JAMES FAIRMAN (BRITISH/AMERICAN, 1826-1904) HUDSON RIVER LUMINIST PAINTING, oil on panel, expansive view of the river at sunset, various vessels plying the waters, including an unusual paddlewheeler, signed and dated lower right. Housed in an elaborate giltwood frame with molded-composition ornament. 1870. 6 1/2" x 15 3/4" sight, 24" x 31 1/4" OA.
Painting in very good condition with very minor surface abrasions, small area of discoloration upper left. Inner liner matte to frame a later addition.

Provenance: Property from the estate collection of Jay Easton Bush, Manhattan, NY.
Catalogue Note: Born in Glasgow, Scotland, James Fairman (1826-1904) immigrated at the age of six with his widowed mother to the U.S. He is known to have studied at the National Academy of Design in 1842 and to have exhibited in 1844 at the American Institute. Almost nothing is known of Fairman's life for the next twenty years until he resurfaces as a Union Colonel in the American Civil War, during which he was wounded. At the conclusion of the war, he set up a studio in New York City until 1871 when he left for Europe to study and paint. After a nine-year stint on the Continent, Fairman returned to New York where he established another studio. He also became a noted critic and lecturer in his later years and taught briefly at Olivet College in Michigan before returning once again to New York. Emblematic of an artist known for his luminist compositions, the present example, executed on the eve of Fairman's visit to Europe, clearly demonstrates the artist's interest in the atmospheric interplay of light and landscape.

Painting in very good condition with very minor surface abrasions, small area of discoloration upper left. Inner liner matte to frame a later addition.