William Starkweather

(1876-1969) 

I was sitting in Howard Godel’s gallery one after- noon when he was anxiously unwrapping a painting he’d bought on a Florida trip, listening to an accustomed string of superlatives ending with “it’s a killer picture,” when I was presented with this New York City winter scene. Vaguely familiar with the artist, I was impressed more by the picture than the name. Great light and shadow, coupled with a dis- tinctive “unexpected” composition, sold me on the painting. All the adjectives were just fluff. Like so many of his peers, Starkweather studied in Europe and was exposed to the “Spanish Sargent,” Joaquin Sorolla, and through great persistence, succeeded as one of the few Americans to study with the Spanish master from 1904 to 1906. Starkweather’s association with Sorolla did not end at this point: he served as the assistant curator of paintings at the Hispanic Society in New York for seven years, contributed an essay on Sorolla for his 1909 exhibition, and accompanied the artist back to Spain. Starkweather stayed in New York, painting and teaching for the remainder of his career. Frankly, I believe there should be more of this extremely talented artist’s work around.