Art of the 20th Century

 

Art Styles in 20th century - Art Map



 

Ernest Lawson



 

Ernest Lawson
 

(b Halifax, NS, 22 March 1873; d Miami, FL, 18 Dec 1939).

American painter of Canadian birth. He first studied art in 1888 at the Art League School of Kansas City, MO. The following year he attended the Academia de Bellas Artes de S Carlos in Mexico City, while working as an engineering draughtsman. In 1891 he moved to New York and took classes from John H. Twachtman and J. Alden Weir. Under their tutelage at the Art Students League and at Cos Cob, CT, Lawson painted landscapes in a loosely brushed Impressionist style, exploring the transitory effects of light. In 1893 Lawson went to Paris, where he lived with the writer Somerset Maugham; Maugham based the character Frederick Lawson in his novel Of Human Bondage (1915) on the artist. Lawson briefly attended the Académie Julian and then studied independently, particularly the works of Cézanne and Sisley.