Twilight of Painting

by R.H. Ives Gammell, Elizabeth I. Hunter

Quarto a paperback art book

Genres: Art

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1990

About the author

Robert Hale Ives Gammell (1883-1981) was an American artist best known for his sequence of paintings based on Francis Thompson's poem "The Hound of Heaven". Gammell painted symbolic images that reflected his study of literature, mythology, psychology, and religion.

Reviews

[Joey Brockert]

Mr. Grimmell is a trained, professional painter. He wrote this book to instigate a resurgence of painting/art schools in this country. It was published at the end of the war, and he was hoping that some of the returning soldiers would avail themselves of General Infantry Bill grants to study painting. Mr. Grimmell has no time for modern art. He does not disdain it as a vocation or avocation, but as a professional wanting to see quality produced from students taught properly.
Mr. Grimmell blames the Impressionist Movement for the demise of painting, and they accept the problem, but are wroth to do anything about it. The problem is that the Impressionists get their ability and 'voice' from the world as they see it, however the better painters are able to translate this impression because of the training they have received from masters. These painters are the ones who are teaching in art schools today, yet, according to Mr. Grimmell, they are not truly able to teach, either because they have no notion of their ability or how they create or how they were taught that makes their painting good. They have not been taught to paint, but are given some notion of what to do,and set free.
Mr. Grimmell would like to see a school that teaches how to draw, how to develop a scene, how to construct a desirable painting from colors and light and shade and objects. None of this is being taught - it is so hard for students to perform and teaching requires that the teacher be able to communicate and show what they are teaching. This is Mr. Grimmell's lament, art schools are foundering at the basics, and so the students are not able to paint worth a wit. And then come the critics and writers....it is no better, yet these are the ones the public looks to for quality information.
At least now we have Gifted and Talented organizations in our schools, so those students with some ability can be identified and directed into places where they may be exposed to and taught how to paint.
This book was borrowed to me by my wife's cousin, who was taught at Atelier Lack (http://theatelier.org/) in Minneapolis, and as you can see Mr. Grimmell was taught by one of the best in the old tradition of Paris, and passed it on to Mr. Lack.

[Mephistopheles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this is fantastic. As a trained painter, I vouch for everything he said. He does get quite brutal and snarky in places, so be warned. Gammell does not suffer fools.