Bruce Crane (1857-1937)

Robert Bruce Crane was born in New York City in 1857, and was introduced to art by his father, an amateur artist. As a young man, he worked as a draftsman for an architect and soon after began his formal training under Alexander Wyant in 1877. The two would remain close friends until Wyant's death in 1892. Crane enrolled at the Art Students League from 1878 until 1882, and in the early part of his career, painted in the Catskills and the Adirondacks as well as on the eastern end of Long Island.

Contact Vose about this artist

Read more about this artist...

In 1882, Crane traveled to Grez-sur-Loring in France where he studied with Jean Charles Cazin and worked alongside artists such as Birge Harrison and Kenyon Cox. While in France, he was introduced to the Barbizon style, which emphasized mood and atmospheric effect, and he quickly adopted these characteristics in his own work. After his return to America, Crane continued painting at his studio in New York City while making frequent sketching trips to the Adirondacks.  

 By 1904, Crane was among the many artists working at the colony in Old Lyme, Connecticut, where he summered until 1935. While in Old Lyme, he was heavily influenced by the impressionist style perfected by artists Childe Hassam and John Twachtman. Influenced by both the Barbizon and impressionist methods, Crane combined characteristics from each to form what has often been referred to as “tonal impressionism.”

Known best for his fall and winter scenes, Crane enjoyed a long and successful career as an artist and a prominent figure of the American Barbizon School.  He belonged to the Society of American Artists, the American Water Color Society, and the Union Internationale des Beaux-Arts et des Lettres, and his work was featured at the Paris Exposition of 1900 as well as many of the important American national exhibitions including the Pennsylvania Academy, the Corcoran Gallery and the Art Institute of Chicago.  In 1901, he was made a full member of the National Academy of Design where he exhibited for over sixty years up until his passing in 1937.