ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM | COLLECTION | AMERICAN MASTERS

Walter Elmer Schofield

As a compulsive traveler, Walter Elmer Schofield captured both the American and European landscapes en plain air. During his active years he would often spend months away from his family-in Europe when living in Pennsylvania and in the United States when living in England.

American Impressionism began in earnest in 1893 with an exhibition at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. By this time hundreds of American artists had traveled to France and been exposed to the boldness of the new style of painting.

Schofield returned to this environment after his first experience abroad studying at the Académie Julian in 1893. Upon his return to Pennsylvania, he latched onto the American Impressionist Movement led by Robert Henri, whose art theory became the bedrock of the movement. Schofield along with others interested in studying the French school promoting impressionism against more conservative elements would meet weekly in the Henri's home.

Schofield would make another trip to Paris in June of 1895, this time with Henri and several other impressionists. During this time he would find a muted, sometimes nearly monotone palette with a misty sfumato. He was influence in this by the Dutch masters, particularly in Hals and Rembrandt.

In 1897, he married an English woman, Murielle Redmayne, and shortly thereafter moved to Cornwall, which proved to be a source of much inspiration. During these early years in England he would often travel to Paris and other parts of Europe's mainland in search of new and ideal landscapes to paint.

Around 1904, his palette shifted away from the muted palette of his earlier years and became brightly pigmented and highly detailed work.

Winter scenery had been an interest of his early in his career. He was noted for going out to paint in the coldest of parts of the year and complaining when he wasn't able to get snow. Many of his earliest American landscapes are of the snow-covered variety.

RAM's Old Covered Bridge represents the second accession into its Permanent Collection.