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September 2007: April 2007: May 2007: May 2006: June 2006: Wagner captures Tuscan landscapes It's one thing for an artist to visually capture her surroundings, but it's quite another for her to imbue them with immediacy. Jill Stefani Wagner's "Tuscan Days" at the University of Michigan Hospital does this by vividly illustrating the lush landscapes and rich architecture of Northern Italy. Offering up 41 watercolor paintings, Wagner's autumnal Italian adventures favor off-the-beaten-path locales that only a dedicated traveler might uncover. Wagner's "Tuscan Days" show us a devotee colorfully conveying her enthusiasm. Among the locales Wagner illustrates are Barberino Val d'Elsa, Florence, Lucca, Petrignano, Pienza, Siena and Tignano. Wagner's travels carry her from the wooded hills of the Mugello to Renaissance sites of Florence to the vineyards of Marcella. This is a lot of richness to paint. And perhaps what's most interesting in "Tuscan Days" is how quickly the scenery changes at harvest. The artworks focus predominantly on Tuscany's countryside, but she also pays care attention to marketplaces and restaurants, statuary and architectural facades, as well as vineyards and florals that make up this wonderful country. The final watercolor in the display is a portrait. One of Wagner's strengths as a painter is her knack for choosing the form that suits her subject matter. Her landscapes tend to be dashed off with a vigor that captures the scenery that's inspired her. By contrast, her architectural studies tend to be more deliberate as she opts to focus on the man-made features that gain her attention. "Castellina in Chianti" neatly fits this first strategy. A wide-angled view of a Tuscan countryside in autumn, three-quarters of the painting is geometrically abstract brown fields covering the composition's expanse. Wagner breaks the pattern, however, with a strategically placed series of parallel vertical pines on both sides of a drive leading to the Castellina estate. A quickly execute watercolor, "Castellina in Chianti" uses its distant architectural setting to supplement this fertile farmland. By contrast, "Tuscan Valley" gives us a bravura sense of Wagner's forte. Using a complex seven planes of perspective to lead the viewer's eye through a handsome Italian hillside, this painting is anchored by a foreground pine tree whose verdant green contrasts nicely with a series of diagonal plowed fields. A midfield stand of trees and the painting's horizon cast a tantalizing glimpse into the furthest reaches of the countryside. Ironically, the exhibit's masterwork is neither a landscape nor architectural facade – "Cecily's Siesta" is instead a keen psychology. Wagner's watercolor portrait of a friend sitting at a ristorante table is analogous to her architectural studies in that she creates a composition whose details provide the work with its emotional depth. Yet the watercolor washes that predominate her landscapes also give this work its moody atmosphere. Looking pensively at the viewer, with her left hand pressed gently against her cheek, "Cecily's Siesta" is an intimate revelation of character. "Tuscan Days: Recent Watercolors of Italy by Jill Stefani Wagner" will continue through August 16 at the University of Michigan Hospital Taubman Lobby, North Floor 1 Gifts of Art Gallery, 1500 East Medical Center Drive. Gallery hours are 8am-8pm daily. For information, call 734-936-ARTS. |
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