ALLEN WHITING, (American, b. 1946), Sheep on Whiting

ALLEN WHITING
(American b. 1946)
Sheep on Whiting Farm Martha's Vineyard
1986 oil on canvas
signed Allen Whiting 1986 lower right
48 x 72 in. frame: 50 x 74 in.

Provenance: The artist; The Collection of a Williamstown Massachusetts Gentleman.

Grogan & Company is pleased to present five works by noted MarthaÕs Vineyard artist Allen Whiting as a special section of The Spring Auction. In the introduction to the 2006 book Allen Whiting: A Painter at Sixty fellow contemporary landscape artist Wolf Kahn (1927Ð2020) eloquently reflects on WhitingÕs method and style. ÒAllen and I shake hands; he is a companion in arms. We are both landscape painters. I have great respect for him as a person and as an artist. We met when I visited the Vineyard in the early Ô90Õs and he gave me permission to paint on his land. We went out sketching and painting together and a friendship began. Every time I go to the Vineyard I try to look him up. I just like the way he lives--like him as a person his attitude and his slightly disorganized surroundings somewhat left to themselves. I love his barn for example which looks like it takes care of itself. It doesnÕt feel as if heÕs a part of the gussying-up of the Vineyard. HeÕs not trying to prove anything. HeÕs very interested in shapes interested in the shapes that the wind makes of the trees and I think thatÕs something unique to the Island. If you think of trying to translate the familiar youÕre already in trouble. You have to have an innocence of spirit and I believe Allen has that. IÕve said that unless your paintings have ten times as many things in them as you intended youÕre not an artist. Allen has that ability. He is a fine painter. You can never tell what he is going to come up with next because heÕs not trying to be Allen Whiting. HeÕs being an artist and responding to the moment.Ó