In Quail Country

An outdoorsman as well as a painter, Aiden Lassell Ripley was born in Wakefield, Massachusetts in 1897. He trained briefly at the Fenway School of Illustration before joining the Army in 1917. On his return he studied at the Boston Museum School under Frank Benson and Philip Hale. An avid conservationist, he became well-known for his sporting and wildlife scenes. By painting and drawing en plein-air in the landscape and environment that he loved, his work has a freshness and spontaneity that surpasses most of his contemporaries. At six foot two inches tall with his cowboy hat and hunting coat, 'Old Rip' was a familiar sight around the woods of his native New England. 'You couldn't stop him from hunting, fishing and painting', recalled a Boston Museum School classmate. Amongst his best known commissions were a mural for the Winchester, Massachusetts Public Library and a mural at the Lexington Post Office. He died in 1961 and his work is represented in a number of important institutional collections, including the Boston Museum of Fine Art and the Chicago Art Institute.