Hendricks Live!, a new performing and fine arts center in Plainfield, is hosting the exhibition “The Influence of Artist Richard Schmid.” Original works by Schmid loaned by private collectors are on view with paintings created by the Indiana artist Libby Whipple, who counts Schmid as her greatest mentor. During his six-decade-long career, Schmid inspired thousands of artists and won acclaim for the more than 3,000 landscapes, still lifes, and figurative works he painted.

In 2000, Richard Ormond, grand-nephew of John Singer Sargent and the premier authority on his ancestor’s art, presented Schmid with the American Society of Portrait Artists’ John Singer Sargent Medal. Ormond has written, “The principles of painting from life have been well mastered by Richard. He can translate what he sees into pictorial form with great panache. His fluent and incisive brushwork brings to life his chosen subjects with veracity and immediacy. You feel you are there in the picture, so convincingly alive is the space, so tactile the surfaces. Wizardry with the brush can sometimes rebound on the head of the painter. Success is attributed to technical facility, not to deeper artistic impulses…. Richard knows better than anyone that mastery of the medium is not the end of the story, though without it an artist is lost. Perception, feeling, imagination, these are the things that stamp a work of art and open the mind and soul of the spectator.”

Details at a Glance:
“The Influence of Artist Richard Schmid”
Plainfield, Indiana
hendrickslive.org
through April 9, 2025

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Building an Art Collection – a Fine Art Collection Profile >

Tom Vining is a retired veterinarian who lives in a small town 75 miles west of Houston. His home is adorned with approximately 275 paintings, almost all of them on display with — amazingly — enough wall space for more. Ranging from figures and still lifes to landscapes and cityscapes, these works have been created by impressionist and realist artists in America, Russia, and Ukraine, most of them after 1980, though a few before.

Tom says he did not grow up with original art: “I remember my dad doing some paint-by-numbers and framing prints of famous paintings, but the real spark for my interest in art was beginning a new relationship at age 40. In 1992 my partner and I made our first visit to Santa Fe, where we purchased three landscape paintings by Don Brackett, Eric Wallis, and [the late] Louisa McElwain. I was hooked, so when we returned home, I began seeking out galleries near our second residence in rural Texas, between Houston and Austin. Luckily, I found The Gallery at Round Top, which was owned by two artists willing to answer my questions and educate me more than I ever could have on my own.”

One of those generous artist-gallerists was Karen Vernon, and Tom began purchasing paintings by local and regional artists she represented, then joined an organization in which she was active. Arts for Rural Texas is dedicated to providing arts education for youngsters who would otherwise never be exposed. Its programming includes after-school and summer art camps, exhibitions of student and professional artists, and the subsidized transport of pupils to attend live performances in large school auditoria throughout Fayette County.

Every year Arts for Rural Texas mounts Art Walk, a juried exhibition presented in the main square of Fayetteville (population 258). Over the years Tom has bought lots of art there and has also taken many more trips to Santa Fe, especially off-season, when dealers and artists are better able to relax and share their insights at length. In time, he discovered and “fell in love” with comparable artworks from the Soviet Union, Russia, and Ukraine, and he is especially fond of the students who are sustaining this artistic tradition at the Repin Institute in St. Petersburg. (Sadly, the availability of their art in the U.S. has been challenged by trade sanctions imposed on Russia since 2022.)

Today, the Vining Collection encompasses works by such American talents as George William Allen, William Alther, Sunny Apinchapong, Suzie Baker, Phil Beck, Ovanes Berberian, Kathie Boehneman, Don Brackett, Michelle Chrisman, Graydon Foulger, Kaye Franklin, Greg Glowka, Walt Gonske, A.D. Greer, Eric Harrison, Rick Hodgins, Qiang Huang, Eric Jacobsen, William Scott Jennings, Robert A. Johnson, Roger Hayden Johnson, Rusty Jones, Ramon Kelley, Sonja Kever, Phoenix Kooper, Margie Leach, Calvin Liang, Chen Liang, Huihan Liu, Frances Macaulay, Sally Maxwell, Janice McCubbin, Ken Muenzenmayer, C.W. Mundy, Lenore Prudhome, Manfred Rapp, Jean Reavis, Laura Robb, Bob Rohm, Don Sahli, Mary Scott, Carol Swinney, Gary Taylor, Linda Tibolla, Hsin-Yao Tseng, T.W. Vanya, Karen Vernon, Scott Wallis, and Bruce Williamson.

