ALBERT VAN NESSE GREENE (AMERICAN 1887-1971) "FISHING BOAT ON THE RIVER"

Provenance: Schwarz Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Acquired directly from the above in 1992.

Collection of Dorrance H. Hamilton.

LITERATURE:

Philadelphia Collection XLVI, Schwarz Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 1991, plate 31 (illustrated).

NOTE:

Albert van Nesse Greene studied under famed Pennsylvania Impressionist Daniel Garber (1880-1958) at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and was trained as a painter, illustrator and etcher. Born in Jamaica, New York, he also studied at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. His work was influenced by his teacher, as well as artists such as William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), Fred Wagner (1860-1940), Edgar Degas (1834-1917) and Claude Monet (1840-1926). Greene served in World War I and lived and worked in Virginia following the war. Eventually he settled in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, and established his studio there. For fifty years thereafter he painted his lush gardens and the Bucks County environs.

While most of his paintings were of Pennsylvania, this piece is thought to be a scene of the Potomac River near Washington D.C., as he had ties to the area through his grandfather, a prosperous manufacturer in Falls Church, Virginia. The scene is one of respite, the boat docked safely on shore, tucked between two trees, and the river calm on a sunny day.