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I
still vividly remember my first meeting with George Demont Otis
thirty years ago when, as a 12 year-old youngster, I was taken
to his Marin County studio-home which Otis had built with his
own hands. This charming English-Norman cottage stood on Sir
Francis Drake Boulevard, named after the British explorer who
is supposed to have landed on the seacoast nearby, and often
called “The Golden Highway” because of the beautiful
countryside through which the boulevard winds its way out to
the Point Reyes Lighthouse.
Today
the studio is gone, but the golden road remains, the end of
it lying in the Point Reyes National Seashore. Part of the early
impetus for the creation of this national park came from George
Otis, whose paintings and many public lectures celebrated the
cause of conservation long before it became fashionable. He
can rightly be called the artistic father of the Golden Gate
National Recreation Area, a region encompassing the varied landscape
that he loved and painted for more than a quarter of a century.
Otis
was a friendly man, white-haired, full of laughter and interesting
conversation. “Show me some of your drawings,” he
said, and I knew then that his opinion of them would determine
whether or not he would accept me as his youngest pupil.
While
he examined my work, I looked around the room where Otis received
thousands of visitors over the years. On the walls hung his
landscapes, some of which had won national awards. The furniture
was carved by Otis himself; he was especially proud of the hearts-of-redwood
stairway with an intricate design depicting 152 varieties of
sealife which he had seen or caught. Beside the front door were
stained-glass windows created by Otis. A fire burned in the
massive fireplace that he had built out of San Francisco paving
blocks and railroad ties. In one corner of the room was a loom
for the weaving done by his wife, Clara.
This
meeting was to set the course of my life. During my four years
of study with him and throughout our subsequent friendship of
several decades, I received a portion of the rich legacy of
inspiration and knowledge which had been transmitted to Otis
by some of America’s greatest artists and teachers, who
were his mentors. He had studied under Robert Henri, William
Merritt Chase, John F. Carlson, Bruce Crane, Waldo Pierce, Birge
Harrison, Dan Garber, Wellington Reynolds, John Vanderpoel and
other eminent artists. As a young man, Otis had been befriended
by Winslow Homer.
He
knew the members of the famous “Eight”, including
John Sloan, who wrote in his journal, “I like Otis right
well, he amuses me, and I think he should find a ready market
for his stuff . . . Otis sets an example of industry which helps
me stick at my own job . . .” Otis was also a friend of
Thomas Moran and many other great painters of his time.
Otis
required his students to bring blank notebooks to class. At
the end of every session they were collected. After we left
he wrote in each one, commenting on the subject, illustrating
various points with quick sketches, giving us bits of his philosophy
and helpful personal criticism, and then returned them to us
the following week. Many of us saved our notebooks and still
refer to them. He had deep convictions about art education.
“From
the start,” he used to say, “one must teach the student
self-respect and belief in himself.” He urged the instructor
to regard himself as “another student a little more able
to guide and as a friend to the aspiring artist rather than
a critic or teacher.” Otis’ former students agree
that he was a great and inspiring teacher, who had a lasting
influence on the lives he touched.
George
Otis taught part-time for 30 years and had more than 500 students
who became professional artists. He loved teaching but was never
forced to do it as a means of livelihood, for unlike most painters,
he was able to derive a steady income from the sales of his
own work.
Early
in the century Otis lived at Taos and Santa Fe, meeting great
early artists. He formed a close friendship with Mary Austin,
who was noted for her writings on the West. She dedicated some
of her poetry to him. In later years Otis would often return
to the desert for spiritual renewal.
During
the 1920s Otis lived in Los Angeles, with a studio in suburban
Burbank. He made a name for himself as a landscape painter in
Southern California. Arthur Millier, art critic for the Los
Angeles Times, reviewed Otis’ local exhibition with enthusiastic
praise (“. . . here is a man who has the essential thing
in a landscape painter’s equipment — a strong lyric
impulse . . .”). Fred Hogue, editor of the L.A. Times Art
page, wrote: “Otis is a distinctive colorist. His canvases
recall those of no other artist. He possesses that originality
of conception and composition that is the surest mark of genius
. . .”.
