Seymour RemenickUntitled (Waterworks), c1950's
Watercolor on paper, 7 1/4 x 9 7/8 in
Stuart ShilsFairmount Waterworks, 199
Oil on paper mounted on board, 6 5/8 x 4 7/8 in
Stuart ShilsDemolition of Reading Railroad Bridge, Site of New Convention Center, From PAFA, 13th and Cherry Sts., mid 1980’s
Oil on paper mounted on panel, 6 3/8 x 7 3/8 in
Seymour RemenickStudy: Philadelphia Rooftops, C. 1950s
Oil on wood, 7 1/8 x 9 ½ in
Seymour RemenickUntitled (Factory Building , Manayunk),, c.1986
Oil on paper laid down, 6 ½ x 9 7/8 in
Stuart ShilsRoxborough Rowhouses with Sun and Snow, 2009
Oil on paper, 11 ¾ x 13 ½ in
Seymour RemenickUnt. St.John's and Warehouse, c.1986
Oil on paper laid down, 8 7/8 x 12 ¼ in
Stuart ShilsWest Side Rooftops with Water Towers, 2008
Oil on linen, 15 x 26 ½ in (diptych)
Stuart Shils Pale Grass With Old House, Strawberry Mansion, Fairmount Park, 1995
Oil on paper mounted on board, 9 x 11 7/8 in
Seymour RemenickUnt. (Road), c. 1970s
Oil on panel, 12 x 14 in
Seymour RemenickUntitled (House on Silverwood Street with St. John’s), c. 1970s
Oil on panel, 11 7/8 x 15 7/8 in
Stuart ShilsBackyards With Tree Trunk, 1991
Oil on panel, 11 ½ x 11 ½ in
Seymour RemenickRooftop, Philadelphia, c.1955
Oil on wood, 7 7/8 x 6 7/8 in
•Sold/private collection in
Seymour RemenickUnt. (Green Lane Railroad Bridge, Manayunk), 1980s
Oil on paper laid down, 10 3/8 x 14 ½ in
•sold/private collection
Seymour RemenickFactory Building with Trees, 1980s
Oil on paper, 8 3/4 x 13 1/4 in
Stuart ShilsHoly Family Church, Manayunk Hillside, 1987
Oil on paper mounted on panel, 7 ¼ x 9 in
Seymour RemenickGreen Lane RR Bridge through the Trees, 1980s
Oil on paper, 9 ½ x 14 in
Stuart ShilsSpring in Fairmount Park, 1987
Oil on paper mounted on board, 7 x 10 3/8 in
Seymour RemenickTrees (Fairmount Park), 1967
Oil on panel, 9 ½ x 10 ½ in
Stuart ShilsDark Trees, Pastorious Park, 1989
Oil on paper mounted on board, 7 ¾ x 6 7/8 in
Stuart ShilsTrees Around An Old House Near the West River Drive, 1987
Oil on paper mounted on panel, 7 3/8 x 9 1/8 in
Stuart ShilsRiver with Old Shipping Docks, c.1988
Oil on paper
*Private collection in
Seymour RemenickUnt (Gloucester Harbor), 1970s
Oil on panel, 12 x 16 in
Review by Lance Espund
Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects at Gallery Schlesinger
24 E. 73rd St.
Through Oct. 17
Steven Harvey Fine Arts Projects, which began two years ago in Mr. Harvey's apartment and has exhibited work in several spaces in the city, is the type of gallery—small, specialized and mobile—that we'll probably be seeing more of in the coming years. Mr. Harvey, formerly a director at the Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, is building a stable of living artists and artists' estates, many of them not household names. He is approaching gallery directing as a hands-on labor of love.
One of his current projects is a two-person exhibition of small plein-air landscapes by the relatively unknown Seymour Remenick (1923-1999) and his well-known student Stuart Shils (b. 1954). Most were painted in and around Philadelphia, sometimes side by side. Mr. Shils is represented here with paintings from the 1980s through 2009. His mature works—the pared-down landscapes built up out of broad planes of impastoed color—have always struck me as a little vague and impersonal. But Mr. Shils's roots are in Remenick, and his most satisfying paintings are earlier. The best of them, including the charming "River with Old Shipping Docks" (c. 1988), exude a sweet light and an economy reminiscent of Albert Marquet's water views. Remenick—with landscapes from the 1950s through the 1980s, on view here—steals the show. He channels qualities of Corot, Constable and the Dutch masters in a brushy, old-world, oil-sketch approach to nature that is uniquely, genuinely Romantic.