Click on the image below to see it in our online catalog.
In the JHS collection is a watercolor titled Field on Conanicut After Rain by Henry Orne Rider. Born in Salem, Rider spent most of his life in and around Boston and Newton, MA. He was known as an educator and at some time was a professor of art at Lasell College (now Lasell University) and Mount Ida College (now UMass, Amherst), both found in Newton.
He studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and exhibited at the Boston Art Club, the Newton Club, the National Academy of Design, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Following the movement of other artists, Rider traveled to Europe to study at the prestigious art academies in Paris enrolling in both the Academie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In the early 20th century, Paris was the epicenter of artistic innovation drawing an international community of artists seeking inspiration and creative freedom.
S. Morton Vose II, who donated the painting, was at the time actively working on his long-term project Dictionary of American Painters Before 1900. In a letter to JHS he noted that Rider was predominately a landscape painter, muralist and engraver. In 1934 Vose Galleries of Boston held an exhibition of Rider’s paintings. It’s not certain how Rider found his way to Jamestown, but it’s possible that he was introduced to the island by the Vose family who at one point owned Cajacet Farm.
The painting is a lovely wash of muted greens and grays, creating a delicate, impressionistic effect. We are drawn into the landscape by a tiny winding trail leading through the wet grass to a small clump of trees. The sky is cloudy and misty as if the rain has indeed just finished. Rider is remembered for warm portrayals of nature, often focusing on landscapes and peaceful rural scenes. The location of the meadow is not known. In his letter, Vose imagined that it was on the west side of East Shore Road near where the “old spreading hornbeam tree used to be”. We will probably never know where the easel was set up, but it leaves us with a poignant reminder of Jamestown when the pace of life was less hurried.
For more details about Henry Orne Rider in the JHS Collection, click here.
