Artist's Statement 

Adapted from the 1991 Southern Alleghenies One Man Show

Born in Reading, educated in my chosen profession at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Barnes Foundation, professor in drawing and painting at the Academy from 1938 to my retirement in 1996 and at the Philadelphia College of Art from 1949 to 1951, I have drawn and painted the city of Philadelphia, its people and the surrounding countryside throughout my career. I had a farm in Christiana, PA, for many years, have lived in Philadelphia since my student days and was one of the first to purchase a home Society in the Hill section and restore it to its former splendor, doing almost all the work myself.

I consider myself truly a PENNSYLVANIA artist. 

Although throughout my career I have painted the figure and still life as well as landscape this exhibition is devoted to I have work done in abandoned bogs and marshes in the Philadelphia area. I am intrigued with the watery trails, shimmering pools and ever changing light from morning to dusk. Although I have never painted abstractly I was influenced by that group of painters during the 50's and even today I approach my landscapes from an abstract point-of-view. My approach to composition of my work is often similar in several works. For instance, a vertical very close to the edge, a horizontal very near the top, and within this framework, large circles - in some cases, clouds reflected on the water. In many of my works the sky is almost entirely eliminated. By pushing the horizon almost, or entirely, out of the picture and putting sky and cloud reflections in the water, I am able to use the blues and violets to better advantage in the major area of the design.

I want to paint an intimate view of nature.  Even in my large paintings - in particular the six-panel screen in this exhibition - I am less interested in the large scale, grandiose or overall view but in something close and more personal. In my landscapes I take great liberties in changing and rearranging the colors and shapes. The dominant element in my work continues to be the intensity and vibrancy of colors - strong violets, blues, and greens. I work almost exclusively from nature - many of the works in this exhibition I painted while standing in a rowboat. Then I take the paintings back to my studio for the final rearrangements and touches using sketches and photographs for reference.

Once, while I was painting in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey someone walked up behind me and, looking at the marshy landscape and then at my painting said, "You don't paint what you see. I replied, "But I paint what I want to see.