Apple Trees in Bloom,
oil on canvas, 27" x 37" (image), 30" x 40" (with frame), s.l.l.
Arthur Parton was born in Hudson, New York in 1842, in a line of Hudson River painters with Henry Ary and Sanford Robinson Gifford. Arthur was the son of George Parton, a cabinet maker, and his wife Elizabeth. In his formative years, Parton studied with William Trost Richards and at the Pennsylvania Academy. Adopting the style of the Hudson River painters, his first exhibit came in 1862 in Philadelphia, but by 1865 he was settled in New York City. Parton journeyed to Europe in 1869, where he came under the spell of the Barbizon painters. This probably marks the beginning of his gradual shift from the Hudson River style to the style of the increasingly popular Tonalist painters. He became an Associate member of the National Academy in 1871 and a full Academician in 1884. From 1874 to 1893, the artist maintained a studio in the famed Tenth Street Studio Building, where one of his associates was William Merritt Chase.
Parton was well known in his own time and exhibited extensively. Among his many awards were prizes at the 1900 Paris Exposition and the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. He painted extensively in the Catskills and the Adirondacks and seems to have made painting excursions to England and Scotland as well. Among his favorite subjects were depictions of apple orchards in springtime.
Paintings by Arthur Parton can be found in the Brooklyn Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Newark Museum, the High Museum, the Hudson River Museum, the Hickory Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum, among others.
Prices available on request