Trailside Galleries-Ralph Oberg-The Mountain World-From the Himalayas to the Rockies

Ralph Oberg THE MOUNTAIN WORLD

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F R O M T H E H I M A L AYA T O T H E R O C K I E S

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Ralph Oberg THE MOUNTAIN WORLD

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F R O M T H E H I M A L AYA T O T H E R O C K I E S

September 10 - September 23, 2012, Jackson Artist Reception: September 15th from 4:00pm - 7:00pm

Two years ago, Ralph and I sat down to start planning the biggest, most important event thus far in his painting career: a one man show inspired by his travels in Nepal, Switzerland, Alaska, Canada and the Western U.S. From the beginning, Ralph made it very clear what he wanted this show to represent: a body of work that not only captured the breathtaking mountain landscapes he had visited, but also the people of these mountains, the culture, the wildlife, and the interesting architectural features found throughout these lofty heights.

While born at sea level in Biloxi, Mississippi, Ralph was raised within sight of the front range of the Rockies, a fortunate accident that has defined his self-image, lifestyle and 40 year career as an artist of the mountain landscape and its wildlife.

From his young boyhood on, the spirituality of Nature has never been lost on Ralph and it has been a constant source of much needed balance, selfrespect and perspective in his life. The book, The Last Child In The Woods, illuminates a theory that Ralph has long speculated on: that the lack of childhood experience in Nature is responsible for much of the behavioral difficulty in urban children and their parents today. The author, Richard Louv, called it “Nature Deficit Disorder.� I concur with Ralph that the lack of 1

Ralph Oberg THE MOUNTAIN WORLD

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F R O M T H E H I M A L AYA T O T H E R O C K I E S

Nature in people’s lives is sadly visible in our culture as whole. It manifests as a lack of respect for oneself, the earth and other living things.

Since the dawn of man, philosophers, prophets and seekers have gone to the mountains for inspiration and answers. Ralph says he likes to think that he has taken a few small steps up that hill. One has only to view the magnificent paintings on the following pages to know that he has gone way beyond just taking a few steps!

The world today is a very hectic place, and all our lives are so busy and seemingly consumed by technology. There’s a reason why art collectors are drawn to landscape and nature paintings. Ralph Oberg reminds us of the wilderness that is out there and the mountains where we want to be.

Maryvonne Leshe Managing Partner

To view the complete show please visit us at W W W. T R A I L S I D E G A L L E R I E S . C O M

Cover: Evening On The Eiger, 32 x 54, Oil. Back Cover: T ibetan Relics, 30 x 40, Oil All images © 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Spring Thaw - Alberta, 40 x 55, Oil

Viewpoint Elevation 6100’ / Peaks Summits 10,500” – 11,000” This is the Valley of 10 Peaks and Moraine Lake that is regularly visited by thousands in Banff National Park. The peaks have individual names, but historically the whole range was called the Wenkchemna Peaks and their corresponding Glacier, which is unseen to the right of this view. This spring view is less commonly seen by summer tourists, but has much wild character that I enjoy.

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The Enlightened, 34 x 44, Oil

The Wild Heart Of Alaska, 28 x 36, Oil

Mud Lake, Alberta, 10 x 12, Oil

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Tennally Dawn, 30 x 48, Oil

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Above Chamonix, 36 x 38, Oil

Viewpoint Elevation 8,000’ Summit of Aguille Verte 13,523’ On the way down from the Aguille du Midi, the famous high lift that provides a spectacular view of the Mont Blanc range, I caught this dramatic view of the Aguille Verte and its subpeaks, the Drus. This is a mountaineer’s paradise of challenging walls of rock, steep mixed ice and rock, and glaciers: Something for everyone, even paragliders.

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Ice Fall, 42 x 42, Oil

Viewpoint Elevation 6,000’ Ridgetop 11,700’ From Grindlewald, Switzerland a very short lift takes one just above town to Pfinstegg at 4567’ where the trail leads up the canyon to Neue Baregg hut at 5813’. The old hut a little below was abandoned as the rapidly retreating glacier permitted extreme erosion of the hillside which has now taken away half the old foundation.

Another mile farther and I sat down to paint a small study of the Fiescherhorn Glacer, which resulted in this painting upon my return to the studio.

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Evening On The Eiger, 32 x 54, Oil

Viewpoint Elevation 5,380’ / Monch Summit 13,474’ This view from Murren across the 2500’ deep Lauterbrunnen canyon toward the Monch and Eiger struck me as one of the best angles on these famous Bernese peaks. The historically dangerous North Face of the 13,000’ Eiger is here in profile and shadow as the warm evening light bathes the peaks.

