Ernest Lawson: An Introduction

Lawson created the painting The Harlem River (Rivershacks), 1908, in New York, on the banks of the Harlem River at the height of his career. Lawson favored subjects that showed a "dilapidated" and unbuffered lifestyle of New York City through the use of the Impressionist style. Lawson was born in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1873 but painted all his life in the United States, specifically in New York and in some areas of Connecticut. As a child, he fell in love with the arts and studied at the Art Students League in New York from around 1891 to 1892. Perhaps one of Lawson’s greatest influences was not only the Harlem River, but his mentor and teacher at the Art Student League, John Twachtman. Great  American Impressionists such as Twachtman were abundant in Lawson's life as a young man which indefinetly helped shape his artistic style. While studying in France at the Academie Julian in Paris, France, he met Alfred Sisley, another notable Impressionist, who encourgaed Lawson to harness his natural, painterly style of soft brushstrokes and harmonious textures. 

Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ernest_Lawson_by_William_Glackens_1910.jpg. accessed 21 April 2014

Text Sources: Homer Innes, William. “The Exhibition of the Eight: Its History and Significance” The American Art Journal, Vol 1. No. 1 (Sping 1969). Pp 53-64.