Edgar Corbridge (1901-1988). "Provincetown Fishing Shacks", n.d. Medium: casein & watercolor on paper. Signed lower right. Dimensions: 14" x 20"; framed: 18" x 24".This is likely a fantasy Provincetown scene given the absence of people. Can you imagine Provincetown without a crowd? But when Corbridge spent summers in Provincetown in the 1950’s, it was an isolated seasonal retreat from the urban cityscape for many artists. Here the coteries of artists nestled with other writers and creative sorts finding solitude with the local fishing trade. During his summer retreats Corbridge sketched countless studies of the vistas he saw. He would bring them back home in the winter to transform into fully developed watercolors. Peter Corbridge, son of the painter, remembers this process, mentioning that, “Our house smelled of casein in the winter. My father would sketch in the summers when we vacationed on the Cape and in the winter he would paint from the sketches. Casein was the winter smell.” Casein is a water medium with very versatile effects. It is known to have a robust body, producing a distinctive matte or semi-matte finish. It has the ease of a water medium, yet will take a Dammar Varnish to simulate the look of an oil painting. Corbridge began painting during the Modernist period of the late 1930s and early 1940s, and shares the precise, linear style of Charles Sheeler. In a 1947 review The Boston Herald stated, “We are vaguely reminded of Charles Sheeler, except that Sheeler often paints as though for architectural drawings, whereas the Fall River [Corbridge] artist has the poets touch as well as the precisionist’s.” Corbridge tended towards industrial scenes and architectural forms, resulting in compositions that are simple, geometric, and emphasize pure, clean lines. He uses broadly washed planes of color in the picture and then clusters groups of strong masses like a farmhouse or factory building to balance the painting.

Good

18 x 24 in

4 lb