Art Minutes: "Winters Pleasures" by George Gunther Hartwick

Hello and welcome to Art Minutes. I'm Patricia Tomlinson, Curator at the Appleton Museum of Art. Today, I would like to introduce you to a painting from our permanent collection. It is called Winter's Pleasures and it was painted around the mid-19th century. It's by George Gunther Hartwick, who also goes by Gunther Hartwick, who was originally from New York State. Let's take a closer look at this painting. When we look at this painting, we see in the mid-ground a large pond that appears to be frozen with people skating and standing upon it. And off slightly to the left, we see a sleigh drawn by a horse coming down a lane towards a small building and a barn. In the far distance, we can see snow clouds massing in the extreme background. And in the foreground, we see trees covered with snow. We also see some birds in the air and it appears to be sunset as the clouds are a lovely shade of dark rose and violet. Hartwick was known for his landscape paintings and especially his winter scenes. His ability to render snow and the atmospheric qualities of winter, such as the storm clouds with snow, and he was very adept at evoking the chill of winter through his artworks. One of the things I think is very interesting about this painting is the level of detail that Hartwick painted. For example, in the extreme background, you see snow clouds massing in the distance. In the mid-ground, you see one house on the extreme right of the painting and another house on the extreme left, so neighbors across the pond, if you will. And in the mid-ground also, you see the various young people skating. You see what looks to be two adults standing out on the ice chatting. And then you also see a man down on one knee who appears to be chastising one of the young people. Perhaps something naughty ensued and this young person is getting a talking to. Also, I wanted to point out in the extreme foreground, in the middle of the painting, you see a bunch of jumbled up ice blocks and a hole that is painted in the ice. Perhaps something that would have occurred to either fetch water for the homestead or perhaps to participate in ice fishing. That hole with the ice blocks around it is a very typical motif of Hartwick. It is unknown why he did this. Perhaps he was a fan of ice fishing, but we really don't know. But that is a very common motif in his paintings of winter. And of course, this one does that as well. So, that's sort of a nice continuum of his theme. In the 1840s, Gunther Hartwick spent some time in Connecticut and created some landscapes from that area as well. Although we don't really know much about his training, he was able to exhibit in the extremely influential American Art Union, which was a subscription-based art program that was very popular for about 10 years in the mid-1800s. So, we do know his art was in circulation at the time and we do know he was considered adept enough and popular enough to participate in the American Art Union. Thank you for listening and I look forward to sharing more Art Minutes with you soon. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.