Autumn on the Hudson

Beal studied with William Merritt Chase, but by 1940, he mixed his American Impressionism with Modernistic sensibilities. He captures the intensity of fall along the Hudson with broadly brushed paint, and contrasts of warm and cool colors, curved and straight lines. He and his brother, Reynolds, spent their childhood in the town of Newburgh. Later Gifford recalled the time and setting as idyllic and, although known for a wide variety of subjects, returned often to his beloved Hudson. Here, the tower of a church, now the Ebenezer Baptist Church, overlooks the Hudson River from a high vantage-point in Newburgh.