Art News

Heather James Fine Art Shows Self-Taught Modernist Earl Cunningham

artwork: Earl Cunningham - "Springtime Fantasy", circa 1968 - Oil on fiberboard - 16" x 24" - Courtesy Heather James Fine Arts. On view in "Earl Cunningham: American Fauve" from September 9th until October 29th.


Jackson, WY.- Heather James Fine Art is pleased to present “Earl Cunningham: American Fauve”, on view from September 9th through October 29th. Earl Cunningham was a twentieth century American modernist who romanticized the American landscape with simplicity. A self-taught artist who painted mostly landscapes of the coasts of Maine, New York, Michigan, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, Cunningham used vivid colors, flat perspective, and a few recurrent themes. His works depict the many small interactions of the Atlantic coastal ecosystem, the dockworkers, harbor pilots, fisherman, farmers, waterfowl and American Indian tribes. Cunningham’s work is modern and nostalgic at the same time, flattened forms with a palette often described as “fauve”, characterized by the emphasis of painterly qualities and strong color comparable to the paintings of Fauve leaders Henri Matisse and André Derain.

His paintings show he was a natural with color with a sophisticated understanding of composition. Cunningham moved to Saint Augustine, Florida in 1949 and opened an art gallery and curio shop. In 1961 he sent a painting titled “The Everglades” to Jacqueline Kennedy that is on display at John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. There have been thirty-four one-man museum shows of his work, the most recent at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. where an astounding 186,000 people came to view the show.

artwork: Earl Cunningham - "Blue Waterfall," circa 1975 - Oil on fiberboard - 16" x 37" Courtesy Heather James Fine Arts. On view until October 29th.

Of the many paintings on display, “Seminole Paradise” is a prime example of Cunningham’s unique expression of color and composition. The painting depicts an imaginative scene of Seminole’s engaged in various activities among a lush tropical fantasy landscape painted in vibrant blues, greens, and yellows. Flowering trees provide resting places for a variety of multi-hued wildlife and Norse style boats, large and small, float along a mocha colored river. Cunningham’s visual narrative creates an expert mash-up of culture and nature. Since the Europeans crossed the Atlantic to reach the Americas and as the Norse were the first known explorers of the area, Cunningham’s reference to them in his paintings conforms with his recurring and comprehensive theme of the sea. Critical to this American origin is not only the European experience but also that of Native Americans, who regularly appear in many of Cunningham’s paintings.

The exquisite paintings of Cunningham are from the collection of Marilyn and Michael Mennello, founders of the Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, Florida. The Mennello’s began their collection of the artist’s work in 1969 with Marilyn Mennello purchasing a painting directly from Earl Cunningham. Following Cunningham’s death, the Mennello’s began a quest to purchase as many paintings as possible, eventually capturing the majority of Cunningham’s 405 known works. Passionate advocates of Cunningham, they dedicated their time and resources to restoring the paintings and preserving the artist’s legacy. In 1998, the Mennello’s opened the Mennello Museum of American Art with a core group of Cunningham paintings central to the museum and continuously on display.

artwork: Earl Cunningham - "Seminole Paradise", circa 1930 - Oil on fiberboard - 17" x 41" - Courtesy Heather James Fine Arts.

Heather James Fine Art is located at 172 Center Street in Jackson, Wyoming and features a wide array of art ranging from Impressionist and Modern art to Post-War and Contemporary, American, Latin American, Old Master, Photography and Design. Visit the gallery’s website at … www.heatherjames.com