As Often As Not, Something Does Lie Beneath

There is an exhibit at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford entitled “What Lies Beneath? Revealing Painter’s Secrets.” The exhibit features ten paintings by various artists, including Rousseau, Homer, Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh, where, upon examination through x-radiography or infrared reflectography, either a distinctly different painting lies beneath the painted surface, sometimes at a 90 degrees portrait versus landscape reorientation, or, a previously explored composition has been changed, simplified, or abandoned. This exhibit has generated a lot of interest and surprise.

I remember some years back, before I got into oil painting in a more dedicated way, I read an article going into some depth about a Picasso painting that, when x-rayed, revealed an earlier complete painting of a bull fight beneath. Somehow this idea was unthinkable! How could this happen, how could a work of art be obliterated, even by the artist! I understand now. Many of my paintings go through a layered process of creation. Even while hidden below the surface, these previous works can build strength in the finished piece. Sometimes only a hint of this process is evident, and only that to a discerning eye.

Consider my work posted above, at the top, entitled “Dispersal”, a rather tame abstract. Now, see what lies beneath, my version of Courbet’s, “Sleep”, by any standard a rather racy themed painting. Pretty shocking, then as now! The painting was not destined to last more than a few months, before a warm up session of gesso painting covered the previous effort making way for something new.