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| A large percentage of Theodore Lukits' plein-air pastels are moonlights. Because he loved painting "mood" paintings, he was drawn to the enveloping cloak of night. Night obscures detail, reducing a painting to its most essential elements, and in these simple compositions, stripped of the extraneous, Lukits excelled. He often painted a single, elegantly drawn tree or rocky outcropping silhouetted against the light of a full moon. When compared to the Northern California Tonalists, Lukits' works are more dynamic, as he used the more chromatic palette of Impressionism for his nocturnes. It is his elegant yet simple compositions and his subtle use of color that creates a palpable sense of mood even his least complex works. | |||
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| TNL 557, Pastel on Paper, 11" x 15" "Moon Reflections " (circa 1922, Lukits Art Trust) |
TNL 187, Pastel on Paper, 9" x 13" "Eucalyptus Moon" (circa 1922, Private Collection) |
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| TNL 184, Pastel on Paper, 11 " x 15" "Rising Moon" (circa 1920, California Art Club) |
TNL 647, Pastel on Paper, 11" x 13" "Sierra Moonlight - Winter" (circa 1924, Private Collection) |
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"Night Shadows" (circa 1922, Lukits Art Trust)
"Cloudy Night" (circa 1925, Lukits Art Trust)
"Eucalyptus Moon Rays" (circa 1926, Lukits Art Trust)
"Moonrise and Rainbow, Big Bear Lake" (1922, Lukits Art Trust)