Ogden Minton Pleissner (1905–1983) once commented, “I’ve done quite a few sporting pictures because I have always loved to fish and shoot, but I am not one who specializes in sporting subjects. Ten or fifteen percent of my work is sporting—the rest is pure landscape painting.”
Inspired by Pleissner’s extensive travels in North America and his passion for hunting and fishing, Lying in Wait features evocative watercolors and sketches related to the artist’s passion for sport. These selections invite viewers to hike the dusty landscapes of Dubois, Wyoming; float through old-growth forests on the Restigouche River in New Brunswick, Canada; explore the piney lowlands of the exclusive Okeetee Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina; and more.
Pleissner’s compositions are unified not only by his sensitive ability to capture details of habitat and the mood of a particular place, but also by what they leave to the imagination: illuminated by a glowing sunrise, early rising duck hunters lay decoys for unsuspecting pintail drakes; fishermen patiently wait for brown trout to rise to the surface; and old friends take aim as woodcock and quail burst from the underbrush. In Pleissner’s sporting pictures something is always about to happen, lying in wait.
Pleissner Gallery
