The Modernist Urge: Nathan Dolinsky

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ividing his life between New York City and the small town of Hunrer, New York, Nachan Dolinsky particularly en-

joyed painting the landscape thar surrounded the quiet village as well as portraits of the community's children. For a"lmost eighcyyears the artisr maintained in the small town, inspired by the beauty

a residence

of the land and the friendliness of its people. Never drawn to melancholy subjects, Dolinsky painred rhe

joyful aspects ofhis life.

In 1893 the Dolinsky family immigrared from Russia, where they had lived in Moscow and Kiev, ro New York City. Nathan, the second youngest ofseven children, was almost three years old when his family arrived in America. The Dolinskys enjoyed the cul-

tural activities of city life yet found rranquiliry and peace in the rural village of Hunter. The family vaca-

tioned there for rnany years and later purchased a 3,000-acre farm and established a permanenr residence. As the family macured, Nathan's parents supported the interescs of all their children, including young Nathan's arciscic ambitions. Dolinsky was especially close to his siscer, Aida, whom he frequently used as a rqodel throughout her life. Aida, in turn, was his biggest champion. At rhe age of ten, he studied formally with Henry McBride, dean of rhe American critics at the Educational Alliance, and ar rhirteen he studied at the National Academy of Design.

He concinued to study underJerome Meyers and also received instruction from Siegmund Ivanovski, who became the Polish art comrnissioner after World War

I.1

Dolinsky began exhibiting his works when he was sixteen, in private shows, one-man, and small group presentations; however, he steered away from competitive exhibitions.2 In 1972, he became chairman of the Art Guild in New York Ciry. The fo11owing year Dolinsky displayed one of his oils, The Sightin the Armory Show of 1913. At rhar rime he was twenty-three years old. the youngesr arrisr ro parricipate in rhe famous exhibition. Dolinsky was asked to patticipare because oF his work wirh "The Eighr," or the Ashcan School. Although nor a member of rhat group, Dolinsky displayed his work with theirs probably because his paintings revealed their influences in palette and subject marter. His work mirrored rhe work ofthe Ashcan arrisrs in irs urban subject marter and in its character as "not an art of social commentary but one thar fek che pulse ofciry life...they [the artists] relied on rapid execution...which lends rheir 1ess,

canvasses the immediacy of spontaneous observation."3

Dolinsky painted in oils and acrylics and drew

in charcoal and ink; because he wanted to develop his talents in other media, he also experimenced wirh etching. From early in his career, Dolinsky preferred co work alone, either in a silent classroom after school or in his private scudio. This solitude enabled him to study the spiric of an individual or rhe armosphere of a landscape. "His paintings catch and express, in a portrait, the inner personality of the model or in a landscape, a mood. Each paincing has somerhing transcendent;' wrote one criaic.4 Recognized primarily as a portrair painter, Nathan Dolinsky was comfortable painring family members, children, landscapes, and even the personal events ofhis own 1ife. Ofhis art he said, "Technique, no matter how good, is not enough. You have to have

talent and imagination, and you have to be able to in the painting."s Adhering ro rhis dictum, Dolinsky's works relate simple, mome4tary joy as expressed in the faces and postures ofhis sitters.

His early style ofpainting has been characcerized as casting a Victorian haze over a nineteenth-century academic style with a constant "blending and muting say someching

of all chroma and disregarding value

scales."6

His sty1e,

with cool colors and misty atmosphere, have an immediacy that recalls rhe spontaneiry of his friends among "The Eighti' especially \X/i11iam Glackens.

After Dolinsky married a beauriful young nurse named Blossom, the cwo explored Europe and the western United States, later establishing part-dme residence in Hunter. As rhey rraveled, his sryle became more refined, and his colors bolder. Moreover, his tech-

nique started to resemble that of Maxfield Parrish, who used pure colors creating a luminescence and fragility in works of art chac blend worlds of reality and fantasy. To establish compositions, Parrish used photographs ofmodels that he arranged on the canvas ro create "lines of dynamic symmetry."T Dolinsky's diptychs are similar in style although ir is unknown to what extent he used photography.

Because of his association with the Armory Show, Dolinsky was asked to teach at Cooper Union in New York. He began to teach in 1913 and he srayed for six years. "This was my life," said the artist. "I was one of the youngest instructors to teach at Cooper Union..."8 During his tenure at the school, Dolinsky became a member of the Salmagundi Society, rhe oldest arrisrs' association in the Unired Srates. Membership carries presdge and honor, for affiliation is only granted

by unanimous election.

Although they never had any of their own, rhe Dolinskys loved children and encouraged them in the

study of fine arts. The couple founded Camp Schoharie in 7920 in Hunter with the goal ofproviding boys and girls from the ages ofnine to seventeen summers of educational fun. Sports, painting, singing, dance, and music classes were offered to the children so that they would have a variety of means by which to express themselves. Parenfs were encouraged to stay in Hunter at a lodge provided for them on the campground andvisit "The Dream Gardenl'the magi ca1 house and gardens Dolinsky had designed as a wedding gift for his sister and her suitor, not far from the camp. Along with the participants of the camp and their parents, prominent people of the period, such as socialites, writers, and movie stars, visited "The Big House," the family home, to attend social gatherings.e With so many visitors Dolinsky never ran out of subjects to paint, and he was able to expand his range of portraits, without limiting his subjects to family and friends. However, because ofche artisr's prediliction for painting the camp's young residents, Dolinsky became known as a

portrait painter of children.

