ERNEST LAWSON (American 1873-1939)

Description

ERNEST LAWSON (American 1873-1939)
Landscape with Wagon
Oil on panel
20in. x 24in. (sight size)
Signed lower right: E. Lawson

This landscape with its rugged textures and vigorous brushwork captures the dramatic play of light and shadow against a rural scene. Lawson's bold technique approaches the limits of Impressionism. Lawson was noted for his highly personal color sense; a critic of the day described him as painting from a "palette of crushed jewels," an apt metaphor in the case of this gorgeous landscape.

Ernest Lawson was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1873. By 1890, Lawson had moved to New York. There he studied at the Art Students League under John Henry Twachtman, J. Alden Weir, and other Impressionist painters. Lawson soon joined a group of New York artists known as "the Eight." In contrast to the other members of "the Eight," who were considered social realists, Lawson was the only member who painted pure landscapes. Working in a near-pure Impressionist style, Lawson created works that often showcased the urban landscape of New York, near his home in Washington Heights in Manhattan.

From 1893 to 1898, he was in Paris, France, and furthered his studies at the Academy Julian with Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant. In Paris, Lawson shared a studio with Somerset Maugham, who used him as the inspiration for "Frederic Lawson" in the novel, Of Human Bondage. In 1908, Lawson participated in the landmark exhibition of "the Eight" at the MacBeth Galleries in New York, and also participated in the 1913 Armory Show, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exhibition. In 1917, Ernest Lawson was elected a full member of the National Academy of Design.

Keywords" impressionism, landscape, oil, painting, the eight

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