The Shipyard Winter

Signed on lower left. Complemented by a hand carved and gilt frame.

Fred Wagner (1861-1940)

One of the earliest of the Pennsylvania Impressionists, Fred Wagner was born in Port Kennedy, Pennsylvania in 1861. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins from 1878-1884 and was made Chief Demonstrator of Anatomy to the life classes by the Academy. In 1886, Wagner left the Academy spending the next several years painting in California creating a series of western landscapes. Upon returning to Philadelphia, he worked as an illustrator for the Philadelphia Press until 1902. He was later asked to teach at the Pennsylvania Academy's Chester Springs School, a position he held for seven years. In 1912, Wagner opened his studio in Philadelphia and around the same time founded the Addingham School of Painting, in an old farmhouse just outside Philadelphia. Very similar in landscape to the scenic New Hope area, Addingham had become a popular spot for artists to congregate. This school lasted more than twenty five years eventually being conducted in the Fuller Building in Philadelphia.

Wagner’s impressionistic style is best described by his friend, Walter Baum. "Wagner was sensitive to nature's changing moods…his approach to nature was not with a photographic eye. Instead he seemed to allow a subject to play upon his senses and quickly, as if by intuition, he would capture its most fleeting effect.” Whether painting active city scenes, frozen harbors, or serene Bucks County landscapes, his preferred method was to first visit the subject, create a detailed sketch in pastel, and later convert these small sketches into powerful larger oil paintings. His paintings of streets, harbors and industrial scenes are a visual record of early 20th century Philadelphia and hint at the "Ashcan" style that younger artists would soon be developing. Greatly admired by his peers, Wagner was invited to exhibit at the Pennsylvania Academy for an unprecedented period spanning fifty eight years.

He exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1882 until 1940, winning the prestigious Fellowship Prize for his painting “Snow and Ice” in 1914. Wagner also exhibited at the National Academy of Design, the Armory Show in New York (1913), the Corcoran Gallery Biennials, the Art Institute of Chicago, the St. Louis Museum of Art, Philadelphia Art Club, the Philadelphia Sketch Club, and the Carnegie Institute (1922-prize), among others.
His work is in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the James A. Michener Art Museum, and the Woodmere Art Museum.

Sources: New Hope for American Art by James M. Alterman
-Philadelphia Record, January 31, 1940.
-Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia, January 1, 1942.
-Philadelphia Inquirer, August 21, 1975.
-Philadelphia Inquirer, January 16, 1940.