Gardner Symons, an important member of the modern group of American
landscape painters, is fond of representing winter scenes with snow
covering the ground and softening its contours. In River in Winter he has
produced a cheerful scene, treated with much beauty of color. Late
afternoon sunlight slants across the snow, casting rosy lights and violet
shadows. Between sparsely wooded banks, a river flows toward the
spectator. In the distance are low opalescent hills beneath a transparent
greenish sky.—The Martin B. Koon Memorial Collection.
It may be interesting to compare River in Winter by Symons with the
painting in the same collection and bearing the same title by Edward W.
Redfield. Redfield is a well known American painter noted for his winter
landscapes. Our example of Redfield’s work is highly characteristic.
Compared with Symons’ painting, we find it less warm in color,
characterized by a more brittle and restless handling of surfaces, and a
less sedate and simple feeling for composition, but quite as convincing as
a portrayal of nature.
[Garden in June. Frederick C. Frieseke, 1874-]