Bolton, Clarence [Wheeler] (1893-1962)

Born in Wallingford, CT, Bolton studied sculpture at Yale’s School of Fine Arts beginning in 1913. After visiting a friend in Woodstock, Bolton concluded it was where he belonged; his emphasis changed to the visual arts, although still retaining a sense of form and mass that was one of his work’s most distinctive characteristics. Over the years he was productive in painting, woodcuts, linoprints, and lithography. His work was exhibited in fine arts venues like the Corcoran Gallery and the Art Institute of Chicago while still retaining popular appeal—for example, self-published collections of Christmas cards. During many years of Woodstock Artists Association shows, his work appeared alongside NDG artists like Erna Lang, John Nichols, and Jo Rollo. In 1937 he assisted Charles Rosen in the painting of several murals for the Beacon, NY post office. 8 works at the Woodstock Artists Association & Museum. 9 works at the Newark Museum. 2 works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by Clarence Bolton:

Featured
Landscape
Landscape

Under a pale sky, we look uphill along a crooked line of split-rail fences and melting snow toward a pair of dormant trees and farm buildings. Bolton’s close attention to Catskill landscapes is apparent in his treatment of patterns in melting snow; his training in sculpture gives the saturated drifts convincing solidity. Interestingly, he paints one of the buildings and the hillside using a virtually identical color, as if to draw greater attention to forms. Poking up through the snow are what appear to be plant shoots in the same color.

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