RIVER SERIES - essay by Jeanne Koles

Among the elements of nature, water is especially curative. For artist Jim Schantz, the river is a daily companion with whom he enjoys an intimate and nuanced relationship. Behind his home in Stockbridge, MA, the Housatonic River

gently runs amid the brambles and bushes. As a painter, Schantz has explored the river’s abundant facets as it evolves throughout the day and year. More recently he has become an activist, tirelessly working to protect this resource and keep his community mindful of its value.

He observes the river, celebrates it, thrives off of it, and protects it. This rapport between Schantz and the river is the embodiment of John Muir’s philosophy. Through his artwork, we too can allow the nourishing beauty of nature into our daily lives. As a landscape artist, Schantz has traditionally focused on the rich natural environment of the Berkshire region he calls home. Throughout the years, his thoughtful eye has often turned to the river (both the Housatonic and the Green Rivers are in his neighborhood), but he has also been drawn to nature’s other multitudinous bounty (such as mountains, hills, trees and valleys). In recent years, his increased participation in river conservation and education has manifested itself in a passionate focus on the river in his work. That focus on a single subject has brought him intensely close to it, and the river has revealed itself to be endlessly full of inspiration. The artist never tires of the river; rather, its power multiplies and his desire to paint it anew grows.

Is this because the river—carved by the constant flux of water—is perpetually changing? As Heraclitus (540-480 BC) wrote: “no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.2”

Three years ago, Schantz joined the Stockbridge Conservation Commission, a local arm of the Massachusetts Cultural Commission responsible for protecting the state’s wetlands. The committee (a six-member volunteer group made up of Schantz, an environmental lawyer, and local businessmen) is charged with oversight when construction occurs in the river’s vicinity and with community education and outreach. Ever since the area was settled in the 18th century, the Housatonic has been harnessed as an invaluable resource but has consequently been plagued by pollution. In the latter half of the 20th century, in the face of environmental carelessness and general neglect, the river lost much of its wildlife and its recreational use waned. However, through conservation efforts like those of the Stockbridge Commission, much of the wildlife that had virtually disappeared has been restored and recreational use of the river is on the rise.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), who used the Housatonic as his muse in the 19th century long before environmental conservation as we know it today existed, wrote in Hyperion: A Romance: “but does it not often offend you to hear people speaking of Art and Nature as opposite and discordant things? Surely nothing can be more false. Nature is a revelation of God; art is a revelation of Man.3” The intrinsic connection Jim Schantz draws between nature and art serve as a fitting defense for Longfellow’s argument. For Schantz, the river is a place of meditation. It is as much a refuge for him as it is for the herons and eagles that now thrive there. His art reflects the contemplative and enduring timelessness of the river and allows us to escape the banalities of everyday life and glimpse the divinity of which Longfellow speaks. In the serene work Summer, Dusk (JMS645), the trees reflecting in the water’s surface barely ripple and the pink light refracts behind the clouds, conjuring the warmth and relaxation of a summer day. The painting is a salve to the hectic pace of life.

Schantz’s recent attention to the river as a subject marries well with his shift from pastel to oil as a medium. Traditionally a pastel artist, Schantz still finds inspiration in the immediacy and physicality of working with pastel. Over the past two years, however, he has embarked on a new method using oil—a slower and more studied approach—that he feels more persuasively communicates the river’s qualities. The liquidity of oil paint has a kinship with water that makes the painting feel authentic. In the time-consuming process in which he layers pigment and glaze, Schantz slowly coaxes the image out of the canvas. The process of glazing was developed by the Venetians during the Italian Renaissance and 17th-century Dutch painters like Vermeer are masters of the technique. Layering pigment and tinted glaze over time creates unparalleled luminosity and allows the artist more control over how light moves around the painting. Schantz begins with an underpainting of color (which upon first glance might seem discordant with the colors of the finished painting) that lays the groundwork for recreating the nuanced colors and light shifts that exist in nature. Schantz is a master of sfumato, a word coined during the Italian Renaissance to describe a style without harsh lines or stark distinctions of color. Rather, layered shades and gradations of darks and lights blend together seamlessly. This layering sets the atmospheric tone of the painting—whether it is bright or brooding, still or stormy. Because all of Jim Schantz’s work in this exhibition is about a single theme—the river— we can enjoy them by degrees and languish in the small changes of light and color that, when summed up, make for dramatically different scenes. The artist may have been sitting in the exact same spot when he painted both Summer, Evening Reflection (JMS648) and Summer, Afternoon Reflection (JMS651), but his deft manipulation of layers, lights, and tones form two completely different paintings. In Evening Reflection, a small shaft of silver light exudes from the horizon and reflects off the water while all around the deep purples, blues, and reds of the summer night abound. In Afternoon Reflection, no less alive, the bright rays of the mid-day sun cast about the river and result in lighter hues and more distinct shapes.

Stylistically, Schantz harmoniously blends Abstraction with Realism. Those who have visited the Berkshires know these places and have a personal association with them. Even for those who have not been to that region, these familiar and recognizable places elicit strong emotional responses. In the large painting After the Storm (Summer, Dusk) (JMS635), a summer sunset puts on an elaborate light show as vivid reflections dance off the water. Schantz preserves an instant which moments later will dissipate into a new flash of beauty. Darkness will then fall, and the moment will be lost; we relish in

its capture because it is a moment we have all experienced and wished we could hold on to. Beyond being realistic interpretations, however, his paintings are also abstract conceptual experiences. Though Magenta Sunset (JMS650) depicts a specific and beautiful place and time, it is also a study of the color magenta. It is an abstract examination of the reds, oranges, and blues that, when optically combined, create what we call magenta. The painting embodies what magenta would feel like if we could touch it—warm, spirited, and a little wild.

Meandering through this collection of river paintings by Jim Schantz, we are transported to a place to “play in and pray in,” just as John Muir encouraged us to do. From the gentility of the morning light to sunset’s ferocious fire, from purple’s heat to blue’s freshness, water sees all of nature and mirrors it for us. Each work by Jim Schantz in turn captures a little of nature’s healing power. His unspoiled scenes belie man’s existence and invite us into solitary musing. Despite his work to combat the ill-effects of man on the river, Schantz elects to show us pristine beauty in lieu of confrontational images. In this way, we are not guiltily called to action but are viscerally inspired to do our part in maintaining the river’s grandeur.

—JEANNE V. KOLES

Jeanne Koles is an independent consultant who does writing, design, and project management for museums and the cultural sector.

1 Muir, John. The Yosemite (1912) 2 Heraclitus. On the Universe 3 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Hyperion: A Romance (1839)