Alfred Bierstadt in the London Saturday Review, 1868 stated,
"A critical account of 'Storm in the Rocky Mountains' he is always trying for luminous graduation and useful oppositions and he reaches what he tries for."
This reference to luminous graduation
is a key to Bierstadt's and Snyder's (his pupil) success at dealing
with the representation of light. How they developed such sensitivity
to tone and its modulation is difficult to know. In any event, their
control of tonality, particularly in the subtle graduation of luminous
backgrounds, can be visually breathtaking. The way he invariably leads
your eye back though his Beechwood scenes, maybe down a road or path to
a rail fence with a clearing and meadow beyond to a small house or
barn, is just delightful. One such picture cleaned and restored by me
contained 12 white turkeys so miniature that I had to take a magnifying
glass to discern different stances, with single hair-sized yellow legs
extending into the grass. It was almost unbelievable. The owner of the picture had never seen them before!
I'm sure that Mr. Bierstadt helped
inspire Snyder to attempt his larger canvases, also in the use of
photography, to aid in doing large studio production canvases too large
to handle on location in the open. I'm sure he preferred working in "plein air".
One friend, Mr. Spaulding, a photographer, often accompanied him on
sketching trips. According to Mrs. Lottie Spaulding, a daughter-in-law,
her father-in-law would take pictures while Snyder would rough in a
picture on location in order to get the feel of the day, light, sky
cloud color and formation, color intensity, etc. He would then use the
photograph to fill in all of the minute detail that he did so well and
for which he is so famous. Spaulding was also a friend. patron and
benefactor, buying unframed canvases when Snyder was in urgent need of
money.
The influence of another great
teacher, Mr. George Innes, Sr. in broad panorama, can be seen in the
compositional layout of some of Snyder's work. Also, according to his
son, Mr. Innes painted very rapidly. It has also been said of Mr.
Snyder that he could go out in the morning and return with a finished
picture in the evening, yet I have never seen a hurried, unfinished or
less-than-perfect Snyder painting.
From Alexander Wyant, Snyder
learned to paint trees, trunk roots and foliage with strict adherence
to the character of the genus. Fallen trees in various states of decay
are so well done and usually placed in the foreground where so much
detail and color variation is necessary. Some of the old logs look so
punky you feel you could reach out and pluck a handful of the rotten
wood. Rock, whether ledges at Clifty Falls, Little Cedar Cliff or
Hanging Rock, or boulders and small stones along a creek bed, are so
perfectly done with highlights and shadows in exactly the right places,
regardless of size or shape, there is never a contrived placement.
Tribute to a Madison artist W.
McKendree Snyder whose work is recognized all over the country. As true
to Nature and wonderfully pleasing - A student under Best Masters.
Although not a resident of
Cincinnati at the present time, there are few artists whose pictures
are better known to local patrons of art than those of W. McKendree
Snyder, the painter of beech-tree forests.
Mr. Snyder's home is in Madison,
Ind., but he is known personally to many of the artists of the city,
where his pictures have become general favorites. He was born more than
sixty years ago in Liberty, Ind. and was the son of a Methodist
minister. His artistic instinct was developed early, and after serving
in the Civil War as a drummer boy, enlisting at the age of 12, he
entered upon his art career. Mr. Snyder's first work was done with J.
Insaco Williams who at that time had a studio in this city at the
corner of Fourth and Elm Streets. After working at portrait painting
for several years, he went to New York, where he studied with
Bierstadt. Several years after he continued his education with Hunt of
Boston and later with A. H. Wyant and Hart.
Before abandoning the figure and portrait work, he painted "Pythias at the Block", a large canvas which was destroyed by fire in Indianapolis and also the "Battle of Shiloh",
9 ft. x 20 ft., which is now owned by Kohl and Middleton of Chicago. He
also has work hanging in the Boston Athenaeum and in the Treasury
Department at Washington. For several years. he gave his attention to
painting the nude, and one of the best known examples of that period is
"The Nymph of the Lilies" which hung for some time in the Gibson
House.
Finally, Mr. Snyder discarded all but landscapes and made a specialty
of Beeches. because he was more interested in the work. He is located
in the midst of Beech country on the continent, and makes daily trips
to the woods.
Mr. Snyder is a realist, and a
careful attention to detail is one of his most notable characteristics,
as it is of so many older artists. Each leaf in his picture of the
forest is as carefully done as the trunk of the tree. He is always
highly complimented on his perspective and his rich autumn colorings
are fine. His work is always true to nature and is wonderfully pleasing.
Mr. Snyder did a large painting of a
girl on a couch in a semi nude state. Behind her knees was a cut glass
decanter with red wine on a pedestal in front of a three panel screen.
At the top of the screen was a panel of battleship Grey paint. On close
examination where the gray approached a red velvet drapery another
color could be seen so I started to remove the gray at gray at 7:00
P.M. by 1:00 P.M. I had uncovered a young man whose fingers were
clinching the top of the screen and he was peering over at the
recumbent young lady, and he looked scared. There had been a blue glass
vase with pink & white carnations painted over the decanter. This
was after prohibition closed the saloon, and the painting had gone into
private hands.
Mr. Snyder ran a liquor bill at
Doodle Coyle's Saloon an Mr. Coyle offered to let him work it out on a
painting for over the back bill. Mr. Coyle was presented a bill and he
remonstrated that he thought he was letting Mr. Snyder work out his
bill, but Snyder said his painting was more valuable. Finally Mr.
Snyder took the matter to court, appraisers were brought down from
Cincinnati and the saloonkeeper had to pay the difference of Mr.
Snyder's bill.
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 Don Wood |
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