Louis
Finkelstein: The Late Pastels, 1990-1999
Lori
Bookstein Fine Art
50 East 78th Street, Suite 2A
New York, NY 10021
(212) 439-9605
June
17 to July 25, 2003
By GAEL
MOONEY
Louis Finkelstein
Bastion de Cézanne 1999
Pastel on paper, 14 x 16.75 inches
This and other images courtesy Lori Bookstein Fine Art
During the late afternoon
when the sun begins to make its decline and the warm glow of daylight
is overtaken by shadows, the world is bathed in an almost unnatural
light. Cool shadows predominate while the light of setting sun singles
out a rock, a tree or some other area for special scrutiny. Unlike the
light associated with chiaroscuro that reveals mass and volume, the
type of light to which I am referring achieves the opposite effect:
It dissolves material distinctions both within and between existing
forms, giving way to an overall transparency and brilliance similar
to the light of a Gothic cathedral, or of a late Cézanne.
Being ephemeral by nature, such natural occurrences are not easily duplicated
in painting. I was therefore astonished to walk into Lori Bookstein
Fine Art one day to find that the light I had been laboring to capture
while painting the park that afternoon had followed me into the gallery.
Or, in any case, such was the powerful impression the exhibit of fifteen
late pastels by Louis Finkelstein made on me when I first saw them.
Bridges and Trees,
Sharp's Creek 1992
pastel on paper with collage elements, 14 x 17 inches
Two stunning examples of
what I am talking about can be seen in the pastels entitled respectively
Bastion de Cézanne, II, and Aix-en-Provence -- both of which
were done during a trip the artist made to Cézanne territory
in 1999. In Finkelstein's Bastion -- a depiction of the shed where Cézanne
stored some of his paintings while working en plein air -- a house located
in the upper left-hand corner of the picture plane is situated behind
a row of trees in the foreground that marks off the space into neat
intervals. The house recedes into the background and would probably
slip from view were it not for the fact that it is enveloped by an extraordinary
light, causing it to dissolve into the sun and cerulean blue sky behind
it. In Aix-en-Provence, a central pale pink tree shaped like a tuning
fork divides the pastel in two and is stacked up against a mysterious
violet pyramid shape (a rock perhaps) to give off a preternatural glow.
The light, in both instances transforms what would otherwise appear
to be an ordinary scene into something far more miraculous and mysterious.
In Yellow Arbor, 1997, and Green Arbor, 1997, employing two different
but equally vivid palettes, the artist applies vigorous strokes of color
in an overall way to achieve a similar effect. However, unlike the calm
tranquility of the pictures previously mentioned, the marks here create
a centrifugal force that encircles the sloping diagonal and vertical
lines of the arbor with the sweeping force of a tornado. And just in
case there may be any doubt about the artist's intentions, the notations
in the left-hand margin of Green Arbor - 'yellow pushes out and becomes
matrix', 'blue violet under painting' and 'silver' may provide some
clues.
While the sensory experience
was key to Finkelstein's sensibility and is obviously what drove him,
the influence of coming of age as an artist in the 1940's and 1950's
in the environment of Abstract Expressionism is also clearly present
in the fifteen works on view here. One example of this influence can
be seen in the variety of ways the artist makes optimal use of the ground
(or what he referred to as a 'containing space') as a formal means of
expression in its own right. In Untitled (Cathedral Trees)1990, color
is applied with loose and free strokes to evoke a feeling of weightlessness
much like the interior of a Gothic cathedral (hence living up to the
its title). Similarly, in Vermont,1990, the artist applies delicate
touches of color while allowing large areas of paper to show through
so as to convey a vivid sense of atmosphere and light. In Figure in
the Woods, 1998, fluid lines and broad organic shapes of color create
an undulating tension between the figure and ground in a way that recalls
de Kooning.
Trees at
Paulinskill c1991-97
pastel
on paper, 13.75 x 16.5 inches
In the excellent exhibition catalog which includes an informative essay
by Martica Sawin, we are told that Finkelstein worked rapidly and directly
from the motif. However, Finkelstein's marks, (unlike those of his mentor,
Cézanne) are notable for their inventiveness, not their consistency.
Viewed at close range, they may come off as seeming impulsive or even
haphazard. However, take a few steps backward and suddenly the space
opens up, revealing a clarity and order that clearly shows that there
is nothing arbitrary about what is going on here. Each mark, each color
decision, represents a well orchestrated move -- a mapping out of spatial
relations responsive not only to the motif but also to the dictates
of the picture plane and the harmony of the whole.
Notwithstanding the apparent speed with which the pastels may have been
applied, Finkelstein's marks are clearly the product of a careful kind
of seeing (which Finkelstein viewed as a subject in its own right).
The final result is works that instill in the viewer a similar kind
of careful looking as that in which the artist himself was obviously
engaged. Thus, as in Cézanne, in the end, it is not so much the
quality of the mark but the quality of the investigation the mark signifies
that makes a lasting impression.
