Exhibitions:
Brushed with Light: American Landscape Watercolors from the Collection

Arthur Parton (American, 1842–1914). Niagara Falls, ca. 1880. Transparent and opaque watercolor on cream, thick, moderately textured wove paper. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Henfield Foundation, Inc., 70.174

Little is known about Parton’s watercolor activities, although he did exhibit regularly with the American Watercolor Society beginning in 1880. Depicting one of America’s most sublime and popular landscape subjects, this ambitious picture provides a good example of an exhibition watercolor. Its highly textured surface—created with opaque paints—approximates the material and atmospheric effects Parton achieved in his oil paintings.