Watercolor
This stunning and beautifully painted oil on stretched canvas was completed by the famous Cape Cod artist, Van Crews Jr. The Cyclamen is a hardy, long blooming plant very popular in Cape Cod. The artist brilliantly painted with multiple layers of transparency revealing a robust bloom with a “see through” stalk shadow behind. Cyclamen is one example of a plant whose foliage contributes significantly to the plant's beauty. Most cyclamen have some pattern of silver or gray variegation in their heart-shaped leaves. The cyclamen is a prolific bloomer with numerous full flowers of red, white, pink, and purple. This striking oil was painted during his contemporary period. Van Crews Jr. understood the delicate beauty of the cyclamen and captured the essence through his talent and genius.
About Our Prints
The giclée prints are produced on high quality archival materials: Breathing Color Elegance Velvet Platinum Fine Art Paper - A 310gsm, bright white, fine art paper with a lightly textured vellum surface; a 100% cotton fiber paper offering a better color gamut and D-Max than any other velvet surface paper on the market.
Stretched Canvas Prints
We offer 3/4" solid hardwood stretcher bars with back staple. Prints are on Breathing Color Chromata white , acid free, cotton-poly blend matte artist stretch canvas. All stretched prints are protected with a matte finish archival UV varnish. If you prefer semi gloss or gloss please let us know.
Matting and Framing
If you prefer to have your giclée print framed and matted by our Gallery please let us know. We will provide you with a fair price and adjust the shipping charges to reflect the mat, frame, and glass. We would be pleased to perform this work for you.
About the Artist: Van Crews, Jr.
Little is known of this very talented Cape Cod, Massachusetts artist who was originally from Connecticut and painted exquisitely between 1950 and 1990. He and his wife lived in a contemporary house on the beautiful Bass River in West Dennis, MA. He was trained as an architect and those skills and talents are visible in his originals. He painted in Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and on Cape Cod.
His detailed paintings sometimes took Van Crews JR months to complete. The paintings in the Gallery are benevolently from private collections of two individuals who knew and socialized with Van Crews Jr. and his wife in their scenic house on the banks of the Bass River in West Dennis on Cape Cod in the period from 1950-1990. Of the four paintings, Van Crews JR chose diverse mediums with one watercolor, one oil on stretched canvas, and two oils on masonite. The actual titles and locations were noted by the artist on a couple of his paintings.
Without his own children, Van Crews JR gave all of his fortunes to establishing art student scholarships. In 1989, the University of Maryland established the Department of Art, Van Crews, Jr. Scholarship. His purpose was to, “Support an annual scholarship for an outstanding student enrolled in the Department of Art in the College of Arts and Humanities concentrating in the subject area of design.” Similar scholarships in his name for aspiring artists were also founded at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of South Dakota.
Speaking with the owners of the paintings by Van Crews Jr., they have vivid memories of this intriguing, shy and talented artist. At one point later in his prolific artist’s life, Crews recalled all of his works from area art galleries. He made a personal decision to do no more art works and to retire from painting. He quickly notified all of his closest friends and sold many of his works to the people most dear to him, those to whom he entrusted with his most prized possessions, his art works.
One of the owners of the paintings in our gallery recalls having a friend at her home that recognized Van Crews’ artwork hanging on her wall. She said that this same painting was displayed in a high end Nantucket Island art gallery two years prior, selling for $10,000, and further that she was very surprised to see such a valuable painting displayed in a private home rather than a museum.
It is both exciting and emotionally revealing to discover an artist of this caliber, insight, and excellence. His works are unique and extremely in depth, displaying beautiful detail and miniscule strokes, and demonstrating an awe inspiring use of light, shadow, proportion, and color. Some of the artwork displayed here leaves you wondering what the artist was thinking, yet one is continuously and always amazed by his skillful artistic execution. While Van Crews Jr. may have many of his paintings in private collections, there are few sightings of his artwork and life history on the web or in any museums, adding to this contemporary artist’s allure and mystery.
We hope to learn more about this great and multifaceted artist as word spreads of his talent from Cape Cod and the surrounding islands to the larger audience worldwide. Please contact our gallery if you have information and/or artwork from this outstanding artist. Thank you for your interest in our gallery and our interesting and talented artists.
The original painting is in a private collection