Speaking of Minnesota

The other day I was looking at a painting by Elmer Bischoff, who, when he was at his best, was magnificent. One thing that always strikes me about his best work is how well he captures the atmosphere of the Bay Area (the way Diebenkorn's work from the 1950's captures the East Bay or the way Thiebaud captures a certain something about Sacramento in the summer).

That made me think of other artists who seem to distill the essence of their region in their work. Southern California, certainly. You have Hockney, for instance, not to mention scads of late 19th century painters who have captured the essence of the region that is reduced to small pockets (but when you encounter one of those pockets, you immediately recognize it).

There were artists who captured New York in various phases of history.

I got to thinking about Northern Minnesota (obviously I had been drinking chamomile tea to calm my sour stomach) and realized that I could not think of a single painting, let alone painter who captured the feeling of the area.

Then I realized that of all the great and beautiful parts of the United States, very few of them have been properly nailed by artists. Or have they? One of the problems with the New York dominance of the world of art is that we are far more inclined to know painted New York than the state next to ours. Nevada? Wait! Louis Siegriest's abstract work from the 1960's captures something of the Virginia City/Reno area, although only a particular aspect of it. But Oregon? Mark Tobey doesn't really say anything about the Northwest as a place. I know artists in Portland, yet none of them seem to grab the atmosphere of the area and paint it.

So, for the next few days I would love to hear from my readers in the various parts of the United States (well, why limit it... if you can think of a painter in, say, Hagen, Germany who captures the area, let's hear about it) about artists who "get" their area. As someone who is interested in the dance between abstract and representational art (think of the Diebenkorn Berkeley paintings from 1953 to 1955), those sorts of paintings are the ones I particularly want to hear about, but I also like a good realist (Sacramentans will certainly think of Gregory Kondos here). Also, while I am keen on current and modern painters, what about the 19th and prior centuries? Did the Hudson River School have an offshoot on the Red River of the North?

So let's hear from Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia, Florida, DC, Massachussetts, New Hampshire, Minnesota, etc.