Changing Seasons: Three Generations
of Bucks Country Impressionism
In the early 20th century, a group of artists rooted in the American
Realist tradition and influenced by French Impressionism worked
closely together in New Hope, Pennsylvania, some 40 miles north
of Philadelphia on the Delaware River. Many of these artists
met while attending the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
in Philadelphia, and later moved to Bucks County. They found
the natural beauty of the Delaware River and its surrounding
hills ideal subjects for a new, loosely brushed style of painting.
Widely known as the New Hope School, their work is featured in
this exhibition of 16 paintings from the holdings of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art and a private collection.
Although members of the New Hope School also painted figures
and interiors, they are best known for fresh interpretations
of landscapes, which continue to inspire contemporary Bucks County
artists. The Pennsylvania Impressionists painted outdoors, directly
from nature, even during severe weather. Edward Redfield (1869-1965)
and Charles Rosen (1878-1950) are best remembered for their snow
scenes, a wintry specialty that required ingenuity in response
to inclement conditions-on windy days, for example, Redfield
simply strapped has canvases directly to trees. While he also
spent most of his time painting landscapes, Daniel Garber (1880-1958)
was equally noted for his large figure compositions and interiors,
often depicting close friends and family members. The Orchard
Window (1918) and Morning Light, Interior(1923), feature Garber's
daughter, Tanis. Both paintings are complemented by bold, hand-carved
and gilded frames made by Frederick Harer (1880-1949), who worked
closely with painters of the New Hope School.
Museum Studies 5: Gabriel Orozco
Photogravity, an installation by the internationally recognized
contemporary artist Gabriel Orozco, will be the fifth in the
series of Museum Studies projects by living artists created specifically
for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Photogravity will feature
objects made during the summer of 1999. Orozco, who is widely
admired for both his photographs and sculptural works, here synthesizes
the two and examines the dialogue between photography and sculpture
in his art. Photogravity' will cast fresh light on the world-renowned
collection of Pre-Columbian sculpture that was given to the Museum
in 1950 by Louise and Walter Arensberg, together with their remarkable
collection of 20th - century art.
Born in Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico in 1962, Orozco is based in
New York City. He has exhibited throughout the world, including
a major exhibition at the Musée' d'Art Moderne de Ia Ville
de Paris in 1998. His work will be the subject of a retrospective
exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art in summer
2000. Black Kites, 1997, a sculpture he exhibited at Documenta
X, an influential, international contemporary-art exposition
held in kassel, Germany, is now in the permanent collection of
the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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