Lot Essay
In Jasper Francis Cropsey's 1891 work entitled Autumn on Greenwood Lake, the artist has joined together all of the elements which have been most successful throughout his career to create a unified and spectacular composition. It consists mainly of a precisely articulated foreground set off by the expansive lake. The fall foliage, Cropsey's hallmark subject, is magnificently rendered in a blaze of color.
Cropsey, captivated by the sky, has concentrated on rendering its various luminous elements in this work. Years earlier, "... he published 'Up among the Clouds' in which he called the sky 'a dome of treasure' and used his precise powers of observation and description to catalogue its various aspects. Contrasting the 'delicate feeling, fibrous wave-ribbed character' of distant cirrus clouds with 'grand masses of dreamy [cumulus] forms floating by each other,' he demonstrated his acute perception of the particular effects of atmosphere" (E.M. Foshay, Jasper Francis Cropsey: Artist and Architect, New York, 1987, p. 21)
The inspiration that he found at Greenwood Lake years earlier is once again championed in this work which demonstrates "his interest in the particular effects of atmosphere, weather, and cloud formations and his desire to capture both the visual and affective qualities of the changing seasons. The undisputed beauty and infinite variety of nature in America inspired Cropsey and other artists of his generation to observe it closely, explore it, make sketches of sites and details, and, ultimately, canonize it in large-scale paintings. These paintings were a tribute to the potential of America's landscape, as a reflection of its creator, to bring its inhabitants closer to God and to help forge a national identity sanctified by this connection." (Jasper Francis Cropsey, p. 18)
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonn of the artist's work in preparation by the Newington-Cropsey Foundation, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
Cropsey, captivated by the sky, has concentrated on rendering its various luminous elements in this work. Years earlier, "... he published 'Up among the Clouds' in which he called the sky 'a dome of treasure' and used his precise powers of observation and description to catalogue its various aspects. Contrasting the 'delicate feeling, fibrous wave-ribbed character' of distant cirrus clouds with 'grand masses of dreamy [cumulus] forms floating by each other,' he demonstrated his acute perception of the particular effects of atmosphere" (E.M. Foshay, Jasper Francis Cropsey: Artist and Architect, New York, 1987, p. 21)
The inspiration that he found at Greenwood Lake years earlier is once again championed in this work which demonstrates "his interest in the particular effects of atmosphere, weather, and cloud formations and his desire to capture both the visual and affective qualities of the changing seasons. The undisputed beauty and infinite variety of nature in America inspired Cropsey and other artists of his generation to observe it closely, explore it, make sketches of sites and details, and, ultimately, canonize it in large-scale paintings. These paintings were a tribute to the potential of America's landscape, as a reflection of its creator, to bring its inhabitants closer to God and to help forge a national identity sanctified by this connection." (Jasper Francis Cropsey, p. 18)
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonn of the artist's work in preparation by the Newington-Cropsey Foundation, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.