Guy Rose (American, 1867-1925), Spring in Normandy, oil on board, signed, 6" x 9", 9" x 11 3/4" framed. Provenance: Goldfield Gallery, Los Angeles.
Guy Rose was born in San Gabriel, California, he became one of California's premier impressionist painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was also a leading figure in the California regionalist movement. In 1888, he went to Paris and studied with Benjamin Constant, Jules Lefebvre, and at the Academie Julian with Lucien Doucet. In 1898, he received honorable mention at the Paris Salon, the first artist from California to get such recognition. He and his wife bought a cottage at Giverny, where he became greatly influenced by Monet and the other Impressionists during the time he lived there from 1904 to 1912. Unlike many of the artists in residence there, he actually became a friend of Monet, who was a mentor. The painting 'Spring in Normandy' was probably study for a future larger painting, and was likely executed between 1907 and 1912 while Rose was actively painting in Giverny and had fully and completely committed to Impressionism. The fairly constrained color palette of painting reflects the French forest setting, but within the limited palette of mostly greens to yellows, Rose creates endless, subtle and distinct colors from blue-green shadows to yellow-green sunlit highlights. Gauzy light filtered through overhead trees is visualized with soft colors.