Centre Bridge

Edward Willis Redfield, a leading member of a group of Impressionists located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, most frequently painted the landscape around his hand-built home in the river town of Center Bridge. His intimate familiarity with this land, and his commitment to recording its ever-changing appearance, is apparent in Centre Bridge, a wintry portrayal of the hillside above the town overlooking the Delaware River. Despite the painting’s look of immediacy, Redfield carefully composed the picture to emphasize the sweeping hillside and dramatic panoramic view of the valley, using a variety of brushstrokes. The flair of his technique and local flavor of his subject matter brought Redfield enormous critical and popular acclaim as the creator of art that seemed to reflect a distinctly American character: fresh, vigorous, and rough-hewn.