Charles Vezin (American, 1858–1942)
ca. 1925
MediumOil on board
Dimensions25 × 30 inches
CreditGift of Charles Vezin, Jr., 1954
Accession Number54.28.1

For this study of glassy water and ice, the title, Drifting, is appropriate, as the eye is drawn across the painting’s surface. Vezin was fascinated by the magnificence of the unspoiled Palisades, a startling foil to the nearby bustling New York City. He creates an elegant goodbye to American Impressionism with his signature soft pinks and blues, a style increasingly at odds with the sharpness and pointed social commentary of upcoming artists who reveled, instead, in the glassy surfaces of the city’s high rise buildings.