Return to story

>> BELMONT PRESENTS FASCINATING RETROSPECTIVE THAT INCLUDES MANY WORKS NEVER EXHIBITED BEFORE

May 21, 2009 3:45 am

BY CLINT SCHEMMER

Beginning Saturday, a brand-new show at Belmont will reveal a little-appreciated aspect of Gari Melchers' artistry.

His nudes.

The celebrated American painter was famous for his depictions of Europe's noble peasantry, and beloved for his idyllic scenes of gardens and country life.

But as this season's exhibition at Gari Melchers Home and Studio makes clear, he also loved to paint the human figure--and excelled at it.

"It's a facet of his work that really hasn't been evaluated until now," said Ted Minniear, the show's guest curator. "What I've found researching Melchers' nudes is that he approaches the subject with a really wide range of stylistic and thematic variation, which is fascinating.

"It speaks to his capabilities as an artist and to his various interests. I think that when people walk into the galleries, it's going to be hard for them to believe that all of the works were produced by the same artist."

Minniear, an art history major and rising senior at UMW who aspires to go into the curatorial profession, spent much of the past year creating this retrospective of the celebrated Impressionist's female nudes.

Its 45 works, all Melchers originals, range from charcoal sketches to life-size oil-on-canvas easel paintings. Many are going on display for the first time, Minniear noted.

Classically trained in Germany and Paris as a figure painter, Melchers painted the female nude throughout his long career. In his later years, he turned to the subject with greater regularity.

Over his lifetime, he produced a surprisingly large number of nudes considering that few sold, Minniear said. As best as can be determined, none of them were commissioned.

Melchers was certainly aware the subject could be controversial, as he learned in 1912 when he included a female nude in a gallery of his works at a prestigious Berlin art exhibition that Kaiser Wilhelm II invited him to participate in.

The kaiserin, Augusta Victoria, was offended by the painting when she had a private preview of the show. Frantic officials telegraphed Melchers in Holland about the imperial request. He wired back: "You can remove the room, but not the nude."

The painting stayed put. Titled "Young Woman at Her Toilet," it is included in Belmont's new show.

A later Melchers work, "Red Hussar," may have been a reaction to the royal family's attempt to control artistic tastes, Minniear said.

One likely reason for Melchers' growing interest in the subject, he said, is that the female nude came into vogue in the early 20th century.

The Giverny Group--American painters who worked in the French village made famous as the home of Monet--popularized depictions of the female form amid colorful, ornate backgrounds and furnishings, Minniear said. Several of Melchers' works in the show are examples of this school.

Perpetuating the Gilded Age feminine ideal of beauty and domesticity, the model became the artist's Aphrodite, a vehicle for decorative expression, Belmont curator Joanna Catron said.

But as the exhibition also demonstrates, these works have more striking differences in mood and technique than those of any Melchers show at his former home in recent years.

Some have a great sense of playfulness and freedom. Others--such as "The Doctors"--are just plain puzzling, since Melchers didn't make notes or write about what he was thinking or attempting to convey when he created a painting.

See "Aphrodite" and enjoy drawing your own conclusions.

Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com