Reverence for Light

Matisse, Bonnard and Gaugin come to life in the paintings of Lisa Mahan, on view at the Atelier Fine Art Gallery in Frenchtown.

By: Susan Van Dongen

Lisa Mahan’s "Common Market" (above) is like a visit to an old-fashioned green grocer in the season of peaches and plums.

   After her mother died last June, Lisa Mahan found solace in painting, especially in creating scenes of beach houses and landscapes which reminded her of family trips to the Jersey Shore.
   "I felt so empty, especially after a show of mine had opened," says the 46-year-old New Hope, Pa., resident. "My mother had always been so excited for me. She’d call me up and want to know if (an opening) had gone well. But painting really helped me last summer. I would close my eyes and ask for help. I could almost hear her saying, ‘OK, it’s time to paint now.’
   "It was the most soothing thing I could think of to do, especially creating scenes of summer. Then I was invited to exhibit in a show that was supposed to open Sept. 15 — my mother’s birthday. I thought that was a sign to go forward."
   Perhaps her mother and father — who also passed away in 2001 — live on in her paintings. Ms. Mahan closed the family house in Rhode Island and brought numerous pieces of furniture and antiques to her own home, all of which resonate with memories. These beloved family things make guest appearances in a new series of interiors by Ms. Mahan, part of the exhibit Savoring Summer at the Atelier Fine Art Gallery in Frenchtown. Landscapes by John Schmidtberger are also on view. The exhibit runs through July 8.

Above, "Blue on the Bureau."

   Ms. Mahan’s oil paintings include still lifes, figure studies and intimate scenes of beach and urban life. Her signature is an enticing, warm palette, reflecting the mellow mood of the summer season. Her working style is open and painterly with a soft, intuitive use of color that the artist says tries to capture "the feeling of a hot July morning or a rainy September dusk." The newest works have a special focus on home.
   "Like comfort food, for me most of the paintings are about summer, favorite cities I’ve visited, old apartments and beach houses and keeping those memories alive," Ms. Mahan says.
   In addition to the warm, rich light that permeates her paintings, Ms. Mahan lovingly captures decorative details, such as the cabbage rose pattern on old upholstery, the beveled glass of an antique mirror and nacreous colors of a seashell on a table. She also likes to include her cats, although they are not always willing to pose.
   "They lie around sleeping until you try to paint or photograph them, then they move," Ms. Mahan says, adding that her cats always seem to be black, perfect for an artist’s model.
   In homage to her former feline companion and old fifth-floor walk-up apartment on West 83rd Street in New York, Ms. Mahan has painted "Sardi in the Window." Named for the famous restaurant in the theater district, the creature sits on a window ledge in an afternoon slant of sunshine, surrounded by gauzy drapes. Ms. Mahan’s city cat is totally focused on his view, as if he were a wild feline perched on a promontory eyeing the prey below — instead of the traffic on Central Park West.
   Ms. Mahan lived in Burlington as a child, while her father taught music in the Lambertville school systems. He later took a position as director of admissions for the New England Conservatory of Music and moved the family to an 18th-century stone farmhouse in Rhode Island.
   "We always came back to the Lambertville area to see friends, though," Ms. Mahan says. "When I lived in New York and my husband Terry and I were dating, we’d drive down here to get away from the city."
   Ms. Mahan received her bachelor’s from Boston University’s School of Fine Arts in 1977, then moved to New York, where she continued to study at the Art Student’s League and the National Academy of Art and Design. Meanwhile, she made her living as a graphic designer. She launched her career with a lucky break in the advertising department at Bloomingdale’s.

Above, "Oranges."

   "I went out one day with my portfolio, stopped into Bloomingdale’s personnel department and they wanted to hire me on the spot," Ms. Mahan says. "It was lunch time and they wanted me to come back that night and work the evening shift. Pretty much every job after that came from my connections there."
   She spent four years in the art department at Hearst Publications, working for House Beautiful and Colonial Homes magazines. Ms. Mahan was also art director for Northwest, the airline’s in-flight magazine, and did free-lance work for American Homestyle and Time-Life Books.
   "I had good luck with my jobs," she says. "But then, I never really got back to painting. Once in a while I’d lock myself in my apartment and devote an entire weekend to painting, but I didn’t make a living from it. I wasn’t cutting edge enough for the New York art scene. (Painting) full time was something my husband wanted for me."
   A few years ago, the couple lost a child to a rare disease and came to the Lambertville area to heal. She and her husband kept stretching out their weekend visits and finally decided to put down roots here. Ms. Mahan had befriended a number of local artists and, in 1996, she became a founding member of the Artist’s Gallery in Lambertville. She regularly exhibits there. Ms. Mahan says going out with her artist friends to paint some of the beautiful locations surrounding New Hope and Lambertville helped to regenerate her spirit.
   "Generally, I prefer to work directly from life in natural light," Ms. Mahan says. "I love the challenge of capturing the essence of changing light on a subject, observing the effects the light has on the colors in that scene, what kind of mood it creates."
   One of her works that best captures gorgeous late afternoon light is "Magazine Street," which portrays low, golden sun on the shuttered windows of a 19th-century warehouse in New Orleans.
   "It’s one of my favorite cities," Ms. Mahan says. "I love the music, the food, the architecture, everything. It’s funky, but old-fashioned and very French. My mother was of French ancestry and grew up in the South (in the United States), so that’s another reason I love it there."
   Her main influences include a handful of artists from the Post-Impressionist era who had a special reverence for light, such as Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse.
   "Pierre Bonnard is my favorite," Ms. Mahan says. "I also love Edward Hopper and Fairfield Porter. I like a very loose, direct, painterly kind of painting. As I get older, that’s still the focus with my own work. As soon as I see everything, I try to put it down and keep it fresh, I try not to labor over it. That’s why I like painting from life and on location. It’s all about learning to see."
   Savoring Summer, paintings by Lisa Mahan and John Schmidtberger, is on view at the Atelier Fine Art Gallery, 108 Harrison St., Frenchtown, through July 8. Gallery hours: Thurs.-Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. For information, call (908) 996-9992.