Don Stone: Revered Impressionist painter/teacher to
display art in N.H. for the first time
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By Laura Pope
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Thursday, April 11, 2013
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Holding court at his Exeter wintertime home for a rare
newspaper interview, the internationally known modern Impressionist painter,
revered teacher, expert on the Cape Anne School of Painting and a central,
enduring figure at the famous art colony at Monhegan Island — describes and
jokes about the often circuitous and fortunate path his artist life has
taken.
This life brims with accolades — he's referenced in and is
the subject of dozens of books and national magazines and won more than 75 major
awards; associations — including memberships in the top-drawer National Academy
of Design and the American Watercolor Society and exhibitions, including
locally, the Peabody Essex Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts and The Copely
Society in Boston and is in many private and public collections, including the
permanent collection at Dartmouth. His teaching credits include years teaching
at two prestigious Boston art colleges as well as four decades teaching at the
legendary Maine art colony on Monhegan Island.
"Afternoon Light"
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For the first time, a selection of his paintings, as well
as those of two painters he has mentored — Stan Moeller of York, Maine and Bruce
Jones of Exeter — will be on display and for sale (through the summer) for the
first time in the Granite State at The Artist Eye Gallery in North Hampton.
Early Influences
My mother referred to me as a water rat,” explains the
soft-spoken Stone, the preeminent American Impressionist painter, referencing
his carefree days growing up in Gloucester, Mass. The memory brings a smile to
the face of the octogenarian who reveled in all the boyhood pleasures of living
by the sea in a bustling fishing community.
“It was a great place to grow up. My grandfather would take
me to the wharf to pick up fish for supper and the big schooners would come in,”
he enthuses. “Eventually my brother and I shared a skiff. My mother called me a
water rat because I would swim in the ocean and in the harbor with the slime and
the oil. I loved it.”
Many a boy has loved the sea but in Stone's case, that
ardor went beyond boats and swims and the wharves; it ignited an unwavering
passion for a life of painting, a calling that has carried on and transformed
earlier art traditions and passed them on to the next generation of
Impressionists to contemplate and make their own.
"Amber" 16" X 20"
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“When I was very young I would go down to the school
administration building with my 11 cents and buy a packet of arithmetic paper;
and I would sit and draw and draw and my grandmother would encourage me. I would
copy things out of old magazines and then when I was in the 8th grade my teacher
came to me and said: 'If we let you go to high school what courses would you
like to take?' Not a scholar, the young Don Stone replied: 'I want to be an
artist'. She said: 'Do you promise?' and I said: 'I promise.'
“I had four years of fine arts at the Gloucester High
School, with no math courses at all, and graduated in 1948.” At the progressive
school, Stone became a student of Howard Curtis (1906-1989), a Gloucester native
and notable marine artist. “After high school, I worked for a sign company
lettering trucks with a distant relative and he told me I was wasting my time
and that I ought to go to art school. So I worked in the freezer in Gloucester,
in 40 below zero, in 1949, and got enough money to go to art school, the Vesper
George School of Art in Boston.”
“Cooling Down” 24” X 36”
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Days after graduating from college, Stone served in the
Navy as a gunnery yeoman on a destroyer, though in reality he used one of the
gun shacks as his studio and painted portraits of all the officers. “I had a
good racket going,” remarks Stone, with a grin. Out of the service, Stone worked
in newspapers, most prominently as a cartoonist for the Boston Post, until it
folded, and began teaching at both Vesper George and the New England School of
Art. Then a move back home turf — to Rockport, changed everything.
Monhegan Bound
“I met Paul Strisik [1918-1998], who took me to Monhegan
Island in 1957. At the time I was a commercial artist and cartoonist. When I met
him, he says to me: 'Let's go painting.' I didn't know what he was talking
about! I sat on the running board of his car and watched him paint outside and
it was like magic. He was my mentor and really changed my whole life.” Self
deprecatingly, he adds: “Since then, I've just been faking my way along.”
Strisik and Stone became part of the already established
Cape Ann School of Art, the more than century old group that focused on the
ample marine landscapes and people of the region, which had already attracted
the likes of Fitz Hugh Lane, Marsden Hartley, Childe Hassam, William Morris Hunt
and Winslow Homer. Stone socialized with nine or ten artists of his generation
working in the Cape Ann School and often painted with them, especially in the
late 1960s.
“Cutting Bait,” a painting that is on display at the
Artist’s Eye in North Hampton.
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“I was friends with [Aldro T.] Hibbard [1886 — 1972; who
studied with Frank Benson and Edmond Tarbell], though he didn't paint outside
with anyone, and with Emile Gruppe, John Jacutti and Ken Gore.” Caleb Stone, the
artist's son, has followed his father's path — lives in Gloucester, works as an
Impressionist painter and teacher, and travels extensively. “He does
watercolors, too,” notes Stone.
Initially, Strisik and Stone went out morning, noon and
night to paint, plein air, or outside, locally in Gloucester and Rockport, then
ventured to Canada and eventually went to Monhegan, the small island, accessible
only by boat, 10 miles off of mid-coast Maine, peopled by hardy fishing families
and, since the mid-1800s, scores of artists including George Bellows, Rockwell
Kent, Edward Hopper and Jamie Wyeth.
