Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Banks Fine Arts presents: Plein Air Painters

By Pegasus News wire

Photo provided by Banks Fine Arts

Banks Fine Art is pleased to announce the opening of Plein Air Painters beginning October 4, 2007 and continuing through October 25, 2007. The exhibition features new works by en plein air artists including American artists Carrie Ballard, Marty James Childers, Ron Goldfinger, Carol Slobin, Sylvia Trybek and international artists Gianni Di Guida, Antonio Iannicelli and Mario Passoni.

En plein air is a French expression which means “in the open air” and is particularly used to describe the act of painting in an outside environment rather than in an indoor studio. Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid 1800s working in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon school and Impressionism. The popularity of painting en plein air increased with the introduction of paints in tubes in 1870. Previously, each painter made their own paints by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil.

During this same period the “Box Easel” was invented typically known as the French Box Easel. The highly portable easels with telescoping legs and built in paint box and palette made treks into the forest and up the hillsides less onerous. Still made today, they remain a popular choice for their compact fold-up size and ease in storing.

The French artists Claude Monet, Camille Pissaro and Pierre- Auguste Renoir advocated en plein air painting. Much of their work was created outdoors. American Impressionists, too, such as the Old Lyme school, were avid painters of en plein air. The popularity of painting outdoors has remained constant throughout the 20th and 21st century artists.

Plein Air Painters opens to the public October 4, 2007 and runs through October 25, 2007.

Source: Banks Fine Arts

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