Alice Judson
American, 1876-1948
“Schooner at Anchor, Gloucester, Massachusetts”
Oil on panel; 12 x 16 inches
Signed lower left
The most prominent artist in Beacon’s history, Alice Judson was born in 1867 in what was then known as Matteawan, New York. After graduating from Matteawan High School. Judson attended the Albany State Teachers College, then headed to New York City. There she studied at the Art Students League of New York under John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902), who fused techniques of the Impressionists with Tonalism, in which dark, neutral hues dominated compositions. Judson’s Hudson River roots provided her with a grounding in landscape painting to which she frequently returned. She called the river her greatest inspiration. Her body of work contains many familiar Highlands scenes: Haystacks at Glenham, Lengthening Shadows at Cold Spring and depictions of dirt roads still traveled today in Pawling and Hopewell.
Over a span of decades, Alice Judson enjoyed solo shows and participated in exhibitions at galleries, historical societies, museums, municipal associations and cultural centers across the country. She was best known for her Dutchess County landscapes and her seascapes of Gloucester, Massachusetts, reaching the height of her fame in the 1920s and 1930s.