Bryn Craig (b. 1931)

Starne’s Market, c. 1985, watercolor and gouache on paper, signed lower right, 30 x 34 inches (image), 41 x 45 inches (framed), exhibition label verso reads: “DIV: 1 / ENTRY: 66 / EXH: 36 / FINE ARTS / CLASS: 1.00 / “STARNES MARKET” / BRYN B. CRAIG / SAN RAFAEL, CA.”, Literature: Arts and Film, Independent Coast Observer, March 28, 1986, (mentioned in article and illustrated in advertisement for Henley’s Gallery, The Sea Ranch, CA)

ON HOLD

About the Painting

Starne’s Market is a prime example of Bryn Craig’s realist compositions from the 1970s and 80s. The painting depicts a family-owned corner grocery store in Petaluma, California at 500 South Petaluma Blvd., South (formerly 3rd St.) Founded in the late 1940s, Starne’s Market was a mainstay of the local community, including serving as a hub for sharing information. Note the open door, ubiquitous advertising, and now antiquated newspaper racks and telephone booth. That Craig filled the composition with symbols of welcome and communication is not surprising given his background as an “Ad Man” for Young and Rubicam and other major agencies. Craig’s most important influences are on full display in Starne’s Market. The single, lonely figure standing against a brightly lit and deeply shadowed façade recalls the work of Edward Hopper, while the foliage and natural landscape in the left passage of the painting relate to the paintings of Fairfield Porter. The bravura brush strokes reflect the influence of John Singer Sargent. Although a realist working as part of a throughline including these American painters, Craig developed his own spare, yet precise modern style. He is no photorealist, but his works still convey the very real substance of the built suburban environment and the stories that reside there. Starne’s Market reflects Craig’s approach to painting, which he described as follows: "I look for the poetry in even the most ordinary subjects, not just the surface appearance. I hope to stimulate that same response in the viewer.”   

About the Artist

Bryn Craig is a California realist painter. Born in 1931 in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, Craig graduated from the Philadelphia Museum College of Art and later attended New York’s Art Students League. After two years as an instructor in the Army Corps of Engineers map making school at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Craig became an art director for advertising agencies in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, where he was Vice President of TV Art and Production for Young and Rubicam. Although Craig had consistently maintained a fine art practice along with his commercial work, at age 58 he left the advertising business to paint full time. Craig exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Art Alliance (solo 1964), the Corcoran Gallery (Washington DC), and San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art, as well as dozens of commercial galleries, principally in California, including Gump’s in San Francisco. From early in his career, Craig’s paintings received critical acclaim, beginning with Honorable Mentions from the Landale Art League in 1950 and 1951, as well as favorable mentions as one of the best students at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art exhibition in 1953. His other awards and honors include a Fannie Mae Foundation Purchase Award, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art Best of Show, and Honorable Mentions from the Philadelphia Museum and the Southern California Exposition. Craig served as a juror for the California Watercolor Association and the Festival of Masters at Disney World, Orlando.  Craig’s paintings are in the collections of the U.S. Embassies in Berlin, Germany and Dar El Salaam, Tanzania, and numerous private collections.

(As framed)