Fern Isabel Coppedge (American, 1883–1951) Winter From Skillman's

Signed 'Fern I. Coppedge' bottom right; also titled on upper stretcher verso, oil on canvas
20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61cm)
Executed circa 1940s.

Provenance

Collection of a former New Hope mayor, Pennsylvania.
Jim’s of Lambertville, Lambertville, New Jersey.
Acquired directly from the above in December 2005.
Collection of Sydney F. and Sharon Martin, Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
The Estate of Sydney F. Martin.

Literature

James M. Alterman, New Hope for American Art, Jim’s of Lambertville, Lambertville, 2005, p. 90 (illustrated).
Les and Sue Fox, Fern Coppedge 1883-1951: One Woman's Struggle for Equality in the Art World, West Highland Publishing, Cincinnati, 2021, p. 195, no. CWF-73 (illustrated as Winter from Skillmans, New Hope).

Note

Originally born in Decatur, Illinois, Fern Coppedge became widely celebrated throughout her thirty-year-long career for her colorful winter scenes set in the many villages of Bucks County, where she lived from 1920 onwards, and which she depicted many times over.

The present work is a quintessential work from Coppedge’s mature years, as revealed by the bold and contrasting hues of the composition. Painted in the artist’s favored format, it depicts an iconic stretching view of the village of Lambertville (New Jersey) as seen from New Hope (Pennsylvania), specifically from Skillman’s – a local institution named after its owners. The locale, which Coppedge painted several times in her career, is clearly identifiable by the iconic steeple of Lambertville's First Presbyterian Church in the center. To its right, in stark contrast, is the New Jersey Rubber Company, which locals referred to as "Stink Mill". Past the faraway purple hills is the Goat Hill Quarry which Daniel Garber, Fern Coppedge’s neighbor in Lumberville, immortalized several times.

The work combines several of Coppedge's favorite and hallmark subjects, namely the tortuous trees which frame the composition as well as the symphony of lavenders, pinks and aquamarine reflected in the icy Delaware river, a palette which the artist also adopted in her Gloucester marine scenes. Through punchy blocks of colors, Coppedge enlivens the stark river landscape and channels her buoyant, warm personality into what becomes the synthesis of her best artistic capacities.