Allen Tucker

Hillside pastel by Allen Tucker

1918

Exposure to the latest artistic currents at the 1913 Armory Show had a profound effect on Tucker's own artistic development, prompting him to move away from impressionism to a more subjective manner inspired by Post-Impressionism, especially the art of Vincent van Gogh. Tucker subsequently became one of the first American painters to experiment with pure color, spirited brushwork, and a heavily encrusted paint surface, prompting critics to dub him the "Van Gogh of America."1 A landscape specialist, Tucker's greatest delight was in painting the countryside of Maine and Massachusetts, the sea and coast of the East, and the Highlands of New Jersey. He was also drawn to scenes in France and Italy. As was the case with van Gogh, Tucker sought themes of solitude and isolation, favoring robust expanses of meadowland and mountain scenery, as well as inland forests. Both Tucker and van Gogh viewed trees as symbols of growth and renewal, and accordingly, portrayed them as dynamic, upward- shooting forms. He energized his compositions through bold juxtapositions of contrasting forms−foreground to background, dark to light−that have a dynamism drawn from his brushwork. 1 See, for example, James W. Lane, "Vincent in America: Allen Tucker," Art News, Vol. 38, December, 1939, pages 171-178.