Pennsylvania Art History
with an emphasis on representational art
Other online information
(above: Rae Sloan Bredin (1880-1933), The Garden Bench, 1920. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
A Cultural Celebration: Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans from a Berks County Collection, an exhibit held 6/12/10 - 9/26/10 at the Reading Public Museum. Includes online video and news release. Accessed April, 2015.
Artists from Pennsylvania in Wikipedia. Accessed August, 2015.
(above: Cecilia Beaux, The Dreamer, 1894, oil on canvas, 33 x 25 inches, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)
Body Language: The Art of Larry Day is a 2021 exhibit at the Woodmere Art Museum which says: "Deeply speculative, Day believed that the ordinary in life is the source of all that is extraordinary. His embrace of everyday subjects was tethered to a deeply curious intellectual engagement with the figurative arts and the history of representation. By questioning and reframing prevailing assumptions, he participated in the broad movement in Western thought we now call Postmodernism." Accessed 11/21
Bucks County Painters is a page contained in the Michener Art Museum website as a subsection of Bucks County Artists. Accessed May, 2016
"The Capitol's Fine Decorative Arts," chapter six excerpt of The Capitol's Fine & Decorative Arts, from Pennsylvania General Assembly. Accessed August, 2015.
City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, a website devoted to "world's largest collection of outdoor public art." Accessed August, 2015.
Dreams: Selections from Easton Nights by Peter Ydeen is a 2019 exhibit at the Susquehanna Art Museum which says: "Ydeen has been photographing the Easton, Pennsylvania area since 2015. He takes inspiration from the work of noted American photographer George Tice, who captured images of American life and landscape." Accessed 8/20
Fern Coppedge: New Discoveries is a 2020 exhibit at the Michener (James A.) Art Museum which says: "In 1920, Fern Coppedge bought a house and studio in Lumberville, Pennsylvania and painted the surrounding Bucks County landscape in bold shapes and vibrant colors. Coppedge is especially celebrated for her snow landscapes, her most common subject." Accessed 4/21
First Academies: Benjamin West and the Founding of the Royal Academy of Arts and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is a 2018 exhibit at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts which says: "On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) in London, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is pleased to recognize the role that Benjamin West (1738-1820) played in founding each of these first sustained academies in England and the United States." Also see press release Accessed 5/18
Françoise Gilot: Her Journey through Portraiture is a 2020 exhibit at the Berman Museum which says: " Her skill in a variety of mediums includes India ink, oils with pastels, charcoal, along with examples of her mastery in the multiple layers of lithography ink. Gilot knew some of her subjects, such as Endre Rozsda and Genevieve, but it is her relationship with her family, Pablo Picasso, Claude, Paloma, and Aurelia, which inform her most intimate compositions. Other works included are interpretations drawn from Gilot's knowledge of extraordinary lives." Accessed 5/21
From the Schuylkill to the Hudson: Landscapes of the Early American Republic is a 2019 exhibit at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts which says: "Philadelphia's key role in the growth of American landscape painting has never been the subject of a major museum exhibition. PAFA's exhibition, along with the accompanying catalog, will illuminate the growth of the genre from its roots, through its rise into the public consciousness. " Also see PAFA article and other article Accessed 11/19
George Sotter: Light and Shadow is a 2017 exhibit at the Michener (James A.) Art Museum which says: "George Sotter (1879-1953), an artist strongly identified with Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is best known for his magical winter nocturnes, scenes made even more enchanting by the blanket of snow that is a recurring motif in his work." Also see press release Accessed 9/17
Harry Leith-Ross: Scenes from Country Life is a 2019 exhibit at the Michener (James A.) Art Museum which says: "Leith-Ross settled permanently in New Hope, Pennsylvania in 1935 and became an integral part of the local art community." Also see Resource Library article Accessed 1/20
Highlights from the New Hope-Solebury School District Art Collection is a 2016 James A. Michener Art Museum exhibit. The museum says: "Students don't often have the occasion to view real works of art in their own school buildings, but in Bucks County there is a long tradition of assembling collections of original works of art for display and educational use in public schools. The New Hope-Solebury School District (NHSD) is one such district in which school officials began to acquire work for educational purposes as early as 1931. Works were obtained in many different ways: they were donated by artists and artists' families, provided as gifts by the Student Council, and acquired in memory of former teachers and administrators." Accessed 9/16.
