John Fulton Folinsbee (American, 1892-1972) Jersey Village, Winter

New Jersey, Winter dates to the late 1910s, not long after Folinsbee relocated to New Hope from upstate New York. Abandoning the Tonalism of Birge Harrison and John Fabian Carlson—his mentors at the Woodstock Art Colony—for full-fledged Impressionism, Folinsbee, like a number of his Bucks County contemporaries, trained his eye on the region’s landscape, vernacular architecture, and industry. Painted en plein air, or directly from nature, the present lot boasts a view of New Jersey from across the Delaware River—a vantage explored on numerous occasions, and to great effect, by the artist. With suggestive daubs, Folinsbee loosely describes the distant village. A frieze of differently colored structures comprises the composition’s middleground, their profile echoing the rise and fall of the forested hillside beyond. Just right of center, smoke and steam herald an approaching locomotive, its stylized billows bridging foreground snow with cloud-filled skies. The palette, too, is characteristic of Folinsbee’s output from this early period. Subdued tones commingle with comparatively higher-key blues, teal, and pearlescent white, while carefully orchestrated passages of light and atmosphere celebrate not only site but season.

Ferargil Galleries, New York, New York, sale of October 28, 1919.

Collection of Graham Williford, New York, New York.

Acquired directly from the above circa 1985.

Property from the Estate of Angela Gross Folk, New Jersey.