Until I was distracted by a close encounter with a Brown Pelican, I was going to write about a part of what I did last weekend. Now's my chance to catch up. On Saturday I drove up to Canton, Massachussetts to see the latest exhibit at the Massachussetts Audubon Visual Arts Center, a retrospective of the work of Robert Verity Clem. If you know his name then you don't need me to tell you how incredible this exhibit was. But chances are you have not heard of him, as he was not widely exhibited or published, and never achieved the wide recognition of some wildlife artists. But read the bios of many of those better-known artists and you are likely to come across Clem's name as an influence. Once discovered, Robert Verity Clem's paintings will change you forever.
Most people who have discovered Clem did so in the same way I did- from his illustrations to "The Shorebirds of North America" by Gardner Stout and Peter Matthiessen, published in 1967.
I was fortunate enough to stumble across this large format book in a used bookstore in Port Jefferson, Long Island a number of years ago, and it is one of my prized possessions. It includes scientific descriptions by Stout and vivid prose by Matthiessen, but it is the illustrations that set this book apart. The overall arrangement of the plates is like a field guide, grouping birds by species, but these are not mere profiles with scraps of habitat for scale and context. Although the format occasionally forces birds of various annual plumages into the same scene in a way that could never happen in real life, this is easily overlooked by the natural poses of the birds, the light and space that surrounds them, and the lovingly rendered habitats that make each plate a fully realized painting.
There are drawings too- each one a gem (forgive the poor quality of these reproductions, which were photographed from the book).
As beloved as this book is by those who know it, Clem was apparently dissatisfied with the printing quality and never pursued book illustration again. But he continued painting, though his works can be hard to find. Information about him is hard to find too. Living in Southern New England, I was able to discover that he was also from Connecticut, and lived most of his adult life in Cape Cod. I long hoped to meet him, but it was not to be; he died on September 17th of last year, at the age of 86.
By chance it so happened that I learned of his death while standing in front of the Gyrfalcon painting shown above. It was on display at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard Massachussets last October, and was the first original Clem painting I had ever seen. It is a sizeable peice, and the grandeur of the image, matched by the perfection of every line and value, achieved that depth of feeling found only in the greatest works of art. I was mesmerized and moved to tears. It was only after I had dried my eyes that I was told of his passing.
There are many others who could better pay homage to Clem than me (Here is a nice tribute by artist Paul Donahue). His impact on artists who knew him was tremendous. Several such artists were present at the show in Canton this past weekend. Julie Zickefoose, artist, writer and NPR personality did a public talk in which she recounted her mentorship from the great man. The event drew an esteemed crowd of artists from the northeast, including Jim Coe, Cindy House, Barry Van Dusen, Larry Barth, Lucia DeLeiris, Clare Walker Leslie, and Robert Braunfield. It is always a merry gathering when these artists get together, and several of them brought along recent artworks and sketchbooks to share as well. But center stage was the work of Robert Verity Clem, and I can think of no better way of experiencing his work than in such company. There were recollections and stories, and despite the collective talent present in the room, there were still audible gasps of disbelief when analyzing his drawing and watercolor technique up close.
Even without such company, this show is not to be missed. Curator Amy Montague has assembled a fantastic collection of Clem's works, including this one from the shorebirds book. It could easily be appreciated how the printed versions could have disappointed the artist, as the actual peices have so much more depth and subtlety. For me, it was particularly instructive to see how his work developed in his later years. Freed from the constraints of illustration, landscape began to become even more important to his work, and his focus began to settle on the landscape he knew best, that of Cape Cod. But birds were always there, and he continued to study them from life. His studies show an intimacy that is as revealing of the artist as it is of the bird.
The Visual Arts Center is at 963 Washington Street, Canton Massachussetts, and is open from 1 to 5, Tuesdays to Sunday. More information can be found here.
There is another exhibit of Clem's work on his homeground of Cape Cod. That is at the Atwood House Museum, at 347 Stage harbor Road in Chatham, Massachussetts.
I haven't been there yet, but you can be sure it's on my pilgrimage list!
