American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists

After graduating from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1889, Redfield traveled to Paris to continue his studies, both at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian. Redfield's time in France deepened his appreciation for Impressionism, and inspired him to paint en plein air, which he would continue to do, and inspire others to do, after his return to America. 

Coast of France possibly depicts the rocky shore of Boulogne, which had been painted earlier by Édouard Manet, one of Redfield's artistic heroes. The craggy hillside rises away from the surf and anchors the scene. A solitary woman disrupts the landscape as she is walking along a narrow, curving path–the dark folds of her skirt are repeated in the shadows and crevices of the rocks clustered in the foreground. Redfield's signature thick, broad brushstrokes spread across the hazy sky and wild, overgrown grass blanketing the hills. It is a cloudy day. The horizon has disappeared, the calm water of the English channel rises to meet the expanse of sky and form an overall muted, grey atmosphere. The scene is tinted with an almost melancholic air, a dramatic departure from the artist's usually light-infused landscapes set in Bucks County.

From 1898 and into the early years of the 20th century, Redfield visited France often, with his French wife Élise Deligant. These trips are undocumented after 1898. According to Dr. Thomas Folk, the signature, with capital letters is a 20th-century Redfield signature, rather than a late-19th-century one. This painting must have been a favorite of the artist, as he exhibited it several times, especially in his early career. It may have had some sentimental value to him, as he never sold it, and it later became part of his Estate at the time of his death in 1965.

This painting will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of Edward Redfield's work being compiled by Dr. Thomas Folk.