Hiver en Forêt de Fontainebleau [Winter in the Forest of Fontainebleau]
Oil on canvas
18 x 24 inches
As published in: Scenic Impressions: Southern Interpretations from the Johnson Collection
As exhibited in: Scenic Impressions: Southern Interpretations from the Johnson Collection, 2015–2018, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee; Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia; McKissick Museum of Art at the University of South Carolina, Columbia; Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia; Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee; Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts at Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina
Before the advent of World War I, George Aid spent many years in France, studying at the Académie Julian and enjoying the forest of Fontainebleau. The area had been discovered in the 1830s by French landscape painters who enjoyed its rustic scenery and inexpensive lifestyle. The evolution of the Barbizon School coincided with America’s Hudson River School.
Like his French counterparts, Aid painted simple compositions using earth tones. After his return to the United States in 1914, he eventually settled in Tryon, North Carolina, where he painted portraits, taught classes in composition, and became proficient at etching.