| Issue #32, November 3, 2006 |
Honoring the Artist: Theodore Wores
If you get a yearning to visit the garden featured on this week’s cover of Dan’s Papers, you might be disappointed. While it’s Thomas Moran’s actual garden, (the house is still standing at 229 Main Street in East Hampton), you’d be hard pressed to see the exact setting as Theodore Wores painted it, circa 1890.
But imagination runs high with this critic, so off we go to experience the original residence and grounds. It’s an overcast sky that greets us on this late October day; the shingled structure, while in need of repair, still suggests a grandeur that is unique. The idiosyncratic architectural style also conveys uncommon qualities invoking the idea that Moran was perhaps a bit quirky himself.
There’s a sense of narrative here, too: what stories could the old house reveal? Yours truly couldn’t help but recall the old mansion in Great Expectations, the one inhabited by the late Anne Bancroft in the most recent film version.
Like the movie, Wores’ garden painting also makes us imagine a time gone by, especially now that we have the opportunity to see the present site. Thus, Wores imbued the scene with a liveliness and spirit that has long disappeared: the colorful flowers, birdbath, hedges, a sunflower here and there. The ivy-covered walls. The work’s impressionistic style reflected Moran’s world view as well.
Wores is not known solely for painting Moran’s garden, however. He was recognized as an early American Impressionist painter, the “best known artist working in San Francisco during the late 1890s and early 1900s.” He also earned a reputation for being one of the first American artists to travel to Japan (1885-1887). That Wores was well-traveled was evident and added greatly to his artistic training. While his Japanese journey resulted in many Asian paintings as well, his trips to Hawaii, the Canadian Rockies and the Southwest also impacted on his work.
Yet Wores did not spend his entire life living on the West Coast; he settled in New York for several years, working and residing at the celebrated Tenth Street Studio Building which was the “first modern facilty to serve completely the artists’ needs.” It was here that Wores joined influential artists like William Merritt Chase and Frederick Dielman who used the studio to create works as well as to exhibit them.
Apparently, Wores’ proximity to East Hampton motivated him to travel here, visiting Moran’s home on probably more than one occasion. We’re glad he did.
– Marion Wolberg Weiss
Theodore Wores’ painting, “Thomas Moran’s Garden,” is on view at the Wallace Gallery in East Hampton. Call 631-329-4516.
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