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Lot Essay
"Jane Peterson is not an Impressionist", nor, as Patricia Jobe Pierce explains, "is she a Neo- or Post-Impressionist. She is not an Art Nouveau or Nabi painter. She is not a follower of Prendergast. She is not a Fauvist. Incredibly, Jane Peterson does not belong to any single school of painting. Having absorbed technical points and emotional input from many artists, teachers and trends, Peterson developed her own approach to painting." (J.J. Joseph, Jane Peterson: An American Artist, 1981, p. 18) Executed in 1916, On the Pier, Edgartown, composed of striking color and bold line illustrates the hallmarks of Peterson's unique painting style and represents one of her foremost achievements in oil.
Peterson was born in Elgin, Illinois and began her artistic training in 1896 at Pratt Institute in New York under the instruction of Arthur Wesley Dow. After graduating from Pratt in 1901, Peterson over the next decade held various teaching positions that brought her to Boston and Maryland. During this time she continued her studies at the Art Student's League as well as with the leading European artists of the period such as Frank Brangwyn, Jacques-Emile Blance and Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida in Paris, Venice and Madrid. She also traveled extensively throughout exotic North Africa visiting places such as Biskra, Egypt and Algiers. Drawing inspiration from her travels, Peterson produced a diverse body of work that she exhibited at various institutions such as Socit des Artistes Francais, Saint Botolph Club in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1915 at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. In 1916, Peterson, after visiting the pacific Northwest with artist and friend Louis Comfort Tiffany, frequented the various art colonies that dotted the Massachusetts coast line including the one at Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard.
Peterson's works of beach and pier scenes executed during her stays at the art colonies along the New England shore "figure prominently during this period, exquisitely capturing Americans on holiday." ( P.J. Pierce in Jane Peterson: An American Artist, p. 32) On the Pier, Edgartown, executed during her stay on Martha's Vineyard, portrays a lively parade of promenaders and beach goers strolling along the pier having recently disembarked from an island ferry. Employing grand brush strokes and assertive line, Peterson creates a tapestried or mosaic effect of highly expressive tones of blue pink and yellow offset by pure, glowing whites. By 1916, Peterson's style had become very definitive which has been described in followng way: " her linear construction directed a viewer along a definite course and did not allow the viewer's attention to wander. Her tonal masses dominated lines and defined form, while subtle, thin oscillating lines emphasized form edges to better display the juxtapositioning of dark and light color areas. In some ways, Peterson's paintings resemble cloisonn, in that color is often surrounded by a thin outlining of charcoal or contrasting paint much like the thin wires of cloisonn surround enamel. However, lines do not encompass or totally contain color areas, but combine in a grand decorative order and show control in carefreeness. The work of Peterson becomes a sensuous place in the commonplace movements of nature." (Jane Peterson: An American Artist, p. 17)
The innovative stylistic elements displayed in On the Pier, Edgartown were the quintessential characteristics of Peterson's painting that achieved critical acclaim. One reviewer in 1917 noted: "Miss Jane Peterson uses strong colors and a broad brush to give the facts about docks and fishing craft and harbors in a somewhat knock-you-down fashion." (as quoted in Jane Peterson: An American Artist, p. 32)
Peterson was born in Elgin, Illinois and began her artistic training in 1896 at Pratt Institute in New York under the instruction of Arthur Wesley Dow. After graduating from Pratt in 1901, Peterson over the next decade held various teaching positions that brought her to Boston and Maryland. During this time she continued her studies at the Art Student's League as well as with the leading European artists of the period such as Frank Brangwyn, Jacques-Emile Blance and Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida in Paris, Venice and Madrid. She also traveled extensively throughout exotic North Africa visiting places such as Biskra, Egypt and Algiers. Drawing inspiration from her travels, Peterson produced a diverse body of work that she exhibited at various institutions such as Socit des Artistes Francais, Saint Botolph Club in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1915 at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. In 1916, Peterson, after visiting the pacific Northwest with artist and friend Louis Comfort Tiffany, frequented the various art colonies that dotted the Massachusetts coast line including the one at Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard.
Peterson's works of beach and pier scenes executed during her stays at the art colonies along the New England shore "figure prominently during this period, exquisitely capturing Americans on holiday." ( P.J. Pierce in Jane Peterson: An American Artist, p. 32) On the Pier, Edgartown, executed during her stay on Martha's Vineyard, portrays a lively parade of promenaders and beach goers strolling along the pier having recently disembarked from an island ferry. Employing grand brush strokes and assertive line, Peterson creates a tapestried or mosaic effect of highly expressive tones of blue pink and yellow offset by pure, glowing whites. By 1916, Peterson's style had become very definitive which has been described in followng way: " her linear construction directed a viewer along a definite course and did not allow the viewer's attention to wander. Her tonal masses dominated lines and defined form, while subtle, thin oscillating lines emphasized form edges to better display the juxtapositioning of dark and light color areas. In some ways, Peterson's paintings resemble cloisonn, in that color is often surrounded by a thin outlining of charcoal or contrasting paint much like the thin wires of cloisonn surround enamel. However, lines do not encompass or totally contain color areas, but combine in a grand decorative order and show control in carefreeness. The work of Peterson becomes a sensuous place in the commonplace movements of nature." (Jane Peterson: An American Artist, p. 17)
The innovative stylistic elements displayed in On the Pier, Edgartown were the quintessential characteristics of Peterson's painting that achieved critical acclaim. One reviewer in 1917 noted: "Miss Jane Peterson uses strong colors and a broad brush to give the facts about docks and fishing craft and harbors in a somewhat knock-you-down fashion." (as quoted in Jane Peterson: An American Artist, p. 32)