To Ipswich in Search of Arthur Wesley Dow
Ipswich Museum, Heard House, en-dowed by Bing. ©2022 Bing McGilvray.
By Bing McGilvray with Joy Buell
June 22, 2022
A glorious June afternoon, Spring in full bloom, overcast but balmy, a perfect day for a joy ride. There is no nicer journey, while staying close to home, than to picturesque Ipswich. One of the earliest English settlements, established in 1634, Ipswich is rich in history and takes preservation seriously. With many beautifully restored, period houses, all within walking distance of each other, it is the ideal destination for a day trip. Joy and I were on a mission though: to find out more about the artist Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922), whose centennial was being celebrated. One hundred years since he slipped his mortal coil.
Off we went down 128, quickly over to 133, through the antiques canyons of Essex, finally gliding over to Argilla Road, the more pastoral route into town. On Argilla, with its marsh vistas and green pastures still pristine, you begin to sense how old this area is, occupied long before the colonists claimed it.
The Long Road, Argilla Road, Ipswich, 1898.
The Ipswich Museum holds the largest collection of Arthur Wesley Dow works in a stately old mansion built in 1800, the Heard House. The very enthusiastic staff greeted us, but we arrived just before a private event for local teachers was about to start. We saw and learned so much in a short amount of time, thanks to Stephanie Gaskins, curator and authority on all things Dow. The exhibit encompasses every aspect of his life’s work. So, it was with regret we had to go but she urged us to return soon, appreciating our inquisitiveness. We assured her we would, and we will, but even in the infinite Cosmos there are definite deadlines.
Arthur Wesley Dow’s timeless text.
Joy suggested a visit to the Ipswich Library where there were a few Dow landscapes. A beautiful Greek Revival gem built in 1869, it seemed to glow inside. The Dow paintings stood out. Before departing, we stopped for coffee and croissants at the Sandpiper Bakery, right next door. Ever the art instructor, Joy brought along a copy of Dow’s Composition (Understanding Line, Notan and Color). First published in 1899, it has since never been out of print.
Notan is a notion previously unknown to me and has nothing to do with sunblock. Randomly, Joy opened to the chapter on Notan. The first sentence I read blew me away, “The Orientals rarely represented shadows …” This is precisely the ‘secret knowledge’ David Hockney discussed with Martin Gayford in A History of Pictures (2016) and here was Dow expounding at length over one hundred years ago. Obviously, these forgotten principles were no secret to him. Now, I was beyond intrigued. I had a serious Dow jones. There was much to write about, and we discussed Dow all the way back to Gloucester.
Dedicated Dowists: Joy Buell and Stephanie Gaskins.
A stunning display at the Ipswich Museum.
The Dao of Dow
Notan is also Zen, Daoism, Taoism—epitomized in the yin yang symbol—art created with the hand, the eye, and the heart.
What is notan? It’s the Japanese word for ‘dark and light’ that Dow adopted as a counterpoint to the Italian ‘chiaroscuro,’ a word which originated around the Renaissance and refers to light and shadow. The significant difference is that notan is how the human eye sees; chiaroscuro is the way a camera sees. We often don’t see shadows; the camera always does. Artists in the East were not advanced in their knowledge of optics and lens. One point perspective, where infinity is an unreachable fixed point in the distance, did not exist until the West began to perfect lens making. It allowed for unbelievable precision in depiction, terrific for architects but quite unlike seeing with two eyes. It became so dominant in Western art that anything not optic was deemed primitive. People still say, ‘Looks so real—it’s like a photograph.’ Really? We are merely programmed after centuries of subjection into believing it is real.
Arthur Wesley Dow was present when ‘Modern Art’ was born. He then commenced to spearhead and embody American Modernism. By the middle of the 19th century, many Western artists began to sense something wrong with the optic look of pictures. They began to look beyond the rigid, stuffy academy rules of art schools. Global trade was fueling empires now and the Art of the World was being seen in Europe. A revolution in the arts was underway.
So much more to say, but in the spirit of these ADD times, where every multifaceted and complex story is condensed into simplified text bytes, here are:
Four Key Takeaways on Arthur Wesley Dow
Early Years
Being born poor in Ipswich was not an obstacle for Arthur. His keen intelligence, curiosity, studiousness, ambition, and artistic talents were soon recognized. Local mentors and patrons provided him with a classical education, a love of nature, and deep interest in mysticism. He studied in Boston with William Morris Hunt and Frank Duveneck, both of whom had studio/schools in Gloucester. In Boston, Dow met fellow student Minnie Pearson, his future wife and lifelong partner. He traveled the rural North Shore teaching painting until he finally had the money to set sail to France.
Study for Nightfall, 1900.
Summer Morning in the Pasture (undated).
Paris, Fin de Siècle
Arthur arrived in Paris in 1884, at the dawn of the 20th Century, an era of seismic shifts, rapid technological change and cultural upheaval not unlike the dawn of the 21st. Dow was in the middle of it and set right to work, spending long hours painting and drawing at the Académie Julian, and studying the masters at the Louvre. All kinds of art interested him; African, Aztec, Oceanic, Egyptian, Indian but it was the Japanese that attracted him the most, as it did Van Gogh, Monet, and so many others. He avoided the vibrant café society where artists argued loudly and passionately about painting, politics, and love. Ever the Puritan, Arthur enjoyed a bit of bonhomie but disdained excessive bohemia. He knew Gauguin in Pont-Aven but was not impressed by him or his Impressionism. Still, he absorbed all the innovative ideas. Dow saw what was missing from academic training but went on to exhibit at the official salons. John Singer Sargent personally praised him.
Artist, Teacher, Scholar, Influencer
Arthur returned home fully formed but was still searching for a way to merge these traditional and newfound concepts of art. His epiphany came at the MFA print department in the form of Hokusai woodblock prints. Rather than trying to reproduce nature with camera accuracy, he discovered a ‘floating world’ in the ukiyo-e style, not fixed in a frozen moment but fluid and in motion, in harmony like poetry. It was a revelation.
A Dow woodblock print in one of his many books.
Book of poems illustrated and published by Dow, 1900.
In 1899, he published Composition which quickly became a standard textbook for every art student. That same year, he and Minnie opened the Ipswich Summer School of Art, the prototype for small art communities across the country, like the Folly Cove Designers. Expanding on the Arts & Crafts Movement in England, they taught every discipline: painting, design, pottery, sculpture, printing, textiles, furniture, metal work and even photography. Dow was an avid photographer and his influence in this field was also widespread.
Bright Angel Canyon (undated).
Dow went on to teach at the New York Art Students League, Pratt Institute, and Columbia. Author of many books, he lectured constantly across America. Many of his students went on to illustrious careers. Countless legions carried on his mission. His philosophy and theories are more relevant than ever. Perhaps it is time for a rebirth.
The Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon (undated).
Nobody walks away from the Grand Canyon without being overwhelmed and certainly this was true for Dow. He visited often in his later years and poured all his life study into the Canyon paintings. Cosmic Cities he called them. He knew these immense, timeless spaces could not be mechanically copied onto a flat surface. Few have better evoked the breathtaking scale and spiritual experience of looking into this ancient abyss. Joy thought they were among his best. I agreed but Dow’s entire life was extraordinary, so it’s not so easy to decide.
To Ipswich I declare, “I’ll be back” … as Joy echoes.
© 2022 Bing McGilvray
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