Date: Fri 24-Sep-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: MARION

Quick Words:

Jinishian-Warship

Full Text:

Warship Watercolors By Ian Marshall Open At J Russell Jinishian Gallery

September 25

(with cut)

FAIRFIELD, CONN. -- September 25 through October 2, watercolors of Scottish

born artist Ian Marshall with be on exhibition at the J. Russell Jinishian

Gallery at 1657 Post Road. The exhibition "Ironclads" will feature Mr

Marshall's paintings of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century British and American

warships, many of them used to illustrate his critically acclaimed book

Ironclads and Paddlers . The public is invited to meet the artist and tour the

exhibition with him on Sunday, September 26 from 5 to 7 pm.

The exhibition will consist of thirty paintings of the most famous and

celebrated naval vessels in history. Mr Marshall's paintings trace the

development in the navies of the world in the late Nineteenth through

mid-Twentieth Century from the HMS Warrior , the first iron-built armored

warship put into service by the British Royal Navy in 1861 and the USS

Wampanoag in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1874 to more modern battleships, the

Colorado , seen steaming off Diamond Head in the Hawaiian Islands in 1926

while the USS Mississippi is shown in Tokyo Bay in 1945.

Mr Marshall's dramatic paintings of the USS Connecticut reveals an important

moment in American Naval History. In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt sent a

newly created battle fleet of 16 ships (named after States of the Union) all

the way around the world to demonstrate US Naval superiority. All the ships

were painted white and the fleet became known as the "Great White Fleet".

Stopping in important ports around the world, this action helped keep peace on

the oceans until World War I. Mr Marshall's powerful painting shows the

battleship USS Connecticut billowing steam, leading the entire fleet through

the Straits of Magellan in 1905 as they enter the Pacific Ocean off the tip of

South America.

Mr Marshall is well known internationally as an artist, historian and author.

He is the author of four celebrated volumes: British Capital Ships , Armored

Ships and Ironclads and Paddlers . His newest book, Passage East , was

described by The New York Times as "a work of superb artistry and

scholarship."

His paintings have been exhibited at the Imperial War Museum in London, the

Royal Naval Museum, US Naval Museum, Royal Society of Marine Artists

Exhibition, Mystic Seaport Museum and the Maine Maritime Museum.

The exhibition is open to the public, free of charge, Tuesday to Saturday 10

am to 5 pm. Call the gallery at 203/259-8753 for more information.