catalog text
EDWARD LOYAL FIELD (AMERICAN, 1856-1914) TONALIST LANDSCAPE
Oil on canvas, signed E. Loyal Field lower left, original lining and early frame
Item # 802IUT07A
An exquisite landscape that unpacks slowly, the scene captures a still body of water overgrown by surface scum and reeds flanked by banks of grass before a wooded background. A single cottage is prominently scene between the larger grouping of trees on the left, a smaller cottage is hinted in the distance with plumes of bluish smoke rising from the chimney before the mountains. It is signed lower left in his typical script E. Loyal Field.
An etcher and landscape painter in oils, Edward Loyal Field was born in Galesbury, Illinois in 1856. He studied at the Academie Julian in Paris as a young man and returned to the United States in 1882, settling down in Manhattan. He was incredibly active as an artist, exhibiting extensively throughout the U.S and being a member in both the Salmagundi Club and the Boston Art Club - it was 1899 when he was accepted in the the Salmagundi Club, and here he was awarded the prestigious Inness Prize and Shaw Prize in 1904 and 1905 respectively. In 1887 he began exhibiting at the National Academy of Design where he continued to submit works until 1911. During the 1890s, Field became involved with the Pakatakan art colony in upstate New York. Along with his more well known colleague John Francis Murphy, as well as Ada Clifford Murphy and Alexander Wyant, the colony has an important place in the American Tonalist movement and his work was significantly influenced by his contemporaries. His work is distinct for its melding of the murky with complex landscape scenes, often with an inserted focal point of either a figure or cottage for bucolic effect. It is his attention to accurately hinting at details, fully capturing in his robust impasto all of the dimension in a nature landscape without reducing these to mere shapes and shadows, rendering the light with a technical correctness while maintaining gloomy mystery in each scene that capture the very essence of the American Tonalist movement. His life, work and contribution remains under-explored by art critics and historians alike.
Field’s work can be found in the Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art, The Butler Museum of American Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Holyoke Museum, the Jersey City Museum, and the Nutley (N.J.) Museum.
Literature:
- E. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Vol. V, Gründ, p. 681
Measurements: 37 9/16” W x 27 1/2” H x 2 1/4” D [frame]; 30 1/8” W x 20” H [canvas]
Condition Report:
Conserved and in very fine condition. Under UV showing a history of cleaning and a more recent varnish, scattered inpainting to craquelure and other spots of touchup throughout. Apparently original lining. Light surface craquelure throughout. Minor wear to gilded frame, old cracks in gesso.