Ernest Lawson (1873–1939) was a Canadian-American painter who exhibited his work at the Canadian Art Club and as a member of the American group “The Eight,” artists who formed a loose association in 1908 to protest the narrowness of taste and restrictive exhibition policies of the conservative, powerful National Academy of Design.
Though Lawson was primarily a landscape painter, he also painted a small number of realistic urban scenes. His painting style is heavily influenced by the art of John Henry Twachtman, J. Alden Weir, and Alfred Sisley. Though considered a Canadian-American Impressionist, Lawson falls stylistically between Impressionism and realism.
Though his work was sought after by important collectors in the 1910s and 1920s, Lawson did not maintain a high profile in the American art world. Eventually, he left New York for Florida, visiting in 1931 and moving there permanently in 1936. After moving south, he focused on Floridian landscapes.
