148
●
ERNEST LAWSON
Divers and Gulls
.
Oil on canvas, 1895. 665x720 mm; 26
1
/
4
x28
1
/
4
inches.With a note signed by the artist in
ink concerning the sale of the painting on the verso.
Ernest Lawson (1873-1939) was one of The Eight artists who exhibited at the Macbeth
Galleries in 1908, as well as one of the original sixteen artist charter members of the AAPS
that met on December 12, 1912 to plan the Armory Show. Lawson was invited to exhibit
three paintings in the Armory Show and he was specifically assigned to the Foreign
Exhibits Committee.
Originally from Canada, Lawson moved to NewYork in 1891 and enrolled in classes at
the Art Students League and then at the Cos Cob summer art school in Connecticut.
There he learned from Julian Alden Weir and John Twachtman, American Impressionists
who would have a lasting impact on Lawson’s style and love of landscape painting. In
1893, Lawson left to study in Paris where he befriended Neo-Impressionist painter Alfred
Sisley. Lawson returned to NewYork in 1905.
Despite his presence in both controversial shows, Lawson was an unlikely rebel.William
Merritt Chase felt that he was the best landscape painter in America and Robert Henri
compared him to Winslow Homer. Despite these accolades, he fell into obscurity after
the 1920s and is rarely cited today as the leading figure in American Art that he once was.
The Armory Show was essentially the zenith of Lawson’s career.
[20,000/30,000]