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The Bernese Alps, 20 x 30, Oil

Viewpoint Elevation 5100’ / Summits 13,023’ – 13,474’ - 13,641’ This famous trio of beautiful peaks are the crown of the Bernese Alps above Lauterbrunnen and Grindlewald, Switzerland. The evil Eiger (Ogre) is separated by the protective Monch (monk) from the beautiful Jungfrau (Young woman). The backside southeast faces of these peaks feed the Aletsch Glacier, the largest and longest in Switzerland which feeds the Rhone River.

Old Switzerland, 30 x 36, Oil

Viewpoint Elevation 6900’+-/ Peak summit 13,330’ This is an imaginary scene I created from various sources. The peak behind is the Ober Gabelhorn, the name of which had particular interest to me. The buildings are typical of the wonderful old mountain villages of the Valais Alps around Zermatt. The famed Swiss engineering skill started long ago in these architectural wonders that have stood strong and straight on steep hillsides for hundreds of years. The Valais Blacknose sheep, with its long wavy wool, was also developed in this area.

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The Alpine Guide, 32 x 26, Oil The Alpine Guide is an homage to the many men who first developed mountain climbing techniques and then also made it possible for their clients to share in the exhilaration of personally scaling the impossible looking summits. Their dedication to the safety and enjoyment of their charges is legendary, and most all had risked their own lives to help others where needed.

Morning Glory-Zermatt, 28 x 32, Oil (right)

Viewpoint Elevation 5327’ / Matterhorn Summit 14,691’ Dawn on the Matterhorn from the bed in our room in Zermatt. Not bad….actually perfect!

This mountain is the most recognizable and iconic mountain form in the world. It is the perfect glacial arête. Its dramatic and solitary aesthetic is almost unique to those who have not spent their lives exploring the more remote mountains of the world.

There are, of course, many pointy summit peaks of varying scales in the world. This one, however, is the best known by nonmountaineers, and loved by all.

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Hall Of The Mountain King, 68 x 48, Oil

Viewpoint Elevation 16,000’ / Peak Summits 23,000’ The elusive and endangered Snow Leopard is seldom seen, even by locals. However, they still inhabit the Himalaya from Pakistan to Sikkim and from the tree line up into the ice and rock. It was enough for me to see their prey animals, the Blue Sheep and Tahr, because that assured me one was likely up there somewhere watching me.

Tibetan Traders On Larkya La, 32 x 48, Oil (right)

Viewpoint Elevation 16,750’ / Peak Summit 24,325’ The trail over Larkya La in northern Nepal is an old historic trade route to Tibet, only a scant 3 ½ miles further north. The rice and barley grown in lower Nepal are valuable to the Tibetans in their 15,000’ homeland, and the salt of Tibet was taken back down in a trade that lasted for centuries until the Chinese usurpers of Tibet closed the old border trade. This scene could be today, or 300 years ago, with little change. This was the literal “highpoint” of my life, so far.

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Larkya Himal, 40 x 48, Oil

Viewpoint Elevation 16,000’ Peak Summit 20,164’ The word “Himalaya” means “the abode of snow”, and the term “Himal” can refer to a single summit or group of high glacial peaks. Larkya Himal is a beautiful peak overlooking the east approach to Larkya La (Pass).

The pre-dawn start on our climb to the pass put us in this spot during the clear and dramatic early light of morning. I hope the scale of this huge landscape can be felt in this piece.

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Om Mani Padme Hum, 26 x 32, Oil

Invocations On The Wind, 42 x 42, Oil

Viewpoint 10,000’ / Manaslu Summit 26,578’ – 8th Highest in the World

Viewpoint Elevation 10,500’ / Peak Summit 21,000’

My 200 mile, 35 day camping trek circumnavigated Manaslu, NW of Kathmandu, Nepal in April/ May 2012. Starting at 3500’ and ending at 2248’ we climbed and descended between 6000’ and 10,000’ several times with a maximum elevation at Larkya La of very near 17,000’. Manaslu means “Mountain of the Spirit” and this view from the village of Lho at sunrise definitely brings a religious awe to anyone. The summit is only 8 miles away, but 16,000’ higher. The Stupa and Mani walls with their flat mani stones carved with the Buddhist mantra on them thousands of times, bless those traveling by. This whole trip was for me not only a dream come true, but a spiritual/physical pilgrimage that has inspired my life and art to new levels of fulfillment.

This Chorten is along the path to Lungdang Gompa, a Buddhist nunnery at 11,000’ where we spent a couple of nights surrounded by the 24,000’ Ganesh Himal peaks.

The Prayer Flags and the blooming Rhododendron trees provide a joyous color flash for the spirit after a long, steep climb up from the main valley that this view looks back across. The cheerful nuns seemed to enjoy watching me paint and offered many critiques I could not understand. At least they laughed a lot.

