Saint Louis Globe-Democrat, Music & Arts, October 21-22, 1978
By Joseph O. Fischer
At The William Engel Gallery, 114 East Lockwood, just west of the Guild, is a small but highly select exhibit of watercolors by Stan Masters. He has attained a style of a very personal kind with enigmatic quality. He records details of light but does not over-detail his views of stores and various railroad subjects.
His color had a timeworn depth which has the effect of enrichment through an aging process. There is something late afternoon about his light and color, without showing the presence of the sun.
His work implies a wealth of observation without exhausting visual tolerance. The observation is not so much for detail as for significance of color, of the choice of placement of what he sees on the page, with an endowment of profound calm which he seems automatically to seek out. He doesn’t “style” subjects with obvious painting tricks.
His choices in any aspect make a painting fit together completely. It seems that he imbues his scenes with a singleness of vision which is total, painting from one integrated impulse without separate considerations or repairs of form vs. line vs. composition vs. color, etc.
An exceptionally mature manner of painting, an exceptional exhibit… if you are any kind of fan for the representational manner of painting taken to the level of art, go see the show.
