Timothy Standring

Timothy James Standring, Curator Emeritus, Denver Art Museum:

Though small in scale, Timothy James Standring’s oils and watercolors pierce the assumed poetics both media aspire to express. Over the past decade, Standring has brought a gimlet-eyed attention to a painterly parity of close observation and delight in his material. Deft material sensitivity and technique, both traditional and radical, register in the recurring themes he paints. Just as they resonate with Standring’s influences in a line of artists extending from Edgar Degas and John Singer Sargent to Joaquìn Sorolla and Andrew Wyeth. 
His recent watercolor works reflect a preference for painting with the pigment-loaded sable belly instead of the brush’s tight point which results, surprisingly, in marks and images reminiscent of dry brush oils on unprepared paper. Such heavily pigmented watercolors enliven the poetic statements his compositions sustain. Similarly, his plein air oil sketches betray watercolor techniques. Indeed, these paradoxes of approach underscore Standring’s radical authenticity in both media. Standring conveys in his meditative observation of intimate scenes and settings a challenge to the fickle attributes that watercolor and oils encompass.  
Standring’s works are held in numerous private collections across North American and Europe. On three occasions his works have been included in the prestigious 10 x 10 x 10 juried exhibition in Tieton, Washington. In 2022, 2023, and 2024 Standring participated in the Coors Western Art Exhibition. One of his monographic exhibitions was reviewed by the national critic Ray Rainaldi in the Denver Post; another was cited in Fine Art Connoisseur.

A sensitive and voluble teacher, Standring conducts watercolor painting workshops at the Art Students League of Denver in June, as well as the Lunenburg School of the Arts, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in September.  His legacy as an artist and scholar has influenced generations of artists. Many around the nation—and indeed—the world are indebted to his generous mentorship.