November

The first American impressionist to be honored with a solo exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy, Vonnoh was largely responsible for introducing the then “radical” French style to Philadelphia. The Boston-trained painter joined the faculty of the Academy’s school immediately after his 1891 return from France. 'November' was painted during Vonnoh’s second extended visit to France, between 1886-91. It was based on a study made on site in Grez-sur-Loing, a village near the Forest of Fontainebleau, about 45 miles outside of Paris that was popular with American and British artists in the late nineteenth century. The sparkling lavender and silver tones that add so much to the work’s autumnal atmosphere result from Vonnoh’s technique of using quick strokes of pigment applied directly from the tube over a thin white ground.