House on the Hill, Stockton

Complemented by a hand carved and gilt Newcomb Macklin frame.

Richard Wedderspoon (1889-1976)

Richard Wedderspoon was an important member of the New Hope Art Colony as both an Impressionist and Modernist painter. Wedderspoon was not only a respected painter, but also a teacher who spent summers at his Bucks County home and the school year at Syracuse University where he was Professor of painting. He was born in Red Bank, New Jersey and first studied art at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. He continued his studies at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, and at age twenty four, he enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts studying with Henry McCarter and Daniel Garber. While there his roommates were Charles Garner and Lloyd Ney. Wedderspoon began friendships with fellow artists, Charles Hargens, Clarence Johnson and Stanley Reckless. All would become part of the New Hope art scene in the future. Both McCarter and Garber recognized Wedderspoon's talent and were generous with their time and criticism. Garber frequently brought Wedderspoon back to his Lumberville home for weekends and a long lasting friendship resulted. In 1915 and 1916 Wedderspoon was twice honored with the Cresson Traveling Scholarship from the Pennsylvania Academy.

Returning from World War I, he lived in Chicago for a time traveling to the Missouri Ozarks and western Michigan to paint. He and his wife also took a long trip to paint in Great Britain, France and Italy. In 1923 Wedderspoon joined the faculty of Syracuse University where he remained until 1949. In 1926 he bought land on Phillips Mill Road near New Hope and built a colonial home where he spent summers. Too busy during the academic year to concentrate on his painting, he looked forward to his summers in New Hope for artistic inspiration.
Upon retirement he moved there permanently and finally to a smaller home in nearby Yardley.

Wedderspoon was a versatile artist, able to paint well, both impressionist and modernist landscapes. Such being the case, most of his paintings, and clearly the most identifiable of his styles, is a combination of the two. The most sought after of his works are landscapes painted in and around New Hope during the 1920s and 1930s which are of an impressionist style, having a slight modernist influence.

Wedderspoon exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery biennials, the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Detroit Institute of Fine Art, the Chicago Arts Club, the Philadelphia Art club, the Phillips Mill near New Hope and the Syracuse (Everson) Art Museum.

-Richard Wedderspoon Journals Undated, unpublished. Jims of Lambertville Archives
-Richard Wedderspoon Style in Tandem, Tana Steen. September 28, 2000,unpublished.