Eugene Speicher was known in his mature years as the Dean of Woodstock painters. Some might say that success was predestined. His father was Superintendent of the Pierce Manufacturing plant in Buffalo, home of the Pierce Arrow automobile. The artist trained first at the Albright Art School (also in Buffalo) then at the Art students League under Robert Henri. In 1909 fellow students included Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, Guy Pen du Bois and George Bellows, who became his close friend. He also studied with William Merritt Chase and Frank Vincent Du Mond.
Speicher painted fine landscapes and still lifes but distinguished himself most as a portraitist. An early portrait of fellow student “Patsy” O’Keefe hangs in the offices of the League at 57th street. Important commissions followed.
Elsie and Eugene Speicher enjoyed an unpretentious life in New York City and Woodstock (they had moved here in 1910) enriched by extensive travel, gardening, and a close circle of artist friends (Bellows, Rosen, Ruellen–Taylor, and Mason-Hervey) whom they entertained regularly. Speicher painted the rich and famous but he also found some of his most expressive subjects among Woodstock locals (Jean Bellows, Katherine Rosen, Red Moore (blacksmith), Tony Robinson, and Cain Lasher.) A survey of Speichers oeuvre reveals that his early work 1910-1925 is among his best. He absorbed influences from his talented friends and teachers and showed a vigorous style that was fresh and spontaneous.
The Two paintings in this exhibit show that vitality. The Woodstock –Saugerties landscape is alive with vibrating color and the earth undulates with fertility. Speicher adroitly paints the misty distance with subtle modulation of the foreground palette. There is no overworking in this superb painting.
The Woman in Pink shows the influence of his teacher Robert Henri and his friend George Bellows, but it also incorporates the color of French painters who held sway over a generation of Americans who traveled to Paris and Giverney in the early decades of the 20th century . –JC