“Spruce in Snow” (circa 1912, oil on canvas), by Alice Ruggles Sohier, in the show (with the work of Frederick A. Bosley) “Twilight of American Impressionism’’ at the Portsmouth (N.H.) Historical Society.
The two were painting at a time when realistic art was falling out of fashion in favor of more abstract art. Regardless, Sohier and Bosley painted impressionist works until their deaths, in the mid-20th Century.
“Sea Fox on an Evening Tide’’ (reduction woodcut), by Don Gorvett , in his show “Don Gorvett: Working Waterfronts," April 2 to Sept. 12, 2021, at the Portsmouth Historical Society's Academy Galleries, in Portsmouth, N.H. (This exhibit coincides the galleries show "Twilight of American Impressionism: Alice Ruggles Sohier and Frederick A. Bosley.")
Mr. Gorvett, born in Boston in 1949, is a contemporary artist and master printmaker. His immediate surroundings, the seaside, and its harbors are fundamental to his work. He’s influenced by a romantic passion for history, drama and music. He’s well known for his reduction woodcuts that record maritime subjects from Boston, Gloucester, Portsmouth and and Ogunquit, Maine.
His skills as a draftsman and understanding of printmaking are paramount features of his bold graphic style. By virtue of the reduction woodcut method, he arrives at a degree of abstract imagery and liberation from literal realism.
