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Impressions East·South·West: Mabel May Woodward

June 2 - July 21, 2013

 

Mabel May Woodward (1877-1945) was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where she began her formal training at the Rhode Island School of Design. In 1898 she went to New York to study at the Art Students' League, where her teachers included the American Impressionists Frank Vincent DuMond and William Merritt Chase. Woodward later considered both men to be major influences on her career; and, as critic Frank Sisson wrote in 1938 in the Providence Journal, Woodward embraced "a kind of impressionism or a development of impressionism to a more descriptive painting." In 1900 the painter returned to her historic hometown of Providence and began a long teaching career at her alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design. The first woman elected President of the Providence Art Club, she became the most prominent Rhode Island female painter around the turn of the century. (right: Mabel May Woodward (American 1877-1945), Coastal Scene, 1974, Oil on canvas, 10 x 13 inches. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Buddy Frank. El Paso Museum of Art Collection)

Woodward is particularly known for scenes of her native New England -- Providence; Ogunquit, Maine; Old Lyme, Connecticut (where she painted with DuMond). Yet she also painted in Europe, Canada, Florida, and elsewhere. In this regard, the El Paso Museum of Art is fortunate to hold over seventy-five works by Woodward that include pictures of all these locales. The museum also owns several examples of a little-known side to Woodward's extensive geographic range: her views of the landscape and life of Taos and other Southwestern sites. Thus Impressions East·South·West: Mabel May Woodward features a select choice of paintings from the El Paso Museum of Art collection that highlight scenes of New England alongside vignettes from Florida and views of the landscape, architecture, and life of the Southwest. The exhibition will also present open pages from five Woodward sketchbooks housed in the museum; as we study the artist's lively sketches of figures in motion, we can appreciate her initiating at the Rhode Island School of Design the study of the human figure as machine rather than stationary object, a course known as the Action Class. Ultimately, in all of Woodward's paintings -- from East, South, and West -- the viewer feels the painter's ease with color and paint, and the artist's joy in recording her impressions of light, landscape, and comfortably inhabited nature.

 

 

 

(above: Mabel May Woodward (American 1877-1945), Beach Scene, 1974, Oil on canvas, 11 3/8 x 14 1/2 inches. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Buddy Frank. El Paso Museum of Art Collection)

 

 

 

Object labels from the exhibition

All paintings are by Mabel May Woodward (1877-1945)

 
People on Park Benches / Gente en bancos del parque
no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Buddy Frank
1974.49.10
 
 
Beach Scene (Green Umbrella)
Escena playera (Sombrilla verde), no date / sin fecha
Oil on panel / óleo sobre tabla
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Buddy Frank
1974.49.8
 
 
Seashore with Three Bathers
Orilla del mar con tres bañistas, no date / sin fecha
Oil on panel / óleo sobre tabla
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Buddy Frank
1974.49.6
 
 
Tropical House / Casa tropical, no date / sin fecha
Watercolor on illustration board
Acuarela sobre cartón de ilustración
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Buddy Frank
1974.49.2
 
 
Florida Beach / Playa de Florida, no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Helen D. Shein
1973.21.1
 
 
Florida Beach (Figures on a Tropical Beach)
Playa de Florida (Figuras en una playa tropical)
no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas / óleo sobre tela
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Eleanor Frank
1973.20.1
 
 
Taos, New Mexico / Taos, Nuevo México
no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. Melvin S. Frank
1973.19.6
 
 
Rio Grande, no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. Melvin S. Frank
1973.19.3
 
 
Dancing Gray Olive Trees / Olivos grises ondulantes
no date / sin fecha
Oil on masonite / óleo sobre masonita
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. Melvin S. Frank
1973.19.1
 
 
Artist's Sketchbooks / Cuadernos de dibujos del artista
no date / sin fecha
Graphite on paper / grafita sobre papel
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Alfred T. Morris, Jr.
1981.13.1-.5
 
 
Abstract Landscape / Paisaje abstracto, no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Robert S. Kingsbury
1979.12.5
 
 
Providence Market Scene
Escena del mercado de Providence, no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art
Gift of Bernard and Barbara Lightman
1979.11.1
 
 
Hollyhocks in Backyard (Green Garden)
Malvarrosas en jardín trasero (Jardín verde)
no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Helen D. Shein
1978.42.1
 
 
Doorway (Sunlit Grecian Columns)
Pórtico (Columnas griegas bañadas por el sol)
no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Abraham and Faye Adler
1978.41.1
 
 
New England Village / Aldea de Nueva Inglaterra
about 1931 / alrededor de 1931
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. Edward L. Shein
1978.37.1
 
 
Beach Scene / Escena playera, no date / sin fecha
Oil on panel / óleo sobre tabla
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Lena Glaser
1977.44.13
 
 
Trees, Cows and Water, Spring
Árboles, vacas y agua, primavera, no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas / óleo sobre tela
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Lena Glaser
1977.44.12
 
 
Apple Orchard / Huerto de manzanas, no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas / óleo sobre tela
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Lena Glaser
1977.44.9
 
 
Taos Country Scene / Escena campestre de Taos
about 1933 / alrededor de 1933
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Robert Aron
1977.43.6
 
 
San Xavier del Bac Mission, Tucson, Arizona
about 1933 / alrededor de 1933
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Robert Aron
1977.43.3
 
 
A Cloudy Summer Sky / Cielo estival nubloso
no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Alan Frank
1972.37.3
 
 
Rocks and Ocean / Rocas y océano, no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Alan Frank
1972.37.2
 
 
Adobe Houses, Taos, New Mexico
Casas de adobe, Taos, Nuevo México
about 1933 / alrededor de 1933
Oil on canvas / óleo sobre tela
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Schein
1972.28.1
 
 
Coastal Scene / Escena costera, no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. Melvin S. Frank
1973.19.5
 
 
Coastal Scene / Escena costera, no date / sin fecha
Oil on canvas board / óleo sobre tabla entelada
El Paso Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Buddy Frank
1974.49.4
 
 

 

(above: Mabel May Woodward (American 1877-1945), Apple Orchard, 1974, Oil on canvas, 15 7/8 x 20 inches. Gift of Mrs. Lena Glaser. El Paso Museum of Art Collection)

 


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