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Summary

Edward Redfield. Photograph by Juley & Sons. Image courtesy of Patricia Redfield Ross and Dorothy Redfield.

"The Pennsylvania school born in the Academy at Philadelphia, or in the person of Edward W. Redfield, is a very concise expression of the simplicity of our language and of the prosaic nature of our sight. It is democratic painting-broad, without subtility, vigorous in language if not absolutely in heart, blatantly obvious or honest in feeling. It is an unbiased, which means, inartistic, record of nature."
-Guy Pene du Bois

Among the New Hope Impressionist painters, Edward Willis Redfield was the most decorated, winning more awards than any American artist except John Singer Sargent. Primarily a landscape painter, Redfield was acclaimed as the most "American" artist of the New Hope school because of his vigor and individualism.

"Individuals to a man, [Robert Henri and his followers among] The Eight nevertheless shared... an impatience with the approved academic art of their time, a wish to depict specifically American life, a determination to be American painters rather than painters in America."
-Henry Geldzhaler

A young and impressionable student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Redfield became acquainted with Robert Henri, the future leader of social realism. In 1891, they traveled together in Fontainebleau, France. Upon returning to Philadelphia, Henri formed The Eight, an early group of urban realists. Redfield frequently joined their gatherings.

Alienated by the stodginess of the academic tradition, which focused upon beautiful women, bucolic landscapes, and high society, the social realists took it upon themselves to democratize American art. Accordingly, they selected urban and industrial subjects, such as laborers and factories, immigrants and tenements, poverty and filth. For these artists, they were not concerned with making a political statement but instead found the material to be appealing for its freshness and liveliness.

Although Henri and Redfield painted different subjects, they shared a commitment to realism. Perhaps more importantly, both artists sought to invent distinctively American art, capturing national scenes, whether of the sweeping, frosty landscapes of Bucks County or the tenements of New York City. After exploring Europe together, the two young artists returned to the United States with a finer sense of their own country's distinctive national (and cultural) identity, which they in turn celebrated through their art.

Redfield favored the technique of painting en plein air, meaning outdoors amidst nature. Redfield worked in the most brutal weather and would often tie his canvas to a tree. Painting rapidly, in thick, broad brush strokes, and without attempting preliminary sketches, Redfield typically completed his paintings in one sitting.

Although Redfield is best known for his snow scenes, he painted several spring and summer landscapes, often set in Maine, where he spent his summers. Specifically, Redfield spent several summers on Monhegan Island, situated ten miles off the coast of Maine. Monhegan Island is renowned for its primeval forests, jagged rock formations, and gritty beaches. Its sublime geography has attracted a community of artists since the 1850s. Remote from civilization and lacking its amenities, the Monhegan art colony drew only the hardiest of painters.

The artists that gathered on Monhegan Island painted a diverse array of marine landscapes and quaint village scenes, as well as pictures of boats and docks, rocky crags and austere forests. Redfield explored these subjects, painting them in his spartan, rapid, plein air manner. For Redfield, Monhegan's ocean, quays, and village scenes were the summer equivalent of Bucks County's snowy woods and hillsides. Although the two regions offered Redfield different subject matter, they suggested similar themes. Whether Redfield worked in Center Bridge or on Monhegan Island, he celebrated the magnificence of nature and the vigor it demands of those who live and work in its midst.

He also painted cityscapes, including, most notably, Between Daylight and Darkness (1909), a atmospheric tonalist painting of the New York skyline in twilight. When Redfield stopped painting in the mid-1940s, he began producing hooked rugs and painted furniture. He died at the age of ninety-six in 1965.

Edward Redfield. Photograph by Juley & Sons. Image courtesy of Patricia Redfield Ross and Dorothy Redfield.

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