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In The Ruby Range, 11 x 14, Oil

Deep Mountain Snow, 16 x 16, Oil

Under Sheep Mountain, 11 x 14, Oil

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My Backyard In Winter, 20 x 26, Oil

Viewpoint Elevation 10,300’ / Bear Mtn. Summit 12,987’ This beautiful valley near Silverton, CO has always been a favorite of local artists. We call it Motif #1. In winter it presents its most beautiful face.

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The Wilderness Ranger, 40 x 50, Oil

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Dawn - Hilgard Peaks, Montana, 26 x 36, Oil

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From Pass Lake, 11 x 14, Oil

The Protector, 14 x 18, Oil Ascendent Aspirations, 24 x 24, Oil

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Eternally Uplifting, 30 x 25, Oil

Viewpoint Elevation 6700’ Grand Teton Summit 13,770’ The Teton Range was formed by a major uplift along the Snake River faultline. The valley of the Snake River is now filled with thousands of feet of erosion debris from the eroding peaks, otherwise the face of the range would be twice the vertical mile of relief it has today. The constant erosion erases the gains of uplift. If the uplift is faster than the erosion the mountain continues to grow higher. Of course, when one witnesses a sunrise on the Teton Range, the “uplift” one feels is in the heart and soul, and not the soles of the feet.

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EXCERPTS TAKEN FROM FEATURE ARTICLE IN 2012 AUGUST/SEPTMENER ISSUE OF WESTERN ART AND ARCHITECTURE.

In the annals of art history, Rembrandt is credited with stating it first, though the

Dru is astounding and humbling,” he says. “Elite rock climbers know the aspect

same observation is attached to Jackson Pollock: “Every good painter paints

for its hard routes, but what attracts them, what gives them and me pause, is the

what he is.”

larger sense of grandeur.”

The pearl’s meaning is self evident to most: Authentic artists are those forged by

Certainly, every artist has a favorite coterie of historic predecessors. With Oberg,

a magical blend of innate talent and gut-twisting instinct, an upwelling of mental

he makes a requisite mention of the French impressionists, and influences in

imagination and curiosity, and a constant craving for outside aesthetic stimulation

England such as J.M.W. Turner and art critic and essayist John Ruskin who

that is absorbed into their being.

wrote, “Go to nature…rejecting nothing, selecting nothing and scorning nothing.”

Oberg has also studied the work of members of the Hudson River School,

In the case of Ralph Oberg, there’s no mystery where his personal identity lies

such as Thomas Moran, who subsequently fanned out across the West making

or what serves as the catalyst of his greatest inspiration. Oberg is a man of the

exaggerated paintings of the mountains to fit their romantic ideals.

untrammeled mountains, and the American landscape painter from the West Slope of the Colorado Rockies has, arguably, never been in finer form.

Yet aligned most closely with Oberg’s personal aesthetic is a family of landscape painters, the Comptons, who made the mountains of Europe, namely the Alps,

For art collectors who reside in mountain communities and even flatlanders who

their muse and milieu. In particular, he praises the oeuvre of Edward Theodore

daydream of the crags where mountain goats, bighorn sheep, human mystics,

Compton (1849-1921) who had an artist son, Harrison Compton (1891-1960) and

hermits and intrepid explorers dwell, Oberg delivers soaring views from around the

two artist daughters. The English born patriarch was a pioneering climber who

world. Where others might go hunting for stowaway artifacts in the garrets of old

spent his life painting and mountaineering around the globe.

homes, Oberg has literally trekked into the attic of terra firma and he’s carried back some astounding visual treasures.

“Typically, artists tended to paint from the foot of the slopes with their heads tilted skyward,” Oberg says. “Edward Theodore Compton was a guy who understood

Among the 20 major works and smaller field studies, there’s something for every

the meaning of being on top because he made the effort to get there.”

taste. The range of scenes include glacier-fed lakes sparkling like emeralds in the backcountry of America, a colorful tapestry of prayer flags blowing in the wind

Oberg’s affinity isn’t coincidental. He has spent a good part of his adulthood

beside a Buddhist monastery in Nepal, and a shepherd ushering Valais Blacknose

scrambling across the massifs of western North America on foot, from Denali and

sheep higher into the pastoral Swiss alps. Oberg’s been to each vantage and all

the Wrangell-St. Elias Range in Alaska to the Sierra and Cascades, and, close to

his life, he says, he’s felt a connection to landforms that create jagged vertical

his home and heart, the Fourteeners of Colorado and the spires of the northern

horizon lines in the sky.

Rockies from the Wind Rivers to the Canadian Rockies.

