Line Dance (Credit: Private Collection)
The National Sporting Library & Museum will be highlighting the work of landscape and sporting painter Peter Corbin in a new exhibit. Line Dance – The Art of Fly Fishing by Peter Corbin will be on view from Jan. 30 through July 3, 2016.
Corbin produced a video slide show to accompany his exhibition. In the voice-over for it, Corbin delves into his artistic inspirations, his meticulous painting process, and his philosophy on creating art — all rooted in a lifelong passion for fly fishing and the outdoors.
He sees three distinct categories in which his narrative sporting works fall.
“The first is a painting of anticipation such as an angler starting his cast and a guide positioning the boat,” he said. “The second kind of painting is a frozen moment when time seems to stop and the image is etched into your mind … for example, the first massive jump of a tarpon. The third is the painting of reflection. This is the quiet time of the day with the angler against the sunset or releasing a fish.”
Power and Grace (Credit: Collection of the Treibar Family)
These three categories are well-represented in the selection of 15 large paintings, spanning from 1978 to the present, which are on loan to the NSLM exhibition from collectors of the artist’s work. It is worth noting that Corbin considers himself a landscape painter first; the sporting subject matter he depicts is part of the scene.
The paintings reveal the beauty and diversity of prime fresh and saltwater fly fishing areas in North America, from the grandeur of the mountains out West in Morning on the Gallatin (2011), to the hallowed space in Evening Rise (2008), and the rocky shoreline of Martha’s Vineyard in Evening in Lobsterville ( 2006).
Although Corbin tried plein air painting, in the last four decades he has honed a painstaking and exacting technique in his studio in Millbrook, NY. A series of Corbin’s photographs in the video reveals the progression of his oil painting, Line Dance (2014), from the reference photos taken while on a tarpon fly fishing trip through completion of the resulting 20-by-30-inch canvas on view in the NSLM exhibition.
Evening at Lobsterville (Credit: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Jay Bonanno)
Corbin’s primary artistic influences are sporting artists Ogden Pleissner and A.B. Frost, and the renowned Winslow Homer. He counts abstract artists Steve Smith, Alexander Calder, and José de Rivera among his early inspirations.
Corbin has come a long way since graduating from Wesleyan University in 1968 with high honors in art and his first one-man show featuring his abstract sculpture. He noted that he still contemplates many of the same principals in painting his representational works.
“My fascination with both reflected and transmitted light, and the elements of asymmetrical balance and linear motion, all come together in the realism of the sport of fly fishing, which, for me, is the most direct form of fishing that exists.”
The NSLM will celebrate the opening of the exhibition with a Free Admission Day on Saturday, Jan. 30. An exhibition catalog, the book Peter Corbin: The Artist’s Creel by Tom Davis, and a limited-edition print of Broad River Redfish, a painting in the exhibition, will all be available for purchase.
Broad River Redfish (Credit: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. William F. Henagan)
A “Meet the Artist” event is scheduled for Saturday, March 19 at 10 a.m. at the NSLM with the artist. Admission to the event is free to NSLM members and $5 for non-members.
For more information about the exhibition, go to NationalSporting.org or for details about the artist, visit PeterCorbin.com. Watch Peter Corbin’s exhibition video slide show at https://youtu.be/0WCWOu3rLN4.
About NSLM
The National Sporting Library & Museum is located in Middleburg, Virginia, the heart of beautiful hunt country. Founded in 1954, the renowned research library and fine art museum highlight the rich heritage and tradition of country pursuits.
Angling, horsemanship, shooting, steeplechasing, foxhunting, flat racing, polo, coaching, and wildlife are among the subjects one can explore in the organization’s general stacks, rare book holdings, archives, and art collection. The NSLM offers a wide variety of educational programs, exhibitions, and family activities throughout the year, and is open to researchers and the general public.
While there is no admission fee to the library, the museum charges $10 for adults, $8 for youths (age 13-18), and $8 for seniors. NSLM members and children ages 12 and under are admitted free. Library and museum hours are Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.