Louis Ritman (1889-1963)

Louis Ritman was one of a group of artists from Chicago, including Lawton Parker, Frederick Frieseke and Richard Miller, who lived in Paris and Giverny in the early 1900s. There, Ritman was influenced by both American and European Impressionists.

A Day in July is typical of Ritman's work in subject matter and style, and the painting displays these influences throughout the canvas. "At left, the water breaks up into characteristic 'bricks' of color . . . While these suggest Cezanne's planes of color, the influence of Monet is visible in the more purely Impressionistic foliage at lower right. The woman's striped dress is reminscent of similar costumes often worn by Frieseke's models, while the dominance of purples and blues recalls the work of any number of Impressionists." (W.H. Gerdts, Masterworks of American Impressionism from the Pfeil Collection, Alexandria, Virginia, 1992, p. 224)

Ritman employed these elements in A Day in July to create a well-balanced canvas that reflects his interest in light and color as well as form.