New Light: The Pennsylvania Impressionists, Highlights from the Woodmere Art Museum Collection

The Pennsylvania Impressionist artists were united by their connections to the vibrant New Hope area of Pennsylvania. In the early 20th century artists of diverse backgrounds were attracted to Bucks County for its rural landscape and proximity to Philadelphia. Many artists on view studied and taught with one another at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now the Moore College of Art and Design).

Each of these artists painted the landscape en plein air. Their direct observations of the effects of daylight are reminiscent of the European Impressionists who were popular at the time. Though it remained one of their stylistic influences, these artists did not intend to redefine the popular European Impressionist movement. They desired to capture the beauty of the natural world through a uniquely American lens.

Works included in this exhibition represent the largest loan from the collection of the Woodmere Art Museum (Philadelphia) to date.

Plan Your Visit

Exhibition Details

Date: February 7 – May 22, 2016

Venue: Main Gallery

Exhibiting Artists: Reference List Below

“Most of the artists who contributed to the movement we now call Pennsylvania Impressionism lived in New Hope, Pennsylvania. However, the city of Philadelphia, with its great museums and art schools, served as the intellectual home of the movement. The work of this broad diversity of men and women artists of Pennsylvania Impressionism is strongly represented in the collection of Woodmere Art Museum, a museum in Philadelphia that is dedicated to telling the stories of the city’s artists… Pennsylvania Impressionism represents one of the unique strengths of Woodmere’s collections, and we are honored that the Susquehanna Art Museum will be shining new light on these great cultural treasures of Pennsylvania.”

– William R. Valerio, Ph.D. The Patricia Van Burgh Allison Director and CEO of the Woodmere Art Museum

Artists

Bernard Badura
Faye Swengel Badura
Hugh H. Campbell
Constance Cochrane
Fern Isabel Coppedge
Nancy Maybin Ferguson
Daniel Garber
Harry Leith-Ross
Edmund Darch Lewis
Antonio P. Martino
Giovanni Martino
Jervis McEntee
Arthur Meltzer
Roy C. Nuse
Edward Willis Redfield

Joseph Sacks
William Sartain
Susan Gertrude Schell
Walter Elmer Schofield
Russell Smith
Francis Speight
Raymond Theel
Carroll Sargent Tyson
Walter Van Den Hengel
Paulette Van Roekens
Pearl Aiman Van Sciver
Martha Walter
Charles Ward
Elizabeth Washington