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About Arthur Houlberg.
This unresearched but highly competent Chicago painter exhibited Wash Day at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1921. We do know that he worked at the Ox Bow Artists’ Colony, which was the Art Institute’s summer school program, beginning in 1914. Woman with a Parasol suggests that Houlberg learned from midwestern members of the "third generation" of American expatriate painters at Giverny, specifically Richard E. Miller, Karl Buehr and Karl Anderson. There is the same colorful, decorative palette, richly applied, luscious impastos and an abundance of plein-air sunlight. Buehr was also fond of the Japanese parasol motif. Houlberg was at home with the new expressionistic use of color: touches of heightened, hot pinks and apple-green on the flesh give a sense of excitement. The broad slashes of color in the background foliage seem especially daring. Houlberg’s technique is quite close to that of his Ox Bow colleague, Frederick Fursman.(1874-1943), who was influenced by the Fauves. Fursman and Walter Marshall Clute were credited with discovering the site of Ox Bow in Saugatuck, Michigan, in 1910.
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Paintings by Arthur Houlberg
| Woman with a Parasol |
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oil on canvas: 31½ x 25½ in. |
| unsigned |
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Click Picture to Enlarge |
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