Arthur Hoeber

(1854-1915)

I appreciate the delicate, poetic side of Tonalism like early J.F. Murphy, and this early, small oil on a nice thick wood panel has this quality. Often the season is autumn, and the trees are bare, revealing the random twists and turns of the branches. Hoeber was not only an artist of moods and seasons but also an articulate but conservative art critic writing for the New York Globe and Harper’s Weekly. I found this picture in 2002 at a Bourgeault auction in New Hampshire, amid the lots of furniture, weather vanes, and boats in bottles. A very real danger exists when running around driving long distances to regional auctions: in addition to eating bad highway food, there is the overwhelming urge to “walk away with something” so that the effort seems worthwhile. Every collector and dealer I know has succumbed to this temptation one time or another. I’ve concluded its actually healthy to leave empty-handed on occasion, just to confirm you’re keeping your standards high and not getting caught up in the moment. An interesting insight into Hoeber’s strongly held views supporting traditional art was an article he wrote that referred to Max Weber as the “high water mark of eccentricity” and stated that Matisse’s paintings were “insolent… foolish… graceless.”