E A Tonelli
E A Tonelli
Owner/Artist
1549 Main Street
West Barnstable, MA 02668
Phone: 508-737-2098
Website: TonellArts.com
Email: eatonelli@aol.com
About Me
EA Tonelli (Tang DiAn) produces art works in the manner of traditional Chinese brush painting, often known by the Japanese term, “Sumi-e.”
She was trained originally for her Master’s degree at Hunter College in New York City, in basic European painting techniques, ink brush drawing, and in the Japanese woodblock printing process. She completed a Ph.D.at Boston University, focusing on American Art and Artisanry. After many years of working at large educational institutions, such as the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian, the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA, and the UCLA Art Museum, she has settled on the Cape and opened a studio and gallery for painting and graphic arts. In 2006, she spent several weeks in China, studying masterworks and materials, observing traditional painting first hand, and practicing her craft.
The goal of traditional Chinese painting is to express the “life force,” or “essence” – what the Chinese call the “qi” – of an object, rather than the visual details. Individual paintings are often executed quickly, in the moment, although the brushstrokes may be practiced for hours before a painting is produced. In addition, because nature, in traditional Chinese culture, was believed to contain a greater energy force than the human body, traditional paintings tend to depict symbolic flowers, animals, rocks and outdoor scenes.
