#keeseville

Lake Champlain, NY

Don and Mona LeClair were married on October 2, 1965 at her family’s church, the Immaculate Conception located at the top of Front Street hill. The newlyweds moved into a small apartment on Pleasant Street, next door to Pine’s Grocery. Don found himself spending many nights visiting the store and talking to Emmett, developing a friendship that lasted for years.  Mona would often send Don to pick up a few groceries and hours would pass before he crossed back over the driveway that separated the apartment building from the store.

Don loved talking to Emmett.  Emmett knew what was going on around the village and had definite opinions that he happily shared.  The store was comfortable and welcoming, especially if Emmett answered the bells that rang into action when struck by the opening door. Don remembers Emmett standing behind the counter in front of shelves laden with 20 to 30 small paintings. It was a casual, revolving exhibit as paintings would disappear when purchased only to be replaced by new ones. 

A month or so after their wedding, Don was in the store and saw a couple of small paintings of the Immaculate Conception Church. They were paintings of the church in a winter setting.  Don pointed at them and said “Emmett,  that isn’t what the church looked like on my wedding day, Mona and I were married on a beautiful sunny day.” 

 He told Pine that Turner’s Drug Store had post cards of the Church that reminded him exactly of the day they were married.  Emmett told Don to bring him one of the post cards and he would paint it.  Don, wanted a painting larger than the typical boards and canvases he saw placed around the store so he also bought a frame the size he was looking for and gave both to Pine.

Postcard of the Church of the Immaculate Conception,  “The Irish Church”, Keeseville, NY ca1965 Curtesy of Don and Mona LeClair

Pine was busy at the time, he told Don he had a few commission ahead of his but only two or three weeks later, the painting was completed and framed.  Emmett knew Don had very strong feelings about the special scene and he put a lot of work into the painting, recreating the church on that sunny day only a few short months after the wedding had taken place.

Immaculate Conception Church by Emmett Pine, 1965, Curtesy of Don and Mona LeClair.  Approximately 17″ x 24″

Don and Mona’s painting of the Irish Church has hung in their home for 55 years, with the original post card tucked into the corner of the frame.  Their painting of the church on a sunny day, with the south side a bright and brilliant white, the tall spruces and the statue of the Church’s namesake on the front lawn, the stain glass windows styled in blue.  

Using the post card for details, Pine didn’t just copy it.  His view was southwest of the church well across the road allowing him to include a more complete perspective of the church and surrounding land.  He even included glimpses of the cemetery behind the church, through the tall trees that have always graced the South and East sides of the property.  Like the post card, the sky is full of clouds but instead of the bright blue we see a pale sky with some light greying in the East possibly a portent of a storm coming in off Lake Champlain or a gentle nod to the newlyweds that married life isn’t always blue sky and sunshine.

The Immaculate Conception, locally called the Irish Church was built by Irish Immigrants in 1835.  It was the first Catholic Church in Keeseville and remains the oldest active original-structure church in the diocese.  The church was a favorite theme for Pine and one that sold well.  

Emmitt’s family, were long time parishioners of the Irish Church and in fact he is buried in the Immaculate Conception cemetery, as are his parents, his wife, his sister and many other relatives.   Pine’s most popular painting of the Church was an evening scene depicting Midnight Mass.  In fact, in 1980 when he completed a commission of that painting  for a long time friend and collector, Pine told him it was his 25th rendering of that scene at that time.

Don and Mona’s painting is the 9th painting of the Irish church that I have cataloged, and while Emmett had fun varying the colors and using different lighting they are all winter scenes.  This is the only painting cataloged to date showing the church in a warm weather season which makes it pretty special.

Selection of Privately Owned Paintings of the Immaculate Conception in the Emmett Pine Catalogue

Don LeClair is retired now but he still lives on Pleasant Street, a ways down from Emmett’s old store in the home he and Mona brought up their family.    They can be found most days relaxing on their porch, visiting with family and friends.

Nooks and Crannies House Holds Sweet Memories Decades Later

Our wonderful old house in Keeseville, New York in 1981

Larry and I have lived in three homes in our almost 45 years of marriage. All three have been lovely, especially after we made them our home with our personal touches.  None of the places we lived, however, ever could compare to the memories I have of the house in which I grew up with all its nooks and crannies.

In 1952, my parents…

In the 1940′s Helga Peterson, a neighbor of Emmitt Pine, acquired this small painting from him.  She had either seen him throw it away or found it after he had thrown it away.  When she asked why, Pine said he had tossed it because he was unhappy with the foreground.  He gave the painting to her and it has been in her family ever since.

The painting is 8″ by 10″ and offers a birds eye view of the hill rising from River Street to the Immaculate Conception on Front Street in Keeseville.  This interesting perspective shows some of the houses along River Street with the  primary focus on the Irish Church above.

Pine was probably dissatisfied with the two small houses in the foreground which are undersized compared to the white house on the left.  All the houses that line the north side of Front Street are missing from the work; we don’t know if he just didn’t get to them or if he never planned on including them.  Prospect mountain in the background is almost picture perfect.

Emmett Pine’s paintings are often passed within a family from generation to generation, rarely making their way into the open market.  This is the case with this painting.  The work was passed from Helga to her daughter and after many years was passed to Helga’s grand daughter and her husband, Bruce and Nina Sullivan.  

Winter Whitetail, Curtesy TJMM

Deer Hunting in the North Country is an important slice of local life.  In the lead up to deer season hunters plan, they scout, and they talk and talk and talk and when it begins some have been known to stop working until it’s over.  Although Emmett Pine was never a hunter he must have been caught up in the excitement and talk since two paintings featuring a whitetail buck have been identified and included in the Emmett Pine Catalog.

On a recent visit to the North Country, my brother and sister-in-law presented me with this wonderful painting as a gift for Christmas (see above).  The unframed “oddly” sized, hand stretched canvas measures 17″X 25 1/4″.

The scene is a white tail buck momentarily frozen in surprise, crossing a pond or stream.  The deer is looking directly at the source disrupting this placid glen, beautifully lit by the setting sun. 

The water feature in this work adds difficulty for Pine. The buck’s left rear leg tied to a rock in the pond by its reflection looks like a boot, and the rock below the curved front leg might be the period below a question mark.  Pine built his paintings from the background up, layer by layer; I suspect the rocks were already in the pond when Pine decided to add the buck.  He does do justice to the sky reflecting in the surface of the pond and of the snow on the banks above the water.  His blue shadowing through the woods add depth and dimension to the work.

Winter Buck, Curtesy Robert Studebaker

In this painting of another four point buck, surprised once again by some noise or unexpected activity deep in the winter woods, you can see Pine has put a bit more style into defining the body of the buck.  His rear haunches are well defined as is the shape of his raised hoof.

I suspect that the Studebaker’s painting might have been done later in Pines career.  The tree branches are delicate with a light layering of snow unlike the top painting where winter snow and ice are added in a multitude of bluish blotches similar to winter paintings Pine did in the late 30′s and early 40′s.

These are two very charming paintings of typical scenes Pine would have heard about from customers in his store, friends and family throughout hunting season, year after year.  His sister’s husband and sons were all avid hunters and eager story tellers of their exploits in the woods.  Perhaps these paintings illustrate a couple such stories.