Jane Peterson (American, 1876-1965)
Evening Light, Gloucester Harbor, c. 1920
Oil on masonite
Dimensions: 18 H. x 18 W. inches
Accompanied by original hand-painted Jane Peterson frame. The frame bears an O. Rundle Gilbert Auctioneers label (no. 364) from the Jane Peterson estate sale, August 9-10, 1966.
Provenance:
The artist
The estate of the artist, 1965
Roberta Peters, circa 1970s
Roberta Peters estate, 2017
The present painting comes from the collection of Roberta Peters, internationally renowned coloratura soprano who sang with the Met 515 times over 35 vigorous years. Her rise to fame, beginning in 1950, paralleled the growing prominence of television, and she appeared on programs like The Ed Sullivan Show numerous times. The charisma, talent, and likability she exuded on television and on the stage made her incredibly popular in her day.
Peters was a patron of the visual arts as well and built an extensive art collection, which included several works by Jane Peterson. The below photograph, from circa 1975, was taken at Peters’ Scarsdale home. Peters is wearing a purple dress, and in the upper righthand corner of the photo hangs Jane Peterson’s Gloucester Harbor, a placement it held in her home for decades.
Photograph 1: Roberta Peters backstage during rehearsals for Donizetti’s Don Pasquale in 1955. Credit: Sam Falk/The New York Times
Photograph 2: Photograph at Peters' home. Peters is wearing a purple dress. Peterson's Gloucester Harbor is visible in upper righthand corner.
Photograph 3: Roberta Peters celebrating her son’s birthday at their home in Scarsdale, NY, circa early 1960s.
Photograph of harbor with sailboats, 19--. Jane Peterson papers, 1907-1981. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Jane Peterson became famous for a wide range of works from landscapes to still-lives. Her paintings do not belong to any particular school of painting, but combine techniques and styles from a variety of teachers and prevalent styles, particularly Impressionism and Expressionism. She is well known for her Gloucester harbor scenes, Venetian vignettes, New York subjects, and her exotic Orientalist paintings of North Africa and Constantinople.
The photograph on the left, possibly taken by Jane Peterson, is inscribed on the verso: “I like this composition. It is a photo you took [...] why don't you paint an oil of it. It looks like a [Eugene] Boudin composition.”
Peterson is known for her individualistic style, bold color combinations, and for unique compositions. Her canvases that intermingle Fauvist and Impressionist tendencies with academic drawing rank among her finest paintings and works on paper.
In 1895, Peterson went to New York City to study art at Pratt Institute. After achieving popularity as a teacher at Pratt as well, she then became the Drawing Supervisor of Brooklyn Public Schools and studied oil painting with Frank Vincent Dumond, as she saved money to study painting with Frank Brangwyn in London, Jacques Emile Blanche and Andre Lhote in Paris, and the eminent Joaquin Sorolla in Madrid. She traveled and painted with Sorolla, Louis Comfort Tiffany, John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam and Maurice Prendergast, an art entourage that was influential, powerful and impressive.
In 1925, The New York Times characterized Peterson as “one of the foremost women painters in New York.” Known for her colorful, post-impressionist paintings of the Gloucester streets and harbor; palm trees of Florida; street scenes in Paris, Istanbul and New York; boating views in Venice, Peterson also executed floral subjects and dynamic genre-like-portraits. She was given over 80 one-woman exhibitions and was recognized as a uniquely talented painter of distinction.
Photograph of Jane Peterson painting at beach, 192-?. Jane Peterson papers, 1907-1981. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Jane Peterson, 'Market, Constantinople,' oil on board in artist-made frame, 18 H x 18 W inches.
Jane Peterson, 'Evening Light, Gloucester Harbor,' c. 1920, oil on masonite in artist-made frame, 18 H. x 18 W. inches.
Market, Constantinople is an additional example of a frame painted by Jane Peterson herself. Sometimes her frames are elaborate and the colors used to decorate them can often be found in the painting.