Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) was a prolific painter of landscapes, still life and exotic portraits of tropical birds and flowers. Perhaps most iconic, are his salt marsh paintings of New England centered around Newbury's Great Marsh. He painted these tidal scenes for over 20 years producing over 100 works that captured the essence of life in this New England town. Observing the salt hay harvests and the hunters and fishers that populated the marshes, he created a detailed analysis of coastal New England.
The image above, Sudden Shower, is courtesy of the Yale Unversity Art Gallery.
Colleene Fesko will explore Heade's work beyond his associations with the Hudson River School of artists and discuss him as a Luminist painter, placing his salt marsh paintings and seascapes in the context of his own oeuvre and that of his contemporaries.
Fesko is a Boston-based fine art and antiques appraiser and broker. She has been an appraiser on the hit PBS television series Antiques Roadshow since its inception 25 years ago. Fesko has served as a consultant with Christie’s American Painting Department, and her experience includes more than two decades at Skinner Auctioneers and Appraisers.
This program is made possible with funding from Mass Humanities through the Bridge Street Fund for Local History.
