This summer, the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge has hosted “Grounded in Nature: Paintings by Adam Van Doren,” an exhibition exploring the intimate relationship between architecture and the natural world.
On view for only a few more weeks in the Leonhardt Galleries, the exhibition features more than 35 watercolor and oil paintings by the New York-based artist, architect, author and Yale professor, curated by art historian Donna Hassler, director emerita of Chesterwood. The works span three distinct places that have shaped Van Doren’s artistic practice: New York City, Cornwall, Connecticut, and his travels throughout Europe.
Hassler first encountered Van Doren’s work years ago, when they crossed paths through their shared connection to the American Academy in Rome. Years later, when she was considering artists whose work would complement Berkshire Botanical Garden’s focus on art and nature, his paintings immediately came to mind.
“When I heard about Steve Proctor’s show, I immediately thought about Adam’s work,” Hassler said, referring to the ceramic artist whose monumental vessels and sculptures are also on view at the Garden. “Everything that is on exhibit here has some aspect of nature in it. And thinking about the built environment — buildings are not built in a vacuum. The landscape is important to the overall impression of the building in a particular setting.”
After visiting Van Doren’s New York studio and reviewing hundreds of works, Hassler decided to organize the show geographically, allowing viewers to trace how different landscapes have influenced the artist.
The first gallery focuses on Van Doren’s life in New York City, where he has maintained a studio on West 57th Street, near Central Park. His watercolors capture architectural details and urban landscapes, from Central Park bridges and fountains to Greenwich Village townhouses and the former Carnegie Mansion, now home to the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
“He has a studio on West 57th Street, right down the block from Carnegie Hall,” Hassler said. “Within a couple of blocks of Central Park, you see a number of watercolors — a fountain, details of the balustrade, bridges in Central Park, cityscapes.”
The exhibition then moves to Cornwall, where Van Doren has spent summers throughout his life on a family farm originally purchased by his grandparents, writers Mark and Dorothy Van Doren. Surrounded by fields, streams and historic buildings, this landscape, which will be familiar to many, has become one of his most enduring subjects.
The Cornwall gallery is housed in Berkshire Botanical Garden’s historic Center House, an 18th-century building whose preserved character echoes the themes of Van Doren’s work.
“I like that they’re in here,” Hassler said. “It’s not a white gallery space. The raw material of this older building is still here.”
Many of Van Doren’s Cornwall paintings explore the interplay of architecture, land and light, including views of the Bradford homestead, an 18th-century farmhouse surrounded by weathered barns and stone walls.
The final section of the exhibition follows Van Doren’s travels abroad, particularly in Italy, France and England. Influenced by his architectural training at Columbia University and the classical watercolor techniques of the École des Beaux-Arts, Van Doren has long used watercolor to capture historic buildings within their landscapes.
“He paints mainly outdoors,” Hassler said. Working en plein air, the artist often paints with a portable stool, watercolor paper and palette, capturing changing light and atmosphere in real time.
Hassler noted the difference between Van Doren’s watercolor and oil paintings, a few of which are displayed side by side in the exhibition.
“He uses pure color,” she said of his watercolor technique. “It’s your eye that then fills in the form that he’s creating.”
The exhibition also includes works from Van Doren’s time as a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome, where he painted ancient ruins, gardens and architectural views. His Rome paintings later inspired the poet John Tagliabue’s collection “An Artist in Rome.”
“Grounded in Nature: Paintings by Adam Van Doren” is on view through Aug. 23 at Berkshire Botanical Garden. For more information, visit berkshirebotanical.org
Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.L. Tomaino 
