Author: Wil

Posted on

Eric Sloane and the Winnie Mae

“It was Sloane’s friendship with Wiley Post that introduced him to a new area of artistic exploration…Sloane wrote of flying with Post one day when the aviator told him that ‘Someday an artist will come along and just paint clouds and sky’.
-From Aware: A Retrospective of the life and work of Eric Sloane by Wil Mauch. Used by permission.

“The Winnie Mae”
Oil on Masonite

Learn more about this most talented and fascinating American artist at www.weatherhillfarm.com.
To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, see www.friendsoftheericsloanemuseum.org. While you’re there, please consider making a donation online to our new hands-on classroom project.

Posted on

Eric Sloane at Deeley Gallery

Eric Sloane – Deeley Gallery
Manchester Village, Vermont
October 1-19, 1971

Learn more about this most talented and fascinating American artist at www.weatherhillfarm.com.

To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, see www.friendsoftheericsloanemuseum.org. While you’re there, please consider making a donation online to our new hands-on classroom project.

Posted on

Eric Sloane’s Ski Paintings

Not much of this going on around here as of late….

Eric Sloane, N.A.
Sunlight and Shadow
Oil on Panel
23.50″ x 31.50″
c. 1950

Photo from Wil Mauch’s Symbols of American Spirit: 50 Years of the Eric Sloane Museum

Some admirers of the works of Eric Sloane are startled to discover that the artist painted more than a few ski scenes during the early 1950s.  Eric’s sister Dorothy explained to me that Eric received a large, “coffee table book” in full color of scenes of Switzerland some time in the late 1940s and was captivated by photographs of the Alps.  What followed, according to Dorothy, was a period in which Eric produced scenes similar to Sunlight and Shadow.  Some of the paintings were set in Europe, while others were set in New England or the Rocky Mountain region of the Western United States.

       It would seem as if Sloane’s fascination with painting ski scenes was short lived, probably not more than a few years at most. – Wil Mauch, Symbols of American Spirit: 50 Years of the Eric Sloane Museum.

Posted on

Eric Sloane and Early American Life Magazine

“Away back in 1969, when we first researching EAS {Early American Society, eventual publisher of Early American Life magazine}, we wrote to Mr. Sloane. In three days we had an answer. That’s a “sign” because he gets 200 letters a day! He liked the idea of EAS, but was too busy to become a part of the staff, which was what we wanted.”
Though he turned down the offer, he was crafty enough to have them write an article on the newly opened Eric Sloane Museum!

Learn more about this most talented and fascinating American artist at www.weatherhillfarm.com.
To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, see www.friendsoftheericsloanemuseum.org. While you’re there, please consider making a donation online to our new hands-on classroom project.

Posted on

Eric Sloane illustration of barn doors

Eric Sloane’s Sheathed Barn Doors of the 1700’s


Dreaming of barn or carriage house doors for the new classroom we are building for the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent, Connecticut.
No shortage of inspiration here, as Eric Sloane illustrated many regional barn doors, like these four from Pennsylvania and New York.


Illustration used by permission, from Wil Mauch’s Aware: A Retrospective of the Life and Work of Eric Sloane.

To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, see www.friendsoftheericsloanemuseum.org.

Posted on

The Eric Sloane Museum, c. 1980

I’m biased, but the #ericsloanemuseum has to be one of the most charming museum buildings/campus in the Northeast (and that is saying something!). Here is a photo, taken c. 1980, of the museum building. Notice that the “shed” on the north side of the museum has yet to be constructed, the very structure we are going to transform into a well-lit and welcoming hands-on classroom in 2023. Photo used by permission, from Wil Mauch’s Aware: A Retrospective of the Life and Work of Eric Sloane.

To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, see www.friendsoftheericsloanemuseum.org. While you’re there, please consider making a donation online to our new hands-on classroom project.

Posted on

Eric Sloane @ Grand Central Galleries

Eric Sloane, c. 1965, signing a copy of his “The Book of Storms” at Grand Central Art Galleries in New York City. Notice one of his covered bridge paintings on the wall in front of him.


Photo used by permission, from Wil Mauch’s Aware: A Retrospective of the Life and Work of Eric Sloane.

To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, see www.friendsoftheericsloanemuseum.org. While you’re there, please consider making a donation online to our new hands-on classroom project.

Posted on

“October Clouds” by Eric Sloane, N.A.

“…whereas I used to add a tiny barn or farm building to give further identity to a cloudscape, I was now using a touch of sky merely to enhance more elaborate farm scenes.”
– Eric Sloane

“October Colors”
19″ x 33″
Oil on Masonite

Notice Eric’s use of the word “cloudscape” in his quote above, a word the artist said that he coined. The treatment of the sky in general, and clouds in particular, is critical to ascertain authenticity of the artist’s works. I’ve often wondered who was the first to ascend into the air for the purpose of painting the clouds.
I know Eric was doing so as early as at least 1930. But I’ve seen enough early air show/contest posters from Europe in which the artwork was rendered by someone who had clearly been in a balloon or airplane to be able to create the effect of air, sky, and cloud so effectively from a pilot’s perspective.

Photo used by permission, from Wil Mauch’s Aware: A Retrospective of the Life and Work of Eric Sloane.

To learn more about the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and our mission to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the Eric Sloane Museum and its collection, see www.friendsoftheericsloanemuseum.org. While you’re there, please consider making a donation online to our new hands-on classroom project.