(American, 1866 - 1942)
Rolling Pennsylvania Hills
Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 inches
Handwritten on stretcher: “141”
Stamp on canvas: “HENRY MCCARTER/ ORIGINAL/ REG. NO. 141/ Pennsylvania Academy/ of the Fine Arts”
EXHIBITED: The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Henry McCarter (December 1943–January 1944)
DOCUMENTED: Henry McCarter Registry of Paintings, No. 141, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Dorothy and Kenneth Woodcock Archives, Philadelphia, PA.
PROVENANCE: Estate of the Artist; Miss Mary Butler; John Butler Prizer
This work was exhibited in a McCarter memorial exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in 1944. According to the Henry McCarter Registry of Paintings created by his estate (now in the PAFA archives), Rolling Pennsylvania Hills was gifted to the artist Mary Butler. The scene depicted relates to a work in the PAFA collection entitled Pennsylvania’s Broad Acres (accession #1938.11).
About the Artist
(American, 1866 - 1942)
The painter, illustrator, and teacher Henry McCarter was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania. He studied with Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) in Philadelphia, and with Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898), Leon-Joseph-Florentin Bonnat (1833-1922) and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1846-1901) in Paris. He returned to Philadelphia and became a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and a teacher at the Academy's school in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania. McCarter exhibited at various shows and expositions winning two gold medals at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, and gold medals at the Philadelphia Art Club in 1935 and 1936. In 1930 he was awarded the prestigious Joseph Pennell Memorial Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy, and he won another prize at the Academy in 1939. His works are in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy (nine works). A prolific draughtsman, McCarter did illustrations for various magazines, including Scribner's, The Century, Harper's, and Collier's. He also illustrated the works of the American poet Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909) and of the French poet Paul Verlaine (1844-1896).
