Art Posting: Eyvind Earle
Last week, I alluded to writing about artists and if you look to the left of this posting on the navigation bar, you’ll see a category for it. For all of you RSS readers, you’ll have to come back to the website to see it.
Anyway, the first artist that I would like to highlight is Eyvind Earle (1916-2000). Not only was Earle a contemporary artist, but also an author and illustrator. He’s been talked about in such publications as Time, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Art News, and many, many others.
Many people who know Earle may not realize that he was the production designer, color stylist, and background painter for Disney’s animated classics Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and Sleeping Beauty.
When I first saw Eyvind Earle’s work, I had no idea about the Disney relationship. You would probably never guess that he was affiliated (not that it’s a bad thing). Over his brilliant career, his pieces have ranged so much from each other; one might think his portfolio was created by different artists.
What I love about his work are his beautiful landscapes and use of varied color. Earle’s attention to detail is amazing, though doesn’t go overboard, and tends to use blocky colors to draw sharp contrast from touching shapes. He also likes to play with light in his pieces and really call out areas that may otherwise go unrecognizable.
One our recent trip to Carmel, California, we picked up a beautiful piece of his work to put above our fireplace in the den… one of two most prominent areas of our home. His work is that beautiful. After spending almost a full day with the Gallery owner, and looking at over two dozen pieces to select from, we drove away and continued our journey to San Francisco. Over the course of the trip, we instantly saw where Earle drew his inspiration from and it was blatantly obvious: the Carmel/San Francisco landscape (amongst others). The colors matched, the shapes were similar, and the views were exact. It was a perfect piece to recap our memorable trip.
Apparently, there are some galleries here in New York (Soho) that carry his work… I plan on checking out the galleries and viewing his work closer to home.
If you happen to like Earle, check out Bruce Ricker. I was originally drawn to this style because of Ricker, but ended up with Earle first… but may get a small piece of Ricker eventually. Major difference between the two: Earle looks much more polished and ‘finished’ than Ricker. Also, Earle uses bolder colors.
(Please note that the picture above does not do Earle justice. You need to go see the piece in a gallery)