Joseph Plavcan (1908-1981) is a 2018 exhibit at the Erie Art Museum which says: "A prolific artist throughout his life, Plavcan painted constantly. One of the most common recollections of former students is how he was always at work on a painting in the classroom. He also worked daily in his home studio and painted on location throughout the region, especially on Erie's waterfront." Accessed 4/18
Karl J. Kuerner: Art Spirit in Agrarian Art is a 2020 exhibit at the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art which says: "Karl J. Kuerner of the famous Kuerner Farm in Chadds Ford, Penn. (where generations of Wyeths have painted) brings to Nebraska an exhibition of his deeply introspective images of farm life." Accessed 1/21
Labor and Landscape: 100 Paintings of the Allegheny Mountain Region by Ron Donoughe is a 2017 exhibit at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art which says: "A native son of Cambria County and Loretto, Donoughe wanted to dig deeper into the places he calls home. He did so by visiting many businesses, farms and even the county fair. Asking permission to paint on private premises and at many area businesses and industries, he was given personal tours of steel mills, a pretzel factory and even a taxidermy school, to name just a few. His idea was explore curiously, with a paintbrush in hand." Also see artist's website. Accessed 5/17
"Makers, Manufacturers, and Artists" is a LancasterHistory.org Web page containing links to biographies of many artists from Lancaster County, PA. Accessed May, 2016
Matthew Daub: In the Shadow of Industry, Watercolors and Drawings of Eastern Pennsylvania, a 2001 exhibit at the Reading Public Museum. Includes essay by Robert Metzger, Ph.D, Director, CEO, Chief Curator, Reading Public Museum. Accessed April, 2015
Our Town: A Retrospective of Edith Neff is a 2019 exhibit at the Woodmere Art Museum which says: "A leading realist painter of her day, Edith Neff (19431995) was praised for her dynamic compositions, her sophisticated use of color, and her ability to portray drama in everyday life. She explored questions of race, gender, and identity, probing the social and cultural fabric of Philadelphia." Accessed 5/20
The Painters of Berks, an exhibit held 5/25/13 - 9/14/13 at the Reading Public Museum. Includes online videos. Accessed April, 2015.
Past Present Future: Western Pennsylvania's People & Places is a 2017 exhibit at the Silver Eye Center for Photography which says: "This expansive survey exhibition celebrates photographic landscapes and portraits of Western Pennsylvania, spanning over 100 years of image making in the region." Accessed 8/17
Paul Evans, Crossing Boundaries & Crafting Modernism is an online exhibit of the James A. Michener Art Museum which says: "Drawn from the Philadelphia area's most prestigious private and institutional collections, the exhibition was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view some of the finest paintings by these beloved artists, work that is only rarely made available to the general public. The exhibit focused particularly on Bucks County's landscape tradition as embodied in the canvases of Redfield, Garber, Spencer, Coppedge, and their many friends and colleagues who were part of the New Hope art colony." Exhibit includes audio, video and other resources. Accessed 12/19
(above: Charles Willson Peale
(1741-1827), The Artist in His Museum, 1822, oil on canvas, 103.7x
79.8 in. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons)
The Pennsylvania Landscape in Impressionism and Contemporary Art is a 2018 exhibit at the Woodmere Art Museum which says: "Among the strengths of Woodmere's collection is work by painters known today as the Pennsylvania Impressionists. This exhibition demonstrates how these artists explored the Pennsylvania landscape as a subject and investigated ideas that continue to resonate in the visual expression of contemporary art in Philadelphia." Accessed 10/18
Pennsylvania State Capitol Artists from Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee. Accessed August, 2015.
