Lot Essay
Center Bridge Farm of 1914 is an excellent example of Edward Redfield's celebrated winter landscapes of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. After studying at the Pennsylania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Anschutz, Redfield went to Paris to receive further training at the Académie Julian in the late 1880s or early 90s. Accompanied by Robert Henri, an old friend from his days at the Pennsylvania Academy, Redfield travelled from Paris to the French countryside and specifically to the forest of Fontainebleau where he painted en plein air in the cold of winter. This impressive experience provided the artist with a new interest in landscape painting as well as a new approach to painting which would last a lifetime.
In 1893 Redfield married and settled in Glenside, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia where he mingled with a progressive circle of artists including several members of The Eight. Five years later, the Redfields moved to Center Bridge Farm, a 112-acre plot of land predominantly set on an island in the middle of the Delaware River. This farm became the artist's home until his death in 1965 and served as a base for his outdoor sketching and painting sessions. Redfield continued to paint winter landscapes which were usually executed with loose rapid brushstrokes in a thick painterly manner such as Center Bridge Farm.
Center Bridge Farm, depicting the artist's farmhouse and surrounding trees along the Delaware, is a tour de force of Impressionistic color, light and brushwork. Although this snow scene abounds with rich whites, Redfield has defined the distant hills in wonderful blues and purples and highlighted the cluster of buildings with brilliant patches of yellow, pale pink and blue. Likewise, the snowy foreground is accented by golden streaks suggestive of both sun reflections and long rods of dried brush which blend upward into the mass of bare, yet boldly colored trees. Center Bridge Farm demonstrates Redfield's masterful handling of the brush giving the picture both descriptive detail and subtle impressions while simultaneously revealing a remarkable infiltration of color into a potentially monochromatic image.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Edward Redfield's work being compiled by Dr. Thomas Folk.
In 1893 Redfield married and settled in Glenside, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia where he mingled with a progressive circle of artists including several members of The Eight. Five years later, the Redfields moved to Center Bridge Farm, a 112-acre plot of land predominantly set on an island in the middle of the Delaware River. This farm became the artist's home until his death in 1965 and served as a base for his outdoor sketching and painting sessions. Redfield continued to paint winter landscapes which were usually executed with loose rapid brushstrokes in a thick painterly manner such as Center Bridge Farm.
Center Bridge Farm, depicting the artist's farmhouse and surrounding trees along the Delaware, is a tour de force of Impressionistic color, light and brushwork. Although this snow scene abounds with rich whites, Redfield has defined the distant hills in wonderful blues and purples and highlighted the cluster of buildings with brilliant patches of yellow, pale pink and blue. Likewise, the snowy foreground is accented by golden streaks suggestive of both sun reflections and long rods of dried brush which blend upward into the mass of bare, yet boldly colored trees. Center Bridge Farm demonstrates Redfield's masterful handling of the brush giving the picture both descriptive detail and subtle impressions while simultaneously revealing a remarkable infiltration of color into a potentially monochromatic image.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Edward Redfield's work being compiled by Dr. Thomas Folk.