Pennsylvania Painting: An Evolving Canvas: Nature, Virtue, and Modernity, 1880-1940

Pennsylvania Painting: An Evolving Canvas: Nature, Virtue, and Modernity, 1880-1940

by Gemini 2.5 Pro

The Pennsylvania Crucible

From the late 19th to the early 20th century, artistic expression in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was defined by a profound and dynamic tension. On one hand, there was a deep-seated, almost spiritual reverence for the state's pastoral landscapes, a vision of an American Arcadia rooted in the rolling hills of Bucks County and the tranquil banks of the Delaware River. On the other, there were the inescapable, disruptive forces of industrialization and the intellectual currents of European modernism that challenged the very definition of art. This crucible of competing influences -- the pastoral ideal versus the industrial reality, American realism versus European innovation -- forged a uniquely compelling chapter in the history of American art. The state's identity was itself a paradox: a cradle of American liberty and democratic ideals that was simultaneously a global powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution, with Pittsburgh's steel mills and Philadelphia's factories shaping the modern world. This duality is mirrored in its artistic output.

At the heart of this story stands the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), America's oldest art school and museum, founded in 1805. For the generations of artists who would define this era, PAFA was the central institution, the crucible where their talents were forged. It provided a common foundation of rigorous, realist training that would become the bedrock for artists who later diverged into radically different styles. From the quiet, moody introspection of Tonalism, the Academy's students would leap into the bright, vigorous sunlight of Impressionism, a style so masterfully adapted to the local landscape that it was hailed as America's "first truly national expression". Yet, the Academy would also nurture the very modernists who challenged the Impressionist establishment, becoming an ideological battleground where the future of American art was debated and defined.

This article traces that evolutionary journey, exploring how Pennsylvania's artists navigated the complex cultural landscape of their time. It will examine how the state's painters created an enduring and influential vision of America by focusing on the timeless beauty of its natural scenery and the quiet virtues of human connection, often in deliberate, poetic contrast to the turbulent changes of an industrializing age.

Part I: The Soul of the Landscape -- Tonalism and Impressionism

Chapter 1: The Poetry of Nature: William Langson Lathrop and Tonalism

Before the vibrant, sun-drenched canvases of the Pennsylvania Impressionists came to define the region's art, a quieter, more introspective style took hold. Tonalism, a movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was not concerned with the scientific analysis of light or the fleeting effects of a moment. Instead, it was an art of mood, memory, and emotion. Tonalist painters valued "solitude in the contemplation of nature," seeking to create harmonious images that were "felt as well as seen," invoking a "poetic and meditative state that is Romantic at its core." Often employing a darker, more muted palette of earth browns, grays, and soft blues, Tonalists worked primarily in the studio, using memory and sketches to distill the spiritual essence of a landscape rather than simply recording its physical appearance. In Pennsylvania, the master of this poetic approach was William Langson Lathrop.

William Langson Lathrop (1859-1938)

Born in Illinois and raised on a farm in Ohio, William Langson Lathrop developed an intimate connection with the land long before he became a professional artist. He was largely self-taught, a fact that led one admiring critic to remark that he "studied art behind the plow." This agrarian background imbued his work with an authenticity and a deep, intuitive understanding of nature's rhythms. After achieving success as a printmaker and watercolorist, Lathrop and his wife Annie moved to Bucks County in 1899, purchasing a historic property known as Phillips' Mill along the Delaware Canal. This move proved to be the single most important catalyst in the formation of what would become the New Hope art colony. Lathrop's established reputation and the couple's legendary hospitality attracted a growing circle of artists to the area, transforming their home into the intellectual and spiritual center of the burgeoning community.

Lathrop's Tonalist landscapes are masterworks of subtlety and suggestion. Canvases like his undated Untitled (Landscape with Figure) are "poetic and evocative," rendered in the "muted shades, often of earth browns and blue-grays," that characterize the style. He painted simplified, rustic scenes that convey a sense of tranquility and timelessness. In his later years, Lathrop's love for the sea, born from his boyhood on the shores of Lake Erie, found a new outlet. In 1927, he began building a sailboat he christened the Widge, which became his floating studio for the last decade of his life. Sailing up and down the Atlantic coast, he created numerous marine landscapes that captured the ocean's varied moods, from serene calm to gathering storms. His life ended as poetically as he lived, when he and the Widge were lost in a major hurricane off Montauk in 1938. A painting dated from the day of the storm was later found in the boat's cabin, a final testament to his unwavering dedication to capturing the divine poetry of the natural world.

