Emily Abbott Nordfeldt

"I think [Emily Abbott Nordfeldt's] still life would stand out in any group show, for its restrained but right color, for the sense of growth it has and for the quality of conviction and quiet but sure authority."
-Dwight Kersch, University of Nebraska Art Galleries, 1949

Emily Abbott Nordfeldt's early career as a landscape painter was influenced by her study with the renowned artist B.J.O. Nordfeldt, who later became her husband. She eventually switched from using oils to using watercolors, acrylic wash, and tempera, often depicting animals. These works are typified by an economy of line and a subdued palette, a direct and sure style, but with a great feeling of free and easy spontaneity and joy. Nordfeldt exhibited widely and frequently in significant galleries and museums including the Chicago Art Institute, the Corcoran Museum, the Cincinnati Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Education
Nordfeldt began painting in 1924 while earning a master's degree in French at the University of Minnesota, where she received her A.B. and M.A. degrees. Later at the Minneapolis School of Art, she studied landscape painting with B.J.O. Nordfeldt.

Connection to Bucks County
Nordfeldt came to Lambertville, New Jersey, in 1944 to marry the well-known New Hope Modernist painter B.J.O. Nordfeldt. She lived there until her death in 1989. Nordfeldt exhibited locally, including at the annual Phillips' Mill shows.

Colleagues and Affiliations
Nordfeldt was a student of the landscape painter B.J.O. Nordfeldt in Minnesota. Later, the two corresponded after B.J.O. moved to Lambertville, New Jersey. In 1944, Nordfeldt came to Lambertville to marry the painter.

Exhibitions and Awards
The Society of Independent Artists, 1917
Prize, Minnesota State Fair, 1937
Prize, Minneapolis Institute of Art, 1938, 1944
Prize, Twin City Annual, 1938
Midwestern Artists, 1938
CGA, 1941
AIC, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1940, 1953
American Artists for Victory, Cincinnati Annual, 1942
SFMA: San Francisco Art Association; Walker Art Center; University of Minnesota; St. Paul Gallery; Nebraska AA; Montclair Art Museum, 1953
Harriet Hanley Gallery, Minneapolis, 1953
Delaware Bookshop, New Hope, PA, 1954
Free Library of New Hope and Solebury, 1978
The Green Sergeants Covered Bridge Association, Stockton, NJ, 1979
The Richard Stuart Gallery, Pipersville, PA, 1980
The Coryell Gallery at the Porkyard, Lambertville, NJ, 1981, 1982, 1985, 2001
Hrefna Jonsdottir Gallery, Lambertville, NJ
Objects of Desire: Treasures from Private Collections, Michener Art Museum, New Hope, Pennsylvania, 2005-2006
Plus, Nordfeldt exhibited at the Chicago Art Institute, the Corcoran Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.