A artist's brush with longevity

Drop by the Providence Art Club, and you know you’re seeing the work of a master watercolorist. But then again, Al Albrektson has had more than a little time to perfect his craft.

Albrektson, mentor to many a local artist, turned 100 on Labor Day, and he was feted with a luncheon at the Providence Art Club.

“I did everything wrong,” said Albrektson, while friends gathered for the meal. “I smoked, drank and did my share of carousing. I had no formula. It just worked out that way,” he said in explaining how he managed to hit the century mark.

For decades, Albrektson was a much sought-after teacher and mentor to many an aspiring artist. He taught classes at the Art Club and the Rhode Island Watercolor Society but now is content to be ”just a student.” A friend drives him to classes at the Art Club, where he’ll stay for lunch.

“Al got me painting,” said neighbor Janet Mansour, adding that Albrektson is “rich in friends, and a real gem.”

“He knows exactly what to say in class,” said longtime student Margaret Voit. “He’ll suggest a color that’s exactly what I need.”

Such words of praise are to be expected at a birthday luncheon. But the greatest tribute is letting Albrektson’s art speak for him.

The Art Club has rounded up some 60 watercolors for this handsome retrospective up through the end of the month.

If you want to see the finicky art of watercolor painting done right, find time to see this show.

Albrektson’s subject matter might seem traditional: the Rhode Island shoreline, farms, still lifes, and the clotted byways of Venice.

But his wonderful sense of rhythm, color and pulse keep these images from seeming clichéd.

The portrait of a solo gondolier plying the canals of Venice is all about gesture, the energy of the stroke, while the boat is just hinted at with a few fluid lines that could be ripples in the water.

And when he sat down to paint Beavertail Light, a favorite subject among local artists, Albrektson treated the iconic lighthouse as an afterthought, pushing it way to the background and focusing instead on the energetic patterns of the rocky shoreline and lone fisherman.

It’s that constant dance between detail and impression that makes Albrektson’s paintings so engaging. And there’s a freshness about his work that belies the enormous skill involved.

His take on an evening visit to WaterFire uses a few quick strokes to create the horde of spectators, and splashes of orange and yellow bleed into the swirling greens and blues of the river to suggest burning braziers.

And he’s big on color, on a palette that can be a bit blinding at times. A white farmhouse perched on a spit of land jutting into a cove is devoured by the blazing oranges, yellows and purples of the sunset.

But it’s in his jazz series that Albrektson loves to load his brush with magenta and perhaps push color too much to the fore.

Albrektson, now hard of hearing and walking with the aid of a cane, came to this country from Sweden as a toddler, as his parents chased the American dream.

By grade school, he knew he could draw and dreamed about becoming the commercial artist he saw in magazine ads.

That led to three years of classes at RISD. But Uncle Sam had other plans for him.

Albrektson spent two years in the Pacific during World War II, then went right to work for a Providence ad firm when discharged.

“I think I stuck with watercolors,” said Albrektson at his birthday party, “because in the ad business you had to create quickly. Some people work for hours on detail. For me, it’s all about spontaneity."

For years, Albrektson ran his own design firm, providing art for a number of local ad agencies. He retired in 1990, and he still paints every day.

There are many memorable images in this inspiring show, a dashed-off portrait of jazz pianist Dave McKenna lost in the music, and a delicate rendering of an ornate lawn chair, looking like a piece of French pastry.

But it’s the consistency of this wonderful show that’s most impressive. Again and again, Albrektson hits the mark.

And, hopefully, he will do so for years to come.

“I’ve had a good life,” said Albrektson, whose wife died 11 years ago. “It’s still a good life. I still have some excitement now and again, and I still paint. The one useful thing, although I’m not sure it’s so useful."

If you go ...

What: Al Albrektson Retrospective

When: Through Nov. 1, Monday-Friday, noon-4 p.m., weekends, 2-4 p.m., and by appointment

Where: Providence Art Club, 11 Thomas St., Providence

Information: (401) 331-1114,  providenceartclub.org