Lot Essay
RELATED WORKS
Country Village Scene, watercolor on paper, 25 x 35 inches, Brooklyn Museum
Country Life, oil on canvas tacked on panel, 20 1/8 x 30¼ inches, private collection
The Village Elms (Sunday Morning in New England), watercolor and gouache on board, 25 x 36 inches, private collection
RELATED LITERATURE
S.G.W. Benjamin, Our American Artists, Boston, 1879, n.p.
George William Sheldon, Hours with Art and Artists, New York, 1882, p.157
During the 1870s Albert Fitch Bellows executed a series of watercolors and oil paintings of New England villages, including Country Life, a watercolor that the artist probably painted towards the end of the decade. New York critics praised the artist's painted visions of rural America, especially those that included villages graced by towering elm trees. In 1879 S.W.G. Benjamin wrote in Our American Artists, "Gradually his great love of nature and out-of-door life led Mr. Bellows to devote himself, more and more, to painting... the noble, vividly-tinted landscapes of our own country. Everyone, who loves the stately beauty of the avenue of elms which give such an indescribable charm to the towns and hamlets of New England, owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. Bellows for the interest he has shown, and the success he has achieved in painting these scenes, which are so dear to every native American heart and especially to all New Englanders... Both in water and oil-colors Mr. Bellows has been equally successful in representing the imperial beauty of the elm." (S.W.G. Benjamin, Our American Artists, Boston, 1879, n.p.)
Country Village Scene, watercolor on paper, 25 x 35 inches, Brooklyn Museum
Country Life, oil on canvas tacked on panel, 20 1/8 x 30¼ inches, private collection
The Village Elms (Sunday Morning in New England), watercolor and gouache on board, 25 x 36 inches, private collection
RELATED LITERATURE
S.G.W. Benjamin, Our American Artists, Boston, 1879, n.p.
George William Sheldon, Hours with Art and Artists, New York, 1882, p.157
During the 1870s Albert Fitch Bellows executed a series of watercolors and oil paintings of New England villages, including Country Life, a watercolor that the artist probably painted towards the end of the decade. New York critics praised the artist's painted visions of rural America, especially those that included villages graced by towering elm trees. In 1879 S.W.G. Benjamin wrote in Our American Artists, "Gradually his great love of nature and out-of-door life led Mr. Bellows to devote himself, more and more, to painting... the noble, vividly-tinted landscapes of our own country. Everyone, who loves the stately beauty of the avenue of elms which give such an indescribable charm to the towns and hamlets of New England, owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. Bellows for the interest he has shown, and the success he has achieved in painting these scenes, which are so dear to every native American heart and especially to all New Englanders... Both in water and oil-colors Mr. Bellows has been equally successful in representing the imperial beauty of the elm." (S.W.G. Benjamin, Our American Artists, Boston, 1879, n.p.)