THE FOREIGNER
Mentor Huebner (c) 1959
Oil on Masonite 30" X 24"

THE FOREIGNER

BY

A perpendicular or horizontal 30" X 24" space is still only a two by two and a half foot area. And that's a pretty small place in which to fit a huge ocean freighter, no matter however you angle it. To reduce it's size and still retain the impact of its design and inspirational grandeur takes talent. And scale.

Mentor was a Master of scale, design and perspective and exhibited this talent not only in conceptual drawings for film production, but also in his fine art paintings. His compositions were never out of scale. He could 'eye ball' it exactly. And then he would calculate it for back up.

Before a mini version of the passenger plane could be built, the one that was in the Warner Bros. film, “Love Affair", Mentor was asked to draw it. For financial reasons the producers wanted to know how small they could get away with building it and still have it appear full size. On a sheet of onion skin, 18” X 24”, Mentor not only drew it to scale but he drew it artistically too. The film's producer/ director/ actor, Warren Beatty was happy with the results. Mentor's conceptual design of the plane made it all very clear.

This painting's foreign freighter's design is also clear. It looks huge within the perimeters of the 24" X 30" space. Mentor never needed to paint or draw anything life-size in order to convey it's meaning.

As a Plein Aire painter, Mentor ‘did his thing in the streets’, and painting sizes had to be restricted. First they had to fit his French Easel. And then on the way home, when they were wet, they had to fit into his car trunk ~ with room to spare.

And since Mentor carried everything ~ and the easel and painting supplies weighed a ton, life-size anything would have been out of the question.

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12 Paintings 12 Intimate Stories

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"MENTOR" Self Portrait Mentor Huebner (c) 1963 Oil on Masonite 30" X 24"	"MOJAVE GOLD" Mentor Huebner (c) 1953 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"	" A PALACE OF FUN" Mentor Huebner (c) 1955 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"
"THE BISTRO" Mentor Huebner (c) 1962 Oil on Painter's Board 22" X 26"	"SEXI BEACH BAR" Mentor Huebner (c) 1962 Oil on European Painter's Board 22" X 26"	"SAINT MARKS IN VENICE" Mentor Huebner (c) 1962 Oil on European Painter's Board 22" X 26"
"THE GRAND CANAL IN VENICE" Mentor Huebner (c) 1958 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"	"THE FOREIGNER" Mentor Huebner (c) 1969 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"	"HENRY FORD BRIDGE" Mentor Huebner (c) 1963 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"
"MORTAL WOUND" Mentor Huebner (c) 1957 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"	"BOURBON STREET" Mentor Huebner (c) 1953 Oil on Masonite 22" X 26"	"CALIFORNIA GOLD" Mentor Huebner (c) 1959 Oil on Masonite 30" X 24"