The Story of Bucks County Impressionism

Source: The Michener Museum

In 1898 and 1899, the painters William Lathrop (1859-1938) and Edward Redfield (1869-1965)

settled near New Hope, Pennsylvania, drawn by the region’s scenic landscape and affordable

real estate. While artists had called Bucks County home for centuries, the arrival of these two

painters, who had already achieved national recognition, firmly established New Hope as an

important center for visual art.

Many artists, later known as the Pennsylvania Impressionists, relocated to the area to study with

Lathrop and Redfield, escape the urban centers of Philadelphia and New York, and paint the

bucolic landscape. These painters emulated the French Impressionists in their efforts to depict

contemporary life and local scenes with bright palettes, gestural brushwork, and close attention

to qualities of light and atmosphere. They also embraced the practice of painting en plein air,

taking canvases outdoors rather than working from memory or sketches in a studio. In 1915, the

artist and critic Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958) declared the Pennsylvania group of landscape

painters, “our first truly national expression.”

This exhibition features select works by artists affiliated with the New Hope School of painters,

including Rae Sloan Bredin (1880-1933), Morgan Colt (1876-1926), Fern Coppedge

(1883-1951), John Folinsbee (1892-1972), Daniel Garber (1880-1958), William Lathrop, Harry

Leith-Ross (1886-1973), M. Elizabeth Price (1877-1965), Edward Redfield, Charles Rosen

(1878-1950), Henry Snell (1858-1943), Robert Spencer (1879-1931), and George Sotter

(1879-1953).

Thanks to a transformative gift of 59 paintings from Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest in 1999, the

Michener is considered to have one of the finest collections of Pennsylvania Impressionist art in

public or private hands. The paintings on display tell the story of the New Hope colony through

their vigorous depiction of the grandeur and beauty of the North American landscape.

One of the highlights of the gallery is a spectacular 22-foot mural by Daniel Garber, titled A

Wooded Watershed. Painted for the Sesquicentennial Exposition of 1926 held in Philadelphia,

this lunette-shaped mural was rediscovered in 1994 in an auditorium at the Mont Alto campus of

The Pennsylvania State University. The Michener cleaned and restored the mural to its current

condition.