Winter 1914

Ernest Lawson made this painting, Winter, with oil on canvas, location and date unknown. He’s wrestling with something here, isn’t he? The paint is applied in such a thick impasto, it’s like Lawson is building this winter scene rather than just painting it. Up close, the surface is a riot of textures and colors. Look at how he uses pinks and greens in the church, and how the snow isn't just white, but a mix of blues and purples. It's a broken color effect, like the Impressionists, but with a real American grittiness. I can imagine him outside in the cold, wrestling with the paint to capture this light, and how he’s so obviously enjoying the materiality of oil paint. There is an almost sculptural quality, as if the paint itself is taking on the weight and density of snow. Lawson’s work always reminds me of other great painters like George Bellows, and he, like them, is clearly more interested in the process than making something purely pretty.