Louis Ritman
Born in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Russia (now Ukraine), Louis Ritman moved to Chicago with his family when he was a child. After apprenticing with a sign painting company, he began his formal artistic training by taking a drawing class at the Hull House. He then went on to attend prestigious art schools in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Paris. In 1911, Ritman made his first visit to the colony of Impressionist painters in the Normandy village of Giverny, where he made his permanent home in 1916.
What are the psychological impacts of war?
A Day in July was painted during the final year of World War I, which dramatically disrupted life in Paris and the areas surrounding Giverny, the two places Ritman split his time between. Yet this work reveals none of the turmoil and devastation of those final months of war. Rather, Ritman’s patchwork of calm, harmonious colors and dappled light convey a sense of peace and repose.
Gift of Diane B. Wilsey
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