Philadelphia Sketch Club website, which says: "On November 20, 1860, six "Bohemian" students from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, George F. Bensell and his brother, Edmund B. Bensell, Edward J. McIlhenny, Henry C. Bispham, John L. Gihon, and Robert Wylie met at 125 South 11th Street to form a "sketching club." They sought illustration and design opportunities not available at the Academy. Within months, other talented artists were added to the membership, including Stephen J. Ferris, a celebrated etcher and Thomas Moran, the great landscape artist...." Accessed August, 2015.
Picturing Pennsylvania Barns is a 2019 exhibit at the Reading Public Museum which says: "This exhibition explores images of rural southeastern Pennsylvania -- prints, watercolors, photographs, and paintings -- focusing on nineteenth-century barns. The traditional subject was enlisted by a group of American artists who embraced Modernism in the early decades of the twentieth century. For artists such as George Sotter, Charles Sheeler, and others, the pastoral landscapes, charming subjects, and historic vernacular architecture of rural Pennsylvania served as inspiration for new artistic approaches for the next generation". Also see 12/4/19 article in Reading Eagle. Accessed 5/20
Plastic Club website, which says: "Since 1897, The Plastic Club has been devoted to the promotion and preservation of the visual (plastic) arts in Philadelphia...." Accessed August, 2015. Also see A History of the Plastic Club by Barbara MacIlvaine, from the Plastic Club. Accessed July, 2015.
Rae Sloan Bredin: Harmony and Power is a 2018 exhibit at the Michener (James A.) Art Museum which says: "Rae Sloan Bredin (1881-1933) has long been known among the Pennsylvania Impressionists as a painter whose work is characterized by refinement and dignity, serenity and delicacy. His paintings depict life in New Hope and, unlike his local peers, often depict women and children in groups both out in nature as well as in intimate interiors. This exhibition will highlight works spanning Bredin's career, touching on his time as a student, instructor, and member of the New Hope Group." Also see 4/27/18 article in The Morning Call. Accessed 5/18
Rose Valley artists 1901-1911 from The Rose Valley Historical Society. Accessed August, 2015.
The Scumblers and their Shack at Edison in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, by Richard Oliver OSB and Chuck Rudy; from Richard Oliver OSB. Accessed August, 2015.
Spring in Pennsylvania is a 2020
virtual exhibit at the Westmoreland
Museum of American Art which says: "Take a journey through
Pennsylvania landscapes from our works on paper collection as the selection
of artists pay tribute to the transformative power of nature."
Accessed 1/21
The Way Back: The Paintings of George A. Weymouth is a 2018 exhibit at the Brandywine River Museum which says: "In addition to his roles as founder and board chairman of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art, a philanthropist, and a land and cultural conservationist, George A. "Frolic" Weymouth (1936-2016) was a highly talented artist." Also see press release and 1/25/18 article in The Hunt Magazine. Accessed 2/18
th(ink)ing - The Experimental Printmaking Institute at Lafayette College is a 2014 exhibit at Lehigh University Art Galleries by co-curator, Susan Ellis Accessed 2/19
Western Pennsylvania Folk Art is featured in the Antiques and the Arts Weekly 7/2/07 article "Made In the Pennsylvania A Folk Art Tradition" and a 12/1/02 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Accessed 3/18
(above: Thomas Eakins, Between Rounds, c. 1898-99, oil on canvas, 50.1 x 39.8 inches, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)
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TFAO's Distinguished Artists catalogue provides online access to biographical information for artists associated with this state. Also, Search Resource Library for online articles and essays concerning both individual artists associated with this state's history and the history of art centers and museums in this state. Resource Library articles and essays devoted to individual artists and institutions are not listed on this page.
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