Ernest Lawson

Tennessee State Museum, Nashville (acquired in 1988)

Kaye Crouch, "Ernest Lawson," Tennessee Historical Quarterly, vol. 61, issue 1, 2002, p, 22, illustrated in color

Per the inscription on its reverse, this painting was a gift to Ernest Lawson's friend and former student Katherine Powell. In 1931, Powell invited Lawson to her home in Coral Gables, Florida; the artist quickly fell in love with the temperate, dense landscape and returned often to paint. The American south inspired much of Lawson's mature style, particularly his use of vivid colors and his thick application of paint. Five years after his first visit to Florida, Lawson moved to Coral Gables himself. And a year later, in 1937, he spent the summer with his family in Pulaski, Tennessee, where he painted this luminous and richly textured scene.