John Fulton Folinsbee

John Fulton Folinsbee (American, 1892–1972) The Raritan

Exhibited

"Twenty-Fourth International Exhibition of Paintings," The Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, October 15–December 6, 1925.

"One Hundred First Annual Exhibition," National Academy of Design, New York, March 30–April 11, 1926, no. 243.

"Twentieth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists," Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, April 25–June 21, 1926, no. 40 (exhibited as The Raritan, Winter).

"Thirty-Ninth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture," Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, October 28–December 12, 1926, no. 61.

"Twenty-Second Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists," City Art Museum of Saint Louis, St. Louis, September 1–October 15, 1927.

"Paintings by John Folinsbee," New London, Connecticut, April–May 1929.

Lehigh University Gallery, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, May 4–18, 1929.

"John Folinsbee, A Retrospective," Western Electric Gallery, Western Electric Gallery, Hopewell, New Jersey, March 9 - April 2, 1980.

"John Folinsbee: His Changing Landscape and Industrial Modernism" Richard Stuart Gallery, Pipersville, Pennsylvania, 1981.

"The Paintings of John Folinsbee," New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey, October 30, 1982–January 9, 1983, no. 7.

"American Impressionism; The New Hope School Circle," The Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, December 5, 1984-January 27, 1985, no. 7.

"The New Hope Circle," Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 1985.

"The Painterly Voice: Bucks County's Fertile Ground," James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, October 22, 2011–April 1, 2012.

Literature

David Shirey, "A Truly American Impressionist" in The New York Times, March 30, 1980 (illustrated).

Sam Hunter, American Impressionism: The New Hope Circle, The Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art and Richard Stuart Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, 1985, p. 26 (illustrated).

Kirsten M. Jensen, Folinsbee Considered, Hudson Hills Press, Manchester, 2013, p. 246, no. 990 (illustrated).

Note

The Raritan canal (now Raritan and Delaware Canal) is a canal from the 1830s which helped connect the Delaware River and the Raritan River, mostly to transport coal from Pennsylvania to New York City.

The present work, named after the canal, dates from a period following Folinsbee's return from France, and as such displays "signs of a new emerging voice" as Kirsten Jensen explains. While the technique is still very much impressionistic, as seen by the myriad of short brushstrokes feathering the surface of the canvas, the work displays a new use of color (more muted, and in a way reflective of the environment), and relies on a strict structure which showcases a clear understanding of geometry. Here, Folinsbee introduces the first of his sculptural paintings, which hinges on the strong contrast between a heavy, immobile and large horizontal barge and the transient effects associated with the running water in the canal and the effervescence of the plumes of smoke seen in the background. As stated by Kirsten Jensen: "These mid-decade works have more substance than their predecessors and a subtle and entirely new energy and rhythm shifting and vibrating beneath their heavy blankets of snow.”

Provenance

The Artist.

The Estate of the Artist.

Richard York Gallery, New York, New York.

Sotheby's, New York, sale of September 9, 1995, lot 155.

Acquired directly from the above sale.

John H. Surovek Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida.

Jim's of Lambertville, Lambertville, New Jersey.

Private collection, Princeton, New Jersey.

Freeman's, Philadelphia, sale of December 6, 2009, lot 201.

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Private Collection, New Hope, Pennsylvania.