artist
Louis Aston Knight, commonly known as an expatriate, was in fact born in Paris to American parents, his father the celebrated American painter Daniel Ridgeway Knight. Receiving early and influential instruction from his father he later studied at the Académie Julian under Jules Lefebvre and Robert Fleury (1891-1898). Knight’s exhibition debut was at the Annual Paris Salon in 1894, thrust him into an increasingly successful career over which he was awarded numerous honors. He was notably the first American painter to win the Paris Salon gold medals for two consecutive years and his work was included in such distinguished venues as the Paris World’s Fair of 1900 and in 1927 he was made a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. Although he resided in Paris, Knight exhibited very frequently throughout the United States.
Description
Our Flowers on the Riverbank is a characteristically serene Louis Aston Knight landscape, likely of the French countryside, where he resided. Knight masterfully creates a sense of depth by gradually reducing the level of detail and vibrancy as the composition extends into the distance, thus emphasizing the vastness of the landscape. Knight employs texture and vibrant colors to create a rich foreground, appling paint in dabs and flecks to describe the flowers near a riverbank. These flowers not only serve as an inviting focal point for viewers but also guide their gaze from the left side of the painting towards the river's endpoint, seamlessly leading them beyond the softly painted distant mountains. Furthermore, to evoke the flowing movement of the water, Knight uses thick brushstrokes of paint over the blurred blue and grey tones.
