Review: Douglas Breault at Carole Calo Gallery

Photography, grief, and memory are linked. Joan Didion, in her autobiographical chronicle The Year of Magical Thinking shares the advice that in order to get over the death of a family member one must “let them become the photograph on the table”. For photographer and mixed media artist Douglas Breault, his art practice often centers on the elegiac, and beyond that on the mournful quality of memory that can embed itself in the photographic image. A solo exhibition of Breault’s photo-based work at Stonehill College’s Carole Calo Gallery allows viewers to experience the artist’s immersive use of photography to probe these potent themes in ways that are beautiful and deeply affecting.

Breault’s exhibition, evocatively titled who decides where a roof ends, includes straightforward photographs exhibited alongside works that blur the bounds of photography, sculpture, and assemblage. In addition to photographs, Breault employs found objects: a whistle, a pane of glass, a clamp, a block of wood with a nail jutting out. The sum of all these parts is a collection that probes ideas of home, memory, grief, and the ways in which vision and remembrance are shaped.

One of the through lines in Breault’s work is light, both in specific forms - like a lamp or a flame - and the general light which acts as the foundational tool in all photography. The lights in Breault’s work feel like demarcation points but also hint at the ephemeral nature of all things. Times change, passages occur, lights are snuffed out. Much of Breault’s art is connected to his own experience of familial grief and the expressive and poetic elements of his visual work have a magnetic quality for others with similar experiences.

Breault describes his exploration of loss in his statement by saying, “My curiosity questions the limitations of a photograph to accurately depict a life, contemplating how an image can be unfolded or obscured to describe a person or place that is paradoxically missing.”

Breault is one of the most promising photographic practitioners in the Northeast. In addition to his work as an artist, he is also the Exhibitions Director at Gallery 263 in Cambridge and has also taught art at area colleges, including at Bridgewater State University, Babson College, Holyoke Community College, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He earned his BA from Bridgewater State and his MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. I previously interviewed Doug for my Fine Art Insights podcast, and he also exhibited work in the exhibition Housewarming at my Project Space in Providence.

For emerging artists studying art at Stonehill, and for those who are able to visit Breault’s show at the Carole Calo Gallery, his work offers an exciting alternative to the staid and static interpretations that photographers regularly present. In a world full of images, often consumed through cold screens as social media content, the engaging and inventive way in which Breault manipulates photography to make it real and present merits recognition. His photographs go beyond the expected and break out of the frame to become something entirely new.

Breault’s solo exhibition at Stonehill College is one of the best shows to see right now in New England and offers a chance to fundamentally change the way viewers read photography.

Douglas Breault’s exhibition, who decides where a roof ends, continues through January 26, 2024 in the Carole Calo Gallery at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. Learn more about Breault’s work at his website www.douglasbreault.com, or follow his studio work on Instagram at @dug_bro. Click on the images below for expanded installation views.

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In New Bedford, a Rare and Wonderful Exhibition of Albert Pinkham Ryder

Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847 - 1917), may not be a household name but his contributions to American art are significant. An exhibition on view through October in the artist’s birthplace of New Bedford, Massachusetts, explores his art in its own right as well as within the context of modernist movements that came in his wake. Mounted by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the show is a rare and wonderful opportunity to see many of Ryder’s paintings in one place. A Wild Note of Longing: Albert Pinkham Ryder and a Century of American Art is a must-see exhibition which will reshape perceptions of American art history.

One of the most exciting elements of the show is that it gathers together many of the artist’s paintings in one exhibition. This is the first significant display of Ryder’s work since a 1990 retrospective at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. Some of the paintings on view are indeed on loan from the same institution and give viewers the opportunity to explore works that they might otherwise have to travel to Washington, D.C. to experience. Other artworks come from major institutions like the Metropolitan Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Phillips Collection, making this a mini-blockbuster exhibition.

A quote from Ryder illustrates his independent sensibilities alongside his paintings.

Seeing Ryder’s work in his hometown rather than in New York or the nation’s capital is part of the thrill of this show. Not far from the Whaling Museum’s galleries, the sights and sounds of this historic maritime city are reminders of some of Ryder’s inspirations. Bells are heard from nearby trawlers and seagulls fly low overhead. New Bedford’s bustling port is one of the busiest and most lucrative in the country. In Ryder’s day it was a similarly busy place and the realities of seafaring play into the aesthetic and philosophy of his art.

Ryder’s work is not easily classified but many of his treatments of land and sea bear markings most readily associated with the Tonalist school which heavily influenced American art in the late nineteenth century. Inspired by European counterparts, such artists often sought to create poetic and romantic imagery defined by particularly moody palettes. Where Ryder’s work often differs from his contemporaries is in brushwork, composition, and the sheer expressive energy of his scenes. Ryder’s paintings give viewers a sense of the raw power of the sea, the glittering beauty of atmosphere, and the possibilities of historical or mythological narratives. 

A painting by Wolf Kahn (1927 - 2020) forms an interesting contrast to an earlier piece by Ryder.

The exhibition does not feature Ryder alone, though. The show pairs a wonderful range of the title artist’s paintings with works by later makers who similarly broke boundaries and reconsidered the potential of expression. Works by artists such as Jackson Pollock, Marsden Hartley, Wolf Kahn, and Richard Pousette-Dart form a fascinating pendant to the excellent selection of paintings on view by Ryder.

While Ryder was born in New Bedford, he spent a good portion of his adult life in New York before returning to his hometown at the time of his death. He was an unusual and often lone individual who cuts something of a melancholic figure. While his painterly contributions may not be fully appreciated by a broad audience, this exhibition is an important step in bringing viewers a more complete picture of American art. Ryder’s paintings are beautiful and mournful and provoke emotional reactions as well as appreciation for his remarkable handling of paint. He is, in short, one of the great American artists of any generation and this exhibition is a fantastic chance to learn more about him and his incredible impact.

A Wild Note of Longing: Albert Pinkham Ryder and a Century of American Art is on view at the New Bedford Whaling Museum through October 31, 2021. For full details and information on planning your visit, go to www.whalingmuseum.org.