'NOBILITY OF PLACE' - Forbes Galleries, New York. Creswell's first museum show at Forbes Galleries New York.

6th May - 8th September 2011

Click here to view full catalogue of works

Following in the tradition of the eighteenth-century "Grand Tour," Alexander Creswell (b.1957) has visited monuments ranging from Greco-Roman antiquity to the Baroque in Europe and from notable Colonial, Classical Revival, and Modern style buildings in the United States. The results of his extensive travels are extraordinary portraits of beautiful buildings, both inside and out, which masterfully portray the romance between architecture and light throughout the world and across the boundaries of time.

According to Creswell, the common thread in this collection of watercolours is simply that they all depict places which enlighten him: "places with rich architecture, erudite collections, powerful atmosphere, enlivening light -in short, places of beauty." And, it is an enchanting quality of light which, for Creswell, is "the elixir of the watercolourist -whether bright and low in the snow-clad winter of Long Island Sound, or hot and high in a Sicilian summer."

Some of the watercolors in this exhibition, like his views of the Manhattan Bridge in New York City, depict outdoor sites discovered by chance, while others, like his interior of Franklin D. Roosevelt's study at Springwood in Hyde Park, NY, required advance planning. Fortunately, Creswell's reputation preceded him and doors usually closed were sprung open. Taken all together, the end result is this breathtaking ensemble of subjects both known and unknown, including marine architecture -all of which are enlivened by light and are each in their own way enlightening to the artist, and to the viewer.

http://www.forbesgalleries.com/

The Forbes Galleries
62 Fifth Avenue (at 12th Street)
New York City
Tuesday – Saturday
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.