Otis
won many awards, among them, first prize at the California State
Fair, and exhibited widely in the ensuing years at the Metropolitan
Museum, New York, Los Angeles Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery
in Washington, D.C., Legion of Honor and DeYoung Museum in San
Francisco. He achieved great success in Southern California
and knew many of the early movie stars, including Buster Keaton,
who was a personal friend. But toward the end of the 1920s he
tired of the tinsel of Hollywood. His restlessness took him
back to the Southwest and to other states for more painting
on the road.
George
Otis was an early environmentalist and conservationist. His
pioneer efforts as a resident artist in Marin County to save
a rural area close to a large city helped to promote plans for
the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Point Reyes
National Seashore long before they became the realities of today.
As always, Otis continued painting, lecturing and teaching,
and his gregarious disposition and gift for friendship made
him an active and beloved member of his community.
By
the time of his death in 1962 at the age of 82, George Otis
could look back on a life rich in accomplishment, self-fulfillment
and kindness to the many persons who sought his help, advice
and instruction. He left a legacy of paintings, sketches and
writing which is still inspiring people. His book, “The
ABC-XYZ of Landscape Painting,” which Otis specified was
to be published posthumously, remains as a testament to his
philosophy of art and life and to his teaching.
Those
of us who were fortunate enough to study with him will never
forget the warm, forceful personality and the deep spiritual
qualities of this supremely American artist. The notebooks in
which he wrote personal messages to each of his students, his
“ABC-XYZ of Landscape Painting” book and other writings
serve to refresh our memories of Otis’ exact words. Most
of what he wrote concerns technical matters, methods, color
mixtures, etc.
He
went into great detail about these things. However, he imparted
so much more than mere techniques; he gave to us a whole philosophy
of art, aesthetics and living and enough inspiration to last
a lifetime. One time he said to me, “If you know the beliefs
of Robert Henri and John F. Carlson, you know mine.”
First,
there was the electric presence of the man himself and the marvelous
sense of excitement he created about art and its limitless possibilities,
about the value of a life dedicated to creativity and the search
for beauty. He was a charismatic person with a gusto and zest
for living, and these qualities are reflected in his painting
and teaching. To us students he conveyed, in many ways, the
message that the profession of art was a profound one.
I
remember the rides with him in his Model-T Ford along bumpy
country roads to various locations for private lessons in sketching
and pastels (a medium in which he did many fine works). Otis
told stories of his colorful past, humorous and serious, and
pointing out this or that poetic feature in the landscape he
loved. Once at the location, I would be put to work and allowed
only so much time to complete a drawing. “Keep it loose
and sketchy,” he would remind me. “Don’t belabor
the subject.” There were many lessons in black and white
sketching before he introduced me to color, for Otis was a firm
believer in the mastery of drawing as a foundation for painting.
He himself made countless pencil sketches, still as fresh and
charming as when they were done.
In
my notebook he wrote, “The most poetic landscape is the
one, which to a layman carries a certain freedom, a pleasure
in doing . . . work that seems unlabored will always be more
pleasing . . .” Repeatedly Otis emphasized the value of
spontaneity in art, of capturing one’s first, favorable
impression of a subject and then adhering to this impression
until the completion of a work. He recognized that many of the
world’s masterpieces contained meticulous, studied craftsmanship
and precise detail. He did not repudiate this method, but for
the most part it was not his way. Otis’ own canvases were
done with thick pigment and visible brushstrokes, often applied,
as he used to say, in a basket-weave like manner.
He
believed in the charm of broadly painted pictures which required
the viewer to use his imagination and to feel the abstract impression
intended by the artist. To him a pictorial representation was
always a translation, an interpretation. He told us that the
final result should manifest a sense of character and individuality.
This was the essence of good painting: not a slavish copy of
nature or the styles of other artists but rather an original
version, exhibiting freedom of execution with a carefree, joyous
quality combined with control and staying within the boundaries
of tradition. These traits are appreciated and easily understood
by the average person.
In
reviewing a retrospective Otis show in 1974, an art critic wrote
for a newspaper: “Otis painted the California landscape
with the love and vigor of the naturalist and conservationist
he was. He brings a timeless grandeur to his scenes. His ability
to convey seasonal temperature and time and weather variations
through hue and tonal contrasts is evident throughout his work.
