1940s "Whitby Abbey Ruins" Landscape Oil Painting by Marguerite Blasingame

Description

Striking and atmospheric painting of Whitby Abbey ruins by Marguerite Louis Blasingame (American; 1906-1947), circa 1940-45. Marguerite and her husband … more Striking and atmospheric painting of Whitby Abbey ruins by Marguerite Louis Blasingame (American; 1906-1947), circa 1940-45. Marguerite and her husband Frank Blasingame were two of five artists in Hawaii during the early thirties that delved into the Polynesian history and traditions and their island symbolism. Condition: Good; professionally conserved with new stretcher bars and cleaned. Signed "Blasingame" lower left corner; from a collection of her work. Unframed. Image, 48"H x 35"W.

Whitby Abbey was a 7th-century Christian monastery that later became a Benedictine abbey. The abbey church was situated overlooking the North Sea on the East Cliff above Whitby in North Yorkshire, England, a center of the medieval Northumbrian kingdom. The abbey and its possessions were confiscated by the crown under Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries between 1536 and 1545. Since that time, the ruins of the abbey have continued to be used by sailors as a landmark at the headland. Since the 20th century, the substantial ruins of the church are in the care of English Heritage.

Born in Honolulu and trained at Stanford University in California, Marguerite Blasingame was among the artists in Hawaii who, before World War II, experimented with decorative patterns using natural forms, especially tropical foliage and flowers and used stylized imagery of Hawaiian figures. She was an American sculptor and painter and she was a member of the Hawaiian Mural Guild. Her work is in many locations in Hawaii including the Honolulu Academy, Library of Hawaii and Ala Moana Park.

She was born Marguerite Louis in Honolulu in 1906. She graduated from the University of Hawaii and then went on to earn an M. A. in art from Stanford University in 1928. Marguerite returned to Hawaii, where she became an established sculptor of figural works, many of them bas-reliefs in wood and stone. Her depictions were usually sinuous in contour with simplified anatomy. During the Great Depression she was a Works Progress Administration artist and filled many commissions for architectural panels and Bas-relief wood sculptures. Blasingame also painted in a symbolist style and was a member of the Hawaiian Mural Guild. She authored A Course in Art Appreciation for the Adult Layman, which was published by Stanford University Press. Marguerite Louis Blasingame died in 1947 while traveling in Mexico. One of her wooden sculptures is installed in the John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Gallery of the Honolulu Museum of Art. Other sculptures in public places includes an untitled 1935 marble sculpture in Ala Moana Park, Honolulu, Hawaii and Hawaiian Decagonal Fountain (1934–1935) at Kawananakoa School, Honolulu, Hawaii. less