(above: William Langson Lathrop, The Bonfire, 1921. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Lathrop's career embodies a fascinating transition in American art. As a Tonalist, his aesthetic was rooted in the 19th-century romantic tradition. Yet, by establishing a home and school at Phillips' Mill, he became the "dean" of an art colony that would become famous for Impressionism -- a brighter, more modern style than his own. He was the pioneer who created the conditions for a new movement to flourish. This placed him in a unique position. While his home hosted lively discussions among the Impressionists, Lathrop himself remained aesthetically more conservative. His resistance to the next wave of artistic change was evident when he famously threatened to reject a painting by the modernist Lloyd Ney from a Phillips' Mill exhibition because he found its colors "too disturbing." Lathrop's story illustrates that artistic movements are not monolithic; they are born from the complex interplay of personalities and philosophies. He was the catalyst for a movement that, in some ways, moved beyond his own aesthetic, and he in turn became part of the "establishment" against which a subsequent generation of modernists would define themselves.

Chapter 2: "Our First Truly National Expression": The New Hope School

Emerging from the quietude of Tonalism into the full light of the 20th century, a group of painters centered in Bucks County forged a style so distinctive and resonant that the artist and critic Guy Pène du Bois declared it "our first truly national expression" in 1915. This movement, known as Pennsylvania Impressionism or the New Hope School, represented a powerful and uniquely American interpretation of its French predecessor. The artists of this school embraced the core tenets of Impressionism -- painting en plein air (outdoors) to capture the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere -- but they infused it with an American spirit of realism, vigor, and an almost single-minded focus on the landscape.

Rejecting the urban grit and social commentary of the Ashcan School, which was concurrently making its mark in New York, the Pennsylvania Impressionists turned their gaze to the "unspoiled landscape of Bucks County." They were drawn to the picturesque rolling hills, the winding Delaware River, and the quaint villages that dotted the region. Their philosophy was one of direct, unmediated engagement with nature. They sought to capture the land in all its moods and seasons, developing a particular fondness for the stark beauty of winter, when the underlying structure of the landscape was laid bare. Their work was a celebration of a pastoral ideal, a vision of America rooted in the perceived purity and strength of its natural environment, a vision that stood in stark contrast to the state's industrial might. This artistic choice was not merely an aesthetic preference; it was a profound cultural statement, a conscious construction of an alternative, idealized identity for Pennsylvania based on rural harmony rather than urban and industrial progress.

Edward Redfield (1869-1965), Master of Winter

If one artist can be said to embody the rugged, vigorous spirit of the New Hope School, it is Edward Willis Redfield. After training at PAFA and in France, Redfield settled in Center Bridge, Pennsylvania, in 1898, the same year Lathrop arrived in the area. He quickly became the de facto leader of the landscape painters who flocked to the Delaware River Valley, and his work set the standard for the movement's bold, realist approach.

(above: Edward Redfield, Bucks County: Winter, c. 1910, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 inches, Private collection, Internet Archive. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)

Redfield is best known for his powerful winter landscapes, which he painted with an almost heroic physicality. He was a staunch advocate for painting directly from nature, regardless of the conditions. His method involved taking large canvases into the field and completing them in a single, intense session -- "in one go," as he called it. To combat the brutal winter winds, he would often rope his canvases to trees to hold them steady. This direct, forceful engagement with his subject is palpable in his work. Paintings like The Old Elm (1906) are characterized by a "bold application of paint" and a "heavily impastoed" surface that gives the canvases a three-dimensional, sculptural quality. His brushwork is rapid and confident, capturing not just the look of a snowy hillside or a frozen river, but the very feeling of the cold, crisp air and the raw power of the American landscape. Works such as Centre Ridge reveal his intimate familiarity with the land and his commitment to recording its ever-changing appearance through a variety of vigorous, expressive brushstrokes. Redfield won more awards than any other American painter of his time, with the exception of John Singer Sargent, solidifying his reputation as the leading chronicler of the American winter.

