ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM | COLLECTION | AMERICAN MASTERS

Ernest Lawson

Ernest Lawson was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He moved to the United States to attend the Kansas City Art School, then later moved to New York City and studied at the Art Students League.

In 1898, Lawson moved to Washington Heights in Manhattan, where he had an unobstructed view of one of his favorite subjects, the Hudson River. The urban environment of early 20th-century New York fascinated Lawson. Many of his pieces focused on the influence of human beings on the landscape, quite often with the suggestion that someone has just left a scene.

Lawson joined a group of New York painters called The Eight. In contrast to other members of The Eight, who were considered social realists, Lawson’s style was close to that of the Impressionists. Lawson was also the only member to solely exhibit landscapes. He participated in the landmark exhibition of The Eight at MacBeth Galleries in New York in 1908, the 1913 Armory Show, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exhibition. He painted his most important canvases during his years in Washington Heights, as part of The Eight.