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| Liz Hutchinson's rendition on Monet and his Water Lilies |
Don’t be surprised if you notice Claude Monet with his paintbrush
in hand the next time you drive down Marion Avenue in Punta Gorda. You’re not hallucinating. The Visual Arts Center (VAC) unveiled the first work in its
Masterpiece Painting Project in early June:
a reproduction of one of Monet’s Water
Lilies paintings. The work has been
mounted on the north side of its building across from Fishermen’s Village. It is the first of five paintings to be hung
over time that will both bring more outdoor art to Punta Gorda, a city known for
its murals, and give passersby a hint about what’s going on within the walls of
the VAC.
For the last nine years, the VAC has hosted a Fine Arts
Festival in November celebrating the work of famous artists. Past Festivals have highlighted artists as
varied as Toulouse-Lautrec, Georgia O’Keefe, Michelangelo, Leonardo DaVinci,
and Degas. Each year one of the featured
artist’s works has been reproduced by local artists and hung outside the
entrance to the VAC to welcome visitors to the Festival. Both the size of the works—approximately 7’ x
11’—and the quality of the artistry give credence to the term “masterpiece” for
these paintings.
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| Lost Masterpiece -- Toulouse-Lautrec's Jane Avril and Divan Janponais created by Suzanne Bowles and Carole Cobb |
Last year, the work of Claude Monet provided the theme for
the Festival, and Liz Hutchinson was asked to recreate one of his
paintings. Hutchinson was a natural
choice as she taught art classes for ten summers with ArtStudy at Monet’s home
in Giverny, France. As Hutchinson painted
her rendition of Monet’s Water Lilies
in a gallery at the VAC, people asked what would happen to the painting after
the Festival. When she inquired,
Hutchinson found out that the masterpiece works that had been so assiduously
created in prior years had been painted over and the plywood canvas reused for
the next year’s painting. (The exception
was the reproduction of The Creation of
Adam which found a home at a local church.)
This realization led Hutchinson and husband Frank Sperry to
mount a campaign to save these works.
The idea of creating an exterior gallery at the VAC was born. Like all projects, there were a number of
hoops to be jumped through before the project could move forward, including
obtaining Punta Gorda City Council approval.
And if the Monet masterpiece would be the first work to grace the new
gallery, it would have to be repainted using weatherproof acrylic paint and
other appropriate materials. Hutchinson
volunteered to re-paint the work if approval was granted.
The City Council approved the project last spring, and
Hutchinson got to work. Earlier this month, a ribbon cutting was held
to commemorate the hanging of her rendition of Monet’s Water Lilies.
Hutchinson’s work on the masterpiece painting project is not
done, however. She volunteered to paint
the masterpiece for this year’s Festival as well, which will feature the work
of John Singer Sargent. The painting Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose has been
selected as the masterpiece to be recreated. Hutchinson is enthusiastic about the choice,
having seen the original at the Tate Museum some years ago. She realized, however, that the dimensions weren’t
quite right for the plywood canvas on which the work would be done. The painting is more or less square, while
the canvas is rectangular. Hutchinson
found a photograph of Sargent painting in plein air the year Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose was
created. A decision was made to
incorporate Sargent into the work. (Monet’s likeness can similarly be seen in the
masterpiece painting already on display.)
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| Detail from Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose reproduced by Liz Hutchinson |
In a recent conversation, Hutchinson explained a bit about
her process of creating the painting, which will take about six weeks of steady
effort. Using a print of Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose as her
guide, Hutchinson gridded the canvas into six sections to ensure that the
perspective and aspect ratio would be accurate.
Next she drew the painting onto the canvas, a project that took the
better part of three days. Only then was
it time to start painting. The
masterpiece won’t be unveiled until the opening of the Festival in November,
but it promises to be worth waiting for.
With the conclusion of each year’s Fine Arts Festival, a new
painting will be added to the VAC’s outdoor gallery. Eventually, five masterpiece paintings will
be on view. After five years, the oldest
painting will be removed to make room for the latest reproduction.
The Masterpiece Painting Project will both showcase the
talent of our local artists and supplement the great outdoor art that Punta
Gorda already offers. There’s no doubt
about it—Punta Gorda’s got art.
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