Winter is a time for peace and reflection. It seems as if the natural world is asleep, resting for the new spring. The dynamic light cascading over pristine snow transforms our surroundings. Walter Launt Palmer captured the mystery and beauty of winter.

Walter Launt Palmer was born to sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer in 1854 in Albany, New York. Growing up among artists, Palmer was exposed to an assortment of influences. Travels to Europe also enabled him to met painters such as Chase and Sargent. The city of Venice became one of Palmer’s great loves that he would return to multiple times during his career. Mixing realism and impressionism, Palmer explored different techniques in his Venice paintings. Reflections on the water are dreamlike visions and the colors are bright and airy. His travels were not limited to Europe. He was among the first artists to tour China and Japan and this influence can be seen in many of his works.

Upon returning to America, Palmer became interested in regionalist painters. Palmer was trained under the Hudson RiverSchool and it became one of his primary influences. The Hudson RiverSchool was the first true American art movement. While European Romanticism was the initial influence, these artists strived to find a style that was independent of European traditions. Artists instead celebrated the uniquely American landscape. The vast and untamed American wilderness is the focus of many of the paintings. Human interference is minimal and when there are human subjects in the paintings, they are only small details standing in awe of what is around them. This movement shared the same spirit of writers such Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman and delighted in the natural beauty of the HudsonValley.

Armed with what he learned from the Hudson RiverSchool and his travels abroad, winter scenes became Palmer’s new muse and source for much of his fame. This may be due in part to his incredible use of color. He observed that light filtered through trees and shadows stretching over snow have multiple tones. In his works, shadows are different shades of blue. Light has a variety of hues such as pink, green and violet. It was through this subtle grasp of light and shadow Palmer represented the beauty and uniqueness of snow.

This understanding of color won Walter Launt Palmer awards and the ability to show at the Art Institute of Chicago and Exposition Universelle in Paris. Now known as the painter of the American winter, his works can still be seen in museums such as the MetropolitanMuseum.  

Kenny Ackerman is an Art Dealer in New York, specializing in Fine Art Paintings from 19th-21st century Europe and America. To buy or sell original paintings by artists we represent, contact Ackerman's Fine Art here.