Summer at Scalp Level, George Hetzel – 1876 – Private Collection So, if you think this looks like a scene from Western Pennsylvania, you would be ‘spot on’. This painting is one of several painted by a group of artists known as the Scalp Level School in the fourth quarter of the 19th century. Led by George Hetzel, these artists gathered in the forests around Scalp Level and Windber to paint scenes ‘en plein air’ (outdoors). His paintings can now be sold for $8,000 - $20,000 so keep your eyes open at local auctions and garage sales. George Hetzel (1826 – 1899) was a French-born American artist. He is regarded as the founder of the Scalp level School of painting, a contemporary to the French Barbizon School of Naturalist Painting. He is associated with the Düsseldorf School of Painting. Born in an ethnically mixed part of Alsace, France on January 17, 1826; Hetzel’s family spoke primarily German and emigrated to the United States when he was aged two. They travelled from a Baltimore port to a small farm in Allegheny City also home to Mary Cassatt, near Pittsburgh. Hetzel attended Allegheny City School and was apprenticed to a local sign- and house-painter. After four years training, he earned an artisan’s apprenticeship, painting the interior murals of riverboat public rooms and local Pittsburgh saloons. George was sent to the Düsseldorf School of Painting between1847–49 and studied Da Vinci’s chiaroscuro (the use of light and dark shadows to heighten depth and drama), which became a signature stroke in his later works. It is thought that Hetzel was first introduced to the bucolic setting of Scalp Level (at the intersection of Paint Creek and Little Paint Creek outside of Johnstown, Pennsylvania) around 1866 during a fishing trip. He was then an instructor at the Pittsburgh School of Design for Women and encouraged his colleagues and students to make Scalp Level their summer retreat and work en plein air” . Hetzel exhibited at the National Academy in New York between1865-1882 and at the Pennsylvania Academy until 1891. He was included in the 1876Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and shown in the first Carnegie International in 1896. He also exhibited at the World’s Colubian Exposition, 1892-1893. The J. J. Gillespie Gallery sold his works and he kept an independent studio. His career was established before the Scalp Level works, but they are currently foremost in his legacy. Other Scalp Level artists Associated Artists include A. F. King, Clarence Johns, E. A. Pool, Charles Linford, Fred Bussman, A. S. Wall, Joseph R. Woodwell, Bryan Wall, George Lang, C. C. Millor, John Wesley Beatty, Horation Stevenson, John A. Hermann Jr., Jeannette Frances Agnew, Anna W. Henderson, Rachael Henderson, Carrie S. Holmes, Annie Christina, Olive Turney, Bessie Wall, Agnes C. Way
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 13:36:31 +0000
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