McLegrenow Farm

Schofield studied the compositional methods of French art. Like Claude Monet, he based his work on direct observation of nature, but he also composed in the studio and used color to achieve structure and balance. In McLegrenow Farm, for example, the same blue of the sky in the upper left is used as the underlayer of stone elements in the lower right, thereby unifying near and far and the opposite sides of the painting. At the same time, a rich palette of purples and yellows creates an effect of dappled sunlight across the scene.

A leading figure of American Impressionism, Schofield was born in Philadelphia. After briefly attending Swarthmore College, he worked as a cowboy in Texas, where ranch hands encouraged him to pursue art. He went on to attend the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and the Académie Julian in Paris, where he studied French Impressionism. In 1902 he settled in St. Ives, Cornwall, painting its rugged coasts and harbors while returning to Pennsylvania in the winters. 

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