Aho recalls John Constable (1776-1837)
who knew the landscapes he painted
so well that he painted from memory,
suggesting the essence of the scene
rather than recording its detail. “When
you relax, the way you look out at the
subject and the way your eye takes it in
and the hand that makes the mark are
all in harmony.”
Ernst approaches clouds from the
viewpoint not only of a collector but
as an artist. Both he and his daughter
Julia von Metzsch Ramos are painters
and have paintings in the exhibition.
His wife, Gail, writes about a more
visceral response to clouds.
Her family didn’t have art in their
home but she studied art and music
appreciation in college. “They opened
up a new world to me,” she recounts.
On one of their first dates, Ernst
and Gail went to the opening of an
exhibition of paintings by Jacob van
Ruisdael at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. “Upon entering the gallery
I was welcomed by landscape
paintings of infinite Dutch skies and
piles upon piles of dramatic clouds. To
me they were alive. Clouds have always
4
Eric Aho, Wilderness
(Summer 1903), 2008,
oil on linen, 40 x 50"
5
Joseph McNamara,
Shreveport Scrap and
Salvage Depot, 2010-
2011, oil on panel,
42 x 58"
6
Bernard Chaet, Dusk,
2002, oil on canvas,
15 x 30"
7
Paul Rahilly, The
Violinist, 1980, oil on
canvas, 60 x 40"
Artwork courtesy
Gail and Ernst von
Metzsch.
4
5
068 http://www.AmericanArtCollector.com