Well inco his eighties, Nathan Dolinsky painted every day in his studio in Hunter. In his long career, he saw his works of art exhibited at the National Academy of Design, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Metropolitan

Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Today, his works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Museum and the Munson-W'il1iamsProctor Insticute and in numerous private collections.

CAROL L. ROSS Mussul,r Sruorss PpocRAM

ENDNOTES 1 "Nathan Dolinsky...Vigorous Octogenarian," Windham (New York) Journal, 7970, l.

2 Joanne Howard, "Noted Hunter Artist: Nathan olinskyi' C a tskill (N ew Yo rk) D aily Mail, Awgws t 3 1, 1 959, 1.

3 H.W Janson, History of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, l99l), 724-725. According to Kirby Kooluris, Dolinsky's grandnephew, family legend holds that the artist also exhibited Dancers in the Streer at the Armory show.

D

4 "Nathan Dolinsky...Vigorous Octogenarian," 1.

5 "Noted Hunter Artist: Nathm Dolinskyj' 1.

6 fAuthor not listed], Exhibition revrew, Art Digest 27 (April 1953):43 7 Lawrence S. Cutler and Judy GoFFman Cutler,

Mufield Parrish: A Retrospective

(San Francisco: Pomegran-

ate Artbooks, 1995), 3.

8 "Noted Hunter Artist: Nathm Dolinskyj' 1.

9 To the end ofhis life, Dolinsky opened his house to people of all ages and interests, and in that spirit, his sister Aida wrote on an invitation to his grandnephew at the Uni versity ofVirginia in the 1960s: "Ifyou have exploring tendencies in your nature, come visit the friendly old house that now looks

built.

as

if ir had grown rather than been designed and

We have good books

md minds

here this summer who

micably disagree on every topic urider th" sun. We live in serene elegance and respect, and each is le[t alone to his own vices after the fire goes out. Come stay and suffer

with us."

ocknowledgemenls This exhibicion and brochure are presented through the museum studies program atthe Ceorgia Museum ofArt. We would like to acl<nowledge the generosity of the lenders to the exhibicion as well as, in particular, the gracious assistance of Mr. Leland C. Howard, Mr. Kirby Kooluris, Ms. Andr6e Ruellan, Mrs. Elizabeth Costigan Dick, Mr. Richard Pope, and Mr. Daniel M. Costigan. lalsowantto thanl<thestafl especiallyAnnelies Mondi, Bonnie Ramsey, .Jen nifer DePrima, and Peggy Sorrells for helping me teach museu m practices th rough this exhibition. Partial su PPort forrhe exhibition was generously provided by Director's Circle membersJohn A. and Miriam Harlan Conant. Finally, Rhonda Reymond andJenniferCasserly helped to initiate this project, which was so ablycarried to fruition bythe associate curators Carol Ross andJosephine Bloodgood.

Wrrueu U. Erur.ro Drnrcron

checklist of the exhibition Narxnru Doursrv All works in the collection of Mr. Kirby Kooluris.

Portrait of Aida at the Dream Garden,tgt+

2.

9.

Oil on canvas

12 x 16 inches (sight); 14 112x18 1/2 inches (frame)

24 x 30 inches

The Barker, Old New York, totz

10

6ia

(Colonel's Chair, Hunter Mountain), ca.

23314x28314inches

Oil on board

Dancing in the Street, tloa

1

tt

19 1 /2 x 23 3/4 i nches (sight); 25 x 29

Portrait of Blossom,

1

/2

inches (frame)

1

908

2 x 20 inches (frame)

Winter Scene, tgos Oil on canvas 38 1/2x20 1/4 inches (frame)

ca. 1935

Oil on canvas 23 118x17 1/4inches

with lsolda), 1920

Winrer in the Catskills

Oil on canvas

Oil on canvas

12

Study for Red Cross Nurse,1g14 Craphite on paper

22112x15inches

Concert in Town Hall,toos Oil on canvas 13 1/2x15 1/2inches

13

ca.1940

Quarry Workers, tgt3

Oil on fluen 88 x 36 inches

Autumn Landscape with Green Shack, 14

Woman with Children, t st z

Oil on canvas

Oil on flaxen

20 x 24 inches (Sight)

88 x 36 inches

Family Group, toos

8.

Woman Reading to Child

Oil on canvas

15.

Plow Horse/War Horse (diptych),

Oil on canvas

Oil on flaxen

19x25

88 x 25 inches (each panel)

inches

Blossom with Beads,

ca. 1920

16

Fall/Spring

Oil on canvas

Oil on flaxen

36 x 30 inches

1

piptych),'1

e'1

1913

3

07 x 3'1 inches (each panel)

Cover: Checklist Number One (Detail)

Groncrn Museuna oF ART PeRroRvtNc AND VISUAL ARTS COVPI-EX Partial support for the exhibitions and progral for the Arts through appropriations ofthe portion of the museum's general operating Services, a federal agency thac offers general

and corporations provide additional supporti gia Museum ofArt's hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p Friday; and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

um of Art is provided by the Ceorgia Council land the National Endowment for the Arts. A provided through the lnscitute of Museum :nation's m useu ms. ndivid uals, foundacions, University of Ceorgia Foundation. The Georihursday, and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on I