Take a trip to New York City through the brush of Gustave Wolff, an American Impressionist well-known in his day who is now, due to a recently discovered body of work, being reappraised. The Wichita Art Museum has mounted the first recent major museum exhibition of his work, which will be on view through August 5.
Born in Germany in 1863, Wolff came to America and settled in Saint Louis, Mo. He was an artist of tremendous depth and range, creating poetic scenes based on the topography around New York City. His lessons under Paul Cornoyer and the influence of William Merritt Chase helped to bring out the best of his underlying vision †his ability to see the metaphysical in the mundane. With equal poise, he captures the light and dark moods of urban Manhattan.
By the late 1880s a landscape school was beginning to form in Saint Louis that would become the city’s artistic hallmark. Its members stressed poetic mood over topographical naturalism. Wolff, a student of the school of fine arts, followed his teacher, Cornoyer, as a specialist in tonal landscapes.
The exhibition was organized by Hawthorne Fine Art, New York City. On Friday, June 29, between 5 and 8 pm, celebrate Gustave Wolff with a New York-themed reception at the museum during June’s Final Friday art crawl.
The Wichita Art Museum is at 1400 West Museum Boulevard. For more information, www.wichitaartmuseum.org or 316-268-4921.
