|
 In
the history of American art, the role of the artist as
a chronicler of nature has always been important. European
artists accompanied expeditions to paint in detail the
flora and fauna of the Americas as a documentation of
travel and exploration. As America expanded westward across
the continent, groups such as the Hudson River School
created large-scale paintings depicting the grandeur of
the American landscape. The work of Thomas Cole, Albert
Bierstadt, and Thomas Moran presented an excitement with
which painter and viewer alike saw the pristine beauty
of the landscape, as if for the first time. In these works
nature was seen as awesome but not threatening and presented
poetically rather than representationally.
Later in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Winslow
Homer and John Marin created formal works in watercolor.
Thanks to their achievements, a medium once utilized for
studies became accepted for the creation of formally resolved
paintings. By depicting the forces of nature, particularly
in the meeting of land and sea, these two artists established
methods of representing the natural environment--methods
which have influenced artists well into this century.
The paintings of Lee Weiss are part of this artistic tradition.
Her watercolors are poetic, as are the works of the Hudson
River School artists; but though she paints in large scale,
she is not interested in capturing the "big picture" in
the same way as those artists who recorded nature's wonders
on a grand scale. Since the mid-1960s, Weiss has attempted
to develop her work from small-scale depictions of large
landscapes to monumental presentations of landscape details.
In this way she presents the viewer with pieces of nature's
wonders, the greater scene represented in microcosm.
Just as Homer and Marin exploited the ability of the watercolor
medium to suggest subtle changes in atmosphere and light,
Weiss provides clues to help determine the conditions
of light, climate, and time of day and year, enabling
the viewer to discern a great deal about the scene without
observing the entire landscape.
Weiss's technical ability is unique and, like Homer and
Marin, she has expanded the parameters of painting by
making watercolor an appropriate medium for the creation
of major works. Her paintings are infused with air, water,
earth, light, and movement. Although they are masterfully
executed, it is the spirit within these paintings that
is exhilarating. It is clear the viewer is not looking
at nature but into it through the artist's
eyes.
Weiss chooses to paint in her studio, away from her subject
matter, and does not work from sketches or slides. The
scenes she paints do not exist per se. Instead
they are created from various sights the artist has observed,
distilled, and absorbed; she stores the details in her
memory until she chooses to recall them in the studio.
Away from the location of her subject, she is forced to
consider the painting itself, to abstract from nature
that which she wants to say.
Her paintings are about the essence and aspects of nature
we take for granted. Many of these scenes could take place
at the beach, a neighborhood park, or in our own back
yards if we took the time to observe, as Weiss does on
her walks in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum near
her home. With the conviction of a conservationist, she
emphasizes through her paintings that nature is fragile
and could wither before our very eyes.
These spiritual landscapes are created by a woman whose
father grew up in China, a father who raised his daughter
on tales of Asia. Weiss is not interested in consciously
creating pieces with an Asian sensibility. She distills
details by showing the larger segments of nature in the
smaller objects making up the whole. When Weiss represents
the essence of an entire mountain in an image of a few
stones, her work relates to the millennia of tradition
in Asian art.
Having developed the techniques necessary to effectively
communicate her impressions, she continues to create works
of power and relevance. Lee Weiss has developed a unique
way of examining the world around her and extracting a
poetic beauty from her observations that simultaneously
reiterates the history of American landscape painting
and advances it.
Bruce W. Pepich, Director, Racine Art Museum (formerly
known as Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts), Racine,
Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Academy Review, Fall 1994, Volume 40,
Number 4, page 24.
Used by permission of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
Arts and Letters.
|