Trees—conifers,
madrone, eucalyptus and oak—figure prominently in many
of the paintings. A fine example is the stand of massive, gnarled
oaks casting abstract shadows of gray-blue on warm earth-orange,
with their bark reflecting the sun’s rays in fugitive darts
and rectangles of muted pink, olive-green and tans . . . The
fresh, clear colors and perceptively decisive brushwork are
certainly in keeping with the contemporary art scene . . .”
Otis
used to advise us, “Always paint the day. If it’s
cloudy, sunny, raining, morning, evening—tell the world.
A cloudy day affords many advantages no other day can offer:
subtle colors, lost edges, no changing shadows . . .” It
was the fresh, open response to a wide variety of subjects that
Otis stressed again and again. This technique accounts partly
for the ease and success with which he painted so many different
types of landscape: farmlands, seascapes, mountain scenery,
the desert and the California redwood groves. He was not a limited
artist, his versatility showed in his ability to do handsome
still life paintings, portraits, murals, and to work well in
so many diversified art media.
Otis
loved trees and was noted for the way in which he painted them.
Our notebooks were filled with his own quick sketches and with
information about different varieties and how to paint them.
On one page he wrote the following, which is rather typical
of his general attitude, “Trees express the wind. They
keep the earth from being a desolate place. They graciously
furnish a cooling spot with their shade. They feed the hungry
with their fruits and act untiringly as sentinels and landmarks.
They are living things. Paint them that way.” Trees were
also verticals in the design scheme, acting as “piers”
or anchors to which the rest of a picture could be tied.
A
large foreground tree could “mother” an entire landscape,
uniting the composition into a harmonious whole. A slight tilt
to a tree gave animation. Otis has taught us to see landscape
forms in terms of expressive art qualities, as the rhythm of
undulating hills, the variety of light and dark contrasts, the
serenity of skies and bodies of water. He would urge us to “colonize”
tree branches and to group trees when we were painting them.
Otis
placed great stress on composition, emphasizing that without
a sound basic structure there could be no successful painting.
The first consideration in selection, he told us, was to ask
ourselves whether the subject possessed a quality that could
lift and exhilarate our minds beyond the mere making of a picture.
“Nature suggests and the artist composes,” he would
say. His homespun analogies and expressions made his teaching
memorable. For instance, he explained the law of principality
by referring to “the hen and chicks,” as mother hen
being the dominant element and her brood the subordinate features,
all of them joining together to make “one happy family.”
“Use the Big Axe,” he often told us. “Cut away
the unessential things which do not benefit your subject. An
excess of superfluous detail results in bewilderment.”
George
Otis had close ties to the men now recognized as early leaders
of California’s literary and artistic life. He knew Jack
London, John Steinbeck and Brother Cornelius, who wrote a monumental
biography of William Keith, the famous California painter. These
cultural leaders realized that Otis was recording a vanishing
Western landscape threatened by the increasing number of people
settling in California. These leaders appreciated the universality
of Otis’ art and its life-affirming, optimistic spirit.
They saw an artist who was setting the tone for living with
creative crafts, for the renewal to be found in a life lived
close to nature and removed from the stresses of urban existence.
One
of Otis’ former students, now a retired college art professor,
recalls: “He was the most independent man I ever knew.
He painted what he pleased and got paid for it.” Otis’
independence from art dealers during most of his years in Marin
County may have cost him the widespread recognition in art circles
which he deserves today, but he was happy to sell his works
to people who came to his door from all over the United States,
rather than working through commercial galleries. For most of
his career Otis owned his own studios and sales rooms, and he
believed that every professional artist should do the same.
To him, his studio was more than a workshop, “It was a
place of creativity whose threshold I cross with humility.”
Otis
believed in the value of companionship and belonged to many
art societies, some of which he founded. The Society of Western
Artists, which began as a western branch of the movement of
“Sanity in Art” is now the largest art group in the
West. In 1948 he was appointed Chairman West of the Mississippi
of the American Artists Professional League of New York. For
a long period of time Otis gave lectures for the Mary MacDowell
Foundation Clubs in various states.
He
is listed in Who’s Who in American Art, the National Cyclopedia
of American Biography, Mallet’s Index of Artists and the
Kuenstler Lexikon. Some of his records are in the Archives of
American Art at the Smithsonian Institution. |
