Alice Karle Appraisal

Fine & Decorative Art

Daniel Garber

Daniel Garber
Contact Us Return to Gallery

Daniel Garber

Retrospective Fair Market Appraisal
Appraisal Services Virtual Appraisal Marketing for Sale

Daniel Garber (1880-1958) was a painter, printmaker and teacher. Born in Indiana, he settled in Cuttalossa, Lumberville, Pennsylvania. Daniel Garber’s painting titled November, was a favorite of the artist. Daniel Garber resides in the upper echelon of the New Hope school of painters. Garber’s painting can be appreciated as an important link between Homestead paintings, American Impressionism (Plein Air), and a sparse 20th Century modernist structural view. As of this writing the subject is the third highest selling work by the artist. The fact that the painting retains its’ original Harker frame and is apparently in excellent, untouched condition, is also an important value factor.

Daniel Garber had reached prominence in the 1920’s. However, the 1930’s introduced an important new element in the artist’s mature work: exploring structure with a minimalist’s attention to ornament. You can see this component as a three dimensional effect in Garber’s exploration of the structure of nature. Unlike a Homestead painting, the work is not flat, but you are led into the scene by the components where each element directs your eye into the inherent motion of the landscape.

Compare November by Daniel Garber with the Granville Redmond work on this website, which is truly a California Impressionist painting. Both artists painted in seasons exhibiting palettes of blue, orange, brown, and lavender. Although both works direct your eye,  you will begin to recognize the more minimalist approach taken by Daniel Garber in November.

An art colony is a place where artists congregate, teach, and share ideas. It’s also usually a nice place to live and often not too far from a metropolitan area. In California, a few historic art colonies are Monterey and Laguna Beach.

In the early 1900’s artists congregated in New Hope, Pennsylvania (and also near Lamberton, New Jersey). This was the beginning of the New Hope school of painting. In 1907 Daniel Garber came to New Hope. Unlike his predecessors who usually painted winter scenes using heavy applications of paint, Garber painted in a lighter and brighter palette. He became known for his realistic sense of depth and light which is so well demonstrated in November.

It’s interesting to note that various splinter organizations and groups formed within the New Hope Colony, ultimately resulting in a split between the Impressionists and the Modernists. In 1930, modernist Lloyd Ney submitted a painting of the New Hope canal for entry to a juried exhibition which rejected the painting because one of the bridges depicted in this work was painted in a bright red.

Another New Hope artist, Charles Frederic Ramsey formed the “New Group” of painters working in a modernist style. Daniel Garber was not a member of the New Group, nor is he listed as a member of a subsequent organization called the “Independents”. Yet, you can see their influence in his spare and purposeful interpretation of landscape.

The attention to structure, his advanced and mature impressionist technique, combined with the three dimensionality of the subject work together in creating this very important, pivotally transitional work by the artist.

Our assignment was to value the painting at a point in time previous to its sale at auction. We did not represent the work at auction, but subsequently met the client.