France

In Edward Redfield's wintertime scene, a snow-covered bridge gives way to a road curving to the right and up a slight rise under a uniform sky gray with dense clouds and the coming twilight. Dark, faceless figures pass along the street, while several horse-drawn vehicles move away from the viewer. The glow of lighted shop fronts in the buildings banking the road on either side, the flaring rear lights of the cabs, and the cooler glare of electric street lamps on the bridge at left and on the embankment on the right relieve the muted tones of the scene, which captures the anticipatory mood of workers hurrying at day's end to the warm comfort of home.

Redfield painted this work probably in the winter of 1899 or 1900, during the approximately eighteen months he and his wife lived in Alfortville, on the southwestern outskirts of Paris. The view may show the Rue Emile Zola eastbound where it crosses the Seine River via the Pont du port-de-l'anglais and angles slightly to the right. If so, Redfield's own residence at 6, quai d'Alfort (or quai d'Alfortville, now Quai Blanqui), may appear on the far right, through the trees lining the embankment. The original title of this work is unknown; its current tile is derived from Redfield's inscription, a typical artist's note of the place where the painting was made.

Redfield had met his French-born wife during his first stay in France, between 1889 and 1892. The couple settled in rural Center Bridge, Pennsylvania, but returned to France following the accidental death of their first-born child early in 1899. The painting's somber mood, typical of the works Redfield produced during this period, perhaps reflects his personal state of mind. It is also consistent with a trend in American painting in the years surrounding the turn of the twentieth century, when many artists worked within a dark color range and favored moody twilight settings. During Redfield's stay in Alfortville he visited with his longtime friend Robert Henri, whose own paintings of winter urban scenes are similar in their dark-toned, cold-weather settings and rough brushwork. The early urban scenes of both artists were influenced by the shadowy, broadly rendered city views of the much-admired American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler, which were important to the development of "tonalism." As his art matured, Redfield would gradually abandon such subdued color and light, and his heavily worked surfaces would give way to a characteristic textural application of thick pigment in distinct strokes of unblended color. As this and other Alfortville paintings demonstrate, however, Redfield's lifelong fascination with wintertime cold and snow was already established.

Edward Redfield, First Master of the Twentieth Century Landscape, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania (organizer). Venues: Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania, September 1987–January 1988; The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, February–April 1988.

Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915 (Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 1–November 1, 1992; April 1–October 31, 1993; April 1–October 30, 1994; April 1–October 31, 1995. [exh. cat.]

American Artists and the Paris Experience, 1880–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 22, 1997–March 8, 1998.

Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920 (The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 15, 1999; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1999–May 7, 2000 (in modified form). [exh. cat.]

Selections from the Permanent Collection: American Artists in France, 1860–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 10–June 3, 2001.

American Classics from the Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 14–June 15, 2003.

Americans in Paris, 1850–1910, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (organizer). Venue: Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, September 4–November 30, 2003. [exh. cat.]

Edward Redfield: Just Values and Fine Seeing, James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania (organizer). Venue: James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, May 1, 2004–January 1, 2005. [exh. cat.]

Le Passage à Paris: les artistes américains en France, 1860–1930 (Passing through Paris: American Artists in France, 1860–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, April 1–October 31, 2005. [exh. brochure]

Le Passage à Paris: les artistes américains en France, 1860–1930 (Passing through Paris: American Artists in France, 1860–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, April 1–October 29, 2006. [exh. brochure]

Christie's New York, New York (Sale JACK-7082, May 24, 1990): lot 60. Ill. lot 60, p. 69 (color).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 268; pl. 84, p. 269 (color).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 268; pl. 84, p. 269 (color).

Fletcher, J. M. W. Edward Willis Redfield, 1869–1965: An American Impressionist, His Paintings and the Man Behind the Palette. Lahaska, Pennsylvania: JMWF Publishing, 1996. Fig. 1, p. 132.

Reymond, Nathalie. Un regard américain sur Paris (An American Glance at Paris). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Text pp. 89-90; ill. p. 88 (color).

Cartwright, Derrick R. The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 12; fig. 1, p. 12 (black & white).

Cartwright, Derrick R. Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 12; fig. 1, p. 12 (black & white).

Americans in Paris, 1850–1910: The Academy, the Salon, the Studio, and the Artist's Colony. (exh. cat., Oklahoma City Museum of Art). Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 2003. Text p. 119 (checklist); cat. no. 99, p. 70 (color).

Kimmerle, Constance. Edward W. Redfield: Just Values and Fine Seeing. (exh. cat., James A. Michener Art Museum). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Philadelphia Press, 2004. Text pp. 26–27; pl. 18, p. 64 (color)