Space Walk
Ralph Hamilton Paintings
1973 - 2005

Ralph Hamilton is one of the most original and mysteriously moving of contemporary artists. His oil paintings-powerful yet elegant images of sports, public events, disasters, and the landscape of the human face--are almost all based on photographs, either news photographs or, as with his portraits, often photos he has taken himself. But while still photographs stop movement in order to convey it, Hamilton's volatile surface--created by his unique method of brushing--brings the viewer into direct contact not so much with the illusion of movement as with the inner workings of movement itself. Looking at a Hamilton portrait face is like being in the middle of a poignantly animated conversation with the subject.

About Hamilton's portraits, art critic David Bonetti has written that "at the end of each century, Boston has had a portrait painter of great interpretive gifts--Copley in the 18th, Sargent in the 19th, and, I'd argue, Hamilton in the 20th. . . . He is creating one of those invaluable records that tell what a historical period was about."

For this show, we decided to showcase large 6 x 6 foot paintings from the 70's and 80's along with work Hamilton completed in the last few years of his life. Hamilton passed away last year and this exhibition is a collection of some of his best work. The subject matter varies but his distinct painting style remains. Whether Hamilton depicts a weightlifter, a baseball swing or a buffalo standing in the snow the execution and depiction of a particular event is flawless. The Kidder Smith Gallery is pleased to present Hamilton's earlier work and to combine his older work with this more recent work invites a dialogue between the paintings that has not been highlighted in previous shows.

Ralph Hamilton's oil paintings are in numerous public, private, and corporate collections, including Boston's Museum of Fine Arts and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.