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Snow at Easter is a wonderful example of Ripley’s non-sporting work, demonstrating his talent for elevating the ordinary to the extraordinary: “My approach to painting is realistic but frequently my pictures are a free interpretation of the subject. People and their occupations are an important part of almost everything I paint and usually they express the main interest in the picture.”[1] The painting, which shows Saint Charles Borromeo Parish on Main Street in Woburn, Massachusetts, is a pleasing depiction of parishioners making their way to church on Easter morning, with the chill of a late snowfall and icy tree branches offset by the warmth of the sun-splashed street and buildings. Whether Ripley attended services that morning or happened upon the scene while driving (as he often did in search of paintable subjects) is unknown, although a smaller 7” x 12” study of Snow at Easter, used as a reference for the larger composition, is currently in the collection of the Canton Museum of Art in Ohio. According to a handwritten list of exhibited paintings from the artist’s business records held in the Archives of American Art, a piece called Snow at Easter was shown at the American Watercolor Society in 1963, which is likely our painting.

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[1] Aiden Lassell Ripley to Mr. Watson (publisher), requoted in a letter from Phyllis Church Maloney, Curator, Guild of Boston Artists, to Ms. Edith Tonelli, Curator, De Cordova Museum, November 12, 1976 (copy in files of Richard Cuda) See: O’Brien, Jr., Stephen B., and Julie Carlson Wildfeuer, The Art of Aiden Lassell Ripley (Boston: Stephen O’Brien, Jr. Fine Arts, LLC, 2009) p. 62, note 25 on p. 221

Provenance:

Private collection, Lexington, Massachusetts

Inscription:

(in pencil verso, at upper right) R#152 / Snow at Easter / 18 ½ x 29 ¼ / A. Lassell Ripley / 3500.00

Exhibitions:

(likely) American Watercolor Society, 1963