Skip to main content

Madeline Belmont, and the Durgin Covered Bridge, North Sandwich Village, NH


Belmont, a Geneva, NY, artist, yielded signature bold strokes with a strong emotion, creating an evocative landscape in her painting of the "Durgin Bridge". Using a loose painterly style, the trees are exuberantly colorful as she mixes bright yellow with black to create different shades of green. The shadows are shades of blue, which provides shocking electric clarity of the New Hampshire summer sun. The bridge is historically brown where she demonstrates her artistic impulses right on the canvas. 

Belmont creates the composition with an on-the-spot response to the scene. There is spontaneity as she records the 1869 covered brown bridge. Each brush stroke comes live as her palette is limited to just about five colors each mixed with black. She uses the mixed colors right on the canvas board that push the composition more and more to emotion response. We might have never visited the Durgin Bridge near Sandwich, NH, but we know scene. The bridge is old, the dirt road is dusty, the "Cold River" below is filled with cool snow melt, and we remember back to a day when we saw a similar scene. The painting was completed in just one sitting, and most likely right on site.



Durgin Bridge Over the Cold River

Near North Sandwich Village, NH
Oil on Canvas Board - 1961
Signed: M. Belmont

The historic Durgin Bridge was built in 1869, about one and one-half miles north of N.H. Route 113, and two miles east of North Sandwich Village on Durgin Road, spanning the Cold River. The existing bridge was built by Jacob Berry of North Conway. Berry claimed that the bridge was so strong that it could be filled with wood without causing it to fail. There is no evidence that anyone ever attempted to prove his theory. The bridge is named for James Holmes Durgin who ran the grist mill nearby. The bridge was also a link in the underground slave railroad from Sandwich to North Conway. Milton Graton and his son Arnold repaired and strengthened the structure in 1967-1968. It was rehabilitated in 1983 at a cost of $48,000. The Durgin Bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The bridge has its own Wikipedia page.

While little is known of Madeline Belmont, it was clear that she was a plein-air painter. The Geneva Times lists Ms. Belmont was part of the Geneva, NY Country Club jet set. She lived within walking distance of both the Country Club and the Belhurst Castle and Winery. 

The Geneva Times (July 30, 1968) reported about a special exhibit at the Cayuga Museum, Auburn, NY. Ms. Belmont was listed for the “Fairfax Award,” a purchased award for the city of Geneva. The painting was titled: “The Blacksmith Shop.” Also The Rochester Newspaper (May 7th, 1963) photographed Ms. Belmont with two other artists holding examples of their work.



       Signature in Lower Left - M. Belmont












Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Japanese Wooden Dolls: Kokeshi-Ningyo "こけし-人形"

This article is dedicated to my Japanese (nihongo) Sensei, Atsuko Kuwana, who helped me learn to speak Japanese. Collectors come in all varieties, some plan their collections, others start by chance.  I saw my first kokeshi(こけし) wooden doll in 2005 while participating in a grassroutes exchange program between the U.S. and Japan.  I was staying with a family near Nagoya and the couple’s young daughter had one.  Years later when I was named a Mike Mansfield Fellow from the U.S. government to the Japanese government, and was living in Japan, I would see them frequently at flea markets and souvenir shops next to the natural hot spring resorts in the area known as Tohoku.  Before leaving for Japan, I studied all things Japanese at the George Shultz Foreign Service Institute (FSI), including a professor that covered domestic and family life and some short statements on kokeshi.  After arriving in Japan, the National Personnel Authority ( jinjiin ) was responsible for...

MARCEL (Marcella Anderson) Torpedo Factory Artist

Marcella Anderson and/or Marcy Anderson (1946 - 2015) was better known as "MARCEL", a popular serigraph/silkscreen artist, at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in historic Old Town Alexandria, VA. She maintained a gallery and work space at the Torpedo Factory from 1976 to 2015. At the top of the stairs on the 3rd floor was this large light filled studio with a charming blonde woman surrounded by her silkscreens. In the early 80s, her work consisted mostly of water reptiles, fish, birds and environmental scenes. She kept with nature themes during most of her time at the studio. Her obituary stated: "Marcel was known for her bold, yet sensitive, use of color and design. Her images in all media reflected her love of nature. Her glowing color, both intense and delicate, was achieved through the use of transparent layers of color." Marcel was born and raised in Seattle, Washington and studied at the Cornish School of Allied Arts. Before arriving in the DC area, she had ...

Walter von Gunten - Scherenschnitter Artist

In the 1990's R. A. Baumgart, wrote an article for the Journal (Wisconsin Newspaper) entitled:  Scissors Art:  the Lace That Takes a Million Snips.   The subtitle was:  For Sheer Intricacy, It's Hard to Top the Delicate Folk Art of Long Ago Europe.  Baumgart's knowledge was helpful in creating this blog. Scissor cutting art has been practiced in much of Europe for centuries, but the work has now faded.  It reached its peak about 200 years ago.  It was the people's art, and when done by the Germans and Swiss it is called scherenschnitte.  When accomplished by the these two groups, the work tends to be more delicate and more detailed in design.  Scherenschnitte was cut from single sheets of paper and pasted on a contrasting paper background.  Common subjects were fantasies of trees, elves or rural scenes. "Bird in the Bushes" Cut Black and Gold Paper on White Mat Board Framed:  Approx. 20 X 16.5 Inches Signed Lower Left:...