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Lot Essay
We are grateful to Jonathan Joseph for confirming the authenticity of this lot.
During the first half of the twentieth century, one of the most socially acceptable careers for women was in the world of fine arts. Among the most active American woman painters was Jane Peterson, who had an unwavering devotion to her craft, and who subsequently developed an Impressionist-Fauvist style uniquely her own. Chiefly, she painted the out of doors, and her body of work encompasses many scenes of gardens, beaches, and sun-drenched port settings. Gloucester, Massachusetts provided the setting for some of the finest works of her career, and the present work, Gloucester, exemplifies the artist's characteristic depiction of natural beauty using brilliant colors and active brushwork.
Peterson's determination to be an artist began at a young age. When she was eighteen, she moved from Elgin, Illinois, to New York and in 1896, she began her formal training at the Pratt Institute under the instruction of Arthur Wesley Dow. In 1901, she studied with Frank DuMond at the Art Students League. Over the next decade, Peterson held various teaching positions that brought her to Boston and Maryland. During this time she continued her studies at the Art Students League in New York and traveled to Europe to work with leading artists such as Frank Brangwyn, Jacques-Emile Blance and Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida in Paris, Venice and Madrid. She also toured extensively throughout North Africa visiting exotic locales such as Biskra, Algiers and Cairo. Upon her return to the United States, Peterson continued her travels. After visiting the Pacific Northwest with artist and friend Louis Comfort Tiffany, she frequented the various artist colonies that dotted the Massachusetts coastline. Drawing inspiration from her sojourns both domestic and abroad, Peterson produced a diverse body of work that she exhibited at various institutions such as the Société des Artistes Francais, St. Botolph Club in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1915 at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.
Large canvases such as Gloucester emphasize Peterson's bold and unique brushwork and present her skills at their best. One reviewer in 1917 noted, "Miss Jane Peterson uses strong colors and broad brush to give the facts about docks and fishing craft and harbours in a somewhat knock-you-down fashion." (as quoted in Jane Peterson: An American Artist, p. 32) Peterson's art dazzled, as it does here with her painterly and sun drenched view of Gloucester Harbor, a work representative of the painting style that brought her critical acclaim.
During the first half of the twentieth century, one of the most socially acceptable careers for women was in the world of fine arts. Among the most active American woman painters was Jane Peterson, who had an unwavering devotion to her craft, and who subsequently developed an Impressionist-Fauvist style uniquely her own. Chiefly, she painted the out of doors, and her body of work encompasses many scenes of gardens, beaches, and sun-drenched port settings. Gloucester, Massachusetts provided the setting for some of the finest works of her career, and the present work, Gloucester, exemplifies the artist's characteristic depiction of natural beauty using brilliant colors and active brushwork.
Peterson's determination to be an artist began at a young age. When she was eighteen, she moved from Elgin, Illinois, to New York and in 1896, she began her formal training at the Pratt Institute under the instruction of Arthur Wesley Dow. In 1901, she studied with Frank DuMond at the Art Students League. Over the next decade, Peterson held various teaching positions that brought her to Boston and Maryland. During this time she continued her studies at the Art Students League in New York and traveled to Europe to work with leading artists such as Frank Brangwyn, Jacques-Emile Blance and Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida in Paris, Venice and Madrid. She also toured extensively throughout North Africa visiting exotic locales such as Biskra, Algiers and Cairo. Upon her return to the United States, Peterson continued her travels. After visiting the Pacific Northwest with artist and friend Louis Comfort Tiffany, she frequented the various artist colonies that dotted the Massachusetts coastline. Drawing inspiration from her sojourns both domestic and abroad, Peterson produced a diverse body of work that she exhibited at various institutions such as the Société des Artistes Francais, St. Botolph Club in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1915 at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.
Large canvases such as Gloucester emphasize Peterson's bold and unique brushwork and present her skills at their best. One reviewer in 1917 noted, "Miss Jane Peterson uses strong colors and broad brush to give the facts about docks and fishing craft and harbours in a somewhat knock-you-down fashion." (as quoted in Jane Peterson: An American Artist, p. 32) Peterson's art dazzled, as it does here with her painterly and sun drenched view of Gloucester Harbor, a work representative of the painting style that brought her critical acclaim.