DeWitt Hardy and the Power of Persistence

"This is the highest wisdom that I own: freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew. " Goethe

DeWitt Hardy "Self Portrait as an Older Man"

  There is a retrospective of DeWitt Hardy's painting career currently up at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art in Ogunquit, Maine.  "Long overdue" was the recurring comment at the opening last Friday. Two rooms in that gem of a space showcased both the art collected by the museum and examples of his art from around the 1970's to recent works. Although there are shifts in style and paint application, I was struck by the sense of continuity in the art. His interest in a few themes and idea never wavers. There is a clear thread of building on an ideas over the course of many years. Persistence. He keeps his gaze on a set of subjects and develops his response through time.

DeWitt Hardy "Trestle in Winter"

  Landscapes, often the abandoned looking houses in Maine, urban scenes, railroad trestles and trains. The winter paintings always attract me. In watercolor the snow is the negative space and the snow shadows are so beautifully captured with graphic washes.

  DeWitt is a master of the watercolor technique of layered washes that use the white of the paper to create luminosity as the light bounces through the transparent color washes, like the glow of a stained glass window. Careful planning and control are the hallmarks of this approach. I remember looking at a small sketchbook of DeWitt's with the masses of the values and design of each painting completely worked out  (in black and white) and marveling that the final large work in full color  perfectly matched the tiny drawing in content and value. "Why bother doing the value sketch if you are not going to use it" was his comment to me.

DeWitt Hardy "Mirror"

Since 1963, DeWitt has been involved in an ongoing life drawing/painting group. I joined that group around 1993 and have worked with a lot of great models over the years. The Ogunquit show has many wonderful figurative works from the 70's to right now and show that continuing interest in variations on a compelling idea.

For hours and directions :

Ogunquit Museum of American Art

all art used with permission, @ DeWitt Hardy

DeWitt Hardy Biography

b.1940

DeWitt Hardy is nationally known for his watercolors, drawings and set designs. He has had 16 one man shows in New York City and has pieces in over 35 museum collections including the Farnsworth, Portland Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Library of Congress. An Art History major at Syracuse University, DeWitt founded the well-known North Berwick figure-drawing group. He is featured in American Realism published by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. DeWitt is affiliated with Serge Sorokko Gallery, New York; Frost Gully Gallery, Freeport; and the Mast Cove Gallery, Kennebunkport.