Landscape (Primary Title)
Walter Launt Palmer, American, 1854 - 1932 (Artist)
In this sparkling landscape, Palmer presents a late-summer harvest scene. Across a verdant expanse, two farmers, their white shirts highlighted by a spot of sunlight, finish loading a wagon. For an American audience on the eve of the nation’s one-hundredth anniversary, such an idyllic image would have imparted a sense of peace and plenty.
Palmer received his initial painting instruction from the great Hudson River school landscapist Frederic E. Church, whose work hands in the adjoining gallery. In 1873, he relocated to Paris for formal training with Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran. This painting, made during a brief trip home, maintains obvious characteristics of the American landscape movement. Still, suggestions of French Barbizon influence are evident in the image’s silvery light, tonal colors, and divided brushstrokes.
"A Century of American Art: 1850-1950, Paintings, Sculpture, and Works on Paper," Spanierman Gallery, New York (7-30 October 2004).
"Vintage American Art for the New Collector" Spanierman Gallery, New York (11 July - 30 August 2002).
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