A beautiful woman in blue and white framed by vibrant autumn leaves rests waterside in this charming painting by Edward Alfred Cucuel. A classic example of his aesthetic, this enchanting piece is a masterpiece of light and color, exemplifying the appealing vitality of Cucuel's work. His oeuvre is characterized by his enthusiastic use of a uniquely vibrant palette and rich impasto to depict women at leisure in sun-dappled landscape settings, as seen in this extraordinary oil on canvas.

Cucuel's paintings are considered to be among the finest of all the American Impressionists. Born in San Francisco, he began his formal art training at age fourteen when he enrolled at the city's School of Design. In 1892 he moved to Paris and became a student of renowned Academic painter Jean-Leon Gerome at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Over the next three decades, Cucuel devoted himself to his painting, working in France, Italy and Germany.

In 1907, Cucuel established a studio in Munich and joined the Scholle group of artists led by Leo Putz, an important German Impressionist painter and one of the pioneers of Expressionism. It was during this crucial period that Cucuel began to develop his own Impressionist style that would inform his work for decades to come. He began exhibiting in Paris, where he became a member of the Societé Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and in 1915 he was awarded a silver medal at the San Francisco International Exposition. Around the same time, the artist purchased a home in Holzhausen, Germany overlooking the Bavarian lake where he summered with his family. It is here that he perfected his distinct style and his favorite subject — charming plein-air scenes of female figures in gardens and at green shorelines. Today, the artist’s works resided in the permanent collections of museums such as the Williamson Art Gallery and Museum (Birkenhead, England) and the Minnesota Marine Art Museum.

Early 20th century