FITLER, WILLIAM CROTHERS (American, 1857-1915) "Evening Glow." Signed, Lower Right. Oil on canvas, 5" x 7" (sight), 8" x 10" (framed). Price Category: B

This beautiful little landscape reflects the philosophy of the Tonalist School, an American movement influenced by both the Barbizon and Impressionist movements in Europe, and which flourished in the decades flanking the turn of the century. American Tonalists adopted the loose brush strokes of the Impressionists but preferred muted tones and a subdued palette in comparison to the high-key colors favored by their French contemporaries. And in contrast to their American predecessors of the Hudson River School, they chose serene and humble corners of the landscape for their subjects, in place of grandly sublime panoramas. One art historian characterizes Tonalism as "a style of intimacy and expressiveness, interpreting very specific themes in limited color scales and employing delicate effects of light to create vague, suggestive moods." (Corn, p. 4). That description works well for "Evening Glow," which conveys a mood of introspection and tranquility through its limited palette of yellows, greys, browns, and reds. A dab of yellow in the foreground evokes a stream reflecting the glow of the setting sun; the autumnal landscape seems at peace. William Crothers Fitler was born in Philadelphia in 1857. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy and later became known for his tonalist landscapes, most of which were painted in the countryside of Connecticut, New York, and Long Island. Fitler was a member of the Boston Art Club, the Brooklyn Art association, the New York Watercolor Society, and the Salmagundi Club. His wife was the well-known painter Claude Raguet Hirst, who used a man's name to sign her pictures. They were married in 1901. William Crothers Fitler died in 1915. Provenance: Jackson's International Auctions, "Important European and American Fine Art," Dec. 4th & 5th, 2007. Exhibitions: Art Institute of Chicago Boston Art Club Brooklyn Art Association National Academy of Design Pennsylvania Academy Museums: Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York References: Wendy Corn, The Color of Mood: American Tonalism (1972). Ray Davenport, Davenport's Art Reference: The Gold Edition (2005). Peter H. Falk, Who Was Who in American Art (1999, with signature). Peter H. Falk, Dictionary of Signatures and Monograms (1989). Peter H. Falk, Annual Exhibition Record of the Art Institute of Chicago (1990). Peter H. Falk, Annual Exhibition Record of the National Academy of Design (1990). Glen B. Opitz, Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors, Engravers (1986). Lisa Peters, Two Hundred Years of American Watercolors, Pastels, and Drawings (2001).

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