Even though Albert Pinkham Ryder is an established American painter best known for his rhythmical and brooding allegorical scenes and seascapes he is not recognized as much as fellow painters Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, Thomas Cole or Albert Bierstadt. Ryder was born in New Bedford in 1847 though, moved to New York in 1868 with his family where he spent most of life except for several trips to Europe and North Africa.  There is something special about seeing Ryder’s work at the New Bedford Whaling Museum because of the importance of this sea town as the historical center of whaling and fishing.  The ocean and its moody environment were deeply entrenched in Ryder’s psyche and profoundly influenced his expressive paintings of the sea in spite of living in New York City most of his life.

The exhibition “A Wild Note of Longing: Albert Pinkham Ryder and a Century of American Art,” at the Whaling Museum is the first show of this artist’s work in 31 years.  Ryder was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts–home to the museum–a bustling whaling port during the 19th century. In 1990 Elizabeth Broun, director emerita of the Smithsonian, organized a retrospective of Ryder art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and again has played a role curating the current exhibit along with the distinguished historians of American art Christina Connett Brophy and William C. Agee.  Eleven of the paintings come from the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; several are from the Duncan Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, the Metropolitan Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. The Whaling Museum provided one painting and Ryder’s easel that is prominently displayed in the show.

“Ryder preferred visceral experimentation in both materials and effect and his paintings inspired a new compositional rhythm and surface.

Although this is a small display it contains masterworks that span Ryder’s career including key early works of pastoral scenes, atmospheric turbulent ocean views along with biblical and Greek mythology. What is significant about this exhibition is that it demonstrates the impact of Ryder’s art on American painting.  In a special section of the exhibit a diverse range of pieces showcases Ryder’s lasting influence on other experimental painters, especially those linked with modern and contemporary art.  It includes such artists Thomas Hart Benton, Jackson Pollock, Marsden Hartley, Wolf Kahn, and Richard Pousette-Dart as well as Bill Jensen, Lois Dodd and Katherine Bradford.  Jensen also narrates the informative video in a side room of this display.   Jackson Pollock’s quote, “The only American master who interests me is Ryder,“ looms high on the gallery wall of this legacy area of the exhibition.

Much of Ryder’s art is a blend between the old and the new and between reality and memory.  Furthermore his art does not belong to any single school of work or movement.  His treatment of both land and sea evince qualities associated with the Tonalist School with its moody palette and an overall colored atmosphere or haze.  His images disclose romantic land and seascapes frequently illuminated with radiant moonlight seeping through uncanny clouds or misted sunlight.  Ryder did not care about showing what he referred to as unnecessary details— for him it was the sense of space, the story, light and color that was significant.  His work tended toward abstraction even though he never abandoned representation.

Ryder preferred visceral experimentation in both materials and effect and his paintings inspired a new compositional rhythm and surface.  The intensity of his brushwork stems from his special method of painting, often working on a painting for over 10 years or more.  He reinvented the handling of paint and for Ryder there was never any rush to complete a composition.

He has said “I labor over an image for years until I felt it was done.”  X-rays taken of the painting Pegasus Departing, 1901 reveals the structural problems Ryder had had with this work and that he repainted the image, blurring out earlier forms.

The masterpiece allegorical painting Jonah, 1885-1895 was created over a decade.  In this tale of damnation, terror and salvation in which Ryder captures the power of nature by his pulsing handling of the water’s forces depicting the ocean’s ferocious churning motion in a clockwise manner.  The sea is in turmoil, with violent, diagonal zigzags of dark and light tones traversing the canvas.  The sky and water meld with ‘god’ looking down into the water where Jonah’s struggles to survive.

Another exquisite painting isFlying Dutchman, 1887 that’s based on the popularized story of a Dutch sea captain who was cursed because he claimed could round the Cape of Good Hope in adverse weather. His legendary ghost ship was said to never be able to make port, doomed to sail the oceans forever. This is a painting of high drama, thick application of paint, and subtle variations in color yet revealing detailed attention to form.  Light appears to be glowing from within the painting with a ghost ship looming in the upper left area of the canvas, dwarfing the figures in the small tattered sailing vessel engulfed by the stormy sea.  Mystery and drama swirl in the ocean’s terrifying rolling waves. 

Despite very little reference to Turner’s paintings in either the wall cards or catalogue, nonetheless William Turner is the sublime artist of the sea who with his broad and translucent painterly method created amazing scenes of light and color, capturing the powerful forces of the elements.  Observing Ryder’s dynamic seascapes one cannot but wonder if he devoted time studying this master and how Turner’s bold work played a vital role in Ryder ultimate artistic evolution! Examining Turner’s compositions such as Calais Pier, 1802, and Jonah, 1885-95, prompts this consideration.

This exhibition provides viewers with an opportunity to see a select display that helps one to further understand an under-rated American painter whose work played an important role in influencing artists in the 20^th century and even today.  Ryder was a maverick who painted by his own rules that resulted in a unique brand of art. Moreover the fully illustrated excellent catalogue with scholarly essays provides in-depth information about Albert Pinkham Ryder.

By Elaine A. King, Contributing Editor

“A Wild Note of Longing: Albert Pinkham Ryder and a Century of American Art,”

New Bedford (MA) Whaling Museum

New Bedford, MA                                   

Through October 31, 2021

A Wild Note of Longing: Albert Pinkham Ryder and a Century of American Art.

By Christina Connett Brophy, PhD, Elizabeth Broun, PhD, and William C. Agee

$65.00