Edward Willis Redfield

Redfield moved to Philadelphia as a young child from his native city of Bridgeville, Delaware. He attended the Spring Garden Institute and the Franklin Institute before studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he trained under Thomas Anshutz, James Kelly, and Thomas Hovenden. In 1889 he traveled to Europe, studying at the Academie Julian in Paris. Upon his return, he settled in Glenside, Pennsylvania, and in 1898 moved his family to Center Bridge, several miles north of New Hope. Of the New Hope Impressionists Redfield the most well known and decorated with more awards than any American artist except John Singer Sargent. Redfield was referred to at the time as the most "American" artist of New Hope for his vigor and individualism. Favoring the plein air painting, Redfield would work in even the most brutal of weather -often tying his canvas to a tree- and was famous for his winter scenes. He was one of the most popular American landscapists of his time and featured work at institutions across the United States, including James A Michener Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, National Museum of American Art-Smithsonian, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.