James William Pattison (Illinois/Missouri/Massachusetts/North Carolina/France, 1844-1915) oil on board winter landscape painting titled "View From His Studio at Ecouen, [Paris]" depicting rooftops dusted with snow, foreground, bare trees and evergreens, middle ground, and a field below a grey sky, background. Signed "J.W. Pattison", titled, and dated "1876" en verso of board. Paper label with artist biographical information, en verso of frame. Housed in a molded giltwood frame with lamb's tongue rabbet edge. Sight - 8 5/8" H x 7 1/4" W. Framed - 13 1/2" H x 12" W. Third quarter 19th century. Provenance: The collection of Dr. William Kendall Striker, Chattanooga, TN. Biography: Pattison enlisted in the Union Army late in the Civil War and began his art career as an illustrator for Harper's Weekly. He then concentrated on painting and was a student of James M. Hart and George Inness. He taught at Washington University (1869-1873), where William Merritt Chase was one of his students. His earliest painting landscapes were in the Hudson River School style; one example is Twin Lakes, Leadville, Colorado (1872; Vose Galleries). Later Pattison studied in Dusseldorf and Paris. With his wife Helen Searle (1830-1884), Pattison lived for six years at Ecouen, just north of Paris, which was the home of an artists' colony. There he took instruction in landscape painting from Luigi Chialiva, who was well known as an animal painter. Pattison exhibited in the Paris Salons of 1879-81. He returned to America in 1882 or 1883 and was active in Chicago art organizations, including the Cliff Dwellers, the Palette and Chisel Club, and the Chicago Municipal Art League. He was director of the School of Fine Arts in Jacksonville, Illinois (1884-1896) and taught at the School of the AIC in 1896. Between 1897 and 1906 Pattison worked in the Tree Studio Building. Pattison exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 and at the St. Louis Universal Exposition, eleven years later. His work appeared at the Art Institute's annuals between 1891 and 1910. He was also an editor and art critic for the Fine Arts Journal, and he is the author of "The World's Painters Since Leonardo", published in 1904. (adapted from Clute, Walter Marshall. "James William Pattison: Author, Critic and Painter." The Sketch Book 5 (May 1906): 311-317; Clarkson, Ralph. "Chicago Artists: Past and Present." Art and Archaeology 12 (September - October 1921): 129-144; Sparks, Esther. "Biographical Dictionary of Illinois Painters and Sculptors, 1808-1945." Diss., Northwestern University, 1971, pp. 546-547; Askart).