Daniel Garber (1880-1958), Poet of Light

While Redfield captured the rugged prose of the Pennsylvania landscape, Daniel Garber captured its poetry. Born in Indiana, Garber studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati before enrolling at PAFA in 1899. In 1907, he purchased a farm at Cuttalossa, just upriver from New Hope, which would provide the inspiration for much of his life's work. Garber also became one of the most influential instructors at PAFA, teaching from 1909 to 1950 and perpetuating the Pennsylvania Impressionist style for a new generation of artists.

(above: Daniel Garber (1880-1958), Tohickon, 1920, oil on canvas, 52.2 ? 56.2 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Henry Ward Ranger through the National Academy of Design. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Garber's work offers a distinct contrast to Redfield's. He famously disliked painting winter scenes and was instead drawn to the lush, light-filled landscapes of spring and summer. His style has been described as "poetical or romantic realism," a perfect fusion of decorative beauty and underlying structural strength. His canvases, such as the luminous April Landscape (1910), are celebrated for their masterful compositions and their unique, tapestry-like effect, created by weaving together countless small strokes of vibrant color. Garber was less interested in capturing a fleeting, momentary impression and more focused on creating an "eternal idealized image" of nature. In landscapes like Geddes Run (1930), he would often manipulate the perspective, pulling the distant view "up" to the top of the canvas to create a more comprehensive and formally structured composition. His paintings of the Delaware River are not just snapshots of a place, but are transcendent visions of light, air, and color, rendered with a delicate, almost shimmering touch that sets him apart as the great poet of the New Hope School.

Part II: New Visions, New Voices

Chapter 3: Expanding the Palette: Fern Coppedge and the Influence of Post-Impressionism

As the 20th century progressed, the artistic conversation began to shift. While the Pennsylvania Impressionists had successfully established a national style based on the faithful, if vigorous, depiction of the American landscape, a new generation of artists began to explore a more personal and subjective vision. This evolution mirrored the broader shift in European art from Impressionism to Post-Impressionism. Where Impressionism sought to capture the objective reality of a visual moment, Post-Impressionism delved into the artist's inner world, using color and form not just to represent, but to express emotion, structure, and ideas. In Pennsylvania, one of the most compelling figures in this transition was Fern Coppedge, an artist who expanded the Impressionist palette into a realm of bold, imaginative color.

Fern Coppedge (1883-1951)

Born in Illinois, Fern Coppedge was inspired to become an artist at a young age by the "dazzle of sunlight reflected on snow and sea." After studying at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York, she enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she studied under Daniel Garber. In 1920, she settled in Lumberville, and later New Hope, immersing herself in the Bucks County art scene. As a woman in a field dominated by men, Coppedge actively sought out professional networks and camaraderie. From 1922 to 1935, she was an exhibiting member of the Philadelphia Ten, a groundbreaking group of women artists who organized their own shows to promote their work at a time when they were often excluded from mainstream institutions.

(above: Fern I. Coppedge, Lumberville House in Winter, c.1935, oil on canvas, 18 x 20 inches. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)

Coppedge's artistic journey traces a clear path from Impressionism toward a Post-Impressionist sensibility. Like her colleague Edward Redfield, she was renowned for her winter landscapes and her willingness to paint en plein air in a bearskin coat to ward off the cold. Her early work reflects the Impressionist focus on the effects of light on a snowy landscape. However, her mature style reveals a profound shift. Her winter landscapes of the 1920s and beyond are characterized by a "flattening and simplification of detail and in their boldly imaginative use of color." She famously declared, "People used to think me queer when I was a little girl because I saw deep purples and reds and violets in a field of snow." This subjective vision is the hallmark of her Post-Impressionist work. In paintings of Bucks County villages, the snow is not white but a prism of blues, pinks, and violets. Buildings glow with vibrant reds and oranges, and streams cut through the landscape in ribbons of intense cobalt blue. This "fanciful use of color," combined with a strong sense of design and composition, moved beyond mere representation to convey the pure joy and exuberant energy she found in the winter landscape.

