1873 -1939 · American Impressionism, The Eight and urban landscapes

Luminous impasto, New York rivers, snow and transforming suburbs give Ernest Lawson a unique place between impressionism and urban realism.

Ernest Lawson was born in Halifax, Canada, in 1873. After a youth shared between the United States and Mexico, where he worked as a designer for an engineering company, he took art classes at Cos Cob in Connecticut. John Henry Twachtman encouraged him to continue his training in Paris; Lawson attended the Académie Julian there and directly discovered Impressionism. Back in New York, he settled near Washington Heights and chose the banks of the Harlem and Hudson, bridges, docks, construction sites, wastelands and outlying neighborhoods as motifs. Returning to New York, he settled near Washington Heights and chose the banks of the Harlem and Hudson, bridges, docks, construction sites, wastelands and outlying neighborhoods. He often painted in winter, when snow simplified shapes and reflected colors. In 1908, Lawson exhibited with The Eight, a group gathered around Robert Henri against the conservatism of official juries; he is the only landscaper. His thick paste, sometimes described as a palette of crushed precious stones, combines impressionist touches and almost mineral material. After New York, he worked in Colorado then in Florida, where he died in 1939. His work transformed the urban margin into a modern landscape. After New York, he worked in Colorado then in Florida, where he died in 1939. His work transformed the urban margin into a modern landscape. The "Ernest Lawson" selection notably compares Scène d'hiver de la rivière Harlem and Scène de la rivière Harlem. His reading favors the material.

Lawson does not separate city and nature: snow, river, bridge and construction site merge in a colorful material where New York still seems to be being built.