Charles Movalli

Charles is a great ambassador for the Cape Ann School.   Cape Ann is the longest active artist colony in the United States.  No surprise. The place is one painting after another, just waiting to be painted. After all this time, you’d think the nay-sayers of art, the It’s-all-been-done crowd, might have a point, but Motif #1 still draws painters, who are still doing something that’s never been done before. Charles’ lecture on the Cape Ann School is not to be missed. Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, John Sloan, Emile Gruppe are a few of the regulars going back nearly 200 years. Gloucester and Rockport are plagued by picturesqueness.  It’s catching.  Trash bins may even be lovely.

The focus of the artists Charles admired and learned from as a young painter (Emile Gruppe, Carl Peters, Aldro Hibbard) was composition, and his paintings have a solid structure even amid dinghies bobbing at the dock and buildings listing under their years.

Charles has a PhD in English and has written books and articles galore.  The books, though pricey if you can find one, are fantastic reads for any student of painting covering not only many laudable artists, but also composition, color, and the wielding of the brush.  We are still waiting for the book on Charles himself, but he has let us know that some things will melt and others freeze over before we’ll see that book.  We’ll enjoy his paintings while we wait.

This is Betsy, a relatively recent addition to the Movalli/Ratcliff clan.  We have her on video inspecting us and the camera equipment which we’ll get together for you shortly.  Dale had gone outside early in the Spring and had seen a tiny bit of a bunny.  She picked her up, named her Betsy, and there you have it.  The cats have varying opinions of her.  Betsy spends her days in Charles’ studio and is pictured here in her favorite chair.

This is one of Charles’ many books.  (The link does take you to Amazon, but because of North Carolina’s confiscatory taxes, Amazon refuses to have affiliates here.  Meaning, you may buy through this link and be completely assured that neither I nor Walls Gallery will receive a cent.) On the linked page you will note some of the MANY books edited by Charles Movalli.  He has also written over 70 articles for national magazines.  I highly recommend his books, but suggest you be very careful lending them out – my favorites have never been returned, having apparently become someone else’s favorites!