Artist Marion Huse (1896-1967) wore many hats throughout her art career, exploring significant movements like regionalism, American scene painting and expressionism. She was an avid traveler and known for her involvement with the Works Progress Administration; the founding of an art school; and as an innovator of serigraphy. However, much of her creative output has been “somewhat forgotten through the lens of art history,” says John Kenneth Alexander, proprietor of J. Kenneth Fine Art.
Marion Huse (1896-1967), Untitled, ca. 1950. Oil on canvas, 19 x 32 in.Since representing the Lynne Drexler Estate, Alexander shares that the gallery has been championing underrepresented female artists of the post-war era. “Now that the gallery has relocated from Palm Springs, California, to historic Shelburne, Vermont, we felt that it would be appropriate to include both Hudson River School and historically significant Vermont painters to our well-curated group of artists,” Alexander adds. “Marion Huse’s work, personal story and career as an artist fits in with our mission of not only representing female artists, but also important Vermont painters.”
Pownal, Vermont, in particular, was a special place for Huse, who, in the early 1930s, acquired a summer studio and became a member of the Southern Vermont Artists Association. “The natural beauty of Vermont’s rolling hills and grand vistas had a profound influence upon her work,” says Alexander. “Many of her paintings depict the everyday life of rural Vermont and its people, such as scenes of farming, daily chores, roadside attractions and the overall goings-on of small-town life.” In 1944, Huse married Dr. Robert Barstow and moved her studio to his farm on Mount Anthony Road in Pownal, Vermont.
Marion Huse (1896-1967), Winter in Pownal, ca. 1950. Oil on paper, 18 x 20 in.Later in her career, throughout the 50s and 60s, Alexander notes that her color palette became more saturated and mark-making more gestural, with “rich impasto brush work also dominating much of her work. Many of her later paintings appear more like abstract compositions, including many of her landscape paintings of Vermont.”
This includes her colorful and engaging untitled oil on canvas landscape composition completed circa 1950. “[It’s] a significant painting, not only for is visual impact and scale, but also as marker in time when Huse transitioned to a more expressive and abstract painting style,” Alexander says.
Other important works are Along the River, 1948, a fine example of the artist’s experimentation with monotypes. This piece was exhibited in Haarlem, Netherlands, in 1948. We also find Winter in Pownal, circa 1950, an illustration of Huse’s obsession with depicting the Vermont landscape, even in the gloomy drudgery of winter. A sunnier vision of Pownal shows up in Huse’s screenprint Pownal Valley from 1940.
Marion Huse (1896-1967), Along the River, 1948. Monotype on paper, 14¾ x 18½ in.
From November 1 through December 15, J. Kenneth Fine Art showcases an intimate selection of the artist’s beautiful Vermont landscape works in the exhibition Marion Huse: Scenes of Vermont. The exhibition is also an extension of the gallery’s upcoming show for the 2025 season: The Vermont Landscape: Late 19th Century, Depression Era, and Mid-Century Paintings.
Alexander adds, “We hope that the collectors of post-war female painters as well as the collectors of WPA and American scene paintings will find a new appreciation for [Huse’s] artistic legacy as a community leader, a pioneer in fine art and a talented painter.”
Powered by Froala Editor