At one point, Stone and his wife, Sarah, lived year round
on the island for several years, a daunting challenge given the isolation,
severe weather and need to provision wisely. They still return each fair weather
season to the house and studio, purchased in 1980, formerly owned by notable
marine and landscape painter Jay Hall Conaway (1893-1970), so Don can paint and
they may greet the many visitors flocking to his studio.
“Lunchtime” 30”X 36”
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Inside the Stone home
A glimpse inside Stone's Exeter home studio instantly
reveals his masterful artistry in landscapes, figures, light, moving air, and
the great outdoors, from marine landscapes, such as “Gull Rock” that is painted
from a bird's eye perspective, to a windswept, light-infused painting of his
wife, Sarah, on a hill, entitled, “Springtime on the Island” to the warm summer
tones in “Amber,” featuring a girl in a blue dress picking lilies in a
meadow.
While the thought of fisherman and their families slapped
next to artists and their families on tiny Monhegan Island might seem a case of
'strange bedfellows,' Stone sums it up best. The artist considers the fisherman
to be as important and as brave as the American cowboy, on canvas, and states
emphatically his passion for the former. “I've gone out fishing many times and
have a special affinity for the lone dory fisherman.” The marine landscape,
alone, or filled with figures, has always demanded a connection between artist
and those who depend on the sea.
Painter Don Stone, right, discusses a book of paintings
with fellow artists Bruce Jones, left, and Stan Moeller in Don’s Exeter
studio.
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Those Who
Came Before
Like Winslow Homer, Stone made a name for himself early in
his career as a watercolor artist. “I made my reputation in the National Academy
as a watercolorist and then was doing large egg tempera paintings and bringing
in big money. I had a waiting list for them. Then all of a sudden, I ended it.
When you do egg tempera paintings everyone thinks: Andrew Wyeth, who I loved and
knew very well and Jamie is a very good friend of ours. I didn't want to be
considered a Wyeth imitator; I don't want to be an imitator of anyone. So 20
years ago, I turned to oil paintings. You gotta change over time, you can't
stand still.”
As he influences younger painters, Stone was also
influenced by his peers and those artists from an earlier generation such as
Spanish Impressionist painter, Jaoquin Sorroya (1863-1923), and the artist who
influenced Sorroya — Swedish portrait and landscape painter Anders Zorn
(1860-1920).
“Sorolla was painting in that mud, that dark soup that they
all painted out of and Zorn said to him: paint in your own backyard in sunlight,
and that changed Sorolla's life. I think Sorolla was as good as John Singer
Sargent, one of my other favorites. Sorolla is so special to us that when we
found about a show of his work in Madrid, a show of 102 paintings that had never
been in this group before, we went, and we also managed to see his home, filled
with his paintings.
Painter Don Stone with many of his works in his Exeter
studio.
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“They're all good painters that s why I don't have a
favorite. I mean Homer kills me. I just love him but I also love Zorn and
Sorroya and Sargent and Valasquez and Rembrandt.”
The Next Generation
Among Stone's many students, two — Stan Moeller of York,
Maine and Bruce Jones of Exeter, have developed and matured as painters in their
own right, and proudly share exhibit space at The Artist Eye in North Hampton.
“Many times while I am painting, whether out on location or
in my studio, the wise words of Don Stone come to mind,” says Moeller. “I met
Don on his beloved Monhegan Island about 15 years ago, introduced by a mutual
friend who was also a painter/musician. Painting during the day and playing
music with Don (also a musician) and friends in the evening became a summer
ritual, it was a way of life, of loving life as an artist. I was lucky enough to
take Don's final Monhegan workshop (about that time) and over the years I have
learned much more from Don than all my years studying art in college.
Painter Don Stone with fellow artists Stan Moeller,
left, and Bruce Jones at Don’s Exeter studio.
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“He has many phrases (Don-isms) that stick in my head:
'value does the work, color gets the credit'; 'always keep your eye on the point
of interest, even when you are not painting the point of interest' and many many
more. He told me about must-read books, such as John F. Carlson's “Guide to
Landscape Painting” and “Landscape Painting” by Birge Harrison. Painting
alongside Don en plein air in various New England locations over the years,
information would just come out in normal conversation: he is a great teacher
and a good friend and I love his stories. I owe much of my success to what I
have learned from Don Stone, not only the art, but mentoring on the business end
of the art world.”
Sculptor-painter, Bruce Jones, who maintains a studio and
gallery in Exeter, recalls: “Years ago, when I got out of art school I started a
business and didn't paint for a while,” recalls Jones. “So I joined some local
art groups and one day as I'm driving down the street, I see these fellows
painting by the side of the street and I stopped to see if they wanted to join
the art group or be part of the show. They directed me to 'the master'
downstream and there was Don. I had no idea who he was. He was doing this
wonderful little painting. He's very kind and said 'I don't really do that' when
I asked him about our group and show, but he did invite me to his studio. That
was more than 15 years ago.”
Links:
www.donstone.com
www.stanmoeller.com
http://bwjonesart.com
http://artofthesea.net/DonStone
About the author: Laura Pope is a career newspaper and
magazine journalist specializing in the arts, travel and history. She has
traveled to Monhegan Island on several occasions to visit resident artists in
their studios and to take in the exhibits at the Monhegan Museum.
