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One could easily mistake the Massachusetts beach panorama depicted above by Jane Peterson in Beach Scene #2 for a summer afternoon on Chicago’s North Avenue Beach. Timeless and universal, Jane Peterson and her art connect with a diverse range of viewers. The circular brushstrokes and bright, pastel colors of Beach Scene #2 add a romantic flair to the everyday experience; a quality Peterson was known to capture throughout her career. Peterson lived a life of independence, world travel, and art-making. Born in 1876 in Elgin, Illinois, Peterson experienced a humble Midwestern upbringing, before packing her bags and heading east to New York City at 18 to pursue a formal art education at Pratt Institute. Life in Brooklyn was drastically different from what Peterson had known, but changing environments never phased her, instead they became a source of inspiration. While enrolled at Pratt, Peterson started supported herself by providing drawing lessons out of her apartment. The act of painting and teaching became the source of Peterson’s financial independence. In 1908 Peterson set sail for a grand tour of Europe, traveling and studying with artists in London, Venice, Madrid, and Paris. While living in Paris in 1908, Peterson became Gertrude Stein’s neighbor and friend. During Stein’s famous salons, Peterson was introduced to important artists such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Peterson’s travel exposed her to Fauvism, Expressionism, Impressionism, and the beginning of Cubism. Peterson used her raw and creative talent to combine the techniques and styles imbued in her by her teachers, and in so doing, distinguished herself as an original and influential American artist. Travel became an important aspect of Peterson’s artistic practice, returning to Europe on an annual basis. In 1925, around the time of Beach Scene #2, the New York Times named Jane Peterson one of the most important women artists living and working in New York City. That same year, when Peterson was 50 years old, she married a well-known attorney and art patron, Moritz Bernard Phillipp. During the marriage, the couple would spend their summers on Cape Ann, Massachusetts where Phillipp owned a home. Before Peterson married Phillipp, she often visited Cape Ann and the town of Gloucester: one of her favorite places in the United States. Beach Scene #2 was completed during one of Peterson’s stays in Massachusetts. Peterson reinvents the traditional seascape horizon in Beach Scene #2 , creating a horizon line clustered with people. While most of the figures are unintelligible and give the impression of groups of people on a public beach, a sense of intimacy is depicted between the two main figures in the foreground under the pink lemonade beach umbrella. They are in their own little corner of the world. The ambiguity of the figures, simultaneously taps into personal memories of laughter with loved ones with a backdrop of crashing waves, seagull squawking, and the summer sun. To inquire about Beach Scene #2, head here.
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