George Laurence Nelson meets the Kent Informal Club

On January 10, 2008, the newly created George Laurence Nelson Art Committee kicked off its campaign to resurrect the reputation of the very talented former owner of Seven Hearths. About 20 members of the Kent Informal Club gathered in Nelson's studio at the house to learn about the man, his home and his artwork. For the program, several of Nelson's paintings were displayed around the room, and after a biographical introduction by KHS Director Marge McAvoy, many more were brought out one by one for an in depth examination and explanation by local artist Bob Lenz. At the end of the presentation, many Informal Club members admitted to being surprised and overwhelmed by the abundance and quality of the artwork housed at Seven Hearths. Everyone agreed that we are on the right track with our efforts to renew widespread recognition of George Laurence Nelson.

In order to give our guests a deeper appreciation for Mr. Nelson's talents, the first part of the program was spent discussing his background and career. He was born George Laurence Hirschberg in 1887 to Carl and Alice (Kerr-Nelson) Hirschberg, and was known as Laurence. His parents were noted artists in their own right, both "movers and shakers" in the American art world. Carl was an organizer of the famed New York Art Students League and a co-founder of the Salmagundi Club. Alice's accomplishments were equally significant.

Nelson biographer, William Dolan Fletcher wrote that she was often referred to in American circles as THE Woman of the Century. C.Y. Turner and William Merritt Chase claimed that she was America's greatest woman artist and a woman truly liberated - a master of painting in oil and watercolor, etching and wood engraving, designer of fashion, magazine illustrator, collaborator with Turner and Chase in some of their greatest work. Together as a team the Carl Hirschbergs would set the pattern for American design in calendars, fashion literature, painting in oil and watercolor and etching. George Laurence Nelson came by his talent from a rich heritage, but he was who he was because his mother taught him how to live, how to dream, how to draw and encouraged his love for art and music (he played five instruments and had a rich voice).

By the age of four, Nelson was drawing animals and at five sketching portraits, generally of his mother. She had the faith and foresight to save his early work, which remains a part of the GLN collection at Seven Hearths. In 1904, he won an art contest sponsored by Crayola Crayons as part of a Binney & Smith advertising campaign. He went on to do advertising illustrations for them and his career was launched. Nelson entered the Art Students League to begin his formal training, and at the age of 21 had his own studio at 10 West 61st Street and was teaching at the National Academy of Design. He and his two brothers had by this time changed their surname from Hirschberg to Nelson - their mother's maiden name - most likely to avoid the anti-German sentiment that was becoming increasingly prevalent in the run up to WWI, and also to avoid confusion with his quite famous parents.

Nelson's reputation was already spreading internationally, quickly attracting the attention of none other than England's King George V. In 1911, the king discovered that Nelson was sailing for Europe on the S.S. Minehaha, and sent him the following telegram: Have heard of your departure for London…I need a new set of ancestors painted…there are sixty-four of them…will you do the job for six guineas…half cash, bal in six months…or five percent off for cash…signed George, Buckingham Palace. The cable came collect, $40, and Nelson had to pay for his own accommodations in London, but he did all 64 portraits! Unfortunately, their whereabouts today is unknown to us.

Nelson then spent two years studying in Europe, learning the techniques of the Masters, particularly in Normandy. His research was cut short in 1913 when his mother became seriously ill, and he sailed home to be with her. Her death left a gaping hole in his heart, but two years later he met the other strong woman in his life. Hermine Carlotta Redgrave ("Helen") was a young art critic from The New York Globe, and was sent to interview the famous artist. They were married in 1916, creating a deep, rich and devoted partnership that lasted until her death 56 years later. Theirs is a great love story, and could be the subject of an article all its own.

Helen was a tireless promoter of her husband's artwork, writing extensively about his talent and techniques. Our Nelson archives contain a few of these articles, including a review she wrote in 1954 for a pending exhibit at the Grand Central Art Gallery in NYC. In it, she describes with authoritative detail a number of works that were to be displayed in his one man show. Looking at these canvases, one may note complete mystery in rendering minutiae of flower, leaf and still life, and the application of this knowledge in a broader technique. Always, depth of color, color contrast, and individualistic arrangement stem from a basic research. Mr. Nelson has had life long familiarity with flowers and many seasons of growing them and making studies for later use in compositions. He learned through long experience as a portraitist the possibilities of weight and form and he likes to achieve maximum contrast in texture and form. It must be noted here that throughout his life, Nelson made his bread and butter money doing portraits, but his real love was flowers and gardens, a passion that he clearly shared with Helen. It was his regular practice to include at least a flower or two in his portraits whenever he could get away with it! The historical society has a large collection of both portraits and florals, which we hope to be able to share with you more often in the near future.

The depth and range of Laurence's talents as portrayed by Helen became clearly apparent to the Informal Club members as Mr. Lenz gave a fascinating tour of the portfolio of this remarkable artist. Beginning with the early efforts, Mr. Lenz noted the obvious influence of John Singer Sargent. Reflecting that Sargent often said "Paint what you see and not what you know", he pointed out where hints of details, such as wire rimmed glasses, gave a more realistic result to the viewer's eye. As Nelson's career took him through ever evolving techniques and schools of thought, subtle changes in his own work became apparent. His time spent in Normandy and his interest in Rembrandt may be discerned, as may be his struggle to adapt to the more stark modern art world of the 1960s. Portraits of that late era of his career reveal sharper lines and composition, less softness, less subtlety. Yet his style is still obviously his own - deep, realistic renderings of his subject which he had clearly considered emotionally and intellectually as well as artistically. Though limited by the minimal lighting in Nelson's studio, Mr. Lenz was able to give great insight into the artist's use of light and shadow in his compositions. He also focused on Nelson's careful attention to detail, noting that most of the portraits could be dated simply through the accurate depictions of the subjects' fashions and accessories.

Mr. Lenz admitted that when he first began to investigate Nelson's work, he was not sure about the importance of the collection. But by the time he was finished with his presentation, it was clear to everyone that our learned guide agrees that Nelson deserves to regain his place in the spotlight again!

The list of medals and awards amassed by George Laurence Nelson is long, and his artwork has been shown all over the western world. William Dolan Fletcher's epitaph for his friend says it all - The likes of George Laurence Nelson is not likely again, at least not in numbers. His dry humor, quick step, long stride, shy smile, twinkling eye, warm handshake, effervescent conversation, enthusiasm for the new, deep humility when faced with praise, amazement when sought after for an interview or one of his works - all these and more spell out this resident of Seven Hearths who so loved this spot of history that he left it so others might share in its beauty and significance. That we shared Nelson these many years was our good fortune; that we may continue in this sharing is found in the sense of life as he lived it, his values, his priorities, his vision, his humanity. He has taken his place in American history as one of the ten greatest portrait painters and one of the all-time great lithographers, but he has taken his place in Kent and its history, not because of his international stature or reputation in American Art; rather because he chose to live here, share himself as a warm genuine human person who knew how to love and be loved, and finally to be buried in the land he loved so well - Kent.

The Kent Historical Society is humbled and honored to be the stewards of this great man's life work, and we are dedicated to our new mission of sharing him once again with the world. At the end of the meeting, a few members of the Informal Club made excellent suggestions about ways to promote Nelson. Jackie Markham Priaulx has generously donated her professional talent to the publicity planning process. GLN Art Committee Chair Bonnie Fremgen has compiled a list of suggestions and goals that we are striving to meet. These include finishing the restoration of the rooms at Seven Hearths so that the paintings may be shown off to their best advantage, presenting our now tested program to other groups and organizations, engaging a summer intern to catalog Nelson's artwork and papers, developing a strong relationship with the local press specifically for the purpose of promoting Nelson and Seven Hearths, making and selling prints and greeting cards of Nelson's floral paintings, and creating and maintaining a blog spot that could be updated on a regular basis.

If you have any interest in helping out with any of these goals, please let us know. We particularly would like some help with the blog - our limited staff time simply does not permit the attention it would need, but it's a great idea. If you are computer literate and would like to volunteer for this job, we'd be delighted!

The biggest challenge is the restoration of Seven Hearths. It is something we have slowly been working on, because it is costly to do it correctly. So we are embarking on a Seven Hearths fundraising campaign and hope you will find some way to contribute! In the meantime, we are happy to offer private tours of the house if you would like to see what is going on. We don't open the doors to the public until summertime, but we're always thrilled to show off the house and its very special contents to any and all who are interested, so give us a buzz…