Wilson Henry Irvine first made his artistic reputation in Chicago—he spent his student years at the School of the Art Institute and had a successful career in the city as both a fine and commercial artist. However, although he maintained lasting connections to Chicago, he moved permanently to Connecticut in 1918, having commenced yearly visits to the artists' colony at Old Lyme as early as 1914. For many American Impressionists, New England towns held great appeal as a source of comfort and nostalgia. Autumn evokes an unchanging landscape, in which the rural traditions of American settlers—from the hand-built walls and and fences to the irregular piles of cornstalks—resonate as reminders of the nation's past at a time when the country was undergoing tremendous change.