Chapter 4: The Tender Gaze: Depictions of Virtue and Kindness

While the Pennsylvania landscape provided the dominant subject for many of the state's artists, a powerful and deeply moving tradition of figurative art also flourished, one that explored the classic virtues of charity and kindness through the intimate lens of domestic life. The most profound expressions of these themes are found in the work of Mary Cassatt, whose depictions of mothers and their children redefined the subject for the modern era. Her vision was echoed in the figurative paintings of Daniel Garber, who similarly sought to capture universal themes of familial love and connection.

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)

Mary Cassatt was born into a prosperous family in Allegheny City, now part of Pittsburgh, and spent her formative years in Philadelphia. She began her formal training at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at the age of fifteen, a time when few women pursued art as a serious career. Feeling the constraints of the American art world, she moved to Paris permanently in 1874, where her talent was recognized by Edgar Degas. He invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists, and she became the only American to officially join their ranks. Though she lived abroad, Cassatt remained deeply connected to her home state, playing a crucial role in advising her brother, a Philadelphia railroad executive, and other wealthy American friends to purchase Impressionist works, thus helping to build some of the first and finest collections of modern art in the United States.

(above: Mary Stevenson Cassatt, Self Portrait, c. 1878, guache on paper, 23.6 x 16.1 inches, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)

Additional paintings by Mary Cassatt

Cassatt's most celebrated works are her sensitive and insightful portrayals of mothers and children. These paintings and pastels are masterpieces of the virtue of kindness, capturing the tender, unspoken bond between a caregiver and a child with unsentimental honesty. In works like The Child's Bath (1893), she elevates a simple, daily ritual into a moment of profound intimacy. The composition, influenced by the flattened perspectives and bold outlines of Japanese woodblock prints she had seen in Paris, draws the viewer into the scene from an overhead angle. The focus is on the interaction: the woman's secure embrace, the child's trusting posture, and the gentle touch of a hand on a small foot. These are not just pictures of people; they are explorations of a deep emotional connection, celebrating the "timelessness of...motherly love."

Cassatt's artistic choices were deeply intertwined with the social currents of her time. A lifelong advocate for equal rights and a supporter of the women's suffrage movement, her art can be seen as a powerful feminist statement. In an era when female figures in art were often depicted as passive objects of male desire, Cassatt portrayed women as active, thinking, and nurturing subjects at the center of their own world. Her personal philosophy was that "women should be someone and not something." By shunning the eroticized female nude and focusing instead on the dignity of the domestic sphere and the essential work of caregiving, she asserted the value and importance of women's lives and experiences. Her depictions of maternal kindness were thus not merely sentimental, but were a radical act of claiming the female gaze and redefining female virtue on her own terms.

A Parallel Vision: Daniel Garber's Figurative Work

While best known for his landscapes, Daniel Garber also created a number of significant figurative works that explore similar themes of familial intimacy. His monumental painting Mother and Son (1933) depicts his wife, Mary, and their son, John, in a moment of quiet connection. Like Cassatt, Garber intended these works to be more than just portraits of specific individuals. They were meant to represent "universal themes and ideas," elevating the personal bonds of family to a subject of timeless and universal significance. In paintings like South Room - Green Street, which shows his wife and daughter, Tanis, in their Philadelphia home, Garber uses the play of light and a carefully structured composition to create a scene of serene domesticity that is both deeply personal and universally relatable. These works, though fewer in number than his landscapes, reveal a shared interest with Cassatt in the quiet virtues of the domestic sphere.

Aditional painting by Daniel Garber

Go to page 2

Note: Tables within AI reports formatted in a manner incompatible with functionality of our page editing software have been deleted. Please don't rely on this AI-generated text for accuracy. It has been lightly edited, yet may be laden with inaccurate information. Consider it a base for further inquiry.

Return to Pennsylvania Art History

Return to Individual States Art History Project

*Tag for expired US copyright of object image:

Links to sources of information outside of our web site are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other web sites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. TFAO neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations. Although TFAO includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see TFAO's General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.

Search Resource Library