American Art

The present lot will be included in the forthcoming Fern Coppedge Catalogue Raisonné compiled by Les and Sue Fox.

Provenance:

Newman Galleries, Philadelphia and New York (label verso)

Dr. Barry L. Glazer, Philadelphia

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1981

Lot note:

During her 30-year career, Fern Isabel Coppedge became renowned for her ability to capture the distinct winter light of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Though born in Cerro Gordo, Illinois in 1888, she spent her early adult life in California and Kansas. She later studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago and then in New York with William Merritt Chase at the Art Students League. In 1917, Coppedge and her husband, Robert, relocated to Philadelphia, where she studied with John Fabian Carlson and Henry Snell. She also attended classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she studied with, among others, Daniel Garber, who would be an important mentor. In 1920, the artist and her husband purchased both a house in Philadelphia and a historic home in Lumberville, Pennsylvania, near New Hope, with Fern spending time at both residences. She had been encouraged to move to Bucks County by Daniel Garber for the fertile artistic opportunities offered by the snow-covered hills and valleys of the Delaware River, to which he was also drawn.

From Garber and her previous teachers, Coppedge gravitated to the impressionist style, but made it her own, using brighter colors, a more modern sensibility, and often, a winter theme. In 1931, a New York Evening Post review of Coppedge’s solo exhibition at New York’s Carlyle Hotel stated:

“For the particular kind of painter that Fern Coppedge happens to be, the absence of snow makes the same difference in the pursuit of her career as the lack of water would make to a swimmer…A really worthwhile snowstorm brings her out with bearskin coat, cap and ear muffs and fur gloves to go trampling through the deep drifts. Then she paints until her fingers are stiff and must be thawed out before she can go on. It’s the snow that makes painting a passion for Coppedge.”

Both The Lock Keepers Lodge (Lot 27) and Winter Scene (Lot 28) are quintessential examples of Coppedge’s adeptness in describing the sharp, cold air and scintillating light reflecting off snow in a Bucks County winter. In Winter Scene, a small village nestles in the valley, tucked between the rolling hills. A group of buildings in the midground are boldly outlined with black, painterly strokes that reflect the artist’s modernist use of unorthodox stylistic choices. Likewise, bare, sinuous trees appear to unnaturally curve and embrace these buildings. The broad sky is depicted in yellow, blue, and lavender shadows that shimmer across the snow and which echo the colors of the structures. Deep in shadow, a glimpse of a canal can be seen in the foreground, carving a deep path.

Although the village in Winter Scene is a general view, the buildings in The Lock Keepers Lodge are more specific. The artist frequently depicted the cottages and homes of the lock keepers of the Delaware canal, but as was her usual practice, Coppedge did not name the present lodge. However, variations of these buildings along the canal can be seen in other paintings. In the present artwork, vertical and horizontal brushstrokes delineate the characteristic fieldstone construction of the buildings, with the walls glowing gold in the winter sun. Above them to the left rise deeply purpled hills, and to the buildings’ right, the curve of the canal. The swathe of brilliant white snow that winds through the composition contrasts dramatically with the surrounding hillside and seems to capture the frosty brightness of the winter landscape. Through these two rich scenes of some of her favorite subjects, Coppedge’s enthusiasm for the landscape shines as it joyfully plunges the viewer into the winter vistas through dazzling displays of color and brushwork.