The Hood Museum of Art is currently hosting an exhibit titled "Shaping an American Landscape" featuring the works of prolific American artist and architect, Charles Platt.
Considered one of the leading American Renaissance artists, Platt is best known for adapting the design ideas of 16th and 17th-century Italian villas to American architecture. His contributions, however, include etchings and paintings as well. Of the 84 works presently on display, there are 23 etchings, 18 paintings and the remainder are architectural drawings, sketchbooks, vintage photographs and archival material.
Among Platt's primary architectural accomplishments is the design of Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He has also designed the Clark Wing of the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. and the campuses of Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Platt, who lived from 1861 to 1933, has also made his mark on the Dartmouth campus. He designed Carpenter Hall and parts of the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, incorporating his trademark ornate pillars and sense of classicism into their overall appearance.
In architectural design, Platt drew on his knowledge of European models and blended it with creativity in the context of contemporary conditions. His idea of integrating interior and exterior environments influenced several architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright, who developed and adapted his concept of "organic architecture" from Platt.
Between 1890 and 1910, Platt experimented with several ideas he conceived from his trip to Italy in 1892. The results of his trip were published in "Italian Gardens" in 1894 and helped to advance the formal garden revival in America.
In 1913, "The Works of Charles A. Platt," the first comercially produced monograph on a contemporary American architect, quickly became "the bible" for the best in modern work.
"Shaping An American Landscape" also marks the first time in 50 years that a sizable collection of Platt's paintings are on view. The Gallery features 18 paintings, including his entry in the Paris salon of 1885, "The Etcher," and several coastal and landscape subjects he painted in Europe and America. Platt not only used his painting skill to complement architectural drawings but also approached painting as an independent medium. His primary subjects remained coastal and harbour scenes throughout his career but he added a distinctive, exact touch to his works.
"Pier at Larmor" is among the 23 etchings also on view at the Gallery. It is one of Platt's typical coastal depictions, exploring the effects of atmosphere and light on water. He is mostly self-taught in this discipline, learning the trade informally from the Philadelphia painter and printmaker Stephen Parrish.
The display will be on view through May 28 at the Hood. Keith Morgan, Associate Professor of Art History at Boston University is the guest curator of the exhibition and presently the leading authority on Platt's work.
The Hood is also sponsoring several related programs: "Looking into the Platt Landscape" -- Introductory Lecture by Professor Morgan, and gallery talks titled "The Buildings and Gardens of Charles A. Platt" and "The Paintings and Etchings of Charles A. Platt."