The Russian and Ukrainian artists represented include Lyudmila Agrich, Nikolai Babasyuk, Arthur Bakhtiyarov, Ekaterina Belova, Olga Grigoryeva-Klimova, Vladimir Kholuev, Viktor Kiselev, Slava Korolenkov, Valery Koserukov, Sergei Kovalenko, Vladimir Kovalov, Olga Kuzmina, Oleg Lomakin, Piotr Marmanov, Andrew Piankovski, Erik Rebane, Semon Rotnitski, Andrey Selenin, Alexander Shabadei, Irene Sheri, Boris Spornikov, Vadim Suvorov, Evdokia Usikova, Helve Viidalepp, Ivan Vityuk, Nina Volkova, Olga Volkova, Edvard Vyrzhikovski, Fedor Zakharovich Zakharov, Zinaida Zatsepina, and Tuman Zhumabaev.

Tom says he buys regularly from artists themselves; about 30 of those represented in the collection have had the pleasure of visiting him, and indeed four paintings have actually been created in his house. All visitors are struck by the intelligence of Tom’s juxtaposition of artworks from different regions; on one wall, for example, hang complementary tree scenes painted in 1979 by Fedor Zakharovich Zakharov (1919–1994) and just last year by Eric Jacobsen (b. 1966). The close aesthetic connection between Old and New Worlds is epitomized by the presence of two masters in the Vining Collection: Nicolai Fechin (1881–1955) and Sergei Bongart (1918–1985) both immigrated to the U.S. and thrived here, introducing generations of their new compatriots to “the Russian School.”

Tom also buys regularly from galleries and is quick to credit three dealers as particularly inspirational: Paul Eubanks at Paul Scott Gallery (formerly Gallery Russia) in Scottsdale, Dianna Eaton at Kyiv International  Gallery (formerly Art of Russia International) in Santa Fe, and Vanessa Rothe in Laguna Beach. He admits he is stunned by “the determination of younger artists to bypass the gallery system.” He says, “They do not seem to realize that few artists will prosper without someone promoting their work and investing time and money to do so. Being discovered on the Internet is like finding a needle in a haystack. Even established artists will fade away if they are not promoted constantly.”

Tom continues to show support for artists by attending fundraisers that benefit Arts for Rural Texas and other nonprofits, and when local galleries invite their artists to teach on site, they frequently come to visit his collection. (In fact, entire art classes from local schools have come through.)

Not every acquisition is straightforward, of course. Tom confides: “Sometimes, I find too many great pieces at the same time. Fortunately they seem to wait for me to come back and collect them. One piece took three years because there was always another one I liked more. Once I had to wait eight years for a very expensive painting, and sometimes I find that a desirable painting I passed on has later shifted to another gallery at a moment when I can actually acquire it.”

Clearly, patience has been an essential virtue in the Vining Collection’s formation, and will continue to be so.

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For art enthusiasts: A New Book on Anders Zorn and His Process: “Zorn’s Studio: The Artist’s Materials and Techniques”
by Art Historian Emma Jansson

From the Foreward
by Johan Cederlund
Director, The Zorn Museum:

At the turn of the century, Anders Zorn was among Europe’s most celebrated artists. Kings, presidents, financiers, and cultural figures lined up to have their portraits painted by the famous Swede. His sensual pictures of bathing women won wide acclaim, and his etchings commanded prices higher than those of any other artist. Today, Zorn’s name is not as well known, at least not outside of Sweden, but those who encounter his paintings are still fascinated by his brilliant technique, and the ease with which he seemed to create his works. It is as if the paintings were made without effort. Many painters also refer to “Zorn’s palette,” a palette that according to tradition consisted of only four colours: white, yellow, red, and black.

In this book, Zorn’s technique, colours, and work process are for the first time the focus of a scientific investigation. Art historian Emma Jansson refutes the myth of Zorn’s limited palette, and shows how paintings that give the impression of improvisation were in fact preceded by countless sketches and studies, artistic considerations, and deep knowledge of the nature of the materials in use. For Zorn, art was a craft that had to be learned from scratch and in all aspects; he proved himself capable of everything and in any technique.

Emma Jansson’s research on Zorn was conducted at the Institute for Culture and Aesthetics, Stockholm University. The work resulted in the doctoral dissertation “Making in Context: Reconsidering Anders Zorn’s Oil Painting Practice” (2022), from which this book emerged. It is with our great pleasure that the Zorn Museum, which has followed and supported Emma Jansson in her investigation, is able to contribute to the fascinating results she presents reaching a wider audience.

Get your copy of the book at https://shop.zorn.se.

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