Creek Near Rushland

Signed lower right. Complemented by a hand carved and gilt original Meltzer frame.

Arthur Meltzer (1893 - 1989)

Arthur Meltzer was born in Minneapolis, but spent most of his life in Bucks and Montgomery counties where he was widely acclaimed as a landscape painter. He first received art training at the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts under Robert Koehler and worked for six years as a stained glass window artist. After serving in the First World War he decided to continue his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts under Joseph Pearson and Daniel Garber. He was honored with a Cresson Traveling Scholarship in 1921.
Meltzer taught at the Moore College of Art from 1926 to 1949 and for a long time was chairman of the Fine Arts Department. While there, he met and married fellow faculty member, artist Paulette Van Roekens. They used to jokingly recall Meltzer admiring one of her paintings, convinced she was an old and successful haughty artist. When they finally met, he was surprised to find that she was a lovely young woman. He jokingly advised her to marry a wealthy older businessman who could bankroll her career. She replied with a suggestion that he marry a not-too-talented young art student “so you wouldn’t have to play second fiddle”. Thus began a 61-year long marriage. Both Meltzer and Van Roekens lived well into their nineties and died only a year apart.
Meltzer resided in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, a town midway between Philadelphia and New Hope. He painted primarily in Bucks, Montgomery and Berks counties. An extremely versatile artist and craftsman, Meltzer was a master of landscape, still life, and figure painting, as well as making his own custom frames used on both his and his wife’s paintings. He is best known for his sophisticated impressionist landscapes of rural Pennsylvania. His paintings stylistically resemble a combination of elements found in works by New Hope’s two most recognized artists, Daniel Garber and Edward Redfield. His use of thick impasto to create rushing water, realistic stonework, gnarly brush and snow-covered terrain is reminiscent of Redfield. His precise draftsmanship and ability to project seemingly endless depth in his paintings clearly comes from the influences of Garber.
He exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1922-46), the Phillips Mill Art Association, the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts (1931 prize), the National Academy of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Woodmere Art Museum, the Philadelphia Sketch Club (1924, 1927), the Corcoran Gallery Biennials (1926-39, four times), the Philadelphia Art Club (1926) and the Ligonier Art League (1961 Gold Medal).
His work is in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Moore College of Art, the James A. Michener Art Museum, the Woodmere Art Museum and the Philadelphia Art Alliance, among others.

Sources:
-New Hope for American Art by James M. Alterman
-Philadelphia Inquirer, July 3 1989
-Philadelphia Record, May 10, 1944