“In “Above Chamonix”, for instance, Oberg aspired to capture the jaw dropping

Oberg’s “Evening on the Eiger”, a serene glimpse into warm evening light, is, in a

natural architecture of a French city known as a mecca for global mountaineers.

way, an homage to the Comptons, father and son. Meanwhile, “Om Mani Padme

“The sheer power of the verticality of the Aquille Verte and its subpeak called the

Hum” is an ancient Buddhist meditation on compassion and Oberg believes it

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Ralph Oberg (b. 1950)

has relevance in the 21st century. “It is written in places throughout the Himalayan valleys,” Oberg says. “Over time, monks carved the mantra over and over on flat Mani stones by the thousands and placed along the trails to benefit travelers.”

One could argue his paintings fulfill a similar function, but each piece aspires to convey the spirituality of its setting. With the piece, “Ice Fall”, there is a finished studio painting and the plein air study that inspired it—a view conceived in the Alps but Oberg says it could, just as well, have been painted in Nepal, New Zealand or Alaska. And in “The Enlightened” a mountain goat plays a metaphorical role, summoning thoughts of the old sage in the mountains that imparts wisdom.

Oberg’s penchant for disappearing into the wilderness and listening to what the land tells him has been relentless. Within the last decade alone, he has completed a 35-day trek known as the Manaslu Circuit in Nepal; explored the century-old trail of painter Carl Rungius in the Wind Rivers of Wyoming and headed into the Canadian Rockies on extended painting trips.

While best known for his portrayals of wildlife, Oberg approaches any subject with the philosophy of a plein air painter—the result of spending the last quarter century in the company of talented artisans positioned at the forefront of new Western regionalism. “Life is not always a straight line from here to there,” Oberg says. “Often there are impasses and the retracing of one’s steps for a better route. For me to be on a mountaintop is a metaphor for the fulfillment of total bliss and conscious awareness that nature provides. I hope my work speaks to those who have similar yearnings today.”

Written by Todd Wilkinson

Portrait by Scott Burdick

Ralph Oberg is an annual exhibitor at the Western Visions show held at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wy; the Masters of the American West Exhibition and Sale held at the Autry National Center in Glendale, CA; the Prix De West show held at the The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK. 23

Ralph Oberg THE MOUNTAIN WORLD

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F R O M T H E H I M A L AYA T O T H E R O C K I E S

P R I C E L I S T (in order of appearance)

Spring Thaw - Alberta, 40 x 55, Oil.

$26,000

Larkya Himal, 40 x 48, Oil.

$24,000

The Enlightened, 34 x 44, Oil.

$18,000

Om Mani Padme Hum, 26 x 32, Oil.

$10,500

Invocations on the W ind, 42 x 42, Oil.

$20,000

Mud Lake, Alberta, 10 x 12, Oil.

$2,000

The W ild Heart Of Alaska, 28 x 36, Oil.

$13,500

In The Ruby Range, 11 x 14, Oil.

$2,200

Tennally Dawn 30 x 48, Oil.

$18,000

Under Sheep Mountain, 11 x 14, Oil.

$2,200

Above Chamonix, 36 x 38, Oil.

$18,500

Deep Mountain Snow, 16 x 16, Oil.

$4,500

Ice Fall, 42 x 42, Oil.

$22,000

My Backyard In W inter, 20 x 26 Oil.

$7,200

Evening On The Eiger, 32 x 54, Oil.

$22,000

The W ilderness Ranger, 40 x 50, Oil.

$24,000

Dawn - Hilgard Peaks, Montana, 26 x 36, Oil.

$11,000

The Bernese Alps, 20 x 30, Oil.

$8,000

Old Switzerland, 30 x 36, Oil.

$14,500

From Pass Lake, 11 x 14, Oil.

$2,200

The Alpine Guide, 32 x 26, Oil.

$10,500

The Protector, 14 x 18, Oil.

$3,200

Morning Glory-Zermatt, 28 x 32, Oil.

$11,000

Ascendent Aspirations, 24 x 24, Oil.

$7,500

Hall Of The Mountain King, 68 x 48, Oil.

$38,000

Eternally Uplifting, 30 x 25, Oil.

$9,500

T ibetan Traders On Larkya La, 32 x 48, Oil.

$19,500

T ibetan Relics - Nepal, 30 x 40, Oil. (back cover)

$16,500

T R A I L S I D E G A L L E R I E S • 1 3 0 E A S T B R O A D W A Y, J A C K S O N , W Y 8 3 0 0 1 • T E L 3 0 7 - 7 3 3 - 3 1 8 6 • W W W . T R A I L S I D E G A L L E R I E S . C O M

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