Provenance:

Locks Gallery, Philadelphia.

The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., acquired with funds provided by the Dietrich Foundation, Washburn and Susan Oberwager, Richard A. Madlener, and Mrs. R.F. Levy.

Gifted by the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art to the present owner.

Exhibited:

Philadelphia, Locks Gallery, Thomas Chimes: Faustroll: Landscape, February 25 - April 5, 2003.

Literature:

Thomas Chimes, Faye Hirsch, and Locks Gallery, Thomas Chimes: Faustroll Landscape, 1980-1990, exhibition catalogue, Philadelphia, 2003, p. 8, no. 9, illustrated.

Lot Note:

Thomas Chimes’s career was marked by distinct periods of artistic exploration: the Crucifixion Paintings, Metal Boxes, Panel Portraits, and White Paintings. In 1979, Chimes stood at a pivotal moment between two of these periods, having completed his series of Panel Portraits and facing an artistic crisis over what might follow. This period of uncertainty coincided with a painful personal moment, as Chimes separated from his wife.

During this difficult time, Chimes moved his studio to the former studio of fellow Philadelphia artist Tommy Dale Palmore, who had hung a large gessoed canvas over the windows to control the light and view. Chimes was captivated by its buttery, layered surface and purchased the canvas from Palmore when he moved in, finding renewed inspiration in its possibilities.

Moving away from the intricate detail of his Panel Portraits, Chimes returned to the painted surface, as he had previously explored in his Crucifixion series, while seeking a more immediate and spontaneous approach to painting.

He quickly covered his first large canvas in aquamarine blue, which became the basis for his first Waterfall painting. The subject drew upon memories of a happier period in his marriage, when the couple had visited Niagara Falls, while also engaging with the tradition of landscape painting represented by artists including Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, John Henry Twachtman, and J. M. W. Turner.

For Chimes, the waterfall became both a site of ethereal natural beauty and a vehicle for personal reflection, embodying the sense of change that defined this crucial moment in his life and career. The present, particularly expansive canvas captures this decisive shift, marking the emergence of a new direction in Chimes’s practice.

Unframed.

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