TOMS RIVER TIMES
A Couple of artists brings history of the county to life
By Don Bennett
Staff Writer
TOMS RIVER – Its been decades since a train rolled into Toms River train station, even longer since a steam locomotive powered a train .
The tracks and trains are gone. So is the train station. Two Fort Lee Artists are doing their part to keep the memory of the station , as it appeared in 1903, alive through a painting based on old photographs. Its one of fifty nostalgic glimpses of the past painted by Mary Kingston and Barry Shiff They found their niche in New Jersey's past by accident four years ago. Mary Recalled Her husband painted an Atlantic City boardwalk since and decided to put "a lady in a long dress" in the oil painting.
"Its sold right away." She said. "This is something" they agreed.
About to do an art show in Hoboken they decided to paint a scene on Newark Street there in 1900 "It sold immediately. We were really excited."she recalled.
Convinced that people are interested in nostalgic return to New Jersey past. The couple began researching and collaborating on a series of paintings.
Barry Shiff Paints in oils. She favored watercolors. They met at art show, where their works were exhibited, side by side. 15 years ago. "We're kindred spirits in the art world." she said.
About four years ago they decided to start working together on paintings, once they completed enough research to make the scene authentic.
"We went to old post card shows, contacted historical societies looking for photographs" Mary Shiff said.
The Toms River depot painting debuted last summer at a show in Ocean Grove.
"Barry does the building and figures. I do the trees and the the flowers." She said.
They started with a collection of a dozen paintings from which they made prints. Now the collection has grown to 50, mostly of Bergen County scene that is where they live.
Many retirees who live in Ocean County may recognize Montclair's Lackawanna Terminal. Palisades Amusement Park' either in 1908 or in the 1950s, or the train station at Glen Ridge, Englewood, Dumont, or Cresskill.
There are shore scenes too. Old Barney in 1902, Asbury Park Arcade in 1901, Wesley Lake at Asbury Park in 1903, Congress Row at Cape May in 1903, a rustic Spring Lake bridge in 1902, the Ocean Grove tent colony in 1908, and just completed Belmar boardwalk and Tenth Avenue pavilion in 1903.
The paintings invoke memories of the past, a time in Ocean County, for example when passenger and freight trains were a transportation staple. Tourists bound for the Ocean County resorts would pass through the Toms River station on the way south take the spur to Barnagat Pier just south of Ocean Gate, cross the bay to seaside Park and take train north on Barnegat Peninsula. Continuing south, they could take the train across the bay at Manahawkin to Long Beach Island and go by rail north to Barneget Light, or south to Beach Haven.
The Toms River station was actually in Berkeley Township in 1903, in 1927, when south Toms River was created from Berkeley Township, it was located in that borough the station was south of Route 9 east of South Main Street.
The Shiffs will show their works at area shows this summer including Atlantic Highlands on June 19, Ocean Grove in August and Seaside Park Sept. 4.
For information call the shiffs, "the art couple" at 201- 944 1813.
New Jersey Nostalgia
Regina Molarois is a freelance writer who covers art Design Beauty and Fashion.
Local artist’s paintings of old New Jersey are on display at the library throughout the month.
Fort Lee resident Barry Shiff, who for years has been painting nostalgic scenes of New Jersey as it looked around the early 1900s, is the subject of a show going on now at the Fort Lee library.
“I am pleased with the show,” Shiff told me recently via email. After having interviewed him a few months back about his inspiration and technique (read the feature here), I too am glad to see these pieces on display. Though many of them are railroad-station scenes, the subject for which Shiff is best known, library goers can also see other slices of turn-of-the-century life, set in other environments and showing a broader range in the artist’s work.
smokestack of the arriving locomotive. An old-fashioned general store with a candy-striped awning is visible in the background, but the telephone poles and icy train tracks look almost contemporary; certainly, they bring to mind the bleakness of winter, and the comfort we can find in knowing that business continues as usual in spite of it. Beside this is another winter scene: ladies in long coats stand side by side in a park, under bare trees, each guarding an elaborate baby carriage. Both paintings, as is the case with many of Shiff’s pieces, are signed “Mary/Barry”—in tribute to Shiff’s late partner Mary Kingston, who was his collaborator and remains a strong inspiration.
Of the sixteen paintings in the show, perhaps the most evocative of this February season is Shiff’s depiction of the Westwood train depot – its roof covered in snow, grey steam rising from the
Not all of the paintings are winter-themed. A few impart a cheerful summery feeling: in one, for example, young holidaymakers wade in the ocean as sailboats drift by in the distance. There is a sunny snapshot of a dirt road at the intersection of Main and Hudson streets, featuring a horse-drawn cart coming from (or going to?) the Fort Lee Market. And in what is a greater departure than I have seen before from Shiff, a nature scene shows a red cardinal standing atop a picket fence, surrounded entirely by greenery and flowers. Lest anyone think he treats only these gentler subjects, Shiff is also known for his reproductions of antique trains and ships—his Titanic appears here, floating on a dark sea.
Barry Shiff is an artist very concerned with locations—what a place, or even a specific street corner, looked like then versus now. Everyone will have a favorite painting in any art exhibit, and I imagine with Shiff’s shows each person’s favorite will depend on how well he or she can connects to the place. My own favorite is the portrait of an Industrial Revolution-era Hoboken, close to where the train station still stands but with no trains in sight—just a view of the low brick buildings and the cobblestone between them. A young family walks out of the hotel “Hoboken House,” dressed up in city finery; American flags hang from several windows. I enjoy this piece because I can recognize the big grey building in the background, which is still there, and can reconstruct the entire modern-day street if I try harder to remember.
Barry Shiff’s exhibit is at the Fort Lee Library through Feb. 28. For more info about Shiff’s work, visit http://www.artnostalgic.com.
Your Favorite Train Station
I will create an original oil or
watercolor painting of your house,
boat, of your favorite Station
Call for a quote 201-944-1813
C201-679-2542
ⓒ By entering this site you understand and agree that all images are for viewing purposes only
and are not to be reproduced without written permission
barryshiff@gmail.com