Nationally known Baltimore artist Herman Maril was a modernist who helped make tradition-minded locals feel a little more comfortable with modernism. Influenced by the colorful, reductive tendencies of an artist like Matisse, Maril (1908-1986) produced landscape paintings in which the topographic forms were pared down so much that they became blocks of color. His idea: to capture the essence of the depicted scene and let the viewer's imagination fill in the details.
Maril is so closely associated with Maryland and Cape Cod landscapes that some of his other subjects haven't always received the attention they deserve. In what amounts to a one-two punch, a couple of local exhibits beautifully call your attention to other manifestations of his talent. An exhibit of Maril's interior scenes at Lutherville's Galerie Françoise, curated by retired Sun art critic John Dorsey, demonstrates what the artist could do with indoor scenes; an exhibit of Maril's sports-themed paintings at Loyola College places athletic subjects mostly within landscape settings.
Maryland and Cape Cod landscapes and Matisse
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