What a find: Thomas Wilmore Dewing & the Tonalists

This is really bad for me – I sometimes discover an artist on the net, and then surf for hours trying to find all his works. But of course, as you read about him, you’ll find more artists that are connected to him. And before you know it, you surfed all day and did nothing useful.

This one really kicked me out of my socks though (hm, does this saying only work in German? :)): Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851 – 1938). What a shame is wikipage is though, the German one is more elaborate. I love how soft he is able to paint – and still fill the figures with detail and life. Technically really hard – I myself have a lot of trouble painting soft details, it needs much more control and deliberation. Gotta learn it though.

The Wiki talks about that he is a Tonalist – meaning he used one value and color and deviated only slightly on a picture.  There are some more interesting artists following that route, like Leon Dabo (1865 – 1960). I disagree with the comment though that it is outdated, who decides that anyways? Even if modern artists use more colors, the idea to restrict the number of values is very much still used. Even if not obvious, I think it’s the secret of artists like Alex Kanevsky – the restriction of values allows him to pull this crazy stuff, while it all still seems to fit together. And is it an accident that there is a wave very much like Dabo’s on his frontpage? :)

Thomas Dewing - A Reading (1897)

Thomas Dewing - A Reading (1897)

Thomas Dewing - The Hermit Thrush (1890)

Thomas Dewing - The Hermit Thrush (1890)

Thomas Dewing - Lady in Yellow

Thomas Dewing - Lady in Yellow

Leon Dabo - The Seashore

Leon Dabo - The Seashore (1900)