The Trees, Early Afternoon, France. Artist: William A. Harper (American (born Canada), Cayuga 1873-1910 Mexico City). Dimensions: 20 × 26 in. (50.8 × 66 cm). Date: ca. 1905.
This rare work by the African American landscape painter William A. Harper depicts a bucolic scene in the French countryside. Canadian-born and Chicago-trained, Harper also studied informally in Paris with Henry Ossawa Tanner, the leading African American expatriate of his generation. Harper's interest in painting regional subjects outside of Paris's urban environs was shared by many American artists in these years. In transitional works such as this scene, Harper revealed the influence on his art of the French Barbizon painters as well as the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.