Walter Elmer Schofield

(American, 1867-1944)

January Day, c. 1906

oil on canvas

signed W. E. Schofield (lower right)

45 1/2 x 60 1/4 in.

Property from the Collection of Renny Reynolds

Provenance:

Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1907 (1907.192, deaccessioned 1945).

Coleman Galleries, New York, New York.

Babcock Galleries, New York, New York.

Literature:

"Art Notes," St. Ives Weekly Summary, November 16, 1907 (as January Day).

Lorinda Munson Bryant, American Pictures and Their Painters, New York and London, 1917, fig. 149 (as January Day).

Rilla Evelyn Jackman, American Arts, New York and Chicago, 1928, pl. 89.

William Valerio, et al., Schofield: International Impressionist, an exhibition catalogue, Philadelphia, 2014, pp. 36 (illustrated) and 133-134.

Exhibited:

Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, "19th Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture by American Artists," October 16 – November 29, 1906, no. 272 (as Cloud Shadows).

London, Royal Society of British Artists, "Winter Exhibition," 1907, no. 223.

Cincinnati, Cincinnati Art Museum, "14th Annual Exhibition," May 18 – July 17, 1907.

Philadelphia, Woodmere Art Museum, "Schofield: International Impressionist," September 18, 2014 – January 25, 2015.

Lot Note:

Like his well-known rival Edward Redfield, Walter Elmer Schofield was an exponent of an outstepping and hearty aesthetic, one that prioritized candor—he only painted what he saw—and energy. He had a particular flair for extracting the raw beauty of American landscapes in all kinds of weather, as if he relished a confrontation with the elements, and such bluster is now often understood as an attempt to equate virility with Americanism in art.

Winter was his season of choice to depict the wonders to be found out of doors. The more challenging a setting appeared, the more intense its rendition proved. Here, Schofield ventured to a snowy wooded exterior, and the act of capturing it on canvas amounted to stranding the viewer in its midst. With no path or recognizable landmarks in sight, we are enveloped in subtly gradated shades of blue, grey, brown and green, a multi-sensory moment allowing us to experience the frigid air and howling winds likely felt and heard by the painter himself.

January Day, c. 1906