Showrooms

"Coal Car Inspection", Watercolor on Paper

Creator: Stan Masters
Offered by: Robert Morrissey Antiques & Fine Art

Description
Stan Masters (1922-2005) American
"Coal Car Inspection",
Watercolor on paper, signed lower left.
Image: 17" x 23"
Frame: 28" x 33"

A massive freight car filled with coal dominates the composition of this gritty industrial landscape. The low perspective emphasizes the mass and weight of the train while the strong diagonal of the tracks draws us into the picture and places us on equal footing with the yardman.

Framed in a period 19th century birds-eye maple frame with the original gilt liner. All materials are acid free; museum glass.
___________________
Stan Masters (1922-2005)
In 1971, after 20 years in commercial art, Stan Masters began his career as a watercolor artist. Following a brief period of experimentation, he adopted the American Realist tradition of Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth. “I believe that art is, or should be, a form of communication”, he wrote in his artist’s statement. “It ought to be understandable. For that reason, I choose to work in a realistic manner. My subject matter deals with things I know about or places I’ve been”.

Humble beginnings inform his gorgeous watercolors: he grew up in a one room railroad shanty with neither water nor electricity where the tracks passed within six feet of the front porch. Thus, his subject matter depicts small town and rural America. And, of course, the railroad.

In a review of a 1978 solo exhibit a critic proclaimed, “A Stan Masters watercolor is realism at its best. What [Masters] sees is so direct and the way he sees it is so logical that his intent and his achievement are timeless and universal. We find in his paintings unsuspected technical brilliance, always purposely hidden so as not to intrude on the overall effect he wants to create.”

Despite participation in numerous competitions and exhibitions with similar rave reviews, sales throughout his career remained minimal. He died in 2005, all but forgotten. Today, Masters is finally receiving the attention he deserves, and his paintings now hang in two museums and numerous private and corporate collections.

More Information

Documentation:	Signed
Origin:	United States, Missouri
Period:	1950-1979
Materials:	Watercolor on paper
Condition:	Good. Pristine condition, framed with archival materials and museum glass.
Styles / Movements:	Realism
Dealer Reference #:	SM095
Incollect Reference #:	366926