Silent Dawn

 

Artist: Walter Launt Palmer

Title: Silent Dawn
Media: Oil on Canvas

Dimensions: 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm)

Date: 1919
 

 Walter was born August 1, 1854 in Albany, New York. He was an American Impressionist painter. His father Erastus Dow Palmer was a prominent sculptor and grew up surrounded by his fathers friends such as Frederick E. Church who was a notable landscape painter. At the age of 18 he had his work accepted for a show at The National Academy of Design in New York. At the age of 24 Palmer had become a protégé of Frederick Church, and ultimately shared a studio with him in New York city from 1878-1881. In 1890 he married Georgianna Myers who sadly died two years later during childbirth. Walter later married Zoe de Vautrin Wyndham. In 1903 their daughter Beatrice was born . Walter's work was influenced primarily by the regionalist principles of the Hudson River School. His travels through the Catskill Mountains, Hudson River Valley, Paris and Venice are reflected in his landscapes. Walter Launt Palmer’s snow scenes earned him a reputation as a master of capturing winter on canvas. This piece "
Silent Dawn" was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"Mr. Palmer is a devotee of the bleak and wintry season of
               the year, when everything is snowed under, that is, except
        Mr. Palmer's work, and all but one of these fourteen pictures
        are snow scenes­-- the exception is a hot, turgid, sunny
        Venice... as rosy red and warm as his snow pictures
        are blue and blue, and Mr. Palmer is no less happy in both."

As I was skimming through looking for painting that would fit my blog, I came upon this one and loved it. I admire the tilting tree and the light brown tint on the snow that gives the painting more life. The snow is so white that it is reflected on the stream. As I was researching the background on Walter Palmer I came across the fact that he had traveled through the Hudson River School and the Catskill Mountains which made a connection to Thomas Cole on one of my previous posts. I thought it was so interesting how I coincidentally came upon an artist who would be connected to one of my artists I have already posted about. I love when artists collide together and when I can make connections between them because it's wonderful to see how other artists influence each other.