Places and Spaces
any different styles of work co-exist and artists often assess them before developing a personal style. These works, created between 1885 and 1980, are representative of the varied styles in the collections.
The same landscape can look completely different when painted in the snow or on a sunny autumn day. Artists choose what they want to convey to the viewer through the elements of the light, color, viewpoint and style of painting.
Many of these works show specific places and buildings in Norwalk area. For example, the Smith Street Jail building depicted by Joyce Rogers 50 is located just below the overlook behind this building.
In the Untitled work attributed to Richard Daggy 43 we can see the influence of Van Gogh’s wavy lines, creating a sense of excitement in the depiction of a home in a landscape. This work, and Rummler’s Lewis Way 46, indicate autumn through the bright colors of the leaves, depict sunlit fall days and offers a freer application of paint which uplifts us. This contrasts with The Drying Line 49 which uses darker colors, interspersed with red apples in the dense trees surrounding a clothing line.
Viewpoint affects the viewer’s response. The Mathews Mansion 44 and St. Paul’s Church 41, seen from below, makes them look more impressive. Alois Fabry Jr.’s painting of a cropped Silvermine Tavern’s entrance 45 was a backdrop for a Ford Motor company advertisement. The Gregory Homestead 42, painted in 1885, shows us details of family life in a bygone era. Notice the chickens in the street and child in the tree above the horse.