From an artistic standpoint, where does the Robert Girrard period fit in the painting career of Thomas Kinkade?
Broadly speaking, Thomas Kinkade’s career can be divided into three segments, his Romantic Realism period, the Girrard’ period, and the Painter of Light period. The Girrard’ period, 1984 to 1990, overlaps the preceding Romantic Realism years and provides a transitional period into the third segment of Thom’s career. In each career segment Thom has recognized the importance of color and the suggestion of light’ in a painting, but these intertwined qualities, color and light, have been handled differently in each career segment . In the Romantic Realism years Thom’s emphasis was on original paintings, wilderness and western landscape subject matter, a painting style derivative of the Hudson River School , and the suggestion of light in a convincing and natural manner. In these paintings, the light source was often the sun, the moon or perhaps a trapper’s or Indian’s campfire.
