拍品專文
Having moved to Paris in 1909 where he exhibited his works and met several American artists including Richard Miller and Frederick Frieseke, Louis Ritman first visited Giverny in 1911. "Overnight, Giverny had become an art colony...the place for American painters to find inspiration, to live inexpensively but comfortably, and to share the camaraderie of the new Impressionists who had gathered under the shadow of Claude Monet." (R.H. Love, Louis Ritman From Chicago to Giverny: How Louis Ritman Was Influenced by Lawton Parker and Other Midwestern Impressionists, Chicago, Illinois, 1989, p. 26) It was in Giverny that Ritman's strength as an American Impressionist became obvious. The influence of the French Impressionists, American artists such as Miller and Frieseke, the beautiful countryside and the overall atmosphere in Giverny at the time had enormous impact on Ritman's work.
In Pensive Mood, one of the many pictures Ritman painted during this period in Giverny, is a wonderful example of the style he had developed. By 1915, Ritman's paintings had begun "to show a change. All over his canvas broadly brushed single strokes created a quiltlike pattern, forming a multicolored composition. It was his own working of the impressionistic formula, distinct and personal...he became fascinated with surface color per se, relegating his model to middle ground and making it almost disappear [in a] canvaswide profusion of brilliant, high-key broken colored flowers." (R.H. Love, Louis Ritman, p. xiv) The figure in In Pensive Mood is surrounded by flowers and light. Ritman has painted the interior in such a way that there is almost no distinction between the indoors and the out of doors behind the woman. And as the title reflects, Ritman has given the viewer a very personal glimpse into an otherwise private moment.
In October of 1915, while Ritman was still painting in Giverny, his friends in Chicago submitted In Pensive Mood to a show at the Fine Arts Building. The competition was stiff as a number of prominent Impressionist, western and genre painters were featured, yet Ritman came away with the first prize. Only in his twenties, Ritman had already become an important figure in American art.
In Pensive Mood, one of the many pictures Ritman painted during this period in Giverny, is a wonderful example of the style he had developed. By 1915, Ritman's paintings had begun "to show a change. All over his canvas broadly brushed single strokes created a quiltlike pattern, forming a multicolored composition. It was his own working of the impressionistic formula, distinct and personal...he became fascinated with surface color per se, relegating his model to middle ground and making it almost disappear [in a] canvaswide profusion of brilliant, high-key broken colored flowers." (R.H. Love, Louis Ritman, p. xiv) The figure in In Pensive Mood is surrounded by flowers and light. Ritman has painted the interior in such a way that there is almost no distinction between the indoors and the out of doors behind the woman. And as the title reflects, Ritman has given the viewer a very personal glimpse into an otherwise private moment.
In October of 1915, while Ritman was still painting in Giverny, his friends in Chicago submitted In Pensive Mood to a show at the Fine Arts Building. The competition was stiff as a number of prominent Impressionist, western and genre painters were featured, yet Ritman came away with the first prize. Only in his twenties, Ritman had already become an important figure in American art.