artists of that time.
Paris, the center of the art world in the 19th
and early 20th century was a magnet for aspiring artists. William
McGregor Paxton, Edmund Tarbell, Frank Benson were exposed to the academic
training at the Academie Julian, (Bargue plate copying, plaster cast copying,
painting and composition) which invariably included copying Old Master
paintings at the Louvre. The
Impressionist movement was sweeping the city’s artist colonies and this
movement and influence was impossible not to absorb as an artist. While in France these artists also traveled
and were influenced by artists from different countries, especially Italy,
Belgium, Germany and Spain. 3. William McGregor Paxton,
Tea Leaves, Oil on Canvas, 1909, Metropolitan Museum of
Art
Upon return to Boston, Tarbell,
Paxton, Benson became teachers at the Boston Museum School. They were often classified as the American
Impressionists, as they had their own regional style, combining the
painterliness of Impressionism with a more conservative approach to figure
painting and a marked respect for the traditions of Western art history. Their preferred subject matter was genteel:
portraits, picturesque landscapes, and young women posing in well-appointed
interiors. Major influences included John
Singer Sargent, Claude Monet, and Jan Vermeer. 4. Edmund Tarbell, Reverie, 1913, Boston Museum
of Fine Arts.
Because Hibbard was a native of the Boston area, it was only normal from
attending Massachusetts State Normal Art School that he would continue his
education at the Boston Museum School. He received a scholarship to travel to
Europe and upon his return quickly made a name for himself. Aldro Hibbard was not only an artist but also
an active citizen of the town of Rockport, Massachusetts. This man of many
seasons traveled to his 2nd home in Jamaica, VT, where he painted
scenes of mountains, rural towns, oxen pulling logs, and streams with snow as
the backdrop. Hibbard’s work has the
legacy of a time in America of hardworking New Englanders. Hibbard was also a leader among the Cape Ann
artists community who evolved a style of painting known as the Rockport School.
Fast
forward to explain my lineage. Another student of the Academie Julian and
the Boston School was Robert Hale
Ives Gammell (1893 – 1981). Gammell was the
teacher for Richard Lack who is known for continuing the atelier tradition
in Minneapolis. My teacher Andrew Ameral at the Golden Gate Atelier,
studied under Daniel Graves in Florence. Daniel studied with Richard Lack and
Nerina Simi. Ms. Simi was the daughter of the Florentine painter
Filadelfo Simi, who had studied with Jean-Léon Gérôme, the head of the French
Academy in Paris in 1870. With such a rich backdrop of training in
Florence my teacher, Andrew Ameral was the primary teacher of Anatomy and Ecroche
and has returned to Oakland to carry on the tradition. The family tree of
art if you will. 5. R.H. Ives Gammell,
Lamentation
This is quite the summary of name dropping and the
education of many but it illustrates the continuum of training the
eye. So when I drive around Vermont and
hear that there’s a heroin problem it simultaneously breaks my heart and also
fills my heart with gratitude that I was spared by my appreciation of art and
nature. My fortuitous luck just took a loving family, curiosity and education
for which I am very thankful.
When I
contacted the Jamaica Historical Society one fine September day, I was driven
to the exact spots where Aldro Hibbard painted. I stood right where
he stood. I looked at the same views he looked at. I wanted to tell
him how I too love VT. I wanted to tell him how I have carried on the
French Tradition. I need to get busy and paint and correct my
Vermont paintings now. I have no excuses when Hibbard completed his paintings
in subzero temps. “Just go out and do it, and “Work, Work,
Work.” Benson would say. Now that I’m back in my studio in
California, I work from life but will have to use photos from Vermont even
though I know my subject. It’s ok being an artist in two different worlds
as I enjoy the idea, through knowledge comes confidence. Next time you drive
through a non-descript, one store town in Vermont, you might want to slow
down and consider it’s world history. 6. Town Sign from Jamaica Vermont
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| The Valley |
