Charles Movalli

Curator's Comment:

Movalli was all New England. Born in Gloucester, schooled in Worcester, and Storrs, CT,  he painted Cape Cod, Boston, Cape Ann, Rockport, New Hampshire and Maine. He earned a reputation for plein-air painting, which included the conducting of summer outdoor workshops in his hometown. When he wasn't painting at the docks, he was rendering the woods and streams of New England, and we think the work we offer was done at Wildcat Brook, near Jackson, in the White Mountains, where the water drops suddenly, falling 120 feet, over a series of granite ledges, with the force shown in his painting. Winner of numerous awards and honors for his painting, Movalli belonged to the Salmagundi Club (Gold Medal), the North Shore Arts Association (Clark Award and Gorton Award), the Rockport Art Association (Cooley Award, Goldberg Award), and the Hudson Valley Art Association (Goldschneider Award). He was also a prolific instructor and writer on painting, including How to Paint Successful Seascapes and Color in Outdoor Painting with Roger Curtis, Gruppe on Painting and Brushwork with Emile Gruppe, The Art of Landscape Painting with painter Paul Strisik, and Painting with Light with artist Elizabeth Schlemm. His auction sales, at Eldreds, Skinner, Blackwood-March, Thomaston, and regularly through the Rockport Art Assn have been as high as $10,000, and we are seeing more of his work come to market, with demonstrated price appreciation. One look at Wildcat Brook says enough about Movalli's value as an artist.