Overlooking the Valley

c. 1919

Edward Willis Redfield

Painter, American, 1869 - 1965

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Artwork overview

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1869-1965]; purchased by George M. Oyster, Jr. [1849-1921], Washington;[1] his estate; bequest 21 January 1924 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art.
[1] According to Dorothy W. Phillips, A Catalogue of the Collection of American Paintings in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Vol. 2: Painters born from 1850 to 1910. Washington, 1973: 80, Redfield painted at least three landscapes titled Overlooking the Valley, exhibited, respectively, in the Corcoran's Fourth (17 December 1912 - 26 January 1913, no. 174, reproduced), Seventh (21 December 1919 - 25 January 1920, no. 96, reproduced), and Eighth (18 December 1921 - 22 January 1922, no. 52, not illustrated) biennial exhibitions. The first version is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the current location of the second is unknown; NGA 2015.19.16, bequeathed to the Corcoran Gallery of Art by the Oyster estate in 1924, is the third version.
Oyster first purchased the version of the painting shown in the Seventh Biennial Exhibition; see copy of the receipts dated 13 January and 12 February 1920, signed by the artist, acknowledging the two payments by Oyster, in NGA curatorial files. As part of the purchase agreement, Oyster returned to the artist his painting titled Pennsylvania Landscape, which the collector had purchased "several years ago" from an exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
However, NGA 2015.19.16 does not match the work reproduced in the catalogue of the Seventh Biennial, so presumably the Corcoran/NGA painting (the third version) was also purchased by Oyster, perhaps in exchange for the second version, sometime before his death on 24 April 1921, and it was lent to the Eighth Exhibition by his estate.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1921

  • Eighth Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 18 December 1921 - 22 January 1922, no. 52.

1950

  • Loan to display with permanent collection, Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, 15 June - November 1950, no catalogue.

1978

  • The American Landscape Tradition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 31 January - 31 August 1978, unpublished checklist.

1984

  • The Pennsylvania School of Landscape Painting: An Original American Impressionism, Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Westmoreland Museum of Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania; Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, 16 September 1984 - 1 September 1985, fig. 1:7.

1993

  • Loan for use by the Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, 1993-1995.

1998

  • The Forty-Fifth Biennial: The Corcoran Collects, 1907–1998, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 17 July - 29 September 1998, unnumbered catalogue.

2003

  • The Impressionist Tradition in America, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 19 July 2003 - 18 October 2004, unpublished checklist.

Bibliography

1924

  • Brigham, Gertrude Richardson. "Art and Artists of the Capital." The Washington Post (15 June 1924): A:3.

1925

  • Wheeler, Charles V. Redfield. Washington, D.C., 1925: repro.

1935

  • Wilson, Vylla Poe. "Fourteenth Biennial Exhibition Focuses Art World's Eyes on Corcoran Gallery Here [exh. review]." The Washington Post (3 March 1935): SA:5.

1962

  • Perlman, Bennard B. The Immortal Eight: American Painting from Eakins to the Armory Show. New York, 1962: repro.

1973

  • Phillips, Dorothy W. A Catalogue of the Collection of American Paintings in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Vol. 2: Painters born from 1850 to 1910. Washington, 1973: 80.

1996

  • Fletcher, J. M. W. Edward Willis Redfield 1869-1965: An American Impressionist, his Paintigns and the Man behind the Palette. Lahaska, Pennsylvania, 1996: 25, 28 repro., 174.

2002

  • Fletcher, J. M. W. Edward Willis Redfield 1869-1965: An American Impressionist, the Redfield Letters Seven Decades of Correspondence Plus. 2 vols. Lahaska, PA , 2002: 1: 199 repro., 210-211.

2003

  • Berlow, Ellen, J. "Delware's Rediscovered Artist [exh. review]." Delmarva Quarterly (Winter 2003): 15, 17 repro.

2011

  • Cash, Sarah, ed. Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Washington, 2011: 313, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: E. W. REDFIELD

Wikidata ID

Q46633877

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