Neil Welliver
American, 1929 - 2005Cedar Water Brook, 1988
Not on view
Oil on canvas
Dimensions72 × 72 in. (182.9 × 182.9 cm)
Framed: 73 3/4 × 73 3/4 in. (187.3 × 187.3 cm)
Museum purchase in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Donald E. Johnson
© Neil Welliver Courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York, 1989.72
Neil Welliver was one of the leading American landscape painters of the 21st century. He began each composition by working en plein air, or "out of doors," for many hours in order to capture the changes in light and temperature. The finished painted sketch was used in the studio to make a charcoal sketch on paper, which was transferred to a large canvas. The sketch was the cartoon, or full-scale guide, for the final painting, which was completed methodically, from the top of the canvas to the bottom.
Initially, Welliver included figures or animals in his scenes, but by the mid-1970s his work had given way to exploring the purity of the landscape alone. Cedar Water Brook is a classic example of this investigation, one that speaks of the solitary experience of nature.
