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Twinkling lights on the distant shore mixed with dark tonal harmonies create a moody twilight landscape.

The expressive, linear brushwork may have been derived from the study of Asian painting.

Dabo described his landscapes as “pretexts for beautiful color arrangements.”

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Leon Dabo

Rondout, New York, about 1907

oil on canvas

27 x 36 in.

Gift of S. O. Buckner

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Leon Dabo was born in France to a father who did architectural decoration.  He grew up in Detroit, Michigan, apprenticed to his father, and then went to New York City where he met painter and muralist John La Farge.  With letters of introduction from La Farge, Dabo went to Paris where he studied at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, Académie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux Arts.  He made numerous visits to James Abbott McNeill Whistler in his studio in London, and many of his paintings reflect Whistler’s influence in their tonalist style and use of a monogram as a signature.  Dabo became an authority on works by Whistler.  When he returned to New York City, Dabo took up architectural decorating and mural painting.  He also painted landscapes and seascapes influenced by the work of Whistler.

Dabo described his landscapes as “pretexts for beautiful color arrangements.” In Rondout, New York, the dark tonal harmonies of blue-gray and pale yellow, and the choice of a riverside subject, recall Whistler’s paintings of the Thames.  Dabo’s calligraphic brushwork of the trees, boats and figures may have their source in his study of Asian painting.  In this moody twilight view, Dabo took full advantage of the steely gray expanse of the Hudson River at Rondout Creek near Kingston, New York. Lights on the distant shore begin to twinkle and the last residue of daylight seems to surrender to nightfall.

Reference

Ralph Sessions. A Poetic Vision: American Tonalism, New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2006. ISBN-13: 978-0945936749