Product Description

Six plein-air painters in Oakland, California, joined together in 1917 to form an association that lasted nearly fifteen years. The Society of Six--Selden Connor Gile, Maurice Logan, William H. Clapp, August F. Gay, Bernard von Eichman, and Louis Siegriest--created a color-centered modernist idiom that shocked establishment tastes but remains the most advanced painting of its era in Northern California. Nancy Boas's well-informed and sumptuously illustrated chronicle recognizes the importance of these six painters in the history of American Post-Impressionism.
The Six found themselves in the position of an avant garde not because they set out to reject conventionality, but because they aspired to create their own indigenous modernism. While the artists were considered outsiders in their time, their work is now recognized as part of the vital and enduring lineage of American art. Depression hardship ended the Six's ascendancy, but their painterliness, use of color, and deep alliance with the land and the light became a beacon for postwar Northern California modern painters such as Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebaud. Combining biography and critical analysis, Nancy Boas offers a fitting tribute to the lives and exhilarating painting of the Society of Six.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #588993 in Books
• Published on: 1997-03-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.com Review
When these six artists first banded together in 1917, the San Francisco art establishment found their work raw and undeveloped. According to Nancy Boas, however, these painters represent the first fully evolved reflection of modern art on the West Coast. Her scholarly and engaging study is tantamount to a discovery of a previously unknown group of painters, and it is unusual in that it recounts the birth of modern art in a nonurban setting. She elegantly and convincingly balances biography with analysis, intertwining six personal stories into a much larger story, which is really about the birth of modernism, an integral segment of America's artistic heritage. These artists' works are expressive, energetic, and ablaze with vivid color, reminiscent of a quality of rarefied light found in Richard Diebenkorn's Ocean Park series or Vincent van Gogh's Arles paintings.

From Library Journal
Painters Selden Gile, August Gay, Louis Siegriest, Maurice Logan, Bernard VonEichman, and William Clapp formed the Society of Six in 1917 in northern California, where they worked and exhibited together into the 1920s. All were outdoor painters whose canvases were freely brushed, vividly colored, and influenced by both the California landscape and the European Impressionism that they saw for the first time during their active years. Boas's careful account embeds the group's work in its biographical and historical contexts and provides over 100 excellent color reproductions. An important addition to our knowledge of American art, with more than regional significance. Kathryn W. Finkelstein, M.Ln., Cincinnati
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap
"The Oakland Six may constitute the most important modernist development that occurred in this country during the 1920s."--William H. Gerdts, author of American Impressionism

Customer Reviews

Five Stars for the Six
One of the best art books around. It not only describes an important art movement, it captures the character of the artists, from the assertive leader, Selden Gile, to the gentle, inward August Gay and the troubled Bernard von Eichman. The book is illustrated with vigorously colorful paintings _ visual evidence of the influence the Six would have on artists for decades to come.

Six unique artists who deserve more attention
Nancy Boas has done the American art scene a great service by producing a beautifully illustrated and printed book about six rugged individualists who did much to build a California school of painting in the early 20th Century. While they are often referred to as impressionists, their paintings are generally far more adventuresome, ambitious and challenging to the viewer than the relatively tame and accessible impressionist school. Whether they had any direct influence from the Fauvists or the Blaureider colorists, they have more in common with those post-impressionist Europeans. Ultimately, it doesn't matter much how they arrived at their approach to color and painting, it was the California landscape and climate that determined their subjects and color they used to interpret them.
Boas' handsome book does particular justice to the work of Selden Gile, who was the most aggressive and and insistent in his use of primary colors.
This is a terrific and important addition to any artbook collection.

A joyous, exciting and informative book ...
Ms. Boas has put together an exceptional book on the Society of Six Painters. It is generously illustrated with carefully chosen examples, most in full color. Close ups, with full bleeds, lead each chapter and will take your breath away. In addition, the book contains many black and white images of the artists working and hanging out.

I'd say roughly half of the book is on Selden Gile and why not? He was likely the most prolific and arguably the best of the group. Ms. Boas describes how the group got together and how they were influenced by European artists, a few California painters as well as Bellows and others. One gets some idea of the personality (even drinking habits!) of each of "the six" as well as their camaraderie, working methods, palettes and materials. On page 97, there is a reprint of the group's manifesto (primarily Clapp's handiwork). It may be the best description of "what makes a painting good" that I have ever come across. In addition, the book is littered with quotes and excerpts from letters. One thing I particularly enjoyed were the many quotes by Diebenkorn and Thiebaud describing the Society's work. I highly recommend this book.