Lot 205
Lockwood "Woody" Dennis (American, 1937-2012). "Street in the Twenties" oil on canvas, 1988. Signed at lower left. A wonderful painting by Lockwood Dennis depicting a street scene from the 1920s with three classic, black cars driving away from the viewer along a dirt road. A pair of houses line the street to the right with utility poles reinforcing the vertical planes and a lush bush or tree adding a bit of nature to the scene. The low set horizon is contrasted by the glowing golden sky of the background. Dennis is perhaps best known for his works that depict classic automobiles and other people movers. Dennis loved to experience the world around him - even everyday things. In his words, "The impetus to paint is always an experience - a specific place, weather, ordinary things remembered. A celebration of just being here, experiencing the world." A striking painting by Lockwood Dennis mounted in an attractive custom wood frame. Size of painting: 10" W x 14" H (25.4 cm x 35.6 cm); of frame: 14" W x 17" H (35.6 cm x 43.2 cm)
Lockwood "Woody" Dennis was driven to paint throughout his 45 year career and each canvas reveals new aspects about him as a person - his approaches to life, the environment, and art. During the early years, Woody was most influenced by the works of Post-Impressionist pioneers of early Modernism such as Cezanne and Matisse. As he evolved, Woody developed a graphic style that was informed by the style and imagery he created for his woodblock prints.
Dennis was quite eloquent and insightful when asked about his art. The following is an excerpt from the "On Impetus" section of his "Philosophical Musings on Painting": "The impetus to paint is always an experience - a specific place, weather, ordinary things remembered. A celebration of just being here, experiencing the world. The experience itself is somehow lost in the process, and, anyway, it's not intended that it should be conveyed. The result is a picture animated by that experience."
Dennis continued, "A painting starts with an exuberance. It's good to be alive. The work is a wonderful place. The feeling seems to cover everything, but it relates especially to past experiences, beginning further back than I can remember. It becomes specific in associations with past experiences: Portland, Eastern Washington, Africa; but not with an exact description. The memory of a precise place and time - a moment of past reality is too terrible to bear, there is such a sense of loss, of things gone forever. So it is a present experience, based on the past. And perhaps the cartoon character adds the levity to remove it from the past, or 'animate' it in the present."
Lockwood Dennis paintings have been collected by the following museums and organizations: Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington; Seattle Art Commission, Seattle, Washington; Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem, Oregon; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington; Swedish Medical Center Foundation, Seattle, Washington; Museum of History and Industry, Seattle, Washington; Jefferson Museum of Art and History, Port Townsend, Washington; Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington; Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, Washington; Clallam County Historical Society, Port Angeles, Washington; Bainbridge Island Art Museum, Winslow, Washington; US Library of Congress, Washington, DC; US State Department, Washington, DC.
Provenance: Lockwood Dennis Art Estate, Boulder, Colorado, USA
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#188024
- Condition: Set in custom wooden frame with gallery paper and suspension wire on verso for easy display. Some minor tearing to gallery paper that does not affect painting. Otherwise, painting and frame are in excellent overall condition. Signed at lower left of painting.
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