With a rainbow of colors applied in bold brushstrokes, Theel captures a forest’s energy as it erupts into life in early spring. A single mature tree commands the foreground, followed by a gathering of younger trees and plants whose new foliage nearly obscures a small brook. One critic, writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer, remarked, “Theel’s thickly painted large woodsy landscapes assume the luxuriance of a tree covered with moss, for they suggest a certain weight and remain delicate and suffused with light.”
Theel attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and was a two-time recipient of PAFA’s prestigious Cresson Travel Scholarship, which enabled him to visit numerous European cities. After graduating, he supported himself and his family by working as a commercial artist for N. W. Ayer, a large advertising agency based in Philadelphia. Despite his immense talent, Theel did not exhibit frequently. Moreover, because most of his life’s work was lost in a tragic 1943 fire that destroyed his home and studio, it is little known; fewer than twenty paintings survived. Woodmere mounted the first comprehensive exhibition of Theel’s work, Raymond Theel: Making a Big Impressionism, in 2015.
