White Morning 1915, 16.5 x 22.5 |
Winter Forest brought $198,000 at Sotheby's in 2007 |
Palmer ready for plein air ca. 1880 |
Walter Launt Palmer Self-Portrait, 1885 |
HE IS RECOGNIZED AS THE LEADING ARTIST OF SNOW Palmer started out by following Edward Gay as a painter of interiors, and went on to prefer what he called the more luxurious interiors of Europe. But Church's influence re-interested Palmer in landscape during their New York period. By the mid-1880s Palmer began working on winter scenes. These masterpieces captivated viewers with their serenity and masterful tonal subtleties. Fir trees and barren branches droop under the weight of freshly fallen snow and ice glistens on half-frozen streams in a way that captures the immediacy of the moment. Palmer continued to paint these very popular winter landscapes until his death in 1932. He moved back to Albany, and worked there except for summering in Gloucester where he was a member of the Rockport group of impressionists. He was fascinated by snow, and used both oil and mixed media to capture its subtlety. He once said, "Snow, being colorless, lends itself to every effect of complement and reflection," and his use of blue shadow in the snow is considered one of the first treatments of this technique. People and writers would remark that it was strange to see him sitting on his Gloucester Bay dock in the summertime while painting a snow scene. All the while the picturesque harbor's beauty was right in front of him. But he responded that he felt that it was no more inconsistent than many of his fellow artists who painted summer scenes in the dead of winter. Needless to say Palmer chalked up gold medals, prizes and recognition right to the end of his career. |
Palmer as painted by Irving Ramsey Wiles in 1909 |