Joseph Keiffer (American, b. 1952)

 

      Joseph Keiffer started painting at 18, but his first job after college was as a paintings cataloguer at Sotheby’s. After seven years at Sotheby’s he became Director of Paintings at Doyle Galleries, and then President of a private art foundation. The years spent between college and art school never left him and he was painting on the side throughout the years of work in the art business. As a result of the work in the art trade, he developed a deep knowledge of the history of art and of old paintings with the greatest focus on Nineteenth Century painting. He developed great respect for technical ability and while technique is not the final goal of a work of art, it makes the possibility of communication through painting possible. He often quotes Henry James: “In the arts, feeling is meaning”.  

 

 

Artist’s Statement: 

 

        My first paintings were abstract. As I became more enchanted with the interactions of lines with colors, I came to understand that painting as decoration differs from painting as a “language”, and language is what I was after. For that, I needed to gain control of the basics - line and color - drawing, light and shade, just as writers and musicians contend with grammar, rhythm, tones, etc. That is technical mastery of their chosen medium. When I was at The New York Studio School there was great emphasis on “style”, and little on technique. But which style? And what was wrong with reality? Reality, after all, is where I was getting my principal motivation for painting anything - beauty. 

 

       From there I began a long process of re-presenting what I saw, gaining the technical wherewithal to paint what I saw - and to paint what I wanted to see. I painted landscapes, still life and interiors. I got better at editing out unnecessary details, but I always want to retain enough information to make a viewer feel what it would be like to be there. 

 

       I began painting enamel objects about 25 years ago. I enjoyed their age - these things are between 50 and 100 years old - and they come from all over the world: China, Russia, Eastern and Western Europe and the U.S. As I come to grips with the possibilities of these not-so-still lifes, I enjoy the fantasy that I am playing with history and also with the future. 

 

Selected One-Man Exhibitions:

                2024 Courthouse Gallery, Ellsworth, Me. “Everywhere I Go”, 8/5 – 9/5/24

                2023-24 Gallery Neptune & Brown, “As Far As One Can See” 12/23-1/24

                2022 Jane Roberts, Fine Art, Paris, “Peintures Récentes”

                2022 Courthouse Gallery, Ellsworth, Me., “Places of Beauty”

                2021 Gallery Neptune & Brown, Washington, D.C. “Wanderlust”

                2020 Courthouse Gallery, Ellsworth, Me., “I Still Believe in Beauty”

                2018-2019 Gallery Neptune & Brown, Washington, D.C. “Travelling Light”

                2018 Courthouse Gallery, Ellsworth, Me., “Inspired by Light”, Aug., 2018

                2016-2017 Gallery Neptune & Brown, Washington D.C. “Painter’s Perspective”

Selected Group Exhibitions:

                2020 Jane Roberts Fine Arts, Paris, France, “Paris” (online exhibition)

                2016 Windham Fine Arts, Windham, N.Y. “The Place We Call Home”

                2015 Courthouse Gallery, Ellsworth, Me. “New Work”

                2011-14 Spanierman Gallery, N.Y., “New Consignments”

                2011-12 The Gallery at Frenchmen’s Bay, Mt. Desert Island, Me.

                2011 Spanierman Gallery, N.Y., “Maine: An Artist’s Retreat”                              

                2010 Midtown-Payson Gallery, Hobe Sound, Fl. “Transport”

Books, Catalogues:

             “Art of Penobscot Bay”, Carl and David Little, 2023, illus.

             “The Century Table”, Various Authors, The Century Association, 2022, illus.

             “I Still Believe in Beauty”, Courthouse Gallery, Aug. 2020

             “Inspired by Light”, Courthouse Gallery, essay by Jonathon Harding, 2018

             “Art of Acadia”, Carl Little, David Little, pp. 274, 275, illus. 2016

             “A Closer Look”, Courthouse Gallery, essay by Lynne Barrett, 2016

             “Fugues, Themes, Harmonies”, Courthouse Gallery, essay by Carl Little, 2014

             “Return to Acadia”, Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, essay by Carl Little, 2013        

             "Joseph Keiffer: Landscape, Still Life, Interiors", text by artist, introduction by                    

             Susan Stovall, essay by Burton Silverman. Catskill Press/Ruder Finn Press, N.Y., 2005

             “Evolution of a Gallery: Green Mountain to Blue Mountain Gallery, 1968-2010”

               Marcia Clark, et al., Blue Mountain Gallery, 2010

             “Maine: An Artist’s Retreat”, Christine Berry, Curator, Spanierman Gallery,                   

               Illustrated, 2011

Selected Articles:

               American Art Collector, August, 2024, “Theories of Meaning”, p.96, illus.

               The Washington Post, Dec. 31, 2023, “Joseph Keiffer: As Far As One Can See”

               The Washington Post, June 4, 2021, “Joseph Keiffer: Wanderlust”

               The Washington Post, Dec. 14, 2018, “Joseph Keiffer: Traveling Light”

               New Music Connoisseur, N.Y. Fall, 2015, covers, front, back

               Ellsworth American, Aug.1, 2013, “Joseph Keiffer Comes to the Courthouse”

               American Artist Magazine, Feb., 2006 “Light and Arcadia”, article by John Parks, illus. 

               The Hook, May/June, 2005, profile by Degen Ring, pp. 24,25, illus, Nyack,  N.Y.

               The South County Independent, (R.I.) April 28, 2005, Sec. C, illus.

Selected Collections:

                Adelphi University, Garden City, New York

                Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Mass.                         

                Bryn Mawr College, Special Collections Library

                Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Greensburg, Pa.