At the Spring c. 1895
nicholasrichardbrewer
minneapolisinstituteofart
oil-on-canvas
coffee painting
underpainting
animal portrait
surrealism
united-states
painting painterly
animal drawing portrait
watercolour illustration
surrealist
oil-on-canvas
watercolor
warm toned green
"At the Spring" is an oil on canvas painting by Nicholas Richard Brewer, circa 1895, currently housed in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The painting depicts a woman in a red scarf and a young child playing with a toy boat in a spring-fed trough. The realistic depiction of the rural scene and the playful interaction between the figures is a hallmark of Brewer's style, highlighting the idyllic nature of childhood and the simple pleasures of life. This painting is a fine example of American Realism, a movement focused on capturing the everyday lives of ordinary people.
Comments
Nicholas Brewer is remembered primarily as a portraitist. However, when on his own time, he often turned his attention to landscape or small genre scenes in which his family frequently played a starring role. Although the location of At the Spring is not documented, the artist's technique and palette, as well as the rustic setting, suggests a date around 1895 when Brewer and his family were living on a farm in Stacy, Minnesota. The tender directness of the work strongly suggests that the models are, most likely, the artist's wife and one of the couple's six sons. Born in High Forest, Olmstead County, Minnesota, Brewer first studied art in St. Paul followed by several years in New York. Between 1910 and 1940, Brewer received portrait commissions from Presidents Grover Cleveland and Franklin Roosevelt, the musician Ignace Paderewski, and several governors and legislators.
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