Paul Bernard King (1867-1947)
The Passing of Winter, 1923
After the founding of the Buffalo Art Students League in 1891, Paul Bernard King became one of their first students. While there, King learned about French Impressionism. In 1905, King made a trip to Paris and then went on to study in Italy and Holland. King’s painting palette became more high-keyed and his pigment application was more spontaneous, with dashes of broken color. Upon his return to America in 1906, King executed numerous winter scenes, many of which were painted on the coasts of New England. In The Passing of Winter, considered to be one of his best paintings, workers are occupied on a rather treacherous looking dock while ships and the surrounding village are being blanketed under snow and ice.
King opened a summer studio on Long Island and painted there for many years. Although the arrival of more modern artistic styles pushed his once highly regarded impressionism to the “old fashioned” category for many viewers, King continued to paint throughout the early 1940s.
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