Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6

Robert Spencer
"The Gray House"

Circa 1910

About the Item

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Robert Spencer (1879 - 1931) One of the rarest and most important artists among the New Hope School, Robert Spencer was born in Harvard, Nebraska. Living an itinerant lifestyle as a youth, Spencer ended up in New York by his teenage years. After graduating high school, he attended classes at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1899. From 1903 to 1905, he continued his studies at the New York School of Art under William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri. From 1906 through 1910, Spencer lived in towns in close proximity to the Delaware River, such as Frenchtown, New Jersey and Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania. He spent the summer of 1909 studying with Daniel Garber at his home in Lumberville. Soon after, Spencer moved to New Hope, where for the sake of conserving money, he roomed with fellow artist Charles Ramsey. The two impoverished artists rented the dilapidated old Huffnagle Mansion for two dollars a month. It was there that Spencer’s career would begin to take shape. His studio was set up in the massive ballroom just a stone’s throw away from the Heath and Maris mills. The mansion was originally built for Richard Heath in 1707, who at the time owned the Heath Grist Mill. It was later bought by William Maris in 1802, who owned the Maris Silk Mill. These two mills provided subject matter for some of Spencer’s most important paintings and elements from them continued to appear in his paintings for year after. Spencer became famous for his scenes of mills, tenements, and factories. One of his most praised depictions of working-class life is “Repairing the Bridge”, which was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1914. In 1913, Spencer met Margaret Fulton, an artist and architect, and niece of well-known landscape painter, Birge Harrison. At the time, Margaret was studying with William Lathrop at his Phillips Mill home where Spencer often visited. A relationship developed and they married in 1914. For a while after, the Spencers moved across the river to nearby Lambertville, where they lived above the firehouse. In 1916, they bought a home in Rabbit Run, midway between New Hope and Phillips Mill where Spencer remained until his untimely death. In 1931, Robert Spencer, suffering from bouts of depression and an unhealthy marriage, took his own life. Spencer exhibited extensively in the United States and abroad, garnering numerous prizes, including the Hallgarten Prize, the Inness Award, and the Gold Medal from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His work is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the James A. Michener Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian Institute, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Academy of Design, the Reading Public Museum, the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts, the National Arts Club, the Delaware Art Museum, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., among others.
  • Creator:
    Robert Spencer (1879-1931, American)
  • Creation Year:
    Circa 1910
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 35 in (88.9 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)Depth: 4 in (10.16 cm)
  • More Editions & Sizes:
    Frame Size 34" x 39" x 4.5"Price: $231,250
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Lambertville, NJ
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: JOL042118011stDibs: LU3743590992
More From This SellerView All
  • "Spring on Risdon Street, Mt. Holly, NJ"
    By Hugh Campbell
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed lower right. Complemented by a hand carved and gilt frame. Hugh Campbell (1905-1997) Born December 4, 1905 in Atch...
    Category

    20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "Fresh Snow"
    By Walter Emerson Baum
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville Fine Art Gallery is proud to present this piece by Walter Emerson Baum (1884 - 1956). Born in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, Walter Baum was one of the only membe...
    Category

    20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "Spring, Oakview"
    By Antonio Pietro Martino
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Antonio Pietro Martino (1902 - 1988) Signed and dated lower right. Complemented by a period frame. Antonio Martino was ...
    Category

    1920s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "Sunlit House, Centre Bridge"
    By Clarence Raymond Johnson
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim's of Lambertville Fine Art Gallery is proud to present this piece by Clarence Raymond Johnson (1894 - 1981). Clarence Johnson was an important New Hope School Impressionist painter who was active from 1917 until 1935. Born in Ohio, Johnson began his studies at the Columbus Art School. He then came to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he studied under Daniel Garber, Emil Carlsen, and Cecilia Beaux...
    Category

    1920s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "The Canal"
    By Edward Willis Redfield
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed lower left. Complemented by a hand carved and gilt frame. Illustrated in "Edward Redfield: Just Values and Fine Seeing" by Constance Kimmerle and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts's Exhibition of Paintings by Edward Redfield (April 17 to May 16, 1909) brochure Edward Willis Redfield (1869 - 1965) Edward W. Redfield was born in Bridgeville, Delaware, moving to Philadelphia as a young child. Determined to be an artist from an early age, he studied at the Spring Garden Institute and the Franklin Institute before entering the Pennsylvania Academy from 1887 to 1889, where he studied under Thomas Anshutz, James Kelly, and Thomas Hovenden. Along with his friend and fellow artist, Robert Henri, he traveled abroad in 1889 and studied at the Academie Julian in Paris under William Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury. While in France, Redfield met Elise Deligant, the daughter of an innkeeper, and married in London in 1893. Upon his return to the United States, Redfield and his wife settled in Glenside, Pennsylvania. He remained there until 1898, at which time he moved his family to Center Bridge, a town several miles north of New Hope along the Delaware River. Redfield painted prolifically in the 1890s but it was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that he would develop the bold impressionist style that defined his career. As Redfield’s international reputation spread, many young artists gravitated to New Hope as he was a great inspiration and an iconic role model. Edward Redfield remained in Center Bridge throughout his long life, fathering his six children there. Around 1905 and 1906, Redfield’s style was coming into its own, employing thick vigorous brush strokes tightly woven and layered with a multitude of colors. These large plein-air canvases define the essence of Pennsylvania Impressionism. By 1907, Redfield had perfected his craft and, from this point forward, was creating some of his finest work. Redfield would once again return to France where he painted a small but important body of work between 1907 and 1908. While there, he received an Honorable Mention from the Paris Salon for one of these canvases. In 1910 he was awarded a Gold Medal at the prestigious Buenos Aires Exposition and at the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 in San Francisco, an entire gallery was dedicated for twenty-one of his paintings. Since Redfield painted for Exhibition with the intent to win medals, his best effort often went into his larger paintings. Although he also painted many fine smaller pictures, virtually all of his works were of major award-winning canvas sizes of 38x50 or 50x56 inches. If one were to assign a period of Redfield’s work that was representative of his “best period”, it would have to be from 1907 to 1925. Although he was capable of creating masterpieces though the late 1940s, his style fully matured by 1907 and most work from then through the early twenties was of consistently high quality. In the later 1920s and through the 1930s and 1940s, he was like most other great artists, creating some paintings that were superb examples and others that were of more ordinary quality. Redfield earned an international reputation at a young age, known for accurately recording nature with his canvases and painting virtually all of his work outdoors; Redfield was one of a rare breed. He was regarded as the pioneer of impressionist winter landscape painting in America, having few if any equals. Redfield spent summers in Maine, first at Boothbay Harbor and beginning in the 1920s, on Monhegan Island. There he painted colorful marine and coastal scenes as well as the island’s landscape and fishing shacks. He remained active painting and making Windsor style furniture...
    Category

    Early 1900s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "In Port"
    By Edward Willis Redfield
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Edward Willis Redfield (1869 - 1965) Edward W. Redfield was born in Bridgeville, Delaware, moving to Philadelphia as a young child. Determined to be an artist from an early age, he studied at the Spring Garden Institute and the Franklin Institute before entering the Pennsylvania Academy from 1887 to 1889, where he studied under Thomas Anshutz, James Kelly, and Thomas Hovenden. Along with his friend and fellow artist, Robert Henri, he traveled abroad in 1889 and studied at the Academie Julian in Paris under William Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury. While in France, Redfield met Elise Deligant, the daughter of an innkeeper, and married in London in 1893. Upon his return to the United States, Redfield and his wife settled in Glenside, Pennsylvania. He remained there until 1898, at which time he moved his family to Center Bridge, a town several miles north of New Hope along the Delaware River. Redfield painted prolifically in the 1890s but it was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that he would develop the bold impressionist style that defined his career. As Redfield’s international reputation spread, many young artists gravitated to New Hope as he was a great inspiration and an iconic role model. Edward Redfield remained in Center Bridge throughout his long life, fathering his six children there. Around 1905 and 1906, Redfield’s style was coming into its own, employing thick vigorous brush strokes tightly woven and layered with a multitude of colors. These large plein-air canvases define the essence of Pennsylvania Impressionism. By 1907, Redfield had perfected his craft and, from this point forward, was creating some of his finest work. Redfield would once again return to France where he painted a small but important body of work between 1907 and 1908. While there, he received an Honorable Mention from the Paris Salon for one of these canvases. In 1910 he was awarded a Gold Medal at the prestigious Buenos Aires Exposition and at the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 in San Francisco, an entire gallery was dedicated for twenty-one of his paintings. Since Redfield painted for Exhibition with the intent to win medals, his best effort often went into his larger paintings. Although he also painted many fine smaller pictures, virtually all of his works were of major award-winning canvas sizes of 38x50 or 50x56 inches. If one were to assign a period of Redfield’s work that was representative of his “best period”, it would have to be from 1907 to 1925. Although he was capable of creating masterpieces though the late 1940s, his style fully matured by 1907 and most work from then through the early twenties was of consistently high quality. In the later 1920s and through the 1930s and 1940s, he was like most other great artists, creating some paintings that were superb examples and others that were of more ordinary quality. Redfield earned an international reputation at a young age, known for accurately recording nature with his canvases and painting virtually all of his work outdoors; Redfield was one of a rare breed. He was regarded as the pioneer of impressionist winter landscape painting in America, having few if any equals. Redfield spent summers in Maine, first at Boothbay Harbor and beginning in the 1920s, on Monhegan Island. There he painted colorful marine and coastal scenes as well as the island’s landscape and fishing shacks. He remained active painting and making Windsor style furniture...
    Category

    Early 1900s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

You May Also Like
  • Picnic Shade
    By Donald S. Vogel
    Located in Dallas, TX
    Donald Vogel’s paintings reflect his interest in seeking beauty in life and in sharing pleasure with his viewers. Vogel entreats us to "rejoice and celebrate each new day, knowing it...
    Category

    1980s American Impressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Jess Panda, Sketch
    By Ben Fenske
    Located in Sag Harbor, NY
    A contemporary oil painting of a woman stepping out of her small car, a Fiat Panda. Painted from life, shadows are purple and atmospheric. She's parked on bright green grass, in rura...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Sedona Red Rocks, Southwestern Desert Landscape
    By Kenneth Lucas
    Located in Soquel, CA
    Sweeping vertical desert landscape with a calm river in the foreground and the gorgeous formations of Sedona red rocks towering above in the distance, by California artist Ken Lucas ...
    Category

    1990s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Illustration Board, Canvas

  • Bucks County Winter Landscape
    By Paul Bernard King
    Located in Milford, NH
    A wonderful winter village landscape in Bucks County by painted by American artist Paul Bernard King (1867-1947). King was born in Buffalo, New York, and ...
    Category

    Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • California Seascape -- Mid Morning Overcast
    Located in Soquel, CA
    Gorgeous Northern California seascape titled, "Mid Morning Overcast" by Jean Gronbeck (American, 20th Century). Presented in a wooden frame. Signed "J. G...
    Category

    1970s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • 1920s Century Country Creek Landscape
    Located in Soquel, CA
    Serene early 20th century landscape of a winding creek in verdant country side with a distant farmhouse in the background, by an unknown artist (American, 20th Century), c. 1920. Pre...
    Category

    1920s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

Recently Viewed

View All