Hills of Carmel

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

George W. Sotter (1879-1953)

George W. Sotter is remembered for painting the scenic towns, farms, mills and valleys that make Bucks County such a welcoming destination. Great artists leave behind in their art, a legacy. The early twentieth century was filled with talented artists, although, there is only ever a mere few, who can deservingly be regarded as “the best of.” Amid the vast field of American Impressionist painters, when painting a “nocturne,” George Sotter had no equal. He had the ability to make dark seem light. Most criticisms of nocturne paintings are that they are too dark, seeming dreary and depressing, or hard to read. This is where Sotter shines. He had the ability to turn a cold winter night into a glowing moonlit masterpiece. The moonlight lights up the snow and reflects off the water. Stars shine from above. Lighted Candles glow in the windows. These pictures are warm and soothing. Another of Sotter’s specialties was his amazing ability to paint clouds. He would fill half of his composition with billowing illuminist clouds and below would be an entire village painted with incredible detail demonstrating a masterful sense of light.

Sotter was a stained glass artist before he turned to landscape painting, and his stained glass work grew in importance during his life in Bucks County. Sotter discovered Bucks County in 1902. He was given a leave of absence from his job at a Pittsburgh stained glass studio to enroll at the Pennsylvania Academy. His employer, Horace Rudy had earlier attended the Academy and was friends with many important artists, one of whom being Edward Redfield. Rudy had arranged an introduction and the younger Sotter persuaded Redfield to give him instruction. This was a rare occurrence as Redfield did not fancy himself a teacher. A lifelong friendship resulted. Sotter returned to the Pittsburgh studio after the summer and fall with Redfield. He again studied at the Pennsylvania Academy from 1905-1907 with Thomas Anshutz, William Merritt Chase and Henry Keller. In1907, he married Alice Bennett, an artist who started working in the Rudy studio in 1904. In 1910, Sotter became an instructor at the Carnegie Institute of Technology's School of Fine Arts, a position he held until1919.

Sotter returned to Bucks County in 1919, fulfilling a vow he reportedly made to Redfield. His friend helped him find the house on Ash Mill Road, in Holicong, where the Sotters lived and operated the Sotter Studio. Although he considered himself a landscape painter at the time, his work with stained glass preceded him. He was consulted, and then began taking commissions for stained glass. His work in the medium quickly spread to Cleveland, Boston, and New York. Sotter had fifteen craftsmen working with him at one time and his work helped establish Bucks County as a center of stained glass art.

Sotter's work is in permanent collections of the James A. Michener Art Museum, LaSalle University Art Museum, New Jersey State Museum, Pennsylvania State Museum, Reading Public Museum, and the Woodmere Art Museum. He exhibited extensively throughout his career at most of Americas Prestigious institutions and won many awards, including the Silver Medal at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in1915.George Sotter died in Holicong, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in1953 at the age of seventy four.

Sources: New Hope for American Art by